Opening of the New Colliery Lamp Cabin

Beamish Steam Mule

24th March 2009

In order to train museum staff in steam skills, a training engine is being constructed by David Young and myself to reflect various methods, skills and technologies found on a steam engine (stationary or locomotive). Based on the steam donkeys used in logging work, but on a wheeled trolley, I have coined the phrase steam mule (no donkey but certainly no racehorse!) for our new pet! Based on an example built by Carter and seen at the Great Dorset Steam Fair, this project will progress as and when funds allow. A potential engine has been found and drawings and surveys are underway. A boiler (seen at the bottom) is held in stock and will be prepared for its new role over coming months. This came from Tyne & Wear Museum and is relatively modern in construction. As ever, words and photos will appear on this blog so watch this space for developments of the training mule...

I've added this view to show the underside of the vertical boiler, now stripped and independently inspected. The prognosis is good and a museum insurer inspector will view the boiler soon...

News update 24th March 2009

26th March 2009

Lots has been going on, as the following photos and captions reveal...

Above: Earlier today No.22 took part in the opening of the Lamp Cabin celebrations (to be continued this coming Saturday) as well as performing some shunting. This included moving Malleable (Stockton Ironworks, built 1900) onto the back siding. The opportunity was taken to pose for photographs! 22 then ventured into new territory, running as far as the Foulbridge end buffer stops. The track here has not been used for very many years and has seen some recent work to make it usable (see below) with Darren and Mark clearing trees and undergrowth as well as marking up sleepers for replacement and servicing the turnouts in this area. An improvised flamethrower is used to rid the track of the weeds, with the JCB being used on larger trees and bushes.

Above: A new stick store has been assembled at the waggonway, for storing and drying kindling wood. This is rather better in appearance than the large sheets previously used in this area. Bob Fielding among others built the shed, and I believe he has plans to extend it and even add a balcony and terracing! A pole lathe will be demonstrated in the right hand space.

Above: Tram 10 is now a regular car in service following remedial work to its track brakes, which was found to be necessary during the pre-Christmas tests and subsequent running-in. The car's paintwork has been tidied up and I for one am glad to see it back! It is an icon of the museum and the place never feels quite right without it running. It is an excellent crowd mover and obviously has a perfect local pedigree.

Above: Our ever-faithful and unsung Ruston 88DS workhorse has recently had its airtanks inspected. This entails removing them as their location under the cab floor is somewhat awkward to examine. The loco now sports an electric donkey engine, which runs of the three-phase power supply in the Regional Museum Store - a much better solution to the petrol donkey engine fitted, less susceptible to the cold and altogether more effective. A repaint into Ruston & Hornsby factory livery is planned in due course, possibly bearing the BR roundels and lettering as carried by the North East Civil Engineer's 88DSs.

Water Spray Cart

25th March 2009

Work has started on a street watering cart, a vehicle that has sat in store at Beamish for many years. I have long wanted to see one of these in action and we are now carrying out a rapid restoration of the cart in the hope that we can water the colliery yard and street this summer, areas very prone to becoming dusty - much to the discomfort of visitors and and also the detriment of the collections (the dust being excellent at finding its way into mechanical objects, buildings and onto wet paint).

First job is to record the cart, followed by shot blasting to remove the paintwork from an earlier restoration.

Above: The shot-blasting clearly reveled the original makers plate, previously obscured by peeling paint and rust.

Above: A selection of views showing the lid of the water tank, the rear brackets which hold the water trough which gives the spray of fine droplets of water and the lever that controls the plug valve. These items have been dispatched to David Young's workshop for overhaul.

Above: Meanwhile, Davy Sheen has primed the whole cart. A survey revealed a number of thin areas in the tank, three of which had completely perforated. It is intended to line the tank with glass fibre, to ensure it is watertight but at the same time retain the original metal.

Above: Welding repairs to the broken casting upon which the lid and the plug valve mechanism are mounted. David Sheen carried out the welding while David Young has replaced the cross rods, refixed the crank and made a pattern for a new lid. This was all carried out within a week of commencing the project!
Once the glass fibre lining is in place, painting will continue. The livery will be the new standard Beamish livery for service vehicles - Oxford blue with red wheels and shaft. Some lettering will be carried - either N.E.O.M Roads Department of (favoured) Beamish R.D.C (Rural District Council). The street sweeper that the Friends are restoring will also bear this livery:

NER Autocar

24th March 2009

Introducing the North Eastern Railway Autocar:

From time to time one is offered the opportunity to join a trust as part of the role of curator at Beamish. Normally time constraints preclude this, but some projects really stand out and becoming involved with them is something of a no-brainer. One such is the Autocar Trust, set up to restore to working order the surviving NER Autocar No.3170.

The North Eastern Railway pioneered alternatives to steam. In 1904 the Tynesdie suburban area was electrified, with electric locomotives being developed as an adjunct to the electric multiple units employed on these lines. Shildon to Newport was electrified and powerful locomotives worked around the clock moving large volumes of coal for export. There were advanced plans to electrify the East Coast Main Line and in 1919 a proposal was made to build a main line diesel locomotive.

In line with the NER's enterprising nature, York works outshopped two petrol-electric 'autocars' in 1902. Based on railway carriage practice, but with a petrol engine powering a dynamo which in turn powered electric motors mounted on the bogies, the autocars owed much to contemporary tramcar engineering. They entered service in 1903, a global first.

In 1922 No.3170 was re-engined and uprated, enabling it to pull a trailer coach. It worked on lines around Harrogate, the coast line through Hartlepool and to Selby and along the North Yorkshire coast lines.

Both autocars were withdrawn in 1931, life expired but having established an important principle as well as paving the way for a revolution in railway engineering and travel still enjoyed today.

The body of No.3170 was sold, as was so often the case with redundant passenger vehicles, to a farmer in North Yorkshire where it became a holiday home. It was latterly disused but before long renowned vintage carriage restorer Stephen Middleton had come to know of it.

Stephen saved the body and secured a suitable underframe to mount it on. A charitable trust was then formed to restore, operate and interpret this unique and hugely important survivor.

Above: Fifty years ahead of its time, the Autocar clearly attracted admirers in this view taken early on in its life.

Photo: The Ken Hoole Study Centre

Above: The use of conventional railway carriage construction is readily apparent in this view, believed to be taken at Darlington.

Photo: Ken Hoole Study Centre

Above: The Autocar today, as stored at Boulton Abbey on the Embsay & Boulton Abbey Railway in the Yorkshire Dales. It is weathertight and waits for funds to materialise to enable it to be restored to working order for use both at Embsay and, I hope, Beamish where it would certainly look at home in the NER station recreation, offering rides along the demonstration line here.

A first stage Heritage Lottery Fund pass has been made which is extremly encouraging and enables detailed grant application work to take place before the final bid is submitted. Motors and some electrical equipment has been secured and there is a likely chance of a matching trailer coach being obtained to further add value to the project.

If you would like to help support this wonderful project and see and ride the autocar at Beamish, have a look at the website www.electricautocar.co.uk

Colliery Steam

21st March 2009

This morning I shot a short and fairly poor quality film on my compact camera, showing No.22 at work in the colliery. I include it here as a taster of what we are up to this weekend, next weekend, Easter Sunday and Monday, May Bank Holiday Sunday and Monday as well as the Power from the Past weekend 28th to 31st May.

Bradford Industrial Museum

17th March 2009

Whilst visiting the boilermaker, David Young (my companion for the day) and I called in at Bradford Industrial Museum. This a wide ranging collection and numerous demonstrations of working machinery are given during the day. The collection includes Bradford tramcar No.104, which was restored after the closure of the tramways in Bradford and retains the system's local gauge of 4 foot. Elsewhere there are printing machinery displays as well as the main hall which houses numerous stationary engines plus a large selection of line-shaft driven machine tools. To the side of this is a hall devoted to road transport and particularly the locally built Jowett.

I was pleased to see the restored street sweeping vehicle (built by the Ames Crosta Sanitary Engineering Company), which reminds me of the forthcoming Friends of Beamish project to rebuild our own T Baker 'Albion' street sweeper.

A close up of the bristles on the street sweeper.

The museum's replica horse tram, currently being prepared for repainting.

A Bristol 10 Crawler. These tracked units (used for a diverse range of activities, from logging work to towing gang mowers on cricket pitches) were originally fitted with Jowett engines, though later examples were fitted with Austin engines. More on these fascinating machines will appear on this blog in due course...

Above and below - two examples of stationary steam engine by J. B. Glabour of Guiseley, West Yorkshire. The larger engine is driven off the belt shaft for demonstration purposes, though I suspect the smaller one can run on steam (an attraction on Wednesdays).

Two very well preserved oil containers, and nice to see they are different to the usual (later) ribbed type which commonly survive.

Above - Built by G. Mills & Co of Radcliffe, this is one of the engines on display capable of running via an electric motor.

I include this shot more as a plea - has anyone reading this got any spare blue steel/Russian Iron sheet? We need some for a variety of small cylinders that are part of future restoration projects but the material is nigh on impossible to find nowadays. Often this finish is incorrectly referred to as 'planished steel' and was sometimes found on US railroad locomotives at the turn of the last century. I have been told of a method to blue regular steel sheet, by heating it and dipping it in oil, so this might be a solution for this.

Below: Two short films showing the water driven demonstration and the steam demo, both powered by electricity for convenience but very much a part of the integrated system of shafts, belts and pulleys once at the heart of the manufacturing process...

Boilers!

Just a quick note to remind readers that the Coffee Pot blog on the main Beamish website is now being updated regularly and includes images of the new boiler under construction at Israel Newton's works in Bradford.

No photos this time but a thought, a possible theme for a future event. I would like suggestions for an A to Z of manufacturers of all forms of transport that we might seek to put together, maybe for 2010's Power from the Past event. I'd be glad to hear any suggestions and maybe I can update this list as we go - as a starter here are some to be going on with (and yes, I've picked the easy ones!!!):

A AJS/Aveling & Porter/Arstrong Whitworth
B Burrell/Bristol
C Clydesdale (horse breed!)/Case
D De Dion Bouton/Dene
E
F Fowler/Foden
G Gateshead (NER works)
H Head Wrightson/Humber
I
J
K Keef
L Lister
M Matchless/Marshall
N N.U.T
O Orenstein & Koppell
P Petter
Q
R Ruston & Hornsby
S Stanley
T
U
V
W Wallis & Steevens
X
Y
Z Zettelmeyer

That is my outline idea, off the back of an envelope, I'll look forward to hearing what others might suggest... Over to you!

Mystery Object!

Mystery Object revealed!!!

You may remember I asked if anybody knew what the black tank on wheels might be used for - here is an answer from Robert Whitehead:

The device shown in your pictures was used in Kent, particularly in the hop-growing areas, for boiling the poles and "dead men" used in hop wirework but I dare say they got used for similar work in other situations such as telephone posts and fencing posts. William Weeks even got as far as building a few traction engines! The firm also made many of the cast iron signposts used in Kent and a great many tar boilers.

12th March 2009

Today I called in to Bowes (again!) to discuss the roadmenders hut. The photo below shows Derek Young (a long retired colliery carpenter) at work on the floor supports of the structure - best to do these before the heavy planks are fixed in place!

Alan Milburn is making great progress on five shorter gates for use on and around the colliery railway. These are made then dismantled to enable them to be tanalised. They are then put back together before final painting and affixing of the gate furniture (hinges etc.).

I also called in at Vince Allen's workshop to see how Fiddler was settling in. The cladding is off and various parts removed to enable a clearer inspection and we were able to draw up a list of jobs to be carried out. Stuart Ritchie also kindly offered to move the engine to Beamish once it is ready, so we should have the roller up here well in time for May's Power from the Past event.

More Movies!

12th March 2009

Here are two more films, a preview of the horse tram that is visiting in May, and a short clip of our own trolleybus No.501 in action at the Black Country Museum last summer (not that it looks like summer in the clip!).

Beamish Movie

12th March 2009

Here is the first of, hopefully, a number of short films taken on my camera (whence the low-grade quality) that I will place on this blog in order to more graphically illustrate aspects of the transport collection and activities.

First off, here is Peter, Bonnie (and Seb) testing the wooden waggonway - the first such activity in this area in 168 years!

Bowes Update

10th March 2008
I paid a quick visit to Bowes today to talk to Derek Young who is building the roadmenders hut. This is a terrific and apparently indestructible creation and will hopefully stand up to the rigours of working life at Beamish!
I also had a chance to look around at current progress on the site. A new radial arm drill was being installed, a number of wagons being worked on (including the reel bogie and a hopper which have been stripped, shot-blasted and spray painted to primer stage). The completed chaldron No.256 was outside and the overhauled flat waggon has a new load in place.

Colliery Steam

9th March 2008
We’ve just completed our first full operating weekend on the revived colliery railway. It’s a bit short at present but over the next few months our ‘head of steel’ should move westwards and open up the exchange sidings area for shunting demonstrations.
We had some great weather over the weekend, so here is a selection of images to give you a taste of what it all looks like… Sorry about the oddorder of images - the computer seems to randomly place them as it sees fit!