Apologies for the lack of a blog last week. The main blog computer decided that it had become tired of life and has had to be replaced. Needless to say, it is never as simple as that, with hours being spent re-loading and organising the software! However, this has not affected the work at Preston which (fortunately) tends to be a little less sophisticated!
Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 has again been devouring considerable labour as efforts are made to bring this lengthy project to a conclusion, hopefully at some point this winter.
Most of the interior mouldings are now back in place and repaired by Phil. John and Ed meanwhile continue to clean up the woodwork, John on hands and knees in the former royal lavatory (a posture which somehow feels appropriate?!) and Ed in the kitchen. A short planning meeting took place last Wednesday with Alison to determine the future catering requirements and fitments required to bring the kitchen are up to modern standards. A preference for the remainder of the internal fabric decoration has also been determined – needless to say, it was the most expensive in the catalogue. Another round of measuring is required to ensure that we do not over order!
Outside, Tim has completed the final coat of varnish apart from a couple of panels which need some further attention. The windows on the south side and both ends have been cleaned externally and the brass door trims polished for the first time in many many years.
John Dixon has been fastidiously re-fitting the highly polished door knobs and handles, adjusting where necessary to ensure correct functioning of the door locks.
Sam has continued his work to re-install the lighting in the coach, seen here wiring up the light fittings.
Elsewhere, Keith has been applying some protective paint to the cladding on Wootton Hall, which has required some team working to remove and re-fit the pieces. Ade has been re-assembling the inside motion on Caliban.
Finally Live Steam had a successful gig at the Engine Inn at Cark a week last Friday and have been invited to perform there again at New Year’s Eve. Tim and Pete went on to perform the following day at the premises of the Ulverston Brewing Company for the exhibitors at the Barrow Model Railway Exhibition. Again, all seemed to go well and they already have a song request for next year!
Work has continued to progress well on the overhaul of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5. Having received the moquette for the chaise longue, it is now time to choose the rest of the material that will adorn the inside of the saloons and corridor below the windows. The first of the fabric samples have been received and examined. Naturally, the current preferred choice seems to be the most expensive! Meanwhile, Tim has been applying the final coat of vanish to the exterior of the vehicle.
There will soon be a need to re-fit the exterior fittings so John Dixon and Fred set about cleaning and polishing the door knobs and handles on Friday.
Work has also continued on Wootton Hall where Keith has been removing some very stubborn brackets from the insides of the engine’s frames. John Dixon has also been continuing his Saturday job of repairing Caliban’s cab.
The weekend saw the operation of Ribble Steam Railway’s very successful Steam Gala which featured five steam locomotives including Furness Railway No. 20 and visiting L&Y ‘Pug’ No. 19. 
The latter will depart Preston on Wednesday after its month-long stay at the RSR.
However, there has been plenty going on at Preston where the team working on Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 is finally beginning to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. John Dixon is seen here replacing one of the ceiling vents that he has been fettling and polishing.
The new moquette for the chaise longue has arrived after a delay and now will enable us to search for a suitable shade of matching material for the lower side panels in the saloon. 
Anne and Phil have been stripping down the chaise longue ready for new materials to be fitted.
Phil has been applying a first coat of varnish to the new veneer panels.
John Davis and Ed continue to clean up the remaining woodwork; it’s John’s turn for a photo this week.
Inevitably during this restoration we have discovered missing components that will be difficult to replace. However, we were visited on Wednesday, 14th, by 3D printing expert Andy Allthorn from Cark-in-Cartmel who kindly came down to demonstrate how this modern technology can used in re-creating such items and has already produced a new part for the light fittings.
Andy has also now set about re-creating handles for two of the internal sliding doors.
Dave Watkins has been able to supply a replacement cast brass oil box (no 3D printing here) for Wootton Hall’s tender which Keith has been working on.
Fred has been polishing one of the trunnions for a brake shaft for Wootton Hall.
Bob has been visiting regularly to work on Wootton Hall‘s regulator valve.
Alan and Sam have taken Caliban’s piston rods to Burscough for them to be metal spayed and ground in order to repair corrosion.
This last Saturday saw the Furness Railway Trust shed open to the public as part of the national Heritage Open Days scheme. We were delighted to welcome so many visitors and Tim admitted to having to keep up his tea uptake in order to avoid a dry throat during his many guided tours around the shed. The work on restoring GWR ‘Hall’ class 4-6-0 Wootton Hall and the overhaul of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 proved to be of particular interest and it is to be hoped that some of the visitors will become members to support this work. Outside the shed Ade was driving recently restored Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway ‘Pug’ 0-4-0ST No. 19 of 1910, courtesy of the L&Y Trust. At the other end of the trains was the FRT’s very own Furness Railway No. 20 with Alan and Sam Middleton on the footplate – not often you get locomotives with sequential numbers powering a train!
More good progress has been made on the Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon this week with Phil Bell having now replaced most of the damaged veneer. Anne and Phil Burton have been attending to the chaise longue in the larger saloon. We are still awaiting delivery of the new moquette which is being chased up. Attention is also being turned to replacing some missing light fittings and door straps.
Doing their best to publicise the FRT this last weekend were Tim and Alan, in a reduced Live Steam formation, who performed an impromptu half hour set of mainly railway songs at Fleetwood Folk Club’s second Folk Festival on Sunday afternoon.
John Dixon has formally announced that work on re-covering the roof of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 had been completed – apart from renewing the cabling to the internal lights which Sam is planning. Inside, work has continued on renewing veneered panels, painting ceilings and cleaning light fittings. More time is also now being spent on sorting out the former kitchen compartment where Ed is seen removing yet more varnish from the woodwork.
Another step forward was taken this week in the refurbishment of Wootton Hall’s tender tanks with the fitting of the reconstructed water take off sump. On Wednesday Ade operated the fork lift truck to lift it from the shed floor onto the tender tank.
We arrived on Friday to find that Keith and Matt had successfully used block and tackle to lift it into place, a perfect fit.
Andy Booth appeared on Friday to announce that Cumbria’s new tubes were now all fitted and that they would be beaded over when he returns from holiday.
Finally, we can reveal the latest loco to arrive at the Ribble Steam Railway. With no room available in the running shed it was shunted into the shop!
With Ade driving RSR’s mid-week train on Wednesday and Alan away on holiday, it has been a slightly quieter week. However, work has continued on Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 where the much anticipated replacement veneer arrived just after lunch on Friday. Phil didn’t waste any time in starting to cut and fit some of the new veneer as can be seen here.
The next job in the saloon will be to re-fit the vents and light fittings which are currently receiving attention from John Dixon.
John Davis has been continuing the job of removing old varnish from the kitchen compartment cupboard doors.
The removal of the centre springs from Wootton Hall has given Fred the opportunity to clean up the spring hanger bolts, collars and washers.
Work has continued on Great Eastern Royal Saloon No. 5, with Tim completing the painting of the corniche mouldings and John Dixon installing the last of the re-built vents on the roof. The moquette for the chaise longue in the large saloon has been ordered and, in anticipation of this, the saloon ceiling is in the course of being repainted, hopefully to be completed this week. John Davis has been working on some of the wooden beading.
The replacement veneer has also been ordered and John Davis and Phil are seen here planning its installation – or it could just be another “seats of the week” photo?!
Keith has again been busy working on Wootton Hall‘s tender, seen here with Ron Crowe attempting to remove a stubborn nut from one of the spring hanger bolts.
There has been further progress with the repairs to Wootton Hall’s tender tank with Ian Massey welding in a new front plate last Tuesday.
Matt Crabtree has also continued his welding work on the tank, seen here last Friday using a magnet to hold a new piece of metal in place prior to tacking it in place with weld.
Fluff’s new cab roof is now well and truly in place with Phil Bell drilling some fixing holes.
He has also been replacing some missing step boards with wood from old church pews supplied by Fred. (Note the suitable kneeling position…!)
Over at Embsay, Andy Booth has been cutting out Cumbria‘s old tubes in readiness for a boiler examination last Thursday. Matt Anderson had removed the blast pipe, blower and brick arch in readiness for the re-tubing. The photo by Mike Rigg’s son last Wednesday shows the old tubes propped up against the front buffer beam.
The new tubes were transported across to Embsay last Friday, with Matt Crabtreee on hand to perform the tricky exercise of extricating them from the FRT shed at Preston with the fork lift truck.
Phil is seen drilling fixing holes in the bridging piece, watched by John.
Ade has been busy readying the eccentric straps for fitting on Caliban.
George appeared at Preston on Saturday and was given the task of removing the nuts and cups from Wootton Hall‘s spring hangers. The middle hangers proved particularly difficult and required the application of some heat and a sledge hammer to achieve success. 
It must have been around sixty years since they were fitted.
Our folk group Live Steam had a successful fund raising outing at the Engine Inn, Cark-in-Cartmel, on Friday evening, seemingly brushing away any cobwebs gathered since the last gig on New Year’s Eve. Another gig is in the offing if diaries can be coordinated.