Furness Railway Trust blog

It has been a very busy fortnight since the last blog. Furness Railway 0-4-0 locomotive No. 20 was due to leave Preston on Thursday, 1 st May to go to the Tanfield Railway and so work continued to sort out the leaking left hand clack valve which showed evidence of a score. The final solution, just in time, was to
put it in the lathe giving a clean surface, as seen here. We are pleased to report that this remedy did the trick!

Ben, John Dixon, Sam and Tim travelled up to the north east for the three days of steaming over the Bank Holiday weekend. The BBC was on hand to film the loco and the members at Tanfield for a forthcoming edition of ‘Our Lives’, a thirty minutes programme which is scheduled to be screened in July.
There should be no shortage of footage for the editor to work with. Other locos in steam were Barclay 0-4-0 No. 1659 Stanley of 1920 and Robert Stephenson 0-6-0 T No.2730 Twizell of 1891.

The FRT gang was also able to join a social evening on the Sunday, which included a whistle blow and a good portion of fish and chips for all concerned.
Unlike, the western side of the Pennines, however, it was not particularly warm, with a cool northerly breeze!
FR 20 was also booked to appear again at Tanfield this last Saturday and Sunday, the FRT team this time being Alan, Alison, Peter van Zeller, Sam, John, Ben, plus Anne and Phil Burton. They are (apart from Ben) pictured below together with Preston fireman Aaron Johnson’s daughter and wife, Victoria and Theo.

The second weekend also featured Cockerill 0-4-0VBT No. 1625 Belgian tram locomotive Lucie of 1890, which is owned by Paul ‘Piglet’ Middleton and based at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. We couldn’t resist including the following photo which shows Ben ‘Piglet’ Valentine and Paul together:

Those wishing to view photos and video footage of FR 20’s stay at Tanfield should look no further than the Tanfield Railway Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/tanfieldrailway/?locale=en_GB
We show below a photo from Ben of FR 20 and vintage coaches at the very rural and historic Causey Arch station. We thank all the people at Tanfield for the friendship and hospitality shown over the past two weekends.

Back at Preston, work has continued on the 10 year overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643. Chris Rycroft completed a marathon stay caulking session last Thursday, completing 66 stays, inner and outer, on the left hand side of the firebox, and the remaining 32 stays inside on the top half of the door plate. Well done, Chris!

Latest news is that 5643’s new cylinder liners are to be freeze fitted at Preston this next Friday, with the new liners then being bored out over next Saturday and Sunday.

Finally, we hear from Beamish Museum that the agreed temporary re-painting of the FRT’s North London Railway coach into Highland Railway green has been completed, and very smart it looks too!

Furness Railway 0-4-0 locomotive No. 20 successfully completed four days in service at the Ribble Steam Railway over Easter. Remarkably, Keith had never before driven FR 20 in service but was given the opportunity on Easter Saturday.

Since then the main focus has been on preparing FR 20 for its forthcoming trip to the Tanfield Railway. Gauge glass rubbers have been renewed on the right hand side following reports of some fizzing when the boiler was full.
More noticeable was the leak in the regulator gland which required another round of packing. Alan is seen reassembling the gland after the repair.

The left hand clack valve was also seen to be passing so, last Friday, the boiler water level was reduced allowing the valve to be dismantled. Some build up of scale was observed along with a small dimple in the lip of the valve, which was letting through unwanted water and steam. The scale was removed and Alan is seen lapping in the valve with grinding paste.

We think that John Dixon got the rough end of the stick in taking on board the retro fitting of FR 20’s spark arrestor. He spent many hours on his knees in the smokebox coaxing metal to fit. Well done, John!

FR 20 is due to depart Preston this Thursday afternoon and is scheduled to be in use at Tanfield for three days over the forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend and again on the Saturday and Sunday of the following weekend.

Work has also continued on Peckett 0-4-0ST Caliban where Ron Crowe and Duncan Sawyer are seen together machining a new piston head.

Progress continues to be made on the ten year overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643. Ed is seen here fitting new stays on the backhead of the firebox.

Two pairs of feet can be seen in the left hand side tank of 5643 as John and Ed get to grips with cleaning the internal metalwork.

With the weather forecast showing rain in the coming days it was quickly decided to apply a top coat of black paint to one side of the side tank.

Meanwhile, with Furness Railway No. 20’s trip to the Tanfield Railway drawing closer, work has been taking place to refit the spark arrestor that was last used many years ago and was brought back on the lorry from Locomotion, Shildon, when FR 20 came home to Preston in 2018. Unfortunately, it has been discovered that some of the bits are missing, so John has been cutting new pieces of steelwork.

Whilst Alan has been making new cleats to fasten the spark arrestor together. Before its trip to the north east FR 20 is scheduled to operate passenger trains at the Ribble Steam Railway over the Easter period.

We are pleased to announce that Furness Railway 0-4-0 locomotive No. 20 will be visiting the Tanfield Railway for the first two weekends in May. FR 20 last visited the Tanfield Railway in September 2008 and it is appropriate that it heads back to the north east in this 200th Anniversary year of the first public railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which opened on the 27th September 1825.
Talking of FR 20, it made its first operational appearance of 2025 this last weekend at the Ribble Steam Railway’s Spring Steam Gala, which featured five locomotives and also the Furness Railway Trust’s Great Eastern Railway royal saloon no. 5 of 1898. This time the Gala offered brake van rides using the ‘Queen Mary’ bogie brake van, which proved to be very popular. Saturday was particularly busy and Phil and Anne Burton staffed the sales stand whilst there was a second-hand book sale in the FRT shed. It was pleasing to see that the winter maintenance on FR 20, which saw the left inside motion dismantled, had been successful, with the locomotive operating smoothly. Alan is seen here at the regulator making sure that all is well.

Elsewhere, work has continued on the overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643. The good weather on Wednesday allowed outdoor work to proceed and we see Sim here applying some filler to the cab roof.

Another short update this week.
Work has continued on the major re-staying of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643’s firebox with Chris tackling the caulking of new stays inside the firebox. He reckons that after doing so much caulking in a day that he will be going round in circles in his sleep!

Ed and Ron have undertaken more reaming and tapping of stay holes with the result that Keith has been able to fit many more new stays.

Ade moved Furness Railway 0-4-0 No. 20 from the FRT shed to the running shed after piecing up the tender and engine back together. Tim proved that he could still get through the firehole door into the firebox to re-fit the grate, although there was a minor wardrobe malfunction as he tried to squeeze out!
Fortunately, John Dixon was on hand to assist! (No photos, thankfully.) We are pleased to be able to report that the locomotive passed its statutory steam test on Friday. Sam is seen on the footplate with Adam Wright, the Trust’s boiler surveyor. FR 20 and the FRT’s Great Eastern Railway royal saloon No. 5 are scheduled to run at next week’s Spring Steam Gala.

We leave you this week with a photo of Grant Richie 0-4-0ST No. 272 preparing to haul the Ribble Steam Railway’s five coach service on Saturday on the popular occasion of a visit by Paddington Bear.

A short update this week.
Furness Railway No. 20’s ashpan has been re-fitted, washout plugs and mudhole doors tightened and water fed into the boiler in readiness for its steam test this next Friday. More work has also taken place on Peckett 0-4-0ST Caliban’s cab. With 550 stays to replace on Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643’s firebox, it’s not surprising that we have another photo of the ongoing work, this time with Ron and Ed tapping out some more stay holes.

Meanwhile, John Dixon has been seen crawling into one of the side tanks. The aim being to clean out any debris from the refurbishment work that has been taking place.

Saturday morning saw the arrival of a new ash pan for 5643 delivered by Bradshaw Sheet Metal Ltd.

The new ashpan soon had a coat of paint applied to protect it from the weather.

Tuesday, 4th March saw Furness Railway 0-4-0 No. 20 receive its annual cold boiler inspection, which we are pleased to report it passed. Thanks go to Andy Booth for tapping out the fusible plug holes and supplying new plugs. The ‘in steam’ test is scheduled for Friday, 21st March. With this in mind, John Dixon and Sam, set about re-fitting the left-hand connecting rod and crosshead in readiness for the locomotive to be moved, receiving guidance from Alan.

It is planned to re-fit the ashpan this coming Wednesday.

Meanwhile, there has been good progress with the re-staying of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643’s firebox. Keith is seen here burning out some of the front stays from inside the firebox.

Chris has once again been caulking up new stays where they have been fitted.

The ream team of Ed, Ron, Keith and Tim had a very productive shift this last Saturday, Ed and Ron reaming out over 100 stay holes with the air drill whilst Keith caught the reamer from inside the firebox and Tim applied cutting compound. This methodology saw a hole being reamed out every 55 seconds, give or take the occasional lunch and tea break!

We are still awaiting the fitting of the new cylinder liners to 5643, however, it appears that the new liners have been machined to size at Bury, including the port and oil holes.

Finally, there was some sadness as the final eighteen empty bitumen tankers were hauled away from the Ribble Steam Railway on Tuesday, 4th March by Colas Class 56 no. 56113.

The major event this last week has been the boring out of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643’s cylinders as a precursor to fitting the new cylinder liners. The first photo shows the borer located in the left hand cylinder and the motor, bottom right, connected to the borer drive by bands.

Chris Birmingham from Riley & Son engineers of Bury was in charge of the operation.

The next stage in the process is the machining of the new liners to fit, which will take place at Bury, and then the shrink fitting of the new liners (cryogenics is the technical term) at Preston programmed for week commencing 3rd March.

Meanwhile Ron and Ed have been reaming out some more stay holes on 5643’s firebox.

We have now received news from Williton in Somerset that Caliban’s inner firebox has now been removed:

With this in mind there has been more work this week on Caliban’s cab. Jon and Sim have been attending to the interior, John Dixon has been pulling the metalwork back into shape, whilst Tim has made further progress with the cab exterior.

Sam has been preparing Furness Railway 0-4-0 No. 20 for its forthcoming boiler inspection, seen here taking the opportunity to give the safety valves a thorough clean.

Some video here of the FRT’s ‘Austerity’ 0-6-ST Cumbria courtesy of Paul Newton who visited the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway on Thursday.

Finally, it has been Alan’s turn to celebrate a birthday, seen here in the mess room with the obligatory cakes.

A short catch up this week.
Ade appeared with a fork lift on Wednesday to place one of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643’s side tanks on its side. This has enabled Ed and John Davis to clean it and check for any weak spots.

Work has continued on the repairs and refurbishment of Peckett 0-4-0ST Caliban’s cab with John Dixon fabricating some pull rods to bring the entrance to the cab back into shape whilst Tim has continued to work on the outside of the rear of the cab to improve the surface ready for painting.

Finally, work took place on Saturday to remove the left-hand connecting rod from Furness Railway 0-4-0 No.20. Sam is seen removing the slide bar lock nuts.

The slide bars and rod are seen after removal, ready for measuring to remove unwanted movement around the little end.