{"id":3717,"date":"2026-06-01T15:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T14:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/furnessrailway.co.uk\/about\/?p=3717"},"modified":"2026-06-01T15:34:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T14:34:20","slug":"saturday-30th-may-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/furnessrailway.co.uk\/about\/?p=3717","title":{"rendered":"Saturday, 30th May 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We are sorry to have to start this edition of the blog with the sad news that life member Alan Johnstone, who joined the Trust as a member in 1993, passed away on the 5th May. Alan was a staunch supporter of the FRT and was particularly heavily involved in the restoration of the Trust\u2019s North London Railway Coach in 2002-2023. Alan was a keen and very good photographer and we are fortunate that he has been able to record many railway scenes in the south of Cumbria, both on national and heritage lines. Alan was also a member of the Furness Line Action Group (FLAG) and the Cumbrian Railways Association where his skills in producing maps and diagrams played a big part in the success of its publications. Alan\u2019s funeral will be held at St James The Great Church, Blake Street, Barrow-in-Furness at 12 noon on Friday, 5th June. There will be refreshments afterwards at Barrow Golf club, Rakesmoor Lane, Barrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


There has been plenty for members to do at the Furness Railway Trust\u2019s shed at Preston. Many hours have been spent in cleaning and repairing the components of the Trust\u2019s \u2018Austerity\u2019 0-6-0ST Cumbria which is undergoing a 10 year overhaul. Dave Thomas is seen here annealing one of the pipes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dave<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


A start has been made on sanding the paintwork on Cumbria\u2019s saddle tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


There has been disappointing news with the discovery of some unexpected cracks around washout plugs on the boiler of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643, which is currently under repair at the premises of Riley & Son at Bury. Some grooving on the backplate above the foundation ring has also been found and discussions have been held with the Trust\u2019s boiler surveyor, Adam Wright, to agree a way forward. It is hoped that progress in this respect will commence shortly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Meanwhile, work is currently taking place at Preston to re-assemble 5643\u2019s chassis. This entails setting up the pistons, crossheads and slide bars accurately. After initial work it has been decided that some machining of at least one of the crossheads will be necessary. Ron and Keith are seen here busy in the frames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ron<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Lettering, lining and varnishing of the bunker is now complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"5643's<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Furness Railway locomotive No. 20 was the rostered locomotive on the Ribble Steam Railway over the Bank Holiday weekend where there was a Wild West event. The open top nature of the cab was greatly appreciated by the crews during the record-breaking heat. FR 20 is next expected to be in service on the
20th June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are sorry to have to start this edition of the blog with the sad news that life member Alan Johnstone, who joined the Trust as a member in 1993, passed away on the 5th May. Alan was a staunch supporter of the FRT and was particularly heavily involved in the restoration of the Trust\u2019s … Continue reading Saturday, 30th May 2026<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/furnessrailway.co.uk\/about\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/furnessrailway.co.uk\/about\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/furnessrailway.co.uk\/about\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furnessrailway.co.uk\/about\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furnessrailway.co.uk\/about\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3717"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/furnessrailway.co.uk\/about\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3722,"href":"https:\/\/furnessrailway.co.uk\/about\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3717\/revisions\/3722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/furnessrailway.co.uk\/about\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furnessrailway.co.uk\/about\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furnessrailway.co.uk\/about\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}