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Some details about Daniel McIntyre, the webmaster of this internet site. |
Welcome, I am the currently the webmaster of the South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society internet site, at www.strps.org.uk.
I have also recently set up two of my own internet sites.
- The first one is called Railway and Model Railway Info, at www.railwayandmodelrailway.info - which contains information for railway and model railway enthusiasts, such as myself.
- The second one is called Road and Water Transport Info, at www.roadandwatertransport.info - which includes information and internet site links to road and water transport - including buses, coaches, tramways, trolleybuses, and will also cover taxis, boats, ships and ferries at a later date.
Basically, this means that I am responsible for the design, layout and publication of the pages of the above mentioned three internet sites, one of which that you are now looking at - and for compiling and updating of the contents of each of the pages on those websites.
This page contains some personal details about me, Daniel McIntyre, together with links to other pages including details of the South Tynedale Railway at Alston and other railway societies of which I am a member of.
The photograph shows me helping out as a guard on the South Tynedale Railway at Alston, in Cumbria, in my younger days. I still carry out these duties at present, but now look a little older than in the photograph, being 45 years old. I have been a member of the South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society since November 1980 and later I got involved with the railway and started coming to Alston from 1981 and each year since then.
The town of Alston is where I spend many weekends and some of my holidays during each year, I either help out as the guard on passenger trains, or as a signalman in Alston signal box or do other general duties when available and required to do so, such as selling Christmas Draw tickets to passengers on the Santa Special trains during December. I am also the archivist for the railway, maintaining a multi volume collection of photographs and articles that have been published in local newspapers and railway magazines about the South Tynedale Railway.
All of the above jobs are in addition to assisting the railway by keeping the railway internet pages up to date and all of them are done as an unpaid volunteer. My full time paid job has always been in a clerical post within one of the various departments of the Civil Service, over the years since 1980 onwards.
The South Tynedale Railway is a two foot gauge, narrow gauge railway which is built on part of the old standard gauge trackbed of the Haltwhistle to Alston branch line, which was closed by British Rail on 1st May 1976. The line has since been reopened and narrow gauge trains have been operating from Alston Station since 30th July 1983. Passenger trains currently operate between Alston and Kirkhaugh, the line is two and a quarter miles in length. A further two and a quarter mile extension to Slaggyford is being planned and a fundraising appeal towards the construction of this part of line has been launched.
In my spare time, I am interested in railways and computing. I am a member of various railway societies including:-
- South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society, this is the organisation that has built, operates and maintains the South Tynedale Railway at Alston in Cumbria. For more details of this Society and details about membership, click on the underlined text above.
- A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, this organisation is building a brand new standard gauge steam locomotive, an L.N.E.R. Class A1 to be named �Tornado�. Construction is well underway with help and sponsorship from various companies and revenue raised from the deeds of covenants from members.
- The Narrow Gauge Railway Society, this organisation caters for enthusiasts of narrow gauge and miniature railways in the U.K. and worldwide. It publishes the �Narrow Gauge News� a bi-monthly newsletter, in which contains members reports on what is happening on narrow gauge and miniature railways around the world, and �The Narrow Gauge� a quarterly magazine, which features articles, either on the history and recent developments on miniature and narrow gauge lines and manufacturers worldwide.
- The Heritage Railway Association (formerly the Association of Independent Railway Preservation Societies), this organisation looks after the interests of most preserved railways around Great Britain and has a separate overseas organisation which caters for preserved railways in the rest of Europe. Membership is available to any railway enthusiast as well as railway societies. It publishes a quarterly newsletter called the �Heritage Railway Journal�.
- The Industrial Railway Society, this organisation caters for all enthusiasts of industrial railways and preserved railways of 15 inch gauge and upwards. It publishes bi-monthly bulletins of members reports of locomotive movements and railway developments and various books about industrial railways, locomotives and their locations around the world. It also produces an excellent book entitled �Industrial Locomotives� every 2 to 3 years containing the details and location of every locomotive from 15 inch gauge to standard gauge and broad gauge and publishes regular updated bulletins containing amendments to the book since publication. Members also receive discounts on various railway books published by the Society or by other publishers.
- The German Railway Society,
caters for all enthusiasts of railways in Germany and Austria, since I have an interest in the six narrow gauge lines from 760mm gauge (2 ft 6 inch) to
metre gauge (3 ft 3 inch) in Eastern Germany, this is why I joined it. I have travelled on most of these lines over past years during my holidays to Germany.
I also now have an interest in the narrow gauge lines in Austria, especially the Zillertalbahn line between Jenbach and Mayerhofen, which I have
travelled on during my Summer holidays in the Tirol region in past years.
The German Railway Society produces an excellent quarterly newsletter entitled �Merkur� containing members reports of standard and narrow gauge lines in Germany and can obtain books for its members about German railways and model railway items for those members modelling German railways. I am also a member of the recently formed Tyneside Local Group of the German Railway Society which has been in existence since December 2004, which holds monthly meetings at Gosforth in Newcastle upon Tyne.
- The Continental Railway Circle, this organisation caters for enthusiasts of overseas railways and produces an excellent quarterly magazine entitled �Continental Railway Journal� containing members reports about railways worldwide and reviews of recently published overseas railway books, excluding those in Great Britain and Ireland.
- The 009 Society caters for modellers of narrow gauge railways in many popular scales, mainly 009, HOe and HOm, it produces a monthly magazine entitled �009 News� to its members about narrow gauge railway layouts and exhibitions. It also has several local groups that hold regular meetings in various parts of Great Britain. Further information can be obtained from the 009 Society website at www.009society.com.
- For further reading about narrow gauge railways, I would also recommend a subscription to �Narrow Gauge World� magazine which is published bi-monthly by Atlantic Publishers, for details see their website at www.atlanticpublishers.com. They also publish other magazines including �Garden Rail� for large scale narrow gauge and LGB scale garden railway modellers and enthusiasts. In addition to that is �European Railways� a bi-monthly magazine for enthusiasts and modellers of railways in Europe outside Great Britain.
Further information about the South Tynedale Railway, can be found on other pages of this internet site, including the railway operating days, timetables, fare details, plus locomotive and rolling stock information.
If you wish to visit Alston by public transport see my bus timetable pages which show bus services operated by Wright Bros. Coaches and other local bus companies.
I have also made penfriends with several people in many countries of the world who are interested in the development of the South Tynedale Railway and other preserved railway lines in Britain. This has led to a regular exchange of railway books, videos, postcards and guide books, etc.
I hope to use this page to share railway information with anyone who is interested.
I will continue to keep the South Tynedale Railway internet pages as up-to-date as possible, in addition to trying to improve the appearance and layout of the pages. I am always keen to experiment and I read various publications to improve on my knowledge about internet page construction to assist me with these tasks.
If anyone wishes to contact me, please click on the following link - Send e-mail to Daniel McIntyre.
THE SOUTH TYNEDALE RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY,
Registered Office Address:-
The Railway Station, Alston, Cumbria, CA9 3JB.
Telephone 01434 381696.
Talking timetable - Telephone 01434 382828.
Registered Charity No. 514939.
Limited by Guarantee: Company Registration No. 1850832 (England).
E-mail enquiries - please click on links below:
South Tynedale Railway information - Send e-mail to South Tynedale Railway
STRPS membership information only - Send e-mail to Kathy Aveyard
Tynedalesman information only - Send e-mail to Tynedalesman compilers
This page was last updated on 4th September 2007.
� Daniel McIntyre 2007.