Furness Railway Trust blog

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!

We find ourselves once again heading towards the end of another year, one that will be memorable amongst other things for successful visits with Furness Railway 0-4-0 No. 20 to the West Somerset and East Lancashire Railways, some excellent progress with the overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643, the despatch of Peckett 0-4-0ST Caliban’s boiler to Williton for overhaul as well as the production of new castings for its motion. Volunteers have met new challenges with boiler work on 5643 and also overcome, with some difficulty for the more elderly, the art of getting out of a deep Premier Inn bath.

The past couple of weeks have seen more progress with drilling out stays on 5643’s boiler (the vast majority now done) and the tapping of stay holes of which over 100 are finished and mostly fitted with new stays – just the caulking to do.

The batch of 550 new nuts has been received from Williton, with Keith seen here testing one on a stay.

5643’s main steam pipe has been away for shotblasting and three of the engine’s driving wheel springs have had their holes re-bushed to give a better fit.

They have then been re-fitted on to the locomotive.

Sam has removed and cleaned FR 20’s washout plugs and the ashpan has been removed for Sim to clean and paint.

Jon has been giving the Coventry Climax fire pump yet another overhaul, this time including a full clean, emptying of the fuel tank, and the fitting of new leads. This will hopefully reduce the lead time in getting this 70 year old machine into action when boiler washouts are arranged.

The latest edition of The Iron Horse magazine is with the printer and should be out early in the New Year.

The Ribble Steam Railway’s Santa Specials concluded yesterday, with Ade driving Bagnall 0-6-0ST Courageous on its last day in service before a 10 year boiler overhaul.

There will be working parties at Preston on Friday, 27 th , and Saturday, 28 th December. The normal Wednesday/Friday/Saturday pattern of working days will re-commence on Friday, 3 rd January.

Finally, our folk group, Live Steam will once again be performing at the Engine Inn, Cark-in-Cartmel on New Year’s Eve, so do come along if you are in the area.

Best wishes from the blog team go to everyone for a merry Christmas and a very prosperous and productive New Year.

It has been a busy couple of weeks since the last blog. Firstly there was a big
shunt around in the shed which allowed the chassis of 5643 to be placed over
the pit where the driving wheel springs have now been fitted. John Dixon is
seen here taking advantage of the empty centre road to do some sweeping up.

550 brand new firebox stays have arrived for Great Western Railway 0-6-2T
locomotive No. 5643 from the Williton workshop of the West Somerset Railway.

Last Friday saw Chris Rycroft and John tapping out sixty stay holes on the
left-hand side of 5643’s firebox.

Keith has since been trimming the stays to size and fitting them in readiness
for caulking up. As will be appreciated, the tapping out of such a number of

stay holes and fitting of stays is likely to keep working members busy for some while.

This next photo shows the top two rows of stays in place, below the silver
paint line.

Next we are sorry to have to report that Alison has been confined to bed after
taking a tumble at home. Needless to say, Alison hopes to be with us at the
Ribble Pilot this next Friday evening for the FRT’s Christmas dinner. Guests
are asked to arrive in good time to allow a prompt start at 7 pm.

Finally, some of you may have noticed that the FRT’s web site has been taken
down with a placeholder notifying people of how to contact the Trust. A new
web site is under construction and it is hoped to have this available very
shortly.

Firstly this week, a view of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T locomotive No. 5643’s newly cleaned and painted chassis, now lowered onto the wheels. We are just awaiting a shed shunt to get the frames over the pit before fitting the remaining two springs.

We have all been pleased to welcome back Ron Crowe after his recent bereavement. He is seen here tapping out the main steam pipe flanges on 5643.

Jon and Sim spent quite some time last Wednesday giving the Coventry Climax fire pump yet another service in order to coax it into life.

Saturday saw the fire pump in real action, after a little more coaxing(!!), with Sam seen here directing a high-pressure jet of water around the foundation ring of Furness Railway locomotive No. 20, with John and Jon acting as signallers to the fire pump operator. Two other boilers on site were also treated to a washout before Sam retired to put on some dry clothes.

Finally, it is pleasing to see that twenty members and guests have already registered to attend the Furness Railway Trust Christmas dinner at the Ribble Pilot at 7 pm on Friday 6^th December. Would anyone else wishing to attend please let Alison know as soon as possible – see last week’s blog for details.

At last, the overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T locomotive No. 5643
has reached the point where some re-assembly is starting to take place. The
frames have been lowered fully onto the wheelsets and six of the eight springs have been re-fitted. Keith and John Dixon are seen here lifting a radial truck spring into position with the help of the gantry crane.

Outside, the bunker has been lifted off the ground to enable the bottom to be inspected, cleaned and painted – John and Keith are seen surveying the bunker in the photo below.

As many of you will already be aware, the bitumen freight traffic from
Haverton to the Total Lanfina plant at Preston has ceased, the last train
running onto the Ribble Steam Railway on Friday, 1st November. The occasion was not without incident as the inward train from Haverton slipped to a stand on Copy Pit bank and was 195 minutes late on arrival behind the Colas Class 56 locomotive, No. 56 105.

The extended delay must have been some of a disappointment to the many
photographers who had turned out for the occasion, but it did allow the Ribble Rail staff and others to photograph the three Sentinel diesels, which had been specially turned out for the occasion, in various positions.

The photographs appear here courtesy of Adrian Tomkinson who was on RR duty that day.
Finally, it is that time of year when we must mention the ‘C’ word. Yes, the
annual Furness Railway Trust Christmas Dinner will take place at the Ribble Pilot pub on the Docklands at Preston at 7pm on Friday, 6th December. Please let Alison Pinch (07846 072409) know if you wish to attend and let her have a £5 deposit along with your choice of food. The Festive Lunch and Dinner menu can be found on the Ribble Pilot website.

 

The recent better weather conditions (OK, forget today!) have enabled good progress to be made outside the shed on the refurbishment of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643’s bunker, which John Dixon has been persevering with, seen here removing rust.

Jon and Sim have been busy applying green undercoat to the cab roof.

Meanwhile, inside the shed, the final piece of riveting to 5643’s frames has been completed with Chris Rycroft’s help, the re-assembled radial truck moved under the frames and the chassis partly lowered. Ed has been taking his turn grinding off stay heads on 5643’s firebox in preparation for the stays to be replaced.

Finally, Furness Railway 0-4-0 locomotive No. 20 is expected to be transported back to Preston from Bury tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon after which a test steaming is anticipated to confirm various items of work to be undertaken during the winter period.

This last weekend has seen what was scheduled to be the last major event for the Furness Railway Trust this year, with Furness Railway No. 20 booked to appear at the East Lancashire Railway’s Autumn Steam Gala on the 11th, 12th and 13th October. As with all these occasions, there needs to be some advance preparation and Phil Burton, Alison, Ade and Anne were busy in the mess room last Wednesday sorting out sales stock and, incidentally, taking the opportunity to get rid of some long out-dated items that were taking up unnecessary room.

Ian Massey was with us once again on Wednesday, seen here working on Great Western Railway ‘Hall’ 4-6-0 No. 4979 Wootton Hall’s tender where more new plate has been welded in.

Outside, Sim and Jon were applying some red oxide to GWR 0-6-2T No. 5643’s cab roof.

New axle pad oilers have arrived for 5643’s driving wheels this week.

And so to Bury where Alison is seen with the FRT’s sales stand, which she looked after on Friday and Saturday. Phil and Anne appeared on Sunday to continue with the sales to the many visitors to the Gala.

FR 20 worked either on two Mark 1 carriage shuttles to Ramsbottom, seen here with former RSR resident L&Y ‘Pug’ No. 19…

… or operating brake van rides top and tailed with recent Ribble Steam Railway resident Barclay 0-4-0ST No. 1969 JN Derbyshire.

Seen again, at Bury Bolton Street station. Photo kindly shared by John Earnshaw Photography, with thanks.

Gremlins struck on Friday afternoon when a noise from FR 20’s right hand side suggested that an examination was required. It was decided to miss the loco’s turn on the evening fish and chip special to Ramsbottom and head back to the shed where removal of the front right hand cylinder cover revealed that a small gap had opened up been the piston and the retaining nut. An 80 thou’ bronze washer was quickly machined up by Bill Beverage and fitted. Matt Hainsworth is seen refitting the cylinder cover on Saturday morning (with Bill looking on) and, after what was the equivalent of a Formula One pit stop, the loco was quickly back in service with the 11.37 brake van trip to Burrs. Our thanks go to Matt, Bill and Andy Booth for their assistance in getting the loco back on the road so quickly.

The ELR had also brought in former Bury resident BR 9F 2-10-0 No. 92134 seen alongside FR 20 at Ramsbottom on Saturday evening.

Needless to say, there is some excellent coverage of the ELR Gala on the internet, with this particular video giving plenty of attention to FR 20, including 20 blowing a lovely smoke ring – see if you can spot it!

Thanks go to all the FRT team, including Sam and Ben, who put in so much time effort over the weekend and who also ensured that FR 20 gleamed for the large number of visitors who had come to see the loco at the Gala.