We are back with a blog after a short holiday break.
We are pleased to report that former GWR 0-6-2T No. 5643 has been back in service and operated successfully at the East Lancashire Railway after its winter maintenance programme. 
We have a couple of photos here courtesy of Sam Middleton who had a ride on the locomotive as owner’s representative on Thursday, 7th April.
The Trust’s ‘Austerity 0-6-0ST locomotive Cumbria has also been back in action at the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway after having had a failed tube replaced. Thanks to the Embsay Shed News Facebook page for the photo.
Back at Preston, Alan and Sam have been adjusting the cotter pin that holds the right hand piston rod into the crosshead on Furness Railway locomotive No. 20, after which it double-headed one service train on the Ribble Steam Railway on Sunday and took two service trains on its own. 
It is planned to be operating the RSR’s service this next Saturday, when the Railway will be hosting the Annual General Meeting of the Industrial Railway Society.
There has been a key step forward with the overhaul of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 with the gluing down of the new canvas onto the wooden roof. Firstly, one half of the canvas was rolled back to allow John Dixon, Paul Balshaw and Tim to spread the ‘yellow peril’ glue onto the southern side of the roof on Wednesday, 6th April. 
After a pause for lunch, the canvas was then pressed down onto the glue using John’s hand made wooden tamping blocks. The second side was then glued down the following Wednesday by John, Ed and Tim. 
The next job, which John has also started, is to prepare to refit the end and side beading strips.
Inside the coach there has been further progress on the removal of old varnish from the woodwork by Roger, 
John Davis, 
Fred and Neil (but we only have photos of the first three!).
Work has continued on Caliban with Ade removing the piston heads from the piston rods. A quote for a new saddle tank has been accepted and the next job will be to liberate the old tank from the weeds near the RSR’s running shed so that it can be used as a pattern.
Finally there has been more welding on Wootton Hall’s tender and Tim has been hiding some of the new side patches with filler and paint. Ian Massey from Stoke-on-Trent has also been to do some welding on the new screw reverse mechanism which is being made for 4979, with Keith then taking that project further forward.
First of all we head off to Bury where the Tuesday Gang has been putting 5643 back together after the receipt of the refurbished valves back from Tyseley and the subsequent machining of the valve spindle bearings to suit. The photo shows Keith at work with the refitting of the valves, which fitted very snugly we are told.
Once fitted it was time to fit the valve covers and then the front buffer beam. Keith took the loco for a short test run up the sidings before the formal steam test which took place on Friday. 5643 is now scheduled to operate on the East Lancs Railway later this week. Well done to all those involved in the winter work programme.
Moving over to Embsay, we were surprised and sorry to have learnt that one of Cumbria‘s tubes had shown signs of leakage a week last Friday. However, we have some spare unused tubes at Preston from the same batch, a couple of which were picked up by Matt Anderson on Wednesday and fitted by Andy Booth on Thursday. Cumbria is scheduled to be back in service at Embsay tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for the quick remedial action taken to get the loco back in service.
Back at Preston work has continued on Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 to the point that we cannot find any more excuses to delay gluing down the new canvas onto the roof. The torpedo vents have been repaired and painted.
Similarly, the former gas lamp housings are also lined up in the shed ready for use.
We may all be very busy with all the work going on but John Davis took a little time off from cleaning old varnish from the interior of GER No. 5 to enjoy a cuppa!
John Dixon has been manufacturing four wooden tamping blocks which will be used to seal the canvas on to the glued roof surface. All being well we will be gluing down the southern half of the canvas on GER No. 5 this Wednesday.
Finally, Ribble Rail full timer Matt Crabtree, who is currently undertaking a Level 2 welding course, is very usefully taking the opportunity to weld new plates into Wootton Hall’s tender tank to keep his hand in on the practical side of welding.
This photo shows that there will be plenty of opportunity for further practice!
A working party was convened at Bury last Tuesday when one of the splashers was re-fitted.
Last Wednesday and Friday were spent in getting FR 20 ready (including coaling up) for the RSR’s Spring Steam Gala at the weekend. FRT volunteers also spent time giving the RSR’s Museum a much needed spring clean in readiness for the start of the new season. Thanks go to all those who assisted in making the weekend a success.
We have a photo here of a spotless FR 20 taken by Sam.
Last Tuesday’s working party at Bury saw the bridge plate above 5643’s piston rods and valve spindles fitted back into place. 
Keith is planning to pick up the refurbished valves from Tyseley this week after which it will be necessary to turn down the valve spindle glands to suit the newly machined spindles.
Ade has continued his work on Caliban, seen here cleaning out its valve spindle glands.
Furness Railway No. 20 is due to appear at next weekend’s Ribble Steam Railway Gala. Sam Middleton was given the task of re-fitting the washout plugs.
News was received that trackwork was due to take place in the RSR’s yard at Preston this week which meant that FR 20 had to be transferred to the RSR’s running shed rather sooner than planned, before this trackwork is started. Ade kindly came in on Friday to assist with the shunt and FR 20’s engine and tender are seen here in the process of being coupled up after winter maintenance.
FR 20 is pictured with the other three locomotives expected to take part in the Gala.
We start with the news that the FRT’s ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST Cumbria passed its formal 14 month steam test last Wednesday and successfully operated a test train in readiness for traffic this year at the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. Thanks to Matt Anderson at Embsay for making this happen.
Back at Preston, work continued on the overhaul of GER Royal Saloon No. 5. John Dixon has been checking over each of the repaired gas lamp housings and ensuring that tops and bottoms of each housing fit sweetly when paired up.
There has been more work inside the coach to remove old varnish, undertaken by Roger and Fred (pictured here) plus Ed and John Davis. Phil Bell has been attending to the doors and associated fittings to ensure that they all work satisfactorily.
Sam and Tim had a productive time on Friday cleaning out scale from FR 20’s foundation ring using an air line and even the vacuum cleaner, which accessed the ring through the mudholes. We will be starting to put FR 20 back together this week in readiness for its appearance at the RSR’s Steam Gala on the 26th and 27th March.
Finally, work has continued on 5643 at Bury with last Tuesday’s working party re-fitting the smokebox door which has had its inner plate patched up.
The motion has also been re-fitted in anticipation of receiving the valves back from Tyseley Loco Works, where the valve spindles are being skimmed to rectify wear.
There have been further working parties to Bury to remove 5643’s pistons so that any swarf resulting from the valve re-bores could be removed. 
The pistons have now been re-fitted, with John Dixon seen coaxing one of the pistons into position.
Tim has been working with John Dixon to repair the gas light housing turrets prior to re-fitting.
Ade has refitted the second of Caliban’s front buffers, which had to be removed to enable the re-bore of the cylinders to take place.
Sam has been cleaning up Caliban’s regulator handle with emery paper.
Paul Newton has set about restoring the Furness Railway bench that was brought to Preston recently by Jim Kay.
Keith has been progressing the fabrication of Wootton Hall’s reverser control.
Finally, a visit to Scruton on the Wensleydale Railway on Saturday found the former Vickers Gun Range signalbox (previously donated by the FRT) looking in good shape. It is planned to site this permanently at Leyburn to control a loop that is being installed.
Another very short update this week, but one that reflects in picture style (thanks, Sam) the important work that has been carried out on 5643 at Bury in the past weeks.
Last week saw the valve liners being re-bored to cure anomalies. As you will see, it has been necessary to remove the front buffer beam and bridge plate above the slide bars.
Details of the new diameters of the valve liners have been conveyed to Tyseley Locomotive Works where the valves, with newly fitted rings, should be ready at the end of next week.
The most noticeable progress is with GER Royal Saloon No. 5 where the new canvas was magically uplifted on to the roof.
The idea is that the canvas should be allowed to settle for a few days before being bonded to the roof with bonding paste – perhaps a week on Wednesday when we have all the necessary implements assembled.
The gas lamp housings have received further attention with John Dixon seen here marrying a restored top to the lower turret section which inserts through the roof from below. Like the upper element of the housing, the turrets are also in need of repairs, which are now in hand.
Inside the coach John Davis has been removing old paint from the corridor ceiling.
Fred has continued with the job of removing paint from the roof rain strips.
Elsewhere, Roger is seen giving Fluff‘s horn a coat of paint. Keith has been making lots of noise inside Wootton Hall’s tender tank and finding a few additional holes in the process! Ade has also been competing for noise levels whilst modifying Caliban’s brake blocks.
New star plates have been made and fitted to the big ends; the previous star plates had come to the end of their lives and were allowing the big end wedge bolt to loosen when in service.
A new taper pin has been fitted to the fireman’s side injector water handle.
The smokebox door cross bar has been replaced after the original had become warped.
The smokebox door has been removed and is seen being sanded down by Embsay’s chairman, Rob Shaw, before being given a fresh coat of paint.
Ade has spent time this week adjusting Caliban’s brake blocks to enable a better fit on the wheels,
Ron Crowe is seen here setting up the drill in order to put some holes in brass flanges for Wootton Hall.
John Dixon has completed the final repairs to the roof of GER Royal Saloon No. 5 which is now clear of all obstructions and ready for painting. Phil Bell has finished splicing new wood into the damaged areas of the wooden canvas retaining strips that run at cantrail height along the coach.
One of the final roof jobs to be undertaken is the repair of the gas lamp housings. Seven of the eight housings require a visit to the FRT’s very own Repair Shop where Tim has been attending to the ‘tin worm’ – the first of the housings is seen here on Friday before and after treatment.