Alcester, UK — Specialist transport engineering systems manufacturer Severn-Lamb is continuing its long term relationship with UK venue Drayton Manor Theme Park, carrying out work in a variety of capacities at the park.
The company is making the most of its diverse range of design, engineering, manufacturing and refurbishment skills to provide Drayton Manor with a range of services for a number of different attractions, among them one of the park’s oldest rides, the Chairlift. Severn-Lamb has completed the refurbishment of the Chairlift gondolas including the addition of new livery to match the decor on the park’s new hotel (the ride passes close to the front of the hotel), as well as providing a replacement back-up engine and service schedule for the ride.
Additionally, during the 2011/12 winter period, Severn-Lamb has been carrying out refurbishment work on the park’s Buffalo coaster while the company has also recently fitted a new engine and stern drive to the Drayton Queen Mississippi river boat, which it originally supplied to the park back in the 1980s. And at the same time, Severn-Lamb was responsible for working with the Marine Coastguard Agency (MCA) to attain a certificate of operation for inland waterways for the boat on behalf of the park.
Other on-going work at Drayton Manor includes the maintenance of all the park’s back-up engines on its rides and attractions, among them those on the major roller coaster G-Force, the Thomas and Percy railway engines in the Thomas Land area and the back-up engine used in the ballroom entertainment venue. “We are very proud of our on-going relationship with Drayton Manor which we have enjoyed for many years,” commented Severn-Lamb Managing Director Patrick Lamb. “We originally supplied the park with a Rio Grande train in the 1970s when my grandfather was running the business and have been involved there ever since in various capacities. The variety of work we are carrying out and the products and services we are supplying are a great example of what we are now offering parks and other venues as we further diversify and make full use of the varied skills and areas of expertise we have available.”
For Drayton Manor, park operations manager David Bromilow commented: “There has always been a very good relationship between Drayton Manor and Severn-Lamb, which goes back to the beginning of the 1970s when the company supplied our first 10 ¼” Rio Grande train. In addition to the manufacturing side, they also have all the expertise and facilities for refurbishing and servicing work on rides, attractions and other equipment so we are taking advantage of that. We were thrilled with the full refurbishment Severn-Lamb carried out on our Drayton Queen and we work very closely with them on what we want to achieve, with Severn-Lamb coming up with the solution(s). They also co-ordinate with our ride inspector, LTC, which is very useful too.
“We feel extremely confident in what Severn-Lamb does and our type of park depends on this kind of service, particularly in these days of longer seasons and operating periods. It’s all part of our planned preventative maintenance programme and is really like having our own off-site maintenance team. We now have improved reliability due to enhanced servicing regimes, some of which are provided by the SL team.” 
ABOUT SEVERN-LAMB
Severn-Lamb has been involved in designing, building and maintaining leisure and light urban transport systems since 1947. Based near Stratford-upon-Avon, England, (Shakespeare’s birthplace) the business continues to be family run and has built up an enviable reputation for exceptional quality and innovation in its chosen field.
The company’s core strengths are in the development and customisation of light urban and leisure transport systems. Severn-Lamb has developed, built and supported applications which include rail and road trains, light urban monorails, themed monorails, custom electric vehicles, replica vintage vehicles, themed buses and street transport and river and lake passenger boats.
The company’s customer base is worldwide and includes theme parks, amusement attractions, heritage sites, shopping malls, festivals, museums, family entertainment centres, tourist resorts and hotels, municipalities and governments
Severn-Lamb’s products can be found operating in more than 50 countries, many for more than 40 years.
