There hasn’t been a blog for a couple of weeks due to holidays, but the work of FRT volunteers has continued. First of all, there have been a couple of working parties at Embsay over the last couple of weeks attended by John, Alan and Tim. Some good progress has been made in removing cab pipes and fittings from ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST Cumbria although some of the backhead fittings may well need some further persuasion with the help of some heat.
Work has continued outside at Preston on Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643’s side tanks. It seems however that Sim found a new use for 5643’s new ashpan whilst brother Jon works in the background.
FR 20 was in use on both days of the Ribble Steam Railway’s 20th Anniversary Gala on the 6th and 7th September. Adrian and Aaron bore the brunt of the wet weather on the Sunday with Aaron seen here looking very wet.
Great Eastern Railway royal saloon No. 5 was loaded up on the Sunday evening of the Gala for transportation to Bury for the East Lancashire Railway’s Rail 200 Gala the following weekend, followed by FR 20 the following day. Thanks go to Adrian for looking after the loading.
Sam and John went to Bury last Friday to clean FR 20, which was used on both Saturday and Sunday to haul three return trips between Bury and Ramsbottom with a Lancashire & Yorkshire saloon along with GER No. 5. In addition, FR 20 hauled a Saturday evening Fish and Chip Special which also had a Great Western saloon attached. No photographs of the event yet to hand but there are some videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Tx6nMedJk
Thanks go to the loco and sales teams for all their efforts over the weekend.
We have feedback from a couple of visitors that they were taken aback by the shine on FR 20’s paintwork.