Furness Railway Trust blog

Ade appeared on Wednesday morning with the aim of removing Caliban’s well-worn smokebox by the end of the day. Space is at a premium in the FRT shed but Ade managed to appear with a fork lift truck and the weltrol on which the boiler is mounted was shunted into position by pinch bar. At this point additional hands were summoned and, with assistance from Paul Balshaw, John Dixon and Ron Crowe, the job was done in time for elevenses to be taken!

John Davis took up the job of cleaning up a heater guard from the west saloon of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5. It was only after he had applied some wire wool to it that it was revealed that the guard was made of brass which looked very regal once old paint and dirt had been removed and a little Brasso applied. Giving it a daily polish will be just another job for the train guard to do to keep the coach spick and span! And John now only has another couple of heater guards needing similar treatment! Of particular interest was last night’s Channel 5 programme on Queen Consort Alexandra for whom, at the time she was Princes of Wales in 1898, the coach was built. She seems to have been quite a character and the programme is worth a watch on MY 5 if you can spare the time. Here is a link to the programme. 

We mentioned last week that Keith has mounted the ejector exhaust pipe on GWR ‘Hall’ class No. 4979 Wootton Hall, so here is the promised photo.

And the safety valve bonnet is also now in place.

Furness Railway No. 20 is due its 14-month boiler inspection shortly so Sam has been busy cleaning the firebox and smokebox. A boiler washout is planned or Friday when, hopefully, we will again hear the roar of the Coventry Climax fire pump.

We better not make this blog too long as Neil has to take the notes at this evening’s Trustees’ Meeting. Unfortunately, it will again be by Zoom so we will still be on virtual sandwiches (cue howls of dismay from Trustees missing Alison’s sarnies!).

Just a short update this week after last week’s photo gallery edition!

We start with Peckett 0-4-0ST Caliban where the last tubes were
removed from the boiler last Wednesday by Ade. Alan and Sam had a trip to
Burscough that same day to retrieve the piston rods which have now been
ground to produce a nice shiny surface. Fred continued his work on cleaning
the outside of the boiler and firebox.

Once more there has been much work on Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon
No. 5 where Phil Bell has led the way in fitting the new fabric on the inside
walls below window level. Having completed the west saloon, apart from the
doors, a start has been made on fitting out the corridor where Tim is aiming to
complete the varnishing of the wooden panels later this week. John Davis has
been removing and sanding the skirting boards as part of the process ready for
painting. Given the rapid rate of progress in the fitting out of the fabric it is
hoped to start the fitting out of the kitchen before Christmas. This will require
some early presents for the team in the form of sinks, water heater, fridge,
water tank and hob plus a new work top. The internet is being searched to
identify suitable items at affordable prices.

Meanwhile, John Dixon has been repairing one of the brass window supports
and freeing off windows that seem to have been glued stuck by varnish (!)
whilst Sam’s electrical work has enabled a welcome pre-Christmas switch on
of the existing lights in the coach. Phil and Anne Burton continued their work
on the chaise longue.

Elsewhere, Keith has been busy with Wootton Hall, fitting the new ejector
exhaust pipe and the dome cover (Ahem we must get pictures for next week! Ed.) whilst Matt has been undertaking some more welding on the tender tank.

Finally, Alison kindly left us some of her tasty butterfly cakes on Wednesday, which were the left-overs from the RSR AGM the previous evening, where Ade had done his best to eat them! Needless to say, there were none left when Alison popped in to enquire on Friday lunchtime!!!

Work has continued apace on Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5. Anne and Phil Burton are making progress on the chaise longue in the east saloon where repairs to the wooden frame have been necessary.

John Dixon, seen here painting a lamp bracket, has just about completed painting the components on the exterior of the coach in a specially mixed shade of brown.

Ed has continued to remove old paint and varnish from the guard’s compartment.

John Davis has been giving his attention to sprucing up the Royal toilet roll holder!

Tim has been giving the interior woodwork a couple of coats of varnish. Once dried, the new fabric is fitted to the lower panels. Phil has been in charge of the scissors.

It’s a two-handed job to fit the fabric, with John Davis lending a hand here.

Elsewhere, Fred has started to prepare Caliban’s boiler for an NDT inspection, cleaning off old rust and dirt.

Finally, the new screw for Wootton Hall’s reverser has now arrived, seen here on top of the fabricated reverser body. This opens up further work on this mechanism.

We are pleased to be able to report that, after the hard work put in by Team 5643 at Bury over the past couple of weeks, 5643 passed its steam test in the presence of our boiler surveyor last Friday and has had its ten year boiler ticket extended by two months. This will be of particular help to the East Lancs Railway over the busy Christmas period as it has temporarily lost the use of the Standard Class 4 tank there because of a flue tube failure.

5643 is now provisionally scheduled to operate trains on the following dates: 26^th and 27^th November, 9^th, 10^th, 11^th, 26^th and 27^th December. It will also be on standby on other dates.

Talking of dates for your diary, Alison has arranged for this year’s FRT Christmas Dinner to be held at The Ribble Pilot pub on Preston’s dockside on the evening of Friday, 16^th December.

Back in the FRT shed at Preston, Keith has continued his work in applying protective paint to Wootton Hall’s boiler cladding.

We have also seen further progress on the overhaul of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 where John Dixon has been replacing grab handles, lamp holders and the like to the exterior of the vehicle.

The fabric to line the interior sides of the coach has arrived and Phil Bell is seen here cutting some white backing sheets.

And here is the first panel to be fitted with the new fabric, with shiny varnished woodwork above, and a sneak preview of what the whole coach will look like when completed.

Firstly, apologies this week to Ed and Anne for an error in last week’s blog in which a photo of Anne was described as Ed! Well it proved that people do read the blog as the mistake was reported more than once! But sorry both!!

We are however pleased to report that the working party at Bury last Monday was successful in removing most of the items from 5643’s smokebox in order for a full hydraulic test of the locomotive to take place on Friday. Keith also went across to Bury on Tuesday and Thursday to complete the job and apply the necessary blanks. Even better, the locomotive passed its test in front of the boiler surveyor and so a steam test has been scheduled for this coming Friday. This will require a further working party tomorrow, Tuesday, to reassemble the items in the smokebox. Unfortunately, the hostile environment of the smokebox had eaten away at the ejector exhaust pipe and so it came out in two pieces rather than one. Keith has since been busy at Preston cleaning up and annealing the pipework.

He has also made up a new pipe for the ejector.

The first layer of varnish has been applied to the woodwork in the west saloon of Great Eastern Railway royal saloon No. 5 and also one side of the interior doors. The two doors on the right have received the varnish and those on the left await their turn. The end result looks good and is due reward for the all the effort that has been made to strip off previous layers of varnish. Work has also been going on behind the scenes by Andy Allthorn to produce replacement light fittings and obtain new glass bowls which will hopefully be arriving at Preston shortly along with the new LED light bulbs which have been procured.

Furness Railway No. 20 has appeared back in the FRT shed having completed its scheduled duties this year. Work will now turn to preparing it for a 14 month examination by the boiler surveyor.

Finally, those of you who attend working parties at Preston will be aware of the football rivalry within the FRT shed between Preston North End and Blackpool fans. The 4-2 home win by Blackpool the previous Saturday prompted Ed to turn up in his dayglo tangerine football shirt, much to the dismay of PNE supporters Phil Burton and John Davis!

Ade and Alan made some good progress in removing the last of Caliban’s tubes from its boiler last Wednesday. Ade worked in the firebox to “encourage” each tube to move forward.

Ade then joined Alan in hauling the tube out through the front tube plate. Inevitably some tubes were more reluctant than others to move!

David Starkie made a welcome return to work last Wednesday after convalescence and is seen here on the right assisting Ed (left) and Phil Burton (middle) on repairs to the chaise longue in Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5. Varnishing of the exterior of the vehicle is now complete and all the brass work has been re-fitted. Phil Bell has repaired most of the interior mouldings and John Davis has been cleaning down woodwork in the west saloon ready for varnishing.

Finally, over at Bury, attempts to undertake a hydraulic test on 5643 in order to gain a short extension on its boiler ticket were thwarted by the regulator not holding at high pressure. Keith, John Dixon and Ade were due to go to Bury today to remove and blank off the regulator, a not inconsiderable task since it entails removing the superheater header and steam pipes. We hope that their efforts pay off.

Apologies for the lack of a blog last week. The main blog computer decided that it had become tired of life and has had to be replaced. Needless to say, it is never as simple as that, with hours being spent re-loading and organising the software! However, this has not affected the work at Preston which (fortunately) tends to be a little less sophisticated!

Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 has again been devouring considerable labour as efforts are made to bring this lengthy project to a conclusion, hopefully at some point this winter.

Most of the interior mouldings are now back in place and repaired by Phil. John and Ed meanwhile continue to clean up the woodwork, John on hands and knees in the former royal lavatory (a posture which somehow feels appropriate?!) and Ed in the kitchen. A short planning meeting took place last Wednesday with Alison to determine the future catering requirements and fitments required to bring the kitchen are up to modern standards. A preference for the remainder of the internal fabric decoration has also been determined – needless to say, it was the most expensive in the catalogue. Another round of measuring is required to ensure that we do not over order!

Outside, Tim has completed the final coat of varnish apart from a couple of panels which need some further attention. The windows on the south side and both ends have been cleaned externally and the brass door trims polished for the first time in many many years.

John Dixon has been fastidiously re-fitting the highly polished door knobs and handles, adjusting where necessary to ensure correct functioning of the door locks.

Sam has continued his work to re-install the lighting in the coach, seen here wiring up the light fittings.

Elsewhere, Keith has been applying some protective paint to the cladding on Wootton Hall, which has required some team working to remove and re-fit the pieces. Ade has been re-assembling the inside motion on Caliban.

Finally Live Steam had a successful gig at the Engine Inn at Cark a week last Friday and have been invited to perform there again at New Year’s Eve. Tim and Pete went on to perform the following day at the premises of the Ulverston Brewing Company for the exhibitors at the Barrow Model Railway Exhibition. Again, all seemed to go well and they already have a song request for next year!

Work has continued to progress well on the overhaul of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5. Having received the moquette for the chaise longue, it is now time to choose the rest of the material that will adorn the inside of the saloons and corridor below the windows. The first of the fabric samples have been received and examined. Naturally, the current preferred choice seems to be the most expensive! Meanwhile, Tim has been applying the final coat of vanish to the exterior of the vehicle.

There will soon be a need to re-fit the exterior fittings so John Dixon and Fred set about cleaning and polishing the door knobs and handles on Friday.

Work has also continued on Wootton Hall where Keith has been removing some very stubborn brackets from the insides of the engine’s frames. John Dixon has also been continuing his Saturday job of repairing Caliban’s cab.

The weekend saw the operation of Ribble Steam Railway’s  very successful Steam Gala which featured five steam locomotives including Furness Railway No. 20 and visiting L&Y ‘Pug’ No. 19. The latter will depart Preston on Wednesday after its month-long stay at the RSR.

Finally, this next Friday evening Live Steam are appearing once again at the Engine Inn, Cark-in-Cartmel, starting at 8.30 pm. With Alan unavailable on Saturday, Tim and Pete will then perform as a duo for the exhibitors of the Barrow Model Railway Exhibition at the Ulverston Brewery Company on Saturday evening.

Apologies for the lack of a blog last week. Tim was under the weather and of course there was the distraction of the Queen’s funeral.

However, there has been plenty going on at Preston where the team working on Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 is finally beginning to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. John Dixon is seen here replacing one of the ceiling vents that he has been fettling and polishing.

The new moquette for the chaise longue has arrived after a delay and now will enable us to search for a suitable shade of matching material for the lower side panels in the saloon. Anne and Phil have been stripping down the chaise longue ready for new materials to be fitted.

Phil has been applying a first coat of varnish to the new veneer panels.

John Davis and Ed continue to clean up the remaining woodwork; it’s John’s turn for a photo this week.

Inevitably during this restoration we have discovered missing components that will be difficult to replace. However, we were visited on Wednesday, 14th, by 3D printing expert Andy Allthorn from Cark-in-Cartmel who kindly came down to demonstrate how this modern technology can used in re-creating such items and has already produced a new part for the light fittings.

Andy has also now set about re-creating handles for two of the internal sliding doors.

Dave Watkins has been able to supply a replacement cast brass oil box (no 3D printing here) for Wootton Hall’s tender which Keith has been working on.

Fred has been polishing one of the trunnions for a brake shaft for Wootton Hall.

Bob has been visiting regularly to work on Wootton Hall‘s regulator valve.

Alan and Sam have taken Caliban’s piston rods to Burscough for them to be metal spayed and ground in order to repair corrosion.

We are pleased to be able to report that the Annual General Meeting passed off successfully on the 13th September and we were able to welcome Paul Balshaw and Sam Middleton on board as Trustees – congratulations both! Thanks as ever go to Alison for preparing a super spread of sandwiches and cakes for the occasion.

Over at Embsay Andy Booth has completed the fitting of Cumbria’s new tubes and the boiler has been successfully hydraulically tested by Matt Anderson in the presence of our boiler surveyor, Andy Wright. Indian Red paint has been sent across to enable John Furness to smarten up the appearance of the saddle tank and the refractory concrete has arrived there in order for a new brick arch to be constructed. Hopefully it won’t be too long now before Cumbria is back in traffic.

Finally, this last weekend marked the 50th anniversary of the historic return to steam specials on the Furness Line which were operated by Carnforth 10A Black 5s 44871 and 44932 on Saturday, 23rd September 1972. British Rail had previously banned all steam trains after August 1968 (apart from those hauled by 4472 Flying Scotsman which had a contract) but the ban was finally lifted in 1972, a major win for the world of railway preservation. Those at West Coast hadn’t forgotten the significance of the date and so quietly turned out newly overhauled 44932 this last Saturday to haul the Cumbrian Coast Express railtour – very well done to them! Watch it at Grange and Arnside here.

This last Saturday saw the Furness Railway Trust shed open to the public as part of the national Heritage Open Days scheme. We were delighted to welcome so many visitors and Tim admitted to having to keep up his tea uptake in order to avoid a dry throat during his many guided tours around the shed. The work on restoring GWR ‘Hall’ class 4-6-0 Wootton Hall and the overhaul of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5  proved to be of particular interest and it is to be hoped that some of the visitors will become members to support this work. Outside the shed Ade was driving recently restored Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway ‘Pug’ 0-4-0ST No. 19 of 1910, courtesy of the L&Y Trust. At the other end of the trains was the FRT’s very own Furness Railway No. 20 with Alan and Sam Middleton on the footplate – not often you get locomotives with sequential numbers powering a train!

This video which was sent to us shows both Nos 19 and 20 in action – and also what was on show inside the shed, as well as a look round the RSR Museum and the operation of the swingbridge over Preston docks.

Another reminder now to members that this year’s AGM will take place tomorrow evening, Tuesday, 13th September, in the Furness Railway Trust shed at Preston at 7.30 pm. Alison is planning the post meeting refreshments so we hope that as many as possible of you will be able to attend.