Furness Railway Trust blog

Another very short blog this week.

We have taken delivery of a large metal recycling skip this last week with a view to weighing in redundant tubes, superheater flues, superheater elements and anything else that doesn’t have any useful purpose. This should keep us busy for a few hours!

Caliban’s boiler is scheduled to be picked up on Wednesday morning for its trip to the Williton workshop of the West Somerset Railway where it will receive a new inner firebox. Ade has been in today to move 5643’s side tanks out of the way for the booked hi-ab to lift the boiler. Hopefully the hi-ab will also be able to bring back the first batch of stays for 5643 that we have ordered from Williton and then pick up the superheater elements for 5643 and a coupling rod for Wootton Hall from Tyseley. It will also be transferring a GWR locomotive water tank from Williton to Tyseley for someone else, so no mileage wasted here! (Don’t ask how many telephone calls and emails this has taken to organise!)

Finally, a final reminder that the Annual General Meeting will be held in the FRT shed at Preston at 7.30 pm this Wednesday, 18th September. We’d love to see as many as possible of our members there.

A short blog this week.

There has been further work on Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643. John Dixon is seen busy with the welder with one of 5643’s side tanks. Some of the water baffles for the bunker have also been fitted.

Keith has been fitting new footplate supports to the tender of Great Western Railway ‘Hall’ class 4-6-0 No. 4979 Wootton Hall.

Work on refreshing the FRT’s mess room in on the last lap in between the rain showers with Sim applying undercoat yellow to the corner posts.

A first reminder that the Annual General Meeting will be held in the FRT shed at Preston at 7.30 pm on Wednesday, 18^th September.

Finally, for those travelling to the Ribble Steam Railway by public transport, please note that Preston Bus No. 100 bus service from Preston station to McDonalds on Pedders Lane (every 15 minutes) has been replaced by the Nos. 19 and 20 which each operate every 20 minutes, so in theory a bus every ten minutes – plus of course Nos. 74 and 75 operated now by Archway Travel.

There has been more progress with the overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643 over the past couple of weeks. Ian Massey has now removed the second, right hand, cylinder liner, the gouging rods making a spectacular light display.

Once the top of the liner was cut it was necessary to apply brute force to remove it. John Dixon and Keith are seen hauling it out of the cylinder after Ian Massey had persuaded it to move!

Chris Rycroft has been reaming out stay holes in the side of the firebox, with assistance from John Dixon, using a borrowed air drill.

This piece of equipment proved to be very efficient and, with much more work of this nature required, a search was conducted for a suitable second-hand drill – new drills, if you can find them, are very expensive. Fortunately, Sam and Chris identified such a drill and a price agreed. The drill arrived last Wednesday with Sam seen cutting open the packaging.

This new yellow bit of kit was quickly tested and is now ready for action.

Outside, John Dixon and Ed Tatham have been beavering away on the bunker and tanks, removing rust and, in the case of the bunker water tank, applying fibreglass and two-part epoxy paint sealant. Also trying to avoid the seemingly persistent unsettled weather have been Jon, Sim and Tim during their mission to spruce up the exterior of the mess room. It is hoped to reduce the many shades of grey to one of gloss grey if the weather is fine this next week.

Furness Railway locomotive No. 20 is due to operate the Ribble Steam Railway’s service this Saturday, 7^th September.

Finally, there was a test outing of Borrows 0-4-0 well tank No. 48 of 1906 on Saturday in readiness for its appearance at the RSR’s Gala on the 28^th and 29^th September. Judging by the smile on owner Phil Steer’s face, the test must have been successful.

It has been a case of more of the same as far as work as Preston was concerned this last week. Jon Dixon and Tim have made progress with the exterior redecoration of the mess room, with the roof almost finished and the east facing side receiving both undercoat and gloss finishes courtesy of some unexpected sunshine.

There was some disappointment on Thursday when the air drill being used to ream out the stay holes on Great Western Railway No. 5643’s firebox didn’t live up to the task. A new drill is being sought for this next week. However, there has been further progress with the cleaning of 5643’s rear water tanks where some two-part epoxy paint will be applied. A coat of bitumastic paint has been painted inside the bunker. Keith has been cutting up steel plate to fit in both 5643’s rear water tank and also 4979’s tender so there will be plenty of work for our welder to do.

Finally, Live Steam had a successful gig at the Engine Inn at Cark-in-Cartmel on Saturday evening, although it was not without incident. Three police vans appeared in the usually sleepy village to attend to a couple of members of the audience who had been ejected for unruly behaviour. Although it is said that they had paid to hire a holiday cottage in the village, it wasn’t required that night as we hear they were given alternative accommodation courtesy of Cumbria Police!

Furness Railway locomotive No. 20 returned to Preston from its slightly extended seaside holiday at Minehead at 9.30 pm on Wednesday evening and was unloaded the following day. There was just time therefore on Friday to put back guard irons, sand pipes and other equipment as well as give it a thorough inspection and clean before it re-entered service on the Ribble Steam Railway on Saturday. Thanks go to Sam, Alan, John and Jack for their help and contributions to ensuring that FR 20 looked sparkling for those who came to ride behind it.

Work continues on the overhaul at Preston of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643 where Ed has been cleaning out the tanks, a dirty job as you can see from the photographs. Needless to say, he was then accused of giving everyone black looks!

Thursday saw Chris Rycroft, John Dixon and Keith riveting some new steel angle to the frames under where the bunker is situated. John is seen warming up the rivets…

……which can then be seen securely in position.

Some more riveting is still required and Keith is seen here preparing the holes with a drill. The new steel angle can also be seen in situ.

Finally, Sim and Tim have continued their work on the repaint of the mess room, with Sim seen here giving the roof a coat of paint.

After a break of a week for holidays (and what good weather!) we are back with another short update.

The main event this week at Preston was the removal of the first of the two cylinder liners from Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643 by Ian Massey. Ian has promised to reappear in a couple of weeks to remove the second cylinder liner.

More progress has been made by Jon and Sim on the seemingly never-ending job of cleaning and painting the mess room roof. It is to be hoped that the weather stays fair this week for more work on this project.

Furness Railway No. 20 has featured in the latest edition of Heritage Railway magazine with some photographs taken during its recent stay at Minehead. A lovely letter has been received from Andy Palk, the Running Foreman at Minehead, thanking everyone from the FRT who assisted at Minehead for their help. In Andy’s words, “FR 20 did the West Somerset Railway proud for their 150 event.”
We couldn’t resist this extra photo of our own from the event – two Manchester built locos, but D7017 is a mere 99 years younger than FR20!
FR20 is due to arrive back at Preston on Wednesday or Thursday this week and is scheduled to operate the Ribble Steam Railway service this Saturday.

Finally, the latest edition of the FRT magazine, The Iron Horse, is in the process of being distributed to members along with the Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts for 2023 and an invitation to the Annual General Meeting which is to be held at 7.30 pm om Wednesday, 18^th September in the FRT shed at Preston.

After five days of Furness Railway No. 20 operating trains at the West Somerset Railway, the party is over and members of Team FR 20 are now back home.

The locomotive was hired by the WSR, along with Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST No. 3581 of 1924, Marston Thompson and Evershed No. 3, from the Foxfield Railway, to haul two VIP trains from Watchet to Minehead to celebrate the 150^th Anniversary of the opening of that stretch of railway on the 16^th July 1874. The first special ran on Tuesday, 16^th, the exact date of the anniversary, with a re-run on Saturday, 20^th.

On each occasion, the 0-4-0ST led the empty train from Minehead to Williton where it spent an hour in the yard before heading back to Watchet for the ribbon cutting ceremonies with FR 20 in the lead. The two locomotives worked well together, tackling the east bound Washford bank and the westbound climb out of Watchet with aplomb.

Both specials arrived back at Minehead a minute or two ahead of schedule, which on the Saturday was especially important as a main line special from Paddington, hauled by ‘Black 5’ 4-6-0 44871,was scheduled to arrive at Minehead at 1 pm. Over the five days, the two locomotives also worked many shuttle trains out of Minehead and over Seaward Crossing, passengers only being asked to give a donation for the ride. These were extremely popular and drew much interest from those visiting the railway over the five days of operation.

There was a large degree of input from FRT members during the visit, which made sure that FR 20 was looking at its very best and therefore attracted many favourable comments from the public and also on social media.

It wasn’t all plain sailing, for the initial steaming, turning the locomotive on the turntable and fitness to run exam took place on Monday, 21^st July in pouring rain (photo Mike Lanning) which soaked those involved to the skin. However, the weather then perked up and was generally good for the rest of the stay.

There was a day off from operations on the Friday which allowed a FRT party of nine to visit the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway in beautiful sunshine, followed by a trip to Woody Bay to see the rolling stock on the revived section of the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway, with a guided tour and steam cab rides on 2-4-2T Lyn in the platform, arranged courtesy of General Manager Stuart Nellams.

Mention must be made of the efforts of Alison Pinch who sold many souvenirs during the week. The new card reader worked a treat and certainly helped sales.

No date yet for the arrival of FR 20 back at Preston, however, it is due back in service at the RSR on Saturday, 10^th August. Thanks go to the people at the West Somerset Railway for their friendly welcome to all the FRT members. It is a lovely railway and definitely worth a visit for those who have not already ventured there.

The latest issue of The Iron Horse magazine is being proof read and should be with members shortly along with an invitation to the Annual General Meeting, which will take place at 7.30 pm in the FRT shed at Preston on Wednesday evening, 18^th September.

Finally, FRT member and RSR driver Ben Valentine, who spent the week helping out at Minehead, was offered a cab ride and a turn on the shovel on GWR ‘Hall class 4-6-0 No. 6990 Witherslack Hall last Thursday. FRT member Jimmy Dutton appeared and thought that we had TV star Piglet of the NYMR on board when he looked down the platform. There was a call for Jimmy to get a new pair of spectacles – but then two more people made the same error!

No blog next week due to more holidays!!

 

A last blog before FR 20 departs to Minehead this Wednesday for its summer holiday. We do not anticipate there being a blog next week.

Last Monday evening saw the FRT Trustees gather for a Zoom meeting. A key decision made was to proceed with the replacement of Peckett 0-4-0ST Caliban’s inner firebox of which more details will be made public in the coming weeks.

Wednesday saw Jon and Sim working applying paint to the mess room roof. They have also put a top coat of red on 5643’s buffer beam.

Tim has been tackling the front of the mess room which has suffered some corrosion. He has also been painting the firebox cladding sheets for 5643 which will go back into storage now that the tortoise shell mudhole covers have now received the top coat as well.

Keith has been fabricating new boiler water trays for 5643 to replace the previous trays which had suffered from corrosion.

Finally, as some of you will be aware, FRT member Phil Steer’s Borrows 0-4-0 well tank No. 48 The King has returned to Preston after an extensive overhaul at the Flour Mill workshops at Bream. It had previously undertaken some running in trials at the Avon Valley Railway and had its first steaming at Preston on Saturday. Phil is pictured here with his locomotive.

A short round up this week.

The warm and sunny weather last week (where did that go to?!) allowed further work on the external paintwork of the mess room. Work has also continued outside on the cab and bunker of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643 where John Dixon and Ed Tatham have been cleaning off old paint and rust. During this process the state of the shovelling plate in the bunker was called into question, so Keith set about cutting out some pretty thin metal which will be replaced.

Furness Railway No. 20 was back in service for Armed Forces Day at the Ribble Steam Railway, along with Great Eastern Railway Royal saloon No. 5 where customers were served with coffees, ploughman’s lunches and afternoon teas.

Anne and Phil Burton took the opportunity to staff the sales stand and also try out the new card reader that has been purchased by the Trust. The latter seemed to be a success, encouraging sales that wouldn’t otherwise perhaps have been made by cash.

FR 20’s activity at the weekend was its last before embarking on the long journey next week down to the West Somerset Railway for a week of operation. It is planned to give the locomotive a good clean and check over this week before it goes on its seaside holiday.

Apologies for the lack of a blog last week. Unfortunately, Blog Towers 1 was hit by one of those viruses that seems to be doing the rounds and it’s now arrived at Blog Towers 2! Anyhow, that has not stopped others from carrying on the good work at Preston.

The return of the reprofiled radial wheels for Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643 has allowed the truck to be re-assembled, ready for inserting under the frames at some point in the future.

Phil Bell has made a welcome return after his spell in main works and has fitted some new handles to the drawers in the kitchen of GER No. 5.

With apparent renewed energy after his layoff, Phil has also been lending a hand to remove stay heads on the firebox of 5643.

Finally, Furness Railway No. 20 is due to appear in service at Preston next Saturday with Great Eastern Railway royal saloon No. 5 in connection with Armed Forces Day. Its last turn in operation was on Father’s Day on Sunday 16^th June, with Ade driving.