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!
More good progress has been made on the Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon this week with Phil Bell having now replaced most of the damaged veneer. Anne and Phil Burton have been attending to the chaise longue in the larger saloon. We are still awaiting delivery of the new moquette which is being chased up. Attention is also being turned to replacing some missing light fittings and door straps.
Doing their best to publicise the FRT this last weekend were Tim and Alan, in a reduced Live Steam formation, who performed an impromptu half hour set of mainly railway songs at Fleetwood Folk Club’s second Folk Festival on Sunday afternoon.
John Dixon has formally announced that work on re-covering the roof of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 had been completed – apart from renewing the cabling to the internal lights which Sam is planning. Inside, work has continued on renewing veneered panels, painting ceilings and cleaning light fittings. More time is also now being spent on sorting out the former kitchen compartment where Ed is seen removing yet more varnish from the woodwork.
Another step forward was taken this week in the refurbishment of Wootton Hall’s tender tanks with the fitting of the reconstructed water take off sump. On Wednesday Ade operated the fork lift truck to lift it from the shed floor onto the tender tank.
We arrived on Friday to find that Keith and Matt had successfully used block and tackle to lift it into place, a perfect fit.
Andy Booth appeared on Friday to announce that Cumbria’s new tubes were now all fitted and that they would be beaded over when he returns from holiday.
Finally, we can reveal the latest loco to arrive at the Ribble Steam Railway. With no room available in the running shed it was shunted into the shop!
With Ade driving RSR’s mid-week train on Wednesday and Alan away on holiday, it has been a slightly quieter week. However, work has continued on Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5 where the much anticipated replacement veneer arrived just after lunch on Friday. Phil didn’t waste any time in starting to cut and fit some of the new veneer as can be seen here.
The next job in the saloon will be to re-fit the vents and light fittings which are currently receiving attention from John Dixon.
John Davis has been continuing the job of removing old varnish from the kitchen compartment cupboard doors.
The removal of the centre springs from Wootton Hall has given Fred the opportunity to clean up the spring hanger bolts, collars and washers.
Work has continued on Great Eastern Royal Saloon No. 5, with Tim completing the painting of the corniche mouldings and John Dixon installing the last of the re-built vents on the roof. The moquette for the chaise longue in the large saloon has been ordered and, in anticipation of this, the saloon ceiling is in the course of being repainted, hopefully to be completed this week. John Davis has been working on some of the wooden beading.
The replacement veneer has also been ordered and John Davis and Phil are seen here planning its installation – or it could just be another “seats of the week” photo?!
Keith has again been busy working on Wootton Hall‘s tender, seen here with Ron Crowe attempting to remove a stubborn nut from one of the spring hanger bolts.
There has been further progress with the repairs to Wootton Hall’s tender tank with Ian Massey welding in a new front plate last Tuesday.
Matt Crabtree has also continued his welding work on the tank, seen here last Friday using a magnet to hold a new piece of metal in place prior to tacking it in place with weld.
Fluff’s new cab roof is now well and truly in place with Phil Bell drilling some fixing holes.
He has also been replacing some missing step boards with wood from old church pews supplied by Fred. (Note the suitable kneeling position…!)
Over at Embsay, Andy Booth has been cutting out Cumbria‘s old tubes in readiness for a boiler examination last Thursday. Matt Anderson had removed the blast pipe, blower and brick arch in readiness for the re-tubing. The photo by Mike Rigg’s son last Wednesday shows the old tubes propped up against the front buffer beam.
The new tubes were transported across to Embsay last Friday, with Matt Crabtreee on hand to perform the tricky exercise of extricating them from the FRT shed at Preston with the fork lift truck.
Phil is seen drilling fixing holes in the bridging piece, watched by John.
Ade has been busy readying the eccentric straps for fitting on Caliban.
George appeared at Preston on Saturday and was given the task of removing the nuts and cups from Wootton Hall‘s spring hangers. The middle hangers proved particularly difficult and required the application of some heat and a sledge hammer to achieve success. 
It must have been around sixty years since they were fitted.
Our folk group Live Steam had a successful fund raising outing at the Engine Inn, Cark-in-Cartmel, on Friday evening, seemingly brushing away any cobwebs gathered since the last gig on New Year’s Eve. Another gig is in the offing if diaries can be coordinated.
Despite the warmer weather this week, John Dixon and Tim managed to get two coats of undercoat applied to the roof of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5. John surprised us all by having to confess that he had discovered a rare mistake in that he had put one of the rain strips in the wrong place!! Still, as they say, the man who never made a mistake never did anything! Heat permitting, it is hoped to put a top coat of paint on the roof on Wednesday.
Ade has been trying to fit the larger of Caliban‘s two pistons into one of the re-bored cylinders. A skim on a lathe is probably now required to ensure that this job can be completed.
John Davis and Phil Bell have made further progress in fitting Fluff’s new roof.
We had a rare visit from Bob Thomson on Friday. We couldn’t get a smile out of him for the photo but assume that he was happy to be back.
Finally, the latest edition of The Iron Horse magazine has been delivered from the printer and should be with members very shortly, along with the Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts and an invitation to the Annual General Meeting, which will be held on Tuesday evening, 13th September.
John Davis and John Dixon are seen moving the cage door into position.
John Dixon makes the final adjustments to the cage.
Phil Bell and John Dixon secure the roof.
Inside the shed, John Davis and Phil Bell have lifted the first half of Fluff’s roof into place. John Davis is in Fluff’s cab whilst John Dixon (right) continues his work on the final two vents for the roof of Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5. Matt Crabtree and Keith Brewer discuss progress on welding new steelwork on Wootton Hall’s tender.
We were pleased to welcome Wilfie Pinch who has spent his first day working in the FRT shed. He is seen here with Sam preparing daily water treatment sachets for FR 20.