WHAT a welcome change in the weather!

At last we have had some sunshine and everything at Didcot Railway Centre is bursting into life. We are open every day now and it’s lovely to see visitors exploring the centre in the warm. At weekends we run our heritage diesels so visitors can also enjoy train rides.

The May Bank Holidays are creeping up on us very quickly and we have two events to organise. Over the May Bank Holiday we are recreating the feel of a real working steam shed from the 1930s/40s/50s.

We will pull most of the engines out of the Engine Shed and display them as they would have been, rather than in a formal line-up. We can’t steam the engines but we will use smoke machines so they will look as though they are in steam. There will be trains running all day so visitors can enjoy unlimited rides.

Later in the month at the Spring Bank Holiday (May 26 to 28) we welcome the Great War Society back to our rails on the Western Front event.

Last year we commemorated the 100th anniversary of GWR No 5322, which was sent straight from Swindon Works, where she was built, to the front in France. This year we are focusing more on the Great War Society artillery camp and re-enactments in the picnic area.

The ambulance train with 5322 will be on display in the Transfer Shed and the Great War Society infantry will be visiting during the course of the day to recreate troops in transit by rail when they will be arriving at and departing from the station, both on foot and by train.

We are planning to run our steam rail motor, built in 1908, so visitors can ride in a genuine vehicle from the First World War period. We will also be running our visiting engine, Captain Baxter, with our vintage carriages, which are all over 100 years old.

Carriage No 416 was built in 1891 and is the only example in the country of this kind of carriage. Carriage No 1941 dates from 1901 when it cost £812.0s.0d to build, which is equivalent to £63,000 today – quite a bargain. 1941 has eight compartments seating ten passengers in each. Both carriages were gas lit and neither had corridors so there were no toilet facilities either.

We are looking at other ways of commemorating the war possibly with a poppy memorial for every one of the 12 Didcot men featured on the GWR Roll of Honour.

What did your ancestors do during the war? How was your family affected? Why not join our commemoration and share their stories.