David Eastoe interviewed by Tony Steadman

Oral history interview with David Eastoe conducted and recorded by Tony Steadman on 26 March 2015 at the interviewee’s home. Duration: 40 minutes. How he started volunteering at NRM, meeting people through railway nostalgia classes at York technical college, cleaning locomotives, origin of Tuesday night team, Geoff Bird and John Bellwood, museum opening, Information Point; cosmetic overhaul of Invicta from Canterbury; [00:05:00] York Railway Circle and Merrymakers; occupation; service crew on Stratford on Avon runs; helped restore Duchess of Hamilton; [00:10:00] the 55 club, David Jenkinson involvement; serving as steward on train; Richard Gibbon and Tuesday night team; pantograph on bullet train; work with roof of Great Hall around 1990; moved equipment in workshop; [00:15:00] annual summer barbeques; Lancashire & Yorkshire (L&Y) signalling school collected and moved from Manchester, Bob Brook managing project; reconstruction of L&Y school of signalling, demonstration in warehouse; [00:20:00] Peter Webster, rewiring of layout, accident reconstructions, Phil Graham role; [00:25:00] Guiness book of records as oldest model railway; uniform; [00:30:00] all rules obeyed by all volunteers; involvement with Friends of NRM; [00:35:00] track circuits on layout; future of layout; footplating [00:39:51] [end of interview]

Oral history recording made as part of a NRM oral history of volunteering initiative led by NRM volunteering team between 2012 and 2015, with the aim to record the voices of people sharing their volunteering experiences at the National Railway Museum, including NRM colleagues supervising volunteers.