The Christmas dinner now arriving on platform two...

A FULL Christmas dinner was cooked with the help of a locomotive yesterday.
Rail operations manager Noel Hartley enjoys sausages that he cooked on the footplate of the steam locomotive Teddy, as part of a full Christmas dinnerRail operations manager Noel Hartley enjoys sausages that he cooked on the footplate of the steam locomotive Teddy, as part of a full Christmas dinner
Rail operations manager Noel Hartley enjoys sausages that he cooked on the footplate of the steam locomotive Teddy, as part of a full Christmas dinner

With preparations for Christmas in full swing, staff at the National Railway Museum, in York, turned their attention to festive food with a full dinner cooked in the smoke box of Teddy, a locomotive that hauls the museum’s Santa Steam Adventure over the festive season.

On the menu for this dinner with a difference was a turkey with all the trimmings, including roast potatoes, parsnips and firebox-fried pigs in blankets and brussels sprouts. No Christmas dinner is complete without a pudding and this was served with custard and brandy butter to a group of hungry museum volunteers.

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The turkey took four hours to cook in the smoke box ready to be served up to the volunteers at a slap up Christmas lunch later in the day.

Rail operations manager Noel Hartley enjoys sausages that he cooked on the footplate of the steam locomotive Teddy, as part of a full Christmas dinnerRail operations manager Noel Hartley enjoys sausages that he cooked on the footplate of the steam locomotive Teddy, as part of a full Christmas dinner
Rail operations manager Noel Hartley enjoys sausages that he cooked on the footplate of the steam locomotive Teddy, as part of a full Christmas dinner

Noel Hartley, rail operations manager at the National Railway Museum said yesterday: “Cooking on a steam loco is not as straight forward as you may think and you can’t rehearse at home unless you have a steam loco in the garden!

“I’ve cooked many things in a smoke box from bacon butties to roasts before but a full Christmas dinner for our amazing volunteers who have helped us so much throughout the year is a worthy challenge,” Mr Hartley added.

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