Coffee Pot the shunting engine!

25th February 2011

In 1871 Head Wrightson built a small shunting locomotive, one of a tiny number built, and of a design not perpetuated. 140 years later, at Beamish, that same shunting engine was hard at work on a bright February day carrying out shunting duties not for pleasure of demonstration, but as a working shift. Not bad really!

Coffee Pot was returned from Tanfield and unloaded for use at Rowley. Watered and prepared on Wednesday I lit up on Thursday in order to carry out a large amount of shunting at Rowley in association with returning stock to the Regional Museum Store after some movements there, including installation of a concrete floor. Here is a sample of the day in pictures...

Below: Basking in the sunlight of a glorious day - not all shunting takes place in such ideal conditions!

Below: Making use of the drop buffers on the NER (we think) open, to shunt L25, the specimen chaldron waggon.

Below: Looking into the void as the snowplough and NER compartment coach are returned to deep storage.

Below: An unlikely combination! A crowd gathers to watch the ecs movement of the GER Royal Saloon at Rowley.

Below: David and Goliath! Despite a valiant effort, Coffee Pot couldn't move the Consett steam crane more than three lengths of itself, however, it was then near enough for the tele-handler (seen in the background) to reach it and pull the crane inside.

Below: A colourful combination! After this Coffee Pot was serviced and stood by to move the Y7, as seen in the separate posting. It performed wonderfully - a tribute to the versatility of steam as well as the endurance of this particular design. All on one tankful of water and bunkerful of coal - and the bunker really is tiny!