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DRIVER EXPERIENCE GIFT SCHEME TO BE LAUNCHED
Wednesday 13 December 2006
Press invitation:
1. Coffee available from 10.45 (Buffet coach, Leeming Bar station)
2. Photo-opportunity 11.00 – Leeming Bar station (see below)
3. Journalists’ test-drive! (Subject to medical check)
Wensleydale Railway will launch its long-awaited Driver Experience scheme on Wednesday (December 13) when – following a compulsory safety briefing - Mrs. Caroline Thornton-Berry of Swinithwaite boards the train at 11.00am for her first session at the controls.
Wensleydale Railway’s trains are heritage DMUs (diesel multiple units), built in the 1960s. They are popular with passengers because they have large windows.
“The Driver Experience scheme has been designed and tested by our own staff,” says Mrs. Ruth Annison, chairman of Wensleydale Railway. “The full one-day package includes a Welcome Breakfast, followed by the all-important safety and technical briefing. Participants will have a hot lunch at the nearby Lodge hotel, in between two sessions of driving experience - and a souvenir Certificate to take home. It’s a great idea for a present or prize because a Gift Token can be bought for Christmas, birthday or to mark a special occasion, and then used when it suits the recipient.”
Driver Experience Days will operate separately from WR’s scheduled service trains and must be booked in advance, with no more than four participants on any one day.
Notes for editors: NB Leeming Bar station is half a mile from the A1/A684 junction near Bedale, in the Northallerton direction on leaving the A1, next door to Simply Dutch store.
- Mrs Thornton-Berry was High Sheriff of North Yorkshire in 2004-5.
- WR driver Peter Guy, who proposed and developed the Driver Experience scheme with colleagues, will be Mrs. Thornton-Berry’s tutor on Wednesday. He is one of many members of the well-known Swaledale Guy family who play in Muker’s Silver Band.
- The cost, including VAT and all refreshments, for one person for the Driver Experience Day is £225 (members of Wensleydale Railway Association £200).
- Information about the Wensleydale Railway, and the timetable for scheduled services, is given on the website www.wensleydalerailway.com (08454 50 54 74)
- Wednesday 13 December is also school parties day (Santa’s Special train) and the excited children who depart on the 10.15 train with Santa will arrive back at Leeming Bar station at 11am.
DRIVER EXPERIENCE ENQUIRIES/BOOKINGS: Tel 08454 50 54 74
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