Chris Vine, a well-known children’s author, paid a visit to Isle of Man Railways.
He said: ’The schoolchildren were extremely excited when they had an exclusive visit to the work sheds, which would normally be out of bounds to the general public.’
The tours gave the children opportunities to see how the railway team maintains the rolling stock and see the upcoming restoration projects.
The youngsters also got a chance visit the signal box.
Built in 1892 the signal box retains its original point leverage.
Tour leader Natalie Harrison said: ’It was great to see the children getting hands on and having a fantastic time setting the various combinations.’
Chris, who has written a series of books about locomotives and engineering under the Peter’s Railway title, spent time demonstrating how a locomotive works with an explanation of the boiler, tubes, pistons, valves and running gear.
After the tours of workshops Chris carried out an afternoon of track building in each school.
The children made 7/15 inch track which Chris ran his own model locomotive on Saturday.
Children were invited to the railway station on Saturday to show their parents what they had been up to and also ride (and some drive) Chris’s loco up and down the station platform.
’Our objective is to provide the children with a mixture of science, engineering, history and adventures,’ said Chris.
’I hope that the pupils found the event both fun and inspiring.’
For details of dining events on trams and trains visit www.rail.im .