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In recent years, Santa Claus has become increasingly more frustrated in his attempts to bring his vitally important ‘Present Delivery Operation’ into the twentieth century when most people have been in the twenty-first for nearly a decade. Santa has tried to embrace all the new technologies developed over the last hundred, or more years including, among other things, automobiles, flying machines and boats. Despite all his very careful preparations, each and every attempt failed, sometimes catastrophically and, at the last minute, Santa had to revert to his very dependable old reindeer and his ancient sleigh.
During the latter part of the twentieth century, electronic things became very popular and Santa found that most children were asking him for ‘Play-stations’, ‘Nintendo DSs’, ‘Wiis’, ‘Xboxes’, fancy mobile telephones and all sorts of clever things that he didn’t know anything about and certainly could not be made by the elves; each year more and more presents came from half-way round the world and less and less were made in the workshop.
Santa began to think about ways to expand his business and thought that his estate in the ‘frozen north’ could become a really interesting place for people to visit, particularly in the weeks immediately before Christmas. He also thought about looking into having a summer-time attraction but decided that he should not try to ‘run before he could walk’.
Santa told his old friend, Fred Lonsdale about the project; they discussed a whole range of ideas and soon believed that Santa’s basic plan was very good. Fred measured everything and drew accurate plans of Santa’s premises showing where the house, the workshops and the reindeer stables were and then worked on a basic design for the park; he had to add some new things: a restaurant and toilets for visitors, a souvenir shop, a car park and a bus station. Santa, in the meantime, was getting quite excited about the project and kept thinking of features to include in the design.
One idea seemed to be rather far-fetched at first, but, as they talked about it, it began to make a great deal of sense: Santa explained; “You know that the airport is about five miles away, between here and the town, the docks and the motorway and, to the north, there is the old graphite quarry, not used any more, but still there. “I bought the quarry some years ago.” Santa said, “and, included in the deal, was the old narrow gauge steam railway; again, no longer used, but still there. Now the railway goes, or used to go from the quarry to the docks and, as far as I know, all the lines are still there and I don’t think it would be too expensive to restore it; it would need a station at the airport and we would have to make a new line to connect us to what is already there.”
Fred said, “You mean we could use the railway to ferry people who come by air to and from the airport? That’s a brilliant idea; and there’s the hotel at the airport, and the main-line railway station. It all sounds very feasible, but there’s a lot of work to do if you hope to open this year, we need to get started. Over the following weeks, designs were finalised, builders appointed, materials ordered, all the necessary details worked out and the work was started.
One night, Fred and Santa decided that they should have a look at the little train. When they arrived at the disused quarry they found that everywhere was overgrown. Fred had a pair of ‘loppers’ in his van and began to cut away at the bushes and trees that were obstructing the access. They soon decided which was the ‘engine shed’ and concentrated on getting into it. There were big double doors at one end of the building that would need a lot of clearing but there was also a small side door with a ramshackle wooden porch, with a corrugated iron roof that would be easier to use.
t didn’t take long to clear a way in and, as their eyes adjusted to the darkness, Fred and Santa saw, for the first time, a pretty little narrow-gauge steam train, covered in dust and cob-webs, sitting where it had been, untouched for half a century. The two men were very excited as they started examining, Fred said, “I feel like a schoolboy opening presents on his birthday.”
The little train appeared to be complete. Santa was very keen, “Fred,” he said, “we must be able to get this ready for use this year; quite honestly, except for the layer of black shiny dust, looks as if it is ready to start work straight away.” Fred agreed and they decided to get workmen in to clear the site so that they could get the engines out and transferred to Jim Saddlepump’s workshop where the restoration work could get under way without delay. Jim was an engineer and had a collection of ‘classic’ vehicles and he was experienced in this sort of work. Jim also knew of a company that would make carriages for them.
While this was being done, the workmen cleared the quarry yard and started work on the restoration of the existing railway tracks, the construction of the spur into the airport and the new line into Santa’s yard. More men were employed to build the Rail Terminal at the Airport and one in Santa’s yard. The men worked very hard and, towards the end of September, the main building work was finished and the railway line was completed. Fred’s friend, Jim Saddlepump ‘phoned to say that the engine was ready to be brought back. Santa and Fred were very pleased; the plan was coming together very well, they were on schedule to open to the public in mid November.
Jim brought the engine back to Santa’s yard on his restored old army type AEC Matador lorry and everyone gathered round an hour or so later to watch the engine, beautifully painted in dark green and black with red and gold striping, drive for the first time in about fifty years. It was magnificent, steaming. with a gentle ‘chuf – chuf’, along the newly laid track. Everyone cheered and clapped and Mrs. Claus cried; Santa also wiped a tear from his eye when no one was looking.
Santa was thrilled to bits with his train, he spent a great deal of time learning how to look after it and practicing his driving even though he knew that one of his elves would be the main driver.
October was a very busy month; Santa had to spend quite a lot of his time working with the elves getting everything ready for Christmas Eve. He was still trying to find an alternative way, instead of the reindeer, to deliver the presents. Santa’s wife knew him of old and one evening she said, “You love that old engine, don’t you?” He replied, carefully, thinking that she might have something difficult to ask, “Yes, love, it really is a fine bit of engineering; you know, it is over a hundred years old; why do you ask?” “Oh, nothing, really, I was just thinking about your delivery dilemmas that started with that milk-float all those years ago.” Santa just grunted, he thought it best that he didn’t continue with that line of conversation.
Men from the Cartwright Brothers Carriageworks delivered two new carriages that they had made and then, early in November, the first visitors started to arrive; these were families and small groups, carefully selected from people who had replied to an advertisement offering huge discounts to people who would ‘try out’ the new facilities. These visitors were asked to fill out questionnaires and comment and suggestion forms and, at the end of each day, the forms were collected and analysed carefully. All the visitors seemed to be pleased with their visit; Santa and his helpers were satisfied that they were giving good value for money.
As the weeks passed by, more and more visitors came to enjoy the attractions, particularly once the snow started to fall, and Santa was thrilled to bits; he spent most of the day walking around the place, talking to visitors and, much to his surprise, being asked for his autograph. Visitors were encouraged to go into the different workshops and talk to the elves busily making traditional toys; these toys and other interesting things were available at ‘The Shop’.
The train was very popular and Santa insisted each day that he wanted to drive it and, every time he drove it, he thought about using it instead of his sleigh and the reindeer. On Christmas Eve, when all the visitors had gone and it was time to load the presents. Santa made a decision; he announced that he would be using the train, “I want everything loaded into the carriage, engineering and technology, not animals, are the way forward.”
Mrs. Claus was horrified, she begged her husband not to do it; she quietly ‘phoned Fred and asked him if he could help. Fred rushed over to see what he could do but, by the time he arrived, Santa was nearly ready to leave. The elves were not happy, they had to do what Santa told them but they thought that he was wrong. “Santa,” one said, “don’t you realise that you will have to look after the boiler to keep making the steam and you will have to manage the engine and steer it, there is too much to do; it’s not like using the reindeer, they know what they have to do; it’s not going to work.”
Santa tried to reassure them, “it will be all right,” he said, “this little train has got what it takes to do the job, I know it has; you’ve got to trust me, it will be all right.” There was no sign of him relenting and, after his supper he went to the train and piled more logs on the fire. After a while there was a great deal of steam around the train, the boiler was up to pressure and the safety valve was blowing. Santa climbed aboard, waved goodbye, tooted his whistle and steamed off into the night.
Fred asked Mrs. Claus, “How long?” She replied, “I’ve no idea; you mean until he is back?” Fred went on, “I can’t imagine this working, I reckon that he will be back in no more than forty minutes, it can’t possibly work.” “Should we get the sleigh ready for him?” she asked. Fred nodded his head and replied, “Yes, I think we should.”
Half an hour later, Santa came steaming back into the yard; he was quite dejected. “You were right,” he said, sadly. Mrs. Claus asked him what had happened: “It was fine to start with, it was nice and warm and we were getting along famously. I put more wood on the fire and the steam pressure went up, it was wonderful, chuf-chuffing among the clouds, absolutely perfect. And then, more wood, more steam, more heat; terrific.”
“So what happened, dear?” Mrs. Claus asked, “Did you run out of logs?” “No,” he replied, “that wasn’t the problem, it was something else. The heat from the boiler melted the snow and, as it dripped onto the cold wheels it froze and made them skid; I couldn’t go up to the roof tops, I just kept sliding back, it was hopeless.”
“How upsetting, dear,” His wife said, “but never mind; we’ve got the sleigh ready, we will just have to swap over the presents. The reindeer are all fed and watered; it’s back to normal, I’m afraid.” Santa could do nothing but agree with her and within another half hour, he was back on his way. “Business as usual”, he called out philosophically as he set out on his important business.
If you would like to write to Father Christmas, e:mail him at: Santa@OldFred.com
m©mix Peter Fairhurst, www.OldFred.com
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