Who would have thought those who like getting greasy and oily would be donning pink jackets. Ed
Pink ribbons for the locomotive and pink overalls for the train crew was again the dress-code last Friday (29th October) at The IW Steam Railway, as they went pink in support of the Island-wide ‘Isle of Pink’ initiative to help raise funds for the national Breast Cancer Campaign charity.
Locomotive driver Paul Beale and his fireman Steve Smart both donned pink ‘bib & braces’ overalls, wearing them throughout the day as they took charge of the day’s busy half-term and ‘Wizard Week’ train service.
To complement the loco crew’s unusual attire, the duty steam locomotive (Hunslet Austerity saddle tank locomotive No.198 ‘Royal Engineer’) was suitably adorned with plenty of pink ribbons and bows, plus special pink ‘head-code’ discs.
No escape for other staff
Elsewhere around the Railway, the ticket clerk, signalman, guard, platform staff, catering team, office and shop staff all joined in and wore something pink for the day!
The pink theme at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway was part of the annual Isle of Pink initiative to turn the Island pink for one day in support of Breast Cancer Campaign’s drive to raise awareness of breast cancer, encourage women to be breast aware, and to generate crucial funds to aid breast cancer research. Throughout the day, visitors were encouraged to make donations to this very worthy cause.
“The Isle of Wight Steam Railway is always keen to support these initiatives here on the Island, so we hope that having our train and operating crews attired in our specially dyed ‘uniforms’ was suitably eye-catching and helped boost the profile of this very important campaign,” said Railway Commercial Manager Jim Loe.
