‘Teddy Bears Picnic’ at Rushen Abbey and ‘Friends of Thomas’ at Douglas station are the latest of many successful events that have been organised this year by Isle of Man Railways. The high number of families travelling by steam train to the Teddy Bears picnic resulted in additional carriages being added, making this one of the railway’s busiest days of the year so far! The volume of passengers departing at Ballasalla station meant that the vintage double decker bus was put to good use, reliving its busy, passenger carrying past and doing numerous trips back and forth to the Abbey. Once at the Abbey, families enjoyed activities such as slides, jumbo bouncy castle, rodeo bull and, of course, they all flocked to meet Brendan the Bear for high fives and photos. The ‘Friends of Thomas’ weekend was just as busy; here the kids were treated to rides up the track on the Troublesome trucks, trips around the quay on Bertie the bus and storytelling in the marquee with the Fat Controller. One child enjoyed the storytelling so much that she made full use of the colouring-in tent and presented the Fat Controller with her very own picture of Thomas the Tank Engine as a thank you. Isle of Man Railways invited representatives from local charity ‘Care for the Family’ to bring their collection buckets down for the two events and the resulting donations totalled ?1,121.02. 'Care for the Family' is committed to helping strengthen family lives by providing support for parents through courses and networks. Those supported include bereaved parents, single parents, step families and those parenting a child with special needs. Other events introduced this year include the popular Snaefell Sunset Dinners and the Ultimate Driving Experience, which provides the opportunity to drive one of the historic Manx electric trams. Both of these events have received great customer feedback and have required additional dates to be provided to accommodate demand. Future events to look out for in 2010 include ‘Pie in the Sky’, a trip up Snaefell to enjoy a meal whilst learning about the sky at night, ‘Hop-tu-Naa ghost trains’ for adults, the ‘Hop-tu-naa Express’ for children and the ever popular Christmas Santa Trains. Hon David Cretney MHK, Minister for Community, Culture and Leisure commented: “It is fantastic to see this historic part of the Island’s heritage providing local residents and visiting tourists with a number of unique and entertaining events to attend. This really is a new era for the railways; I am looking forward to working with our team at Railways on a number of new events into the future and thank everyone for everything they have contributed to this success.” For information on current and future events, keep checking www.iombusandrail.info, call 662525 or call into the Welcome Centre. Ends