Odds and Ends

30th July 2009

Thursday has been a busy day with a number of comings and goings as well as a dash down to the NRM at York for a meeting.

Below: This overhead crane, built by the Grange Iron Company of Durham and used at the famous Philadelphia Engine Works on the Lambton raiwlay system in County Durham, arrived in the morning. It was displaced from the works by a more modern crane, being rescued and placed at the Bowes Railway for safe storage. In recent years it has been rather an obstacle to development at Bowes and it was long hoped it might move to Beamish for safe custodianship. It has now arrived and for now will be kept in the colliery yard.
It is interesting in that it was built as a steam crane, later being converted to electric operation, apparently via a lay-shaft. The carriage (the bit which runs along the bridge) is very much like a traction engine to stand in, the controls being not dis-similar too.

Below: Whilst the crane was arriving from Bowes, No.22 was being readied to go back to Bowes after 26 steamings at Beamish. It is seen below waiting for loading onto Duncan Milner's low-loader. It arrived safely back at its home shed at lunchtime.

Below: A quick sprint to York and the chance to poke around. I thought a couple of photos of locally interesting objects might be of interest - starting with the very locally made winding engine from Weatherhill (on the Crawley incline) on the Stanhope and Tyne Railway.

Below: Black Hawthorn 'Bauxite' - another North East veteran and in beautifully original condition. This loco spent a long period on display in the Science Museum in Kensington.

Below: Aerolite - a real bitza engine and used exclusively throughout its sedate working life as motive power for the director' saloon. It was an early entrant to the railway museum in York (in 1934) and later moved to current NRM site. It probably has some distinction for length of time in the same place, though I am not sure what the details might be...

Below: And finally a trio of photos of the stunning re-streamlined LMS pacific (4)6229 Duchess of Hamilton. It really is a show-stopper and was immensely popular with NRM visitors, as the length of time to take these three pictures would testify!

Les Oakes Auction - Cheadle

29th July 2009

Over two days (yesterday and today) part of the large collection of horse drawn vehicles amassed by the late Les Oakes was auctioned by Thimbleby and Shorland. There was a vast variety of items for sale, one or two of which were of interest to us at Beamish.

Below: We have purchased this bread van, which appears to be of Midland Wagon & Carriage construction. It will be refurbished for use at Beamish in the not too distant future.

Below: We also secured these wheels, which will be incorporated into a replica rubbish cart...

Below: This 1890 Merryweather Steam Fire Engine was formerly used at Penrhyn Castle before disappearing. It has reappeared in this auction and was sold for £27,500. It is in superb condition, having been liberally coated with grease in its time in store.

Below: A knackers cart, for removing dead horses from the street. Once a common occurrence and an important business.

Below: An overall view of the sale.

Below: There were even three diesel locomotives included, the example on right being by Brush. There seemed to be a lot of interest in these locomotives, which I think were formerly part of the Shropshire Locomotive Collection.

Coffee Pot's boiler passes hydraulic test!!!

27th July 2009

This morning Coffee Pot No.1's new boiler passed its hydraulic test and quality assurance checks. It is therefore complete as far as construction is concerned and will shortly move to County Durham for preparation for the steam test and installation into the frames. This means that we are now on the final leg of this restoration, though no new deadline for completion is being set!

Below: The only original part of the boiler - the firehole door! Taken off the boiler previously carried by Coffee Pot.

Tram 10's mishap

27th July 2009

Last Thursday museum visitors leaving Beamish in the late afternoon would have seen Gateshead 10 sat in the ballast between the entrance stop and Foulbridge. A combination of expanding rails (and the resulting ongoing movement in this warm weather) with a resulting sharpening of the radius over a rail joint plus 10's design tendency to ride light on the leading pony wheel led to the incident. No passengers were on board and the crew acted swiftly and correctly to contain the situation.
The tram was rerailed the same evening. It is always a worry when such things occur (this is the first derailment on the main line in many many years), but procedures and safety practices worked well and correctly. The RAIB were immediately informed and investigations commenced. We are, as a result of this process, satisfied with the outcome.

Below: All four wheels of the No.1 end bogie off the track. The check rail had kept the wheels in line until this ran out, and even then the derailment did not occur. The driver brought the tram to a halt immediately upon realising there was a problem.

Below: 10 is attended by the PW van.

Below: Jacking the pony end of the bogie clear of the rails. Metal plates are then slid into place before the same is repeated with the rather heavier driving axle (which has most of the body weight on it plus the motor). The tram is then slewed sideways on the plates before being rolled in a controlled manner off the plates and onto the rails. This method reduces the risk of damaging the tram as all lifting points are where loadings are designed to occur.

Below: The rectified joints with tie-bars, re-spiked rails and new fishplates. This is actually a fairly sharp curve and it is subject to some creep under load, as well as during hot weather when the expansion gaps close up.

'New' Chaldron!

27th July 2009

Just catching up on the blog for last week...

We were donated the remains of the two chaldron waggons that once stood on display at the Head Wrightson works at Thornaby, Teesside. These had been acquired from Seaham (ex Londonderry) and were restored with the lettering HW in place of the 'L'. They were later moved to Preston Hall when donated to Stockton Museum before deteriorating to the state that they were removed to Stockton's storage facility.
Now surplus to requirements, I was able to collect the remains for Beamish. This includes some useful metalwork including the brake handle and pivot casting.

On the chaldron waggon front, we have been awarded £14,000 from the Association for Industrial Archaeology towards a project to record, conserve and restore the ex Londonderry chaldron waggon, pretty much the epitome of the wooden chaldron waggon. This supports £20,ooo from PRISM and £2500 from the Ken Hoole Trust. My thanks to all of the funders for supporting this project. Tender documents are now being issued and a full survey is underway.

Also in the Stockton collection is this wonderful overhead crane from Brown's Foundry, Teesside. Built by Smith Rodley of Leeds, it retains its steam powered cradle and vertical boiler. It is hoped to cosmetically restore the crane for eventual display in the area, possibly at Preston Hall.

Blackpool Tramway Visit

27th July 2009

Last Tuesday I visited Blackpool to attend a meeting regarding the 2010 125th anniversary celebrations, which will include our own Blackpool Tram 31. While there I was able to meet up with David Umpleby from Train Crazy Video who also helps us out with crewing steam at Beamish from time to time. With his local knowledge we were able to make the most of a ride to Fleetwood on real heritage traction...

Below: Balloon 717, recently restored to very near original condition, seen here South of the tower heading for Starr Gate, just after we got off.

Below: Earlier in the trip 717 is seen at Fleetwood in rather more typical weather!

Below: An interior view of 717. This is a tram in everyday service - it is not preserved! A real shame to let people on it!!!

Below: A view inside the depot at Rigby Road - note our own Sheffield 513.

Below: The recently restored illuminated tram 'The Western Train' at rest.

Below: Sheffield 513 and Stockport 5, both resting after recent duties on special workings.

Below: A line of of vintage cars at Rigby Road, headed by Standard 147, which was repatriated from the USA.

Below: A few shots of Boat 607, likely to be the substitute for our 31 while it is away. Once cleaned and repainted it should look rather striking at Beamish next summer!

Below: While in Blackpool the chance arose to visit the Lancastrian Transport Trust workshops where Standard 143 is being restored - to appear at next years celebrations. Like 31, it ended its working life as a works tram before being retired pending extensive restoration to enclosed with open balcony and platform appearance. There is a plan to line up 31 with 143, 147 and Crich's 40 to give a range of Standard cars...

Below: On the way home over the Pennines I called in at Kirby Stephen (Midland) station. This is the famous Settle & Carlisle route, currently closed for engineering works. The station has an active Friends group who have restored many period features, including lighting.

18th July 2009

On Saturday we attended the 75th anniversary celebrations of the Tyne & Wear Museum's science and industry collections. We were asked to take Fiddler in order to provide a working presence at the Discovery Museum.

Below: Fiddler and the water cart are loaded aboard a E & N Ritchie low-loader by Vince Allan.

Below: Fiddler outside the Discovery Museum entrance.

Below: Michael and Mike (who volunteered to assist me - many thanks to them!) lurk around the engine. Later the rain came in the proverbial stair rods, prompting the wearing of some very interesting rainwear! A photo of this has been censored!!!

Below: The completed water cart, lettered and varnished.

Below: When we got back back in the evening Fiddler still had enough pressure to enable us to pose this view... The living van should be restored shortly and this will take its place in this scene, a genuine working roadmenders' set at large around the museum.

The Week's Sweepings

17th July 2009

I've gathered a few odds and ends together from this week, hopefully which will be of interest...

Below: Two shots of Dave Young machining the trunnion for the steam mule:

Above and Below: Dave offered the following notes on this:

It is a Schaublin Swiss made horizontal milling machine with various attachements to make it a truly versatile within its capacity. I am fortunate to own it as it is quite rate and is considered to be the most desirable and seriously accurate. The manufacturers are better know for their lathes which are the ultimate machines for precision work.

Below: The track gang made its connection and the railway became one again. The lads have started the spot-resleepering of the curve as this section is on dry ground with a good foundation, not requiring the level of excavation that the cutting needed.

Below: During the trimming of the embankment the old siding was revealed at this location.

Below: The golden spike location! All of the line will look like this when completed...

Below: The back lane of Ravensworth Terrace. We are proposing a small turning circle at the far end to enable coal deliveries to made by horse and cart without the awkwardness of reversing back along the lane. It should also provide a good vantage point for visitors to watch the trains coming along the cutting, which is to the left in this view.

Below: Blacpool 31 was dressed up for Christmas last night in order to be photographed for the museum's publicity material for this event - see main website for details of our much extended opening of the Christmas event.

Below: And finally, a couple of shots care of the Tramway's Monthly lads (have a look at their new and rapidly developing website) showing our Sheffield 513 at work in Blackpool recently.