After 29 years service to the WSR, the Trust will miss the support of Alan Meade who has retired as a Trustee and as leader of the Model Railway Group at the Gauge Museum.

Alan, who was 80 in March and lives in Axminster has found the journey by public transport to Bishops Lydeard to be difficult and of course, the travel ban resulting from the Coronavirus crisis and the risk of infection has meant that he has been unable to travel since the end of March.

His career on the railway included time as a guard, guards’ training, DMU driver and managing the model railway group. In this role he encouraged and enthused a whole generation of young volunteers, many of whom have gone on to fill other important posts on the railway, including that of General Manager. Under his leadership, a steady stream of young people queued up to join the group, until Coronavirus stopped everything in its tracks.

Brought up in Eastleigh, Alan’s encyclopaedic knowledge of Southern practice and performance was a healthy counterpoint to the Great Western obsession that many of us have, and this was reflected in the number of light pacifics and rakes of green coaches that appeared on the layout when he was PIC.

We shall miss his wise counsel and good humour and wish him well in retirement.