STEAM UNDER REPAIR!
The editor was invited to meet the Goakes family at March, Cambridgeshire, to catch up with the restorations currently underway at their works and to look at their own collection.
As people get older and retire there are fewer experienced personnel to take on the task of boilermaking, to keep our steam engines on the road today. But one person who has been at the job for nearly 13 years is David Goakes, who started off with the late Mike Maskell, where he learned his trade thoroughly before going solo some six years ago now.
He had a fine grounding in steam, thanks to his very practical parents, Linda and Michael Goakes. David has two brothers, Andrew and Thomas, who are both builders and are also keen steam hobbyists. One must not forget Catherine, David’s sister, who works in the health and safety industry and is a keen engine steersperson – when she can get her brothers out of the way!
A BACKGROUND IN BUILDING
Michael Goakes’ family are steeped in the building industry, particularly Michael’s great grandfather, grandfather and his brothers, around the March area of Cambridgeshire, but Michael’s father was a printer by trade. The family business was at one time very substantial, employing between 50-70 people on building
