Departments Diary
Our volunteers don't just provide the operational staff. There is lots of maintenance and restoration activity also taking place. This is where you can find out about the various things our departments get up on and around the railway. If this has inspired you to join us, then you can find further details here.
View our Departments Diary Archive
Volunteering for all
21st October 2021
One of our volunteers, Mandy Hewlett, writes:
Since the inception of local isolated wooden wagonways in the 1560s, through the railway boom in the 1840s and even in more modern times, the rail industry has been perceived as male dominated. Historically, women employed were often wives, or ...
Read More From 1111 to 205205
8th November 2020
The Beginning
In 1955 the British Railways Modernisation Plan did not envisage electrification of the cross country routes in Hampshire and East Dorset at any time in the near future. However, there was a need for modernisation of these services as they were operated in the main by pre-grouping ...
Read More Replacing a Signal Arm
6th April 2020
In late February and early March, a volunteer from our signalling team undertook the uneviable task of replacing the semaphore arm of one of our signals at Ongar.
Dan Sewell writes:
As our passengers may have noticed, the arm of the signal by the signal box at Ongar (named ...
Read More I love it! A Volunteers perspective
4th June 2019
Like all heritage railways, the Epping Ongar Railway could not operate without our friendly team of volunteers. As well as operating our train services, our volunteers help maintain our buildings and rolling stock, help out with catering and even being bus conductors on our connecting heritage bus ...
Read More Back to the Future
28th February 2019
Chris Travers from our diesel team writes...
Do you ever get that feeling that your past life has disappeared? Your old school has gone, the then cutting-edge office, factory, workshop or depot, where you spent so many working years, is now just a hole in the ground? That is much how I felt ...
Read More Diesel Fleet Update
12th January 2019
Class 03 119
The locomotive has been dismantled ahead of a planned overhaul; the gearbox from this shunter has been removed and placed into sister 170. As part of the overhaul, the seriously corroded areas of bodywork will be repaired.
Class 03 170
The gearbox from this locomotive has been ...
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