Thanks go to everyone who attended the Annual General Meeting in the Furness Railway Trust shed last Tuesday evening. It was good to see an attendance of 20, despite the petrol and diesel shortage at the time. Thanks also go to Alison who provided the sandwiches and cakes, which no doubt provided an incentive to attend, as did the opportunity for members to explore the shed and view progress on projects.
With GER Royal Saloon No. 5 now installed in the main part of the shed, work was restarted on Wednesday on the overhaul that was brought to a halt when it was necessary to commence FR 20’s own overhaul three years ago. Ed volunteered to go on the roof to remove fittings so that the roof can be re-canvassed. Ron Crowe assisted by working on the rain strips which could be accessed by the hydraulic platform at the side. The former gas fittings on the roof, which have since been converted to electric, posed a problem as they refused to budge, either up or down, despite Ed removing part the interior ceiling fittings. Fortunately, it was possible to remove the first of the torpedo air vents and conduit.
New members Anne and Phil Bolton started an examination of the very tired interior upholstery with a view to replacing it with some suitable material in the future.
During FR 20’s initial steam tests, a pinhole was found in a flange joint on the right hand injector steam pipe. Once dismantled, Alan set about rectifying the problem.
He and Sam then refitted the pipe in readiness for the formal steam test with the boiler surveyor which is due to take place early Thursday morning.
Finally, a reminder that this year’s Furness Model Railway Club Exhibition will be taking place on Saturday and Sunday, 9th and 10th October, at Walney School on Sandy Gap Lane, Walney, 10 am to 5 pm both days. A gathering in memory of Derek Milby will be held at the Ulverston Brewery Company on Saturday evening. Live Steam will be re-uniting, post Covid, to provide some music. Numbers are limited but please contact Tim Owen if you wish to attend and haven’t already made arrangements to do so.
With Adrian available on Wednesday, it was sensible to conduct a shunt of the FRT shed which saw FR 20 moved off the pit to be replaced by Great Eastern Railway Royal Saloon No. 5.
Once the remaining washout plugs and mudhole doors had been fitted to the firebox, FR 20 was sent around to the running shed for the tender to be filled with coal and the boiler with water.
First the blast pipe was lifted and fitted before John Dixon mixed some refractory concrete to seal the base of the smokebox. 
Finally, the new blower pipe was then fitted.
Saturday morning saw the engine pulled out of the shed by Hawthorn Leslie 0-6-0ST Linda, prior to the first train of the RSR’s weekend Steam Gala. It was at this point that no one could come up with any more jobs that needed to be done and, at 10.12, Tim duly struck a match to start the process of raising steam.
Plenty of time was spent in slowly warming the boiler, the fire being very gradually built up and spread around the firebox. Meanwhile Tim conducted a few tours of the FRT shed for those visitors to the RSR Gala who wanted a closer look at FR 20 and to view progress on Wootton Hall and Caliban.
By late afternoon both of FR 20’s injectors had been tested and the safety valves adjusted. 
Time then to reverse FR 20 back into the shed and close the doors.
The final jobs on Furness Railway No. 20 are gradually being knocked off the ‘to do’ list. The black paintwork on the works plates has been renewed by Neil and the plates were re-fitted on Wednesday.
Ron Crowe refitted the sand pipes while Paul Balshaw gave the loco another clean in readiness for the forthcoming ‘volunteer open day’.
Alan and Sam spent quite some time modifying and then fitting the main steam pipe in the smokebox.
John Dixon has made some clamps to retain the boiler water gauge drain pipes in place – another of those jobs that has taken over twenty years to achieve!
Ade caught Phil Bell and John Davis working on the right hand side of Fluff’s bonnet on Wednesday.
We had a delivery of newly shaped steel plate on Friday from which Keith is going to construct a new water take off box which will sit below Wootton Hall’s tender tank when completed.
FR 20’s new blower ring has been fabricated by John Dixon and is seen alongside the old ring which had certainly had its day.
John then set about drilling the new holes which, at 1/8th”, are slightly smaller than the previous holes which had opened out naturally beyond their original size.
Alan and Sam have been working on modifying the main steam pipe. Sam is seen opening out the holes in one end of the pipe to accommodate the new studs on the steam chest.
Tim has been putting the finishing touches to the paintwork underneath the tender which, along with some new pipework, looks very smart.
Ade spent Wednesday raising Caliban‘s frames so that the wheels could be rolled underneath (hope the wheels are the right way round, Ade!), and then lowering the frames back down again.
After some adjustment with the help of a traversing jack, the frames finally came down in the right place, between the wheels.
The left hand side of Fluff‘s engine compartment bonnet is now visibly complete.
John Davis has set about priming an angle to support the right hand side panels.
Wootton Hall’s tender vacuum cylinder has been lowered into position.
Finally, Keith has now manoeuvred the brake shaft adjacent to the cylinder into position ready for fitting.
The new water fittings and pipework underneath FR 20’s tender have now been fitted by John Dixon who has now been concentrating his attention on fabricating a new blower pipe for the engine.
The corrosion on the underside of the old blower pipe can clearly be seen.
The jigsaw that is Fluff‘s bonnet continues to come together with Phil Bell assembling some more panels.
Work has progressed on fitting the controls to the new injector steam valves on FR 20. It has been possible to fit the right hand control through an existing hole in the cab spectacle plate but for some reason a new hole was required on the left hand side which was drilled by Sam.
Phil is still working his way towards fitting the panels on Fluff‘s engine compartment.
Ade has been fitting felt pads to Caliban‘s axlebox keeps. He managed to find some horse hair to provide extra cushioning under the pads, which saved the need for him to cut off his own locks!
Paul Newton is now in the final stages of restoring the former L&NWR platform seat from Preston station.
Ron has been cutting out more corroded steel from Wootton Hall‘s tender tank.
Keith has completed the assembly of Wootton Hall’s tender vacuum cylinder and it is being set up for a test.
John Dixon has been continuing his expeditions into the tender tank, seen here mixing the two pack paint…
…and then applying it.
The Fluff gang has been busy test fitting side panels to the engine compartment. Paul Balshaw is seen here applying primer to one of the panels…
…whilst Phil Bell has been removing paint to make the panels fit correctly!
Keith has been renovating and assembling Wootton Hall‘s tender vacuum cylinder. First a new slipping band had to be fitted to the piston. This can be a frustrating exercise: the holes in the piston, the band and the steel band that keeps the slipping band in place have all to be lined up. ‘G’ clamps are the preferred method to achieve this and the FRT’s full complement of clamps were deployed to the task on Wednesday morning.
By Friday Keith had fitted the rubbing band, inserted the piston, fitted the sealing rings and was to be seen tightening up the top and bottom parts of the vacuum cylinder.
Last Wednesday saw yet another working party convene at Embsay in an effort to improve the performance of Cumbria‘s left hand injector. New parts had been fitted during the previous visit but the bottom cone had proved to be a tight fit and it had been decided not to put too much weight on it whilst being screwed into position. This time, on examination, there was far less resistance and, with the assistance of a length of pipe, Adrian was able to screw it until it reached the end of its thread.
Tim caught Alan apparently taking a photo of the lovely L&NWR saloon.
Meanwhile Ade contented himself with one of his artistic cab spectacle photos of Welsh Guardsman departing Embsay with a train to Bolton Abbey.
Back at Preston, the Fluff gang has again been busy. We see here a planning meeting on Friday – is this a new concept?!
Phil and John Davis then set about test fitting the first side panel to the new angle support piece.
Fred then set about cleaning more of Fluff’s panels for painting.
Meanwhile Roger took advantage of some better weather by continuing the paint job on the former Foxfield water column.
Work also continued on FR 20 where Stewart Waugh had applied some anti-corrosion solution to the tender coal space after which Tim added some grey undercoat. Having finished (and won!) his long running battle with fitting the engine’s vacuum pipe, John Dixon was busy on the inside of the tender tank applying some two pack paint, again to prevent future corrosion.
Further work has taken place on FR 20 with Tim tidying up some of the corrosion and paintwork on top of the tender and John Dixon still finding work to do on the engine’s vacuum pipe which is located under the right hand valance.
John has been fabricating two brackets to retain the vacuum pipe in place and is seen here removing sharp edges that could potentially cause harm to those working underneath the loco.
Work has also continued on Fluff with Phil Bell making some adjustments to the cab spectacle plate and John Davis drilling holes in the new angles which support the engine compartment roof.
Alan then fitted the studs and until then, all was going well…..
Sam is seen watching Ade under the engine during the process of fitting the links to the shaft.
Back at Preston we have a photo of two repaired and painted sand boxes for Wootton Hall.
We were very pleased to welcome back John on Saturday who is seen here filing a new bracket to carry FR 20’s engine vacuum pipe.
Those of you who read the blog a fortnight ago might have spotted a new locomotive headboard with the words “The Furness Railway Trust”. Sponsored by one of our members, this is now at Preston with a view to promoting the FRT and is seen on the front of FR 20.