Furness Railway Trust blog

5643 finally arrived home to Preston on a very damp Thursday morning in anticipation of its 10-year boiler overhaul.

It was  transferred into the RSR running shed where Keith soon set about removing the washout plugs and mudhole doors on Saturday in readiness for a planned washout of the boiler this Wednesday.

Work continued this week on the overhaul of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5. John Davis is seen here staining some new mouldings created by Phil Bell. Meanwhile John Dixon worked on the tricky job of inserting a replacement set of window scissors, which had been found to be missing,  underneath one of the opening door windows.

Last Wednesday saw a concerted effort to tidy the FRT shed in readiness for the forthcoming rearrangement of rolling stock. This necessitated the movement and safe storage of a spare engine for the RR Sentinel diesels. All in all, a very useful exercise.

Sam has been cleaning up components from Caliban’s replacement manifold using the sand blasting booth.

The outcome of his work can be seen on one of the valves.

John Davis spied the opportunity to hang some bird feeders alongside one of the FRT messroom windows. Unfortunately, none of the local tits deigned to make an appearance for the photographer!

Finally, Cake Watch: there were plenty of cakes in the mess room this week as both Keith and Alan celebrated birthdays. There was also a celebratory gathering at Longridge on Sunday with yet another cake. The engine number gives a clue as to Alan’s age.

Ade had to leave before the cake was cut to catch the last bus home. The good news is that Tim took some cake home to bring in on Wednesday. The bad news is that Tim’s trailhound, Della, found the cake in his rucksack where it had been placed ready for Wednesday!! (Don’t worry, Ade, Alison will see you right this Wednesday!)

We are pleased to be able to start this week’s blog with the news that Furness Railway No. 20 will be visiting the Didcot Railway Centre for around five weeks,  with a programme of nine steamings planned starting with four days over Easter. It is due to leave Preston on Wednesday 29^th March, after having taken part in the Ribble Steam Railway gala on the 25^th and 26^th March.

The boiler surveyor visited Preston last Thursday to undertake the 14 month dry examination of FR 20 and Sam is seen working in the smokebox on Saturday when the safety valves were also fitted in anticipation of a steam test in the coming weeks.

The other piece of news is that 5643 is now expected to return to Preston for its 10 year overhaul this Thursday morning, 16^th February, its previously planned return having been postponed by the haulier.

Work has continued at Preston on Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 where we have a first view of the new moquette being fitted to the chaise longue in the east saloon.

A new ceiling has been fitted to the guard’s compartment and the kitchen ceiling has been painted. Phil Bell has been re-fitting woodwork in the kitchen to marry up with the newly installed tiles whilst John Dixon has been re-installing panelling in the royal lavatory compartment. Tim has been scouring the internet to locate suitable sinks and a gas hob that will fit within the tight dimensions of the kitchen.

Finally, talking of kitchen accessories, the FRT’s mess room suffered a near disaster (!)  recently when the PAT testing man condemned the kettle! Fortunately, John Dixon was on hand and kindly rushed off and purchased a new kettle to maintain this vital service to our volunteers, and it is to be hoped that this new piece of equipment will pass scrutiny when the PAT man visits again this Wednesday.

Apologies for the lack of a blog since Christmas caused by post-Christmas
illness. However, that hasn’t stopped the rest of the troops from making good
progress over the last month.

We are pleased to report that our folk group formed of Alan, Tim, Pete and
George got the New Year off to a good start at the Engine Inn, Cark-in-Cartmel
with the audience seemingly having a good time.

Phil Bell and John Davis have been working hard in the kitchen of Great
Eastern Railway royal saloon No. 5 with John seen here fitting new tiles.

Phil and Anne Burton have continued their work on the chaise longue in the
east saloon with Phil pictured here.

The new window straps have arrived and await fitting.

Some new cylinder lubrication pipework has appeared on No. 4979 Wootton
Hall.

Team 5643 have paid two visits to Bury to prepare 5643 for its return home to
Preston, it having successfully completed its last scheduled steaming on the
East Lancashire Railway on the 27th December; the extended ten year boiler
certificate officially expired on the 8th January. The guard irons have been
removed as well as the brick arch and the engine was steamed cleaned last
Thursday.

Caliban’s boiler was subjected to non-destructive testing on Monday, 23rd
January. The initial results were encouraging and we await the final report.

Cumbria had been well used at the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
following its re-tube and subsequent return to traffic at the end of October.

Alan, Ade, Tim and John Dixon visited Embsay yesterday to discuss winter
maintenance. It was agreed that one of the eccentrics needs to be re-metalled
and this will be brought to Preston once it has been dismantled.

Needless to say, the opportunity was also taken to look at Stephen Middleton’’s collection of coaches, including the Great Eastern Railway royal saloon of 1877 built for the then Prince of Wales. It was fascinating to compare this early build coach with our own GER No. 5 which was built in 1898 for the Princess of
Wales!

Finally, we have had to incur some unexpected expenditure in repairing the
entrance door to the FRT shed, which was completed today. Unfortunately
this has resulted in the replacement of the lock, so new keys will need to be
issued.

Well, the last of the RSR’s Santa Specials has run and some of us are now
trying to get over the coughs and colds that we have gathered during the
December operations. We also hope that Anne and Phil Burton will soon
recover from Covid for which they have unfortunately tested positive.

Whilst the Santa Specials have been a distraction from other activities, Matt
Crabtree has continued his work in welding new steel into the top of Wootton
Hall’s tender tank, including the new water filler pipes that can be seen above.

Last Friday evening, 16th December, saw a gathering of FRT members and
guests for a very successful Christmas Dinner at The Ribble Pilot inn, a mile
away alongside Preston Dock. Thanks go to Alison for making all the
arrangements and for reminding us all of what we had ordered!

There will be a further gathering of members at the East Lancashire Railway
next Tuesday, 27th December, to say farewell to 5643’s second stint in service
during its preservation era. Thanks go to our friends at the ELR for the offer of
a private coach behind the loco for the occasion.

If you are looking to work off the effects of the Christmas festivities then
please note that the normal working parties are scheduled to take place on
Wednesday, 28th and Friday, 30th December.

Saturday evening, 31st December, will see Live Steam sing out 2022 and bring
in the New Year at the Engine Inn, Cark-in-Cartmel, assuming that Alan and
Tim have recovered from playing the 872 Christmas songs on the recent Santa
specials….

Finally, we are able to inform you that the next edition of The Iron Horse is
well on its way and should be with you all early in the New Year.

It only remains for us to thank everyone for their fantastic hard work and
support during 2022 and to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Year! We are sure that 2023 will bring much more work and many challenges
as 5643 returns to Preston for overhaul!

Well, it’s certainly turned cold this week and everyone was appreciative of the
air source heat pump working away in the FRT shed. Outside there was falling
snow for the RSR’s Santa Specials which were again fully booked for the
weekend.

Keith has now turned his attention to Wootton Hall’s cab floor which needs
building up from scratch.

The supports for the floor can be seen here.

Phil Bell and John Davis have started to erect the new ceiling in the kitchen
compartment of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5. Phil, John and Tim
went on a shopping expedition on Friday afternoon for some new work tops
for the kitchen. It took until the third kitchen showroom before suitable work
tops could be found that matched Alison’s desired colour scheme and Phil’s
in-built Yorkshireman’s desire for value for money. It was a good job that
Howdens had the right colour scheme on special offer or the search could have
taken forever!

Finally, Anne and Phil Burton have been busy with the sewing machine in
their efforts to refurbish the saloon’s chaise longue.

Here we are, a day late due to Christmas demands on our time, and into the last month of the year!

A key step forward with the restoration of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 was achieved on Friday when the fabric on the walls of the west end saloon was completed with the remainder of the missing wooden mouldings being made by Phil Bell and then fitted.

The saloon was then cleared of materials and the carpet vacuumed by John Davis – just don’t tell Mrs D. that he has been passed out on the vacuum cleaner!

With Anne and Phil Burton still busy on the chaise longue in the east saloon, Phil Bell and John Davis will now turn their attention to the kitchen area. We show therefore a ‘before’ photo that we will eventually be able to compare with the finished job.

Ed has meanwhile continued his lone work on the woodwork in the guard’s compartment – we let him out for lunch!

Sam has been doing the majority of the dirty work in FR 20 and is seen here busy cleaning the firebox.

Friday saw FR 20 receiving its boiler washout prior to its 14-month boiler inspection. Jon Dixon and Neil Glover travelled down from Lancaster to give us a hand and can be seen here with Sam aiming water down one of the firebox washout plug holes in the cab.

Sam seemed to get rather wet during the process but saw the funny side of it.

Sam has also been working on Caliban, seen here in the process of removing the ring underneath the chimney hole in the old smokebox ready for re-use. And John Dixon has been preparing new sections of metal for Caliban’s cab.

And Keith has been working on the flanges that connect the main steam pipes to Wootton Hall’s smokebox.

Ade appeared on Wednesday morning with the aim of removing Caliban’s well-worn smokebox by the end of the day. Space is at a premium in the FRT shed but Ade managed to appear with a fork lift truck and the weltrol on which the boiler is mounted was shunted into position by pinch bar. At this point additional hands were summoned and, with assistance from Paul Balshaw, John Dixon and Ron Crowe, the job was done in time for elevenses to be taken!

John Davis took up the job of cleaning up a heater guard from the west saloon of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5. It was only after he had applied some wire wool to it that it was revealed that the guard was made of brass which looked very regal once old paint and dirt had been removed and a little Brasso applied. Giving it a daily polish will be just another job for the train guard to do to keep the coach spick and span! And John now only has another couple of heater guards needing similar treatment! Of particular interest was last night’s Channel 5 programme on Queen Consort Alexandra for whom, at the time she was Princes of Wales in 1898, the coach was built. She seems to have been quite a character and the programme is worth a watch on MY 5 if you can spare the time. Here is a link to the programme. 

We mentioned last week that Keith has mounted the ejector exhaust pipe on GWR ‘Hall’ class No. 4979 Wootton Hall, so here is the promised photo.

And the safety valve bonnet is also now in place.

Furness Railway No. 20 is due its 14-month boiler inspection shortly so Sam has been busy cleaning the firebox and smokebox. A boiler washout is planned or Friday when, hopefully, we will again hear the roar of the Coventry Climax fire pump.

We better not make this blog too long as Neil has to take the notes at this evening’s Trustees’ Meeting. Unfortunately, it will again be by Zoom so we will still be on virtual sandwiches (cue howls of dismay from Trustees missing Alison’s sarnies!).

Just a short update this week after last week’s photo gallery edition!

We start with Peckett 0-4-0ST Caliban where the last tubes were
removed from the boiler last Wednesday by Ade. Alan and Sam had a trip to
Burscough that same day to retrieve the piston rods which have now been
ground to produce a nice shiny surface. Fred continued his work on cleaning
the outside of the boiler and firebox.

Once more there has been much work on Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon
No. 5 where Phil Bell has led the way in fitting the new fabric on the inside
walls below window level. Having completed the west saloon, apart from the
doors, a start has been made on fitting out the corridor where Tim is aiming to
complete the varnishing of the wooden panels later this week. John Davis has
been removing and sanding the skirting boards as part of the process ready for
painting. Given the rapid rate of progress in the fitting out of the fabric it is
hoped to start the fitting out of the kitchen before Christmas. This will require
some early presents for the team in the form of sinks, water heater, fridge,
water tank and hob plus a new work top. The internet is being searched to
identify suitable items at affordable prices.

Meanwhile, John Dixon has been repairing one of the brass window supports
and freeing off windows that seem to have been glued stuck by varnish (!)
whilst Sam’s electrical work has enabled a welcome pre-Christmas switch on
of the existing lights in the coach. Phil and Anne Burton continued their work
on the chaise longue.

Elsewhere, Keith has been busy with Wootton Hall, fitting the new ejector
exhaust pipe and the dome cover (Ahem we must get pictures for next week! Ed.) whilst Matt has been undertaking some more welding on the tender tank.

Finally, Alison kindly left us some of her tasty butterfly cakes on Wednesday, which were the left-overs from the RSR AGM the previous evening, where Ade had done his best to eat them! Needless to say, there were none left when Alison popped in to enquire on Friday lunchtime!!!

Work has continued apace on Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5. Anne and Phil Burton are making progress on the chaise longue in the east saloon where repairs to the wooden frame have been necessary.

John Dixon, seen here painting a lamp bracket, has just about completed painting the components on the exterior of the coach in a specially mixed shade of brown.

Ed has continued to remove old paint and varnish from the guard’s compartment.

John Davis has been giving his attention to sprucing up the Royal toilet roll holder!

Tim has been giving the interior woodwork a couple of coats of varnish. Once dried, the new fabric is fitted to the lower panels. Phil has been in charge of the scissors.

It’s a two-handed job to fit the fabric, with John Davis lending a hand here.

Elsewhere, Fred has started to prepare Caliban’s boiler for an NDT inspection, cleaning off old rust and dirt.

Finally, the new screw for Wootton Hall’s reverser has now arrived, seen here on top of the fabricated reverser body. This opens up further work on this mechanism.

We are pleased to be able to report that, after the hard work put in by Team 5643 at Bury over the past couple of weeks, 5643 passed its steam test in the presence of our boiler surveyor last Friday and has had its ten year boiler ticket extended by two months. This will be of particular help to the East Lancs Railway over the busy Christmas period as it has temporarily lost the use of the Standard Class 4 tank there because of a flue tube failure.

5643 is now provisionally scheduled to operate trains on the following dates: 26^th and 27^th November, 9^th, 10^th, 11^th, 26^th and 27^th December. It will also be on standby on other dates.

Talking of dates for your diary, Alison has arranged for this year’s FRT Christmas Dinner to be held at The Ribble Pilot pub on Preston’s dockside on the evening of Friday, 16^th December.

Back in the FRT shed at Preston, Keith has continued his work in applying protective paint to Wootton Hall’s boiler cladding.

We have also seen further progress on the overhaul of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 where John Dixon has been replacing grab handles, lamp holders and the like to the exterior of the vehicle.

The fabric to line the interior sides of the coach has arrived and Phil Bell is seen here cutting some white backing sheets.

And here is the first panel to be fitted with the new fabric, with shiny varnished woodwork above, and a sneak preview of what the whole coach will look like when completed.