Francis Bourgeois Invited Me to Percy Pig's 30th Birthday Party!

[@MartinH_222]

This is utter madness and I love it! 😂 The other crazy thing is I oddly remember the promo Insta story Francis did for this 'didn't know it was a completion' as if it was only posted yesterday. 🤣 Cheers Michael. You've brought a smile to my face on what has overwise been a rather dull day. 😄

[@yuyutatotransport]

Good job on the tins! Good one for winning those tickets too and meeting Francis again.

[@signwithwilfred5689]

Oh my goodness I was there! You may notice I was one who has rainbow hat and that I has the wedding t shirt matching to my mum

[@signwithwilfred5689]

I was signing Happy Birthday to Percy too

[@MikeWillSee]

Yep, I remember seeing you! Thanks for checking out this video!

[@signwithwilfred5689]

@@MikeWillSee no worries I was surprised to see you film this I loved it and have you seen this one also

[@signwithwilfred5689]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZfYkqGeotSpnK8

[@MikeWillSee]

@@signwithwilfred5689 I hadn't seen that one! I'll give it a watch in a bit, thanks for sharing!

[@CPTrains]

It's so weird and wacky, and I enjoyed! Can I ask you about the work experience? Did you enjoy it and what sort of things did you get up to? It's probably my second local heritage railway, so idk if I should do work experience at Spa Valley Railway next summer.

[@MikeWillSee]

Certainly was a surreal experience! Work Experience was a lot of fun! Each day was doing something different, spread across four days. Day 1: A few different roles based at Sheffield Park, including setting up and opening the station before passengers arrived, checking tickets once they did, shadowing dispatchers, and spending time with the signaller being showed the signalling process. Day 2: Onboard the train with the Guard and Ticket Inspector (two separate people). That involved making sure the passengers were happy, keeping a log of the times with the guard, turning the lights on/off (when the train goes through the tunnel), dispatches (this time from the guard's perspective, as well as carrying the tail-lamp from one end of the train to the other when it turns around. At one point they also had me serving drinks in the buffet car! Day 3: On the footplate! It was an early start (7AM) that began with cleaning, oiling, and firing up the locomotive, before riding up and down the line on it, as well as shovelling coal into the firebox! It even included the treat of breakfast cooked in the firebox (idk if you've ever seen that done but it genuinely tastes so much better) Day 4: Final day. There wasn't a set schedule for the final day, so it was just a case of going wherever I was needed. I spent a lot of the day at Sheffield Park Station with the Station Master and Signaller (like on day 1) as well as taking a couple of trips up and down the line with the Guard. Honestly it was a LOT of fun overall so I'd definitely recommend it. The only major 'drawback' (if you could call it that) is that as many of the roles are safety-critical, you're often shadowing someone else doing it rather than doing it yourself. That doesn't make it any less enjoyable in my opinion but I thought it was worth mentioning. Anyway I realise I've written an essay but I hope you found it somewhat helpful and I hope you enjoy yourself whatever you choose to do!

[@CPTrains]

@@MikeWillSee Thanks a lot for explaining! It seemed quite varied what you had to and definitely seems something I would enjoy. I am presuming that you stayed on site, especially if you started up working at 7am.

[@MikeWillSee]

@@CPTrains actually no, it was ~1 hour drive in each day, which wasn't too bad most days (starting at 9AM) but Thursday's 7AM start was kinda painful! From looking on google maps it would seem there is a campsite nearby but I didn't stay there.

[@FlipYourCarIntoTheTornado]

I am drunk