Dan F. - Meet the Team

Dan f with tinplate

Hi, I'm Dan. I am one of MRW’s newest employees and work here full time as an admin assistant, having started my apprenticeship in accountancy in October 2024. I have a real passion for all types of railways, including heritage and I was attracted to work at MRW because it offered an opportunity for me to work in the industry and develop new skills along the way.

Some of my earliest memories are of being taken to various standard gauge railways by my father and grandfather as a toddler. Predominantly, I have always been interested in the steam engines as well as other parts of the railway. 

Dan F with Simplex on Tuesday club night with Nick W

Together me and my father built a OO gauge model railway at home which included a main running line as well as a set of locomotive sheds for the steam engines. It also had a long set of carriage sidings to allow us better access to our trains when running many at once. The model railway is based on a late BR countryside with a small station as well as a minor locomotive storage area with the basic provisions for one or two locomotives. Currently this is a work in progress as I am building up the scenery around the viaduct that I have built from scratch. 

I have fully restored a BR tail lamp at home and now it works well. This began as a rusty shell with a lot of potential and now is fully painted and has been used on vintage trains at the North Norfolk Railway. 

My full size BR midland region tail lamp

I have also restored a BR signal lamp burner which looked a little sorry for itself when I bought it as it was rusty and thickly painted. It has now been fully stripped back and repainted correctly. I have developed a keen interest in all railway lamps particularly tinplate ones from these experiences. 

My full size signal lamp burner

At school I studied a BTEC in Business for one of my GCSE options as I wished to pursue a job which had some relation to the heritage railway movement. I have always taken a keen interest in the running of various railway companies of all types.  

Volunteering:

In 2021, post Covid, I joined the Youth Development Club at the North Norfolk Railway where I had the opportunity to drive the Y14 which is now out of ticket. I have now also driven the 7F back to shed at the end of a turn with Dan. 

Dan F at NNR as a Travelling Ticket Inspector

I have been volunteering at the NNR for almost 3 years now, so I have gained railway experience through this. At the age of 14 I then I started volunteering as a Traveling Ticket Inspector (TTI), a role I really enjoyed as it meant I could meet passengers and help them with any questions or queries they might have about the railway. After this, I also volunteered as a member of the station staff at all three of the stations on the NNR. Now I am 17 and an active volunteer on the footplate. I started off as a cleaner and now I've progressed to being a 3rd man which means I get to ride on the footplate and uncouple/couple trains and fire under instruction from the rostered firemen. 

Working on the footplate is a hard job with a very early start as you have to sign on at Weybourne Shed for 5:30 am or 6:00 am. My most recent turn was during Storm Darragh which was a bizarre mix of extremely strong winds, low light and steam! I prepared the engine on my own, cleaning out the firebox with the previous day's fire still on the bars, then emptied out the smokebox and after making sure everything was safe I started to light a fire. It's a lot of responsibility as I have to make important checks of the boiler and the loco in the morning and I am then responsible for getting the fire lit and bringing the loco round until the fireman turns up. 

Dan F on 7F with Dan M

I have always had an interest in railways but this has turned into a real passion since starting to volunteer. With the support of my father who is also an active volunteer, I have been lucky enough to experience and work on heritage railways and gain experience that many of my peers would not have at 17. I decided I wanted a career in some sort of industry connected to railways and since this decision I have worked hard in school and college to ensure that I got the grades to achieve this. My lifelong goal has been to work around railway items and locomotives on a daily basis.

After I joined the team at MRW I have also progressed into working on and with miniature railways. My first step into this was when my parents bought a 7 ¼ inch gauge 14xx locomotive that required some work to get it up to a running state as it has been on the go since the late 1980s. 

Additionally, when I joined the team I bought a petrol hydraulic locomotive called “Buddy” in 7 ¼ inch gauge which works well. So far I have test run it at Pugney's Light railway in Wakefield and I hope to take it to more railways and events this year.

Dan F on Buddy loco

My final and most recent edition to my fleet is my 5 inch gauge Simplex called “Rosa”. This locomotive does not currently work but l hope to have the boiler leak fixed so that I am able to take this one out to miniature railways this year. This locomotive was built in the late 1980s and is named after the four children of the owner as the first letter of each of their first names. 

My role at MRW:

Here at MRW I am an apprentice admin assistant so I assist with ensuring all the orders are fulfilled and sent to customers within the set timeframes. I also help to list products on our website and ensure that we have all the items we need in stock. I also do all of the bookkeeping and accountancy work which involves reconciling invoices and sending relevant info to HMRC.

It always brings me joy to see happy customers and seeing the amazing work done by the team in the workshop. 

How I ended up at MRW: 

I found out about MRW through online research into the miniature railway companies that were around as I wanted to see what opportunities were available to me for a career in railways. I then met Dan when I was volunteering on the North Norfolk Railway and under his instruction I assisted with the firing of “Hercules”. 

I never imagined that a job as perfect as this could exist for me. 

When I saw the advert on Facebook for the apprenticeship I knew that it would be ideal for me and enable me to do what I love at an interesting and innovative company.

My favourite things about working at MRW:

I love learning new things about various parts of miniature railways and being able to do this in a company with such friendly and helpful staff makes it even better. 

Proper busman's holiday for the MRW team!

I feel very privileged to be working at MRW where there are constant new products and experiences that make the company a very interesting place to work. For example, I did some work on the Tinkerbell locomotive here the day after photographing a GWR gauge glass lamp. I also appreciate all the assistance and learning that the company allows me to gain on a daily basis in regards to accounting and admin. 

My Future Aspirations:

My dream for the future is to continue working at MRW and to develop and learn as much as I possibly can. I would also love to be able to own a 7 ¼” gauge Y14 as this was the first steam locomotive that I ever drove when I was aged 14 at NNR. It would be very special to have my own version of the engine to drive around miniature railway shows and exhibitions. 

Y14 at NNR after driving it.