Full steam ahead as train beats the floods

But thanks to the sterling efforts of dozens of dedicated volunteers, organisers of the annual the Top Forge's Open Day are chuff, chuff, chuffed that it's now full steam ahead for this Sunday's event.

Earlier this year the summer floods had a devastating impact on the miniature railway in Forge Lane, Thurgoland.

Bridge timbers were washed away, trackwork and ballast destroyed, the clubroom flooded and, worst of all, much of the rolling stock and some engines were badly damaged after being submerged under more than two feet of water.

In some parts the water was so deep that one of the railway carriages had to be rescued from halfway up a tree hundreds of metres away from where it had been left. And a wooden shed used to store the carriages was completely washed away by the swollen river. At the time, it was feared the damage would cause the cancellation of the Model Engineers' Open Day.

But thanks to the massive efforts of the members and other volunteers, much of the repair work has been completed and trains have started running again.

Spokesman Alec Butteriss said: "Thanks to the tremendous efforts of our members, we have recovered from this disaster and our trains are running normally again, albeit with reduced choices of locos and stock much of which suffered serious damage and which still needs repair and renovation."

The event starts at 11am when there will be a number of visiting steam and electric locomotives with trains giving rides around the site.