Back in March, Councillor Ospreay and Councillor Sarah Edwards went to the campus to meet the staff and see the work the students were doing. They were given a guided tour and were very impressed with the brand new facilities at the purpose-built construction and engineering centre.
As the new train was recently put into place, Councillor Ospreay said: “Well done to teacher Steven Weatherley and his team of students who have done an incredible job. The project has excelled my expectations. It’s fantastic!
“This is a great college and it shows that you can create great things when people come together. Here is a wonderful example of how students of Rainham Campus have put their time to excellent use for the good of the entire community, and it means a lot.
“This is something good happening in Rainham by young people. It needs celebrating and everyone needs to get on board!”
Steven Weatherley said: “This was an idea that turned into a project and has now become a reality! The wooden train started off as a sketch design with a great deal of input from the students. It was all hands on deck and it involved a lot of thought, planning and design.
Bring the vision to life
“Once we had a plan, it was a challenge to bring that vision to life. It involved a lot of brainstorming among students studying carpentry at all levels. We wanted them to understand the transferable skills they would have by building a train and then applying those skills to everyday carpentry tasks.
“The roof was a feathered edge style roof and the style of timber is used in fencing panels. They used it so that if water hits the top, it will run off.
“We also liaised with the plumbing students at the campus regarding pipes and valves. We worked as a team to discuss and bounce ideas off each other, and overcome any challenges that arose.
“It’s been great to show the local community the type of projects we are working on and that we are producing students with excellent construction skills.
“There were too many students who helped out to name, but special mention must go to the apprentices – without them we wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
Stephen Brayshaw said: “The students and staff are proud to have helped our local Tesco with its fundraising activities by creating this fantastic wooden train that has pride of place outside the store.
“This project provided an invaluable hands-on learning experience for the students, allowing them to apply the skills they’ve developed in class to a real-world community initiative. The students should all be very proud of what they’ve achieved.”
Carriages for the train will be completed and installed over the next few months.
Join an NCC carpentry course to receive comprehensive training in various aspects of carpentry, from basic woodworking to advanced construction techniques.
