Oral history interview with John Charlesworth conducted and recorded by Tony Steadman on 24 February 2015, in the mess room of the Miniature Railway team at the National Railway Museum. Duration: 34 minutes. How he was introduced to railways; volunteering at Middleton Railway; member of the Friends of the National Railway Museum (FNRM), joined in 1977 on information points; rigidity of staff at museum; 1985 helped with work on Tuesday night restoring the Duchess of Hamilton locomotive (DOH); [00:05:00] career, worked on maintenance at power stations, hot riveting and air drills, lived in Selby; 1988 footplate ride on Green Arrow; support crew on DOH on main line; [00:10:00] miniature railway and working with public, Richard Gibbon, increased numbers, driver training for miniature railway, started charging, change, replacement of tracks; [00:15:00] miniature railway originally thought of as a toy, changed when charges came in; Deltic introduced on miniature railway, run round; 2014 rebuild; volunteer age differences; [00:20:00] recruitment of new drivers; outside examiners; everyone a driver; difficult passengers; [00:25:00] cataloguing with John Peck; drawing of accident; preparing standard gauge locomotives; fireman during day; [00:30:00] not so much to do at present, commenting on open spaces in Station Hall; believes there is potential for more volunteer involvement; enjoyed volunteering [ 00:34:14] [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.