STOP PRESS!
Our trains are not running until further notice!
Wortley Top Forge Model Engineers are well known not just for our miniature passenger-carrying steam railway but also for the beautiful and tranquil setting of the site alongside the River Don. Regrettably, we have recently seen another side to the River!
During the well-publicised flooding in South Yorkshire, we have suffered devastating damage and it will be some considerable time before things are back to near normal and trains can run again.
Bridge timbers were washed away, trackwork and ballast has been destroyed, the clubroom itself has suffered severe flooding and, worst of all, much of the rolling stock and some engines have been badly damaged having been submerged under more than two feet of water.
One of the railway carriages was rescued from half way up a tree several hundred metres away from the site, and a wooden carriage shed and its contents were completely washed away into the swollen river.
Although the members are determined to restore things as far as possible, it will require Herculean effort, time and financial help.
The society has already lost out financially as a result of two village fetes being cancelled due to the flooding where the portable track and trains would have been in attendance. Anybody, member or not, who can provide assistance, either in financial ways, materials supply or by volunteer manual labour to help get the trains running again will be welcome at The Forge on Sunday afternoons.