Month: January 2025

Work has again continued with the overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T locomotive No. 5643 with Ed and Ron reaching the landmark stage on Saturday of drilling from the outside all the firebox stays to be replaced. There is still work to be done from the inside of the firebox before the holes can be reamed and tapped.

Another shunt of the shed has taken place and Furness Railway No. 20’s engine has been split from the tender in order for it to be squeezed into the heated part of the shed, above the pit, to enable winter maintenance to take place. 5643’s chassis is now at the west end of the shed to allow work to replace the cylinder liners to take place.

With the Peckett 0-4-0ST Caliban’s boiler away at Williton for the fitting of a new firebox, attention has turned to repairing the cab and readying it for painting. A skim of filler is being applied to improve the surface of the metalwork. 

Sam took a trip to Embsay yesterday and found the Trust’s ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST Cumbria in service.

Finally, the Ribble Steam Railway’s workshop has turned out Peckett 0-4-0ST No. 1935 Hornet of 1937, which was being warmed up on Saturday in the sunshine in readiness for a full steam test, hopefully this week.

Another couple of weeks have gone by and the stay drilling team of Ed and
Ron is closing in on the last few stays to be replaced on Great Western Railway
0-6-2T No. 5643’s firebox, which are being drilled out from the outside.

There is still some work to be done on clearing the holes on the inside of the firebox,
which Keith will do with the gas torch, but that side of the project is now
nearing completion. Thursday saw another set of stay holes tapped and ready
to receive new stays, with Chris Rycroft being assisted by the FRT team.

Elsewhere, with Caliban’s boiler away receiving a new firebox, it’s time to
ensure that other elements of the project are brought up to speed. Tim has
been sanding down the back of the cab, applying filler where necessary, whilst
John Dixon has been cleaning up the threads at the bottom of two of the cab
stanchions.

Meanwhile, Keith has been fabricating a new bracket to hold the steam heat
pipe on the front of Great Western Railway ‘Hall’ class 4-6-0 No. 4979
Wootton Hall.

Members should now have received the latest, Autumn/Winter 2024, edition
of The Iron Horse along with membership renewal letters.
It is good to see so many subscriptions arriving in the Trust’s bank account
already – many thanks.

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.

link to the new website!