Written by Chris Blount.

Railway on the air station GB0LVR

WHEN FLORENCE MET ZEBEDEE!

There's a lot of similarity between a railway station and a radio station – both in the business of communications – but the great thing about the latter is that you can build it much more quickly! All we did was to sling up 100feet of wire between the famous engine house at East Wheal Rose Mine and a convenient telegraph pole, connect up the transmitter/receiver, switch on the juice and hey presto – we were in business! This was a brilliant site – you need a good earth as well as a good aerial, and what could be better than a 1000 foot deep mine shaft to sink our grounding wire into!

Railway enthusiasts and radio enthusiasts, too, have much in common. Anoraks spring to mind, but also patience and optimism – you never know how long you might have to wait for the craved result. Anyway, it was no surprise that all over the country 33 amateur radio stations were set up in conjunction with railways, all of them eager to make contact with each other. Why? Well to be honest, any excuse will do for us radio buffs to set up a Special Event station, so the anniversary of that alleged first passenger railway ‘up North', was as good a reason as any.

The weather was kind to us, except for a stiff Northerly breeze which at times threatened to lift our tent into orbit, and the railway appeared to be doing brisk business over the two weekend days. It would be true to say that we weren't overwhelmed with people queuing up to enquire just what we were up to inside our den, although they must have heard the strange tuning sounds and scratchy voices coming from within. Only three customers made use of the discount vouchers printed in the local papers to entice the throngs to this very special event. Radio – even when it's steam radio – just doesn't have the sexy image we might have hoped.

But members of Newquay and District Amateur Radio Society (and myself – a lapsed member) were in our element. Over the two days of encampment at East Wheal Rose Station, radio waves were exchanged with Amateurs the length and breadth of the British Isles - well up into Northern
Scotland, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Western Ireland and of course Wales. Naturally, we told them all about the Lappa Valley Railway (which actually comprises three railways – 7.25, 10.5 and 15 inch) and its history – opened in 1849 to carry ore from the famous silver-lead mine down to Newquay Harbour, followed by the well-used passenger service of the GWR and British Railways until 1963. I wouldn't mention the ‘B' word – except that after B eeching it was B ooth to the fore – Eric Booth laid the 15 inch line and opened it as a tourist attraction in 1974. Who knows how many radio operators heard us broadcasting this story – it's all good for business!

We also made contact with 18 other railways out of the 33 which had radio stations in operation. They included some famous ones – the Bluebell Line, Great Central railway and the Ravenglass and Eskdale, as well as other less wellknown ones – Lincolnshire Wolds, Isle of Wight Steam Railway, Waverley Route, Battlefield Line….and more. Sadly, we couldn't get through to the only other Cornish railway to take part – the Helston Railway based at Trevarno. They were no doubt too close for our Shortwave signals which have a habit of leaping off to the ionosphere to be reflected down again far beyond such proximity.

The highlight of the weekend had to be the ‘meeting' of LVR's principal steam locomotive Zebedee and a diesel hydraulic engine by the name of Florence which apparently runs at the Eastleigh Lakeside Railway in Hampshire. We half expected to cross wavelengths with Dougal, Ermintrude and Dylan, but Lappa Valley's little children's roundabout (not far from our radio tent) wasn't playing magical for us.

It's always exciting to see how far random wireless signals can travel on any particular day – we know they're affected by uncontrollable factors such as weather, atmospheric pressure and even the ‘moon spot cycle'. Despite the simplicity of our wire antenna and the rather basin-like location we were operating from, we were delighted to have conversations with Denmark, Germany and France, so, who knows, perhaps next season's visitors to the railway will bring more of those accents – it would be good to think so.

By the time the last train pulled out on Sunday evening our contacts in the log book were heading for 150 and it was beginning to get dark as we de-rigged.

“Time for bed” said Florence. Did I hear a ‘boing'?

Footnote: Newquay and District Amateur Radio Club would like to thank Lappa Valley Railway for letting them use the site to join in with Railways On The Air Weekend. Anyone wishing to know more about Amateur Radio as a hobby please contact the club.