A Happy New Year to all our readers. We hope that you have had a pleasant and peaceful time over the festive break.
We are pleased to announce that the Trust was notified of a legacy of £10,000 from the estate of the late David Rimmer, our former long-standing Treasurer and Trustee who died last April. We are sure that David would have appreciated the timing of the notification and the Trustees will no doubt wish to allocate the money to progressing one of David’s favoured projects.
The Christmas and New Year festivities have not halted progress on the overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643 where work has continued on the removal of old stays from the firebox, with little now left to do in this respect – just the more awkward ones!
Our folk group, Live Steam, performed a well appreciated gig at the Engine Inn at Cark-in-Cartmel on New Year’s Eve, although the atrocious weather unsurprisingly reduced the size of the audience. Even so, some welcome funds were raised for the Furness Railway Trust and also the Bahamas Locomotive Society for which guitarist Pete Skellon is a Trustee.
Finally, some of you will have noticed that the FRT’s old website has been taken down because it had become out of date. The good news is that Chris Rycroft has been working with Mike Rigg to produce a super new website. Although still being worked up to full size, readers are now invited to have a first glimpse of the FRT’s new presence on the web. Our grateful thanks go to Chris for his skill and imagination in producing something that is very different.
The recent better weather conditions (OK, forget today!) have enabled good progress to be made outside the shed on the refurbishment of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643’s bunker, which John Dixon has been persevering with, seen here removing rust.
Jon and Sim have been busy applying green undercoat to the cab roof.
Ed has been taking his turn grinding off stay heads on 5643’s firebox in preparation for the stays to be replaced.
This last weekend has seen what was scheduled to be the last major event for the Furness Railway Trust this year, with Furness Railway No. 20 booked to appear at the East Lancashire Railway’s Autumn Steam Gala on the 11th, 12th and 13th October. As with all these occasions, there needs to be some advance preparation and Phil Burton, Alison, Ade and Anne were busy in the mess room last Wednesday sorting out sales stock and, incidentally, taking the opportunity to get rid of some long out-dated items that were taking up unnecessary room.
Ian Massey was with us once again on Wednesday, seen here working on Great Western Railway ‘Hall’ 4-6-0 No. 4979 Wootton Hall’s tender where more new plate has been welded in.
Outside, Sim and Jon were applying some red oxide to GWR 0-6-2T No. 5643’s cab roof.
New axle pad oilers have arrived for 5643’s driving wheels this week.
And so to Bury where Alison is seen with the FRT’s sales stand, which she looked after on Friday and Saturday. Phil and Anne appeared on Sunday to continue with the sales to the many visitors to the Gala.
FR 20 worked either on two Mark 1 carriage shuttles to Ramsbottom, seen here with former RSR resident L&Y ‘Pug’ No. 19…
… or operating brake van rides top and tailed with recent Ribble Steam Railway resident Barclay 0-4-0ST No. 1969 JN Derbyshire.
Seen again, at Bury Bolton Street station. Photo kindly shared by John Earnshaw Photography, with thanks.
Gremlins struck on Friday afternoon when a noise from FR 20’s right hand side suggested that an examination was required. It was decided to miss the loco’s turn on the evening fish and chip special to Ramsbottom and head back to the shed where removal of the front right hand cylinder cover revealed that a small gap had opened up been the piston and the retaining nut. An 80 thou’ bronze washer was quickly machined up by Bill Beverage and fitted. Matt Hainsworth is seen refitting the cylinder cover on Saturday morning (with Bill looking on) and, after what was the equivalent of a Formula One pit stop, the loco was quickly back in service with the 11.37 brake van trip to Burrs. Our thanks go to Matt, Bill and Andy Booth for their assistance in getting the loco back on the road so quickly.
The ELR had also brought in former Bury resident BR 9F 2-10-0 No. 92134 seen alongside FR 20 at Ramsbottom on Saturday evening.
The recent better weather has allowed progress outside the shed on Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643’s side tanks, bunker and cab roof. Inside the shed, Keith has started to reassemble 5643’s radial truck and, with the new axle pads for the driving wheels received, it should now be possible to lower the frames. Having completed the reaming out of the remaining first batch of stay holes in the firebox the previous Thursday, attention was now turned to completing the riveting work elsewhere on the loco on Friday.
Meanwhile, last Wednesday saw final preparations for the departure of Furness Railway 0-4-0 No. 20, which left Preston by low loader to go to the East Lancashire Railway (ELR) for its forthcoming gala appearance after lunch the following day. John Dixon and Sam were at Bury in order to re-fit the guard irons and sand pipes, fill the tender tank and to light a warming fire.
The run had not been advertised and was even a surprise to the signalman at Bury when the engine appeared. However, two Mark 1 coaches were duly collected and moved to platform 4 at Bury Bolton Street station, where tea was duly taken by all concerned. Andy Booth’s Hunslet 0-6-0 tender loco Douglas was also in the station with the five coach dining train, which left at 12.30.
It had been decided to stop at all stations on the way to Ramsbottom to ensure that there would be no problems in re-starting the train on the gradient, and the opportunity was taken to photograph the train in Summerseat station.
Ramsbottom was duly reached in a time of 25 minutes without breaking sweat, so it was time for another cup of tea (what, more tea? Ed.) and a chat with Responsible Officer for the day, Richard Law. Once the dining train had passed through Ramsbottom on its way back towards Bury, it was time to complete the return trip, this time non-stop. It was decided on return that there was no need for a second test run and so the carriages were deposited back into the siding and FR 20 returned to the shed. All in all, a very satisfactory day.
The Ribble Steam Railway Autumn Steam Gala took place this last Saturday and Sunday, so there was considerable effort made to prepare and clean Furness Railway locomotive No. 20 so that it looked its best for the occasion.
The Gala saw the first publicised appearances of newly overhauled Borrows 0-4-0 well tank No. 48 of 1906 The King and Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST No. 1969 of 1929 JN Derbyshire. Both of these locomotives were in ex-works condition and worked back to back for passenger workings, being accorded by some the nickname the ‘Preston Double Fairlie’. With other home-based locos Bagnall 0-6-0ST No. 2680 Courageous and Grant Richie 0-4-0ST No. 272 also in steam, along with the chance to ride in the FRT’s Great Eastern Railway royal saloon No. 5 and partake of tea, coffee, ploughman’s lunch and cream tea, there was plenty to see and do. In fact a number of visitors were noted to have spent both days at the Gala.
There was also a large second-hand book stall in the FRT shed which raised some welcome funds and it was a great opportunity to meet up with friends and visitors and display the current work being undertaken by the Trust.