Rebekah Cunningham

3 hours ago, Patrick Davey said:

@Rebekah Cunningham like so many, I was absolutely gutted to learn of your Dad's passing, a truly exceptional railwayman and a genuinely nice person, I met Noel a few times and corresponded with him too and he was only ever charming, kind and very very helpful.  It has been said that he was equally at home talking to his professional colleagues and also the enthusiast community and I can certainly vouch for the latter, a passionate railwayman to whom we all owe a huge debt of gratitude for his years of work keeping the steam locos running to perfection.

But the biggest loss is of course to you and your family - my sincerest condolences to you all on the loss of such a wonderful person, taken far too soon.  You can all be extremely proud of Noel.

May he rest in peace xx

Thank you so so much, the love, support and kindness from everyone is what's carrying us through these hard days.

On 16/1/2023 at 11:14 PM, leslie10646 said:

I've just read this in an e-mail from a "Timer" friend.

Obviously Noel was very highly regarded by the Students of Locomotive Performance (aka "Timers"). He drove (and fired) most expertly and was just as enthusiastic about a day out on 186's footplate as he was on Merlin or No.4. He learned the craft of driving the big Compound from an earlier GNR driver and when the day came for the IR drivers to take Merlin on a RPSI tour, Rob Jolly came up to the North and travelled down on her footplate to get some tips. Noel drove to Dundalk, with Rob watching how it was done. At Dundalk, Noel put him in the driver's seat, took up the shovel himself and let Rob have a hands-on tutorial. That was the kind of guy Noel was.

Nearly twenty years ago, he asked one of the timing fraternity for some idea of the best performances on the GNR main line in the preservation era. Armed with that information, he set about beating them. In particular, he was interested in getting Merlin over the great climb over the Border without falling below 50mph - he got very close! 

He got 70mph out of the recently-overhauled Q Class No.131 and we timers were looking forward to experiencing him driving No.171 when her overhaul is complete. Alas, that is a pleasure we will be denied.

My sympathy to his friends, family and colleagues who have lost a truly great guy.

May he indeed Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory.

Thank you so much for sharing these precious memories of my dad , Rebekah