Two new arrivals today - engine and coach for the station passenger service which commences on Easter Sunday and should run every weekend through the summer season.
Below: Renishaw Ironworks No.6 arrived from Tanfield aboard Duncan Milner's lorry. This engine is on hire until the end of May when Furness No.20 arrives to work for two months.
Below: Renishaw was quickly followed by the GER saloon from Appleby (on hire from the Furness Railway Trust), seen here squeezing in through the old costume gates.
Below: The saloon on Beamish tracks... We will hopefully be testing the railway tomorrow prior to the inauguration of the passenger service on Sunday...
Today was a big day for the Steam Mule project - we collected the completed engine unit and mounted this on the trolley. David Young has done a superb job in building (for it is probably 90% new!) this engine, which will be an integral part of our Steam School - a means to train staff in steam operation, as well as be something groups and schools can also be involved with (thanks to sponsorship from the Reece Foundation).
Below: A selection of views of the mule as arrived and mounted on the trolley...
It has certainly been a busy day - so I'll confine this post to the following photo, showing the arrival of Leeds 6 from Heaton Park. More to follow once we commission it and place the tram into service...
30th March 2010
At last! Almost four years after the project first started, the restoration to as-built condition (almost!) of our 139 year old Coffee Pot No.1 has been completed, the engine delivered to Beamish and as of 16:30 it has passed its final steam test!
Here is how the day unfolded...
Below: 11am and the engine arrives. It is empty of water so the boiler is filled and the tank given something to steam with.
Below: Unloading - made fairly easy using a BRIMEC lorry with sliding back.
Below: First fire at Beamish (though about the fourth in total!) - Dave Young and I light it and place it onto the dry wood, after the usual checks are performed. Always an interesting time on a new engine!
Below: The draft is very good and the fire burns brightly right from the start - the view shows the smoke, unaided by the blower at this stage.
Below: One of the many test runs! Here David Young takes the engine up the track. The engine sounds brilliant - thanks to the 3:1 gearing it sounds very fast, but is very controllable.
Below: Recreating the 1870s view of the engine new at Betchworth - the three protagonists - Vincent Allen (stood to left), David Young (stood to right) and me, Paul Jarman, stood on the footplate.
Below: A 30 second film of Coffee Pot in action. A very proud moment for all concerned!
This morning the externally completed Tarmac living van was rolled out for the first time. This will enable it to 'acclimatise' following fitting of a new roof and covering, and the new exterior cladding. Phil Anderson has re-signwritten the name panels and as I write, Gordon Mewes is painting the interior... As I've mentioned before in the blog, I hope to pair the van up with Peter Walker's Sentinel S6 steam lorry, which is in the same livery. All credit here to Shaun Kay, the museum joiner, who has carried out the extensive work on the van to make it suitable for use around the museum. I'll try and post a full report on the blog in due course - this will appear on the links, to the right hand side of the page you are looking at now (there are some other items that you can download there already, and I am working on a museum stocklist which will also appear there soon).
Below: The incline to the colliery hauler is under construction, seen here being dressed off prior to the track being relaid and the tubs being positioned. Work is due for completion by Easter.
Below: A couple of shots (sorry, not film yet!) of the packing and alignment machines kindly lent by the Tanfield Railway - showing the alignment machine first. These have saved Darren and Mark an incredible amount of hard physical work and we would like to thank Ian Cowan from the Tanfield Railway for his support.
The long-awaited Model T Fords arrived today and a training session was carried out for the staff. There were one or two teething problems but all in all all they proved very popular with the staff who will be using them on an everyday basis to service the site.
Below: Reg BF 4477 is the 1925 pick up (rated at one ton). Fitted with 2900cc engine. This 'T' will be repainted into dark green colours with a light green bonnet, lettered 'Beamish R. D. C' to support roadmaking activities etc. I am hoping this will be carried out in time for the PftP event, if not sooner.
Below: Reg: BF 4165 is the 1922 22cwt van version (based on the car chassis), which will be appropriately liveried in due course.
Both are former US imports, though have been in the UK for some years, and have been fully restored here. We would also like to thank Beamish's Friends organisation for purchasing these vehicles and agreeing to support their maintenance.
A big day for Coffee Pot, and for David, Vince and me too - Coffee Pot's first full steam test following completion of its restoration. Prudence has led to this taking place at Vince's workshop - enabling a number of small details to be attended to as a result of today's tests.
Below: Outside the workshop, in steam and in one piece for the first time in 20 years, and the first time in this guise since the 1870s!
Below: Frankie Allen (Vince's father) dismantling the expansion links on the port side of the engine (a nautical term seems appropriate given its launch type engine!). Note the pump - merrily pumping water into the boiler. The clack valve will require some attention as it was blowing back slightly, otherwise the pump works brilliantly and is enormously adjustable.
Below: Fire in its belly...
Below: On the port side of the engine, Vince discovered some rough running was due to there being a major discrepancy in length of the reverser weighshaft lifting links (which on this engine work in the horizontal axis!) compared to the other side of the engine. These were quickly removed and Vince assembled this jig to enable the links to be lengthened. This involved cutting the link and preparing it for welding, then mounting it on the jig to be tack welded.
Below: Tack welding the link.
Below: The result - a true and extended link, ready to be welded up completely...
Below: ... then ground flush...
Below: ... creating an invisible joint.
Below: The pump! Built by Hickey and Son, it is a clone of the legendary (as it was both reliable and ubiquitous) Worthington Simpson pumps, of which thousands were built and worked in the harshest environments.
Below: Putting the pump in context, with requisite water supply and delivery pipes as well as steam supply and exhaust.
Below: A film of the first movements of the engine unit (remember how the engine can be disengaged - this is discussed on Coffee Pot's old blog still available via the Beamish website...
Below: A short clip of the pump in action, slow at first then accelerating as the steam supply is increased.
The Coffee Pot will return to Beamish imminently - I will post images once its here and we've got to know the engine and its foibles. Watch this space...
As many readers will be aware, we are sending Blackpool Tram 31 to Blackpool in mid June to stay until November (at least) in order to participate in the Blackpool Tramway's 125th anniversary. It was initially agreed that BTS' Boat car No.600 would come to Beamish in exchange, later being swapped to Boat 607 (which will be joining the National Tramway Museum collection in due course). However, an offer of the loan of a Balloon Tram (No.703) by the Lancastrian Transport Trust, liveried in Sunderland livery (and wearing the next spare number - 101) was accepted in order to give us some high capacity winter tram cover. The English Electric design is quite acceptable - Sunderland 99 was very similar to the Blackpool cars and it us upon this tram that 101's livery is based. We have reached agreement with the LTT for the loan and 703/101 will arrive in mid-June. There is a lot of information on the tram on LTT's website, so rather than repeat it here, follow the link below for fuller details... (also have a look at their 143 project - and think 31!).
Below: 703 has entered the paintshop at Rigby Road (image courtesy the LTT blog)
Below: A mocked up impression of the final result - though the single destination blind will remain for now and the pantograph will be replaced with a trolley pole.
Obviously this is not a 100% recreation, but it is hoped that 101 will give us much needed winter covered-tram support for our Christmas event, as well as evoking a popular and well remembered livery on a near-suitable tram at the museum. It is very much an interesting 'might have been'!
Right - where were we up to?! A few more exciting exhibits for April 15th to 18th confirmed or in the process of being confirmed...
Below: The National Tramway Museum is very kindly bringing their newly restored Cardiff Water Car No.131 to the event. We are hugely grateful to them for this and look forward to welcoming the tram and its support crew here for the event.
Below: Not the best photo, but Peter Walker is bringing his 1933 Sentinel S6 steam lorry, in Tarmac livery, for the event - I am hoping our Tarmac living van will be finished in time to pose the two together...
Below: Another special guest - Kerr Stuart Wren 3114 from the Vale of Rheidol Railway in Wales. I am particularly pleased this engine will be attending (as well as Peter Pan) so we can recreate something of the Durham County Water Board construction railways. It is also only its second visit to a UK railway site (the other was Amerton) so I hope the visitors will be able to really appreciate the pair at work!
Below: Ian Thompson has confirmed he is coming with his Foden Steam lorry - seen here at Beamish a few years ago.
Below: Roy Wakefield will be bringing another Beamish past participant - his Mann steam tractor 'Brinkburn Lass'.
On Friday I called in at Alton Engineering in Derbyshire and was able to see the startling progress on our new boiler for the Savage Centre Engine which Jack, Ian and Ed are overhauling for us - with the target of the beginning of May to return the gallopers ride to steam for the first time in over 50 years. A selection of images follow...
Below: The original boiler fusible plug showing a quite alarming repair! Presumably it was considered OK at the time as the engine ran like this, but to us it is a spectacular example of what we simply would not/could not tolerate today! Due to wear in the crown of the inner firebox around the plug, a patch was welded over and the plug fitted to this. OK, the plate is under compression, but...
Below: Another view inside the old inner firebox. There is a lot of wear evident around the tube ends, and as these boilers were made of thinner plate than normal (for lightness), we are well justified in seeking to build an entirely new boiler (with full CE marking) and keep this one intact as an untouched example of past practice and techniques.
Below: An external view of the boiler stripped down - the engine (cylinders/motion) is extremely worn and is currently also being rebuilt.
Below: The new front tubeplate.
Below: The new foundation ring and firehole ring ready to be riveted into place once the inner and outer fireboxes are united. The new barrel is behind.
Below: The new inner firebox. These boilers have girder stays rather than crown stays and Ed was in the process of drilling and tapping these.
Below: The new outer firebox. The guys are producing this at an amazing rate, to drawings prepared by Graham Morris and approval/compliance by Royal Sun Alliance, per the procedure we followed for Coffee Pot No.1 - see this blog archive and Coffee Pot's blog on the Beamish website.
