Vern was a Driver on the NYMR and I was a secretary when he first talked about starting a little business giving trips around Whitby on Charlotte. Having spent the summer of 2003 giving rides at Traction Engine rallies with garden benches on Elizabeth’s flat bed waggon back, I maybe should have known that the idea of Elizabeth’s metamorphosis would only have been a matter of time, but the first I heard of the proposal was when Vern told someone else that Elizabeth was going to be a bus!

I had no knowledge of engines, steam or otherwise, I knew nothing about coal and while I could shovel the stuff into Elizabeth’s fire under instruction, I had no idea why or when to do it myself. But inspite of that I became Elizabeth’s full-time fireman when she first took to the streets of Whitby in December 2005 and learnt as we went along.

It wasn’t all plain sailing and it wasn’t long before my regular sessions at the hairdressers and my long painted nails were things of the past! When Vern junior came to work with us on Elizabeth I gave up my beloved fireman’s seat and made the job of conductor my own.

I would never have imagined myself standing up in front of up to 30 passengers telling Elizabeth’s story, and enjoying it, but I love telling our passengers the way it all happened and knowing that they’ll take away with them memories they’ll never forget.