Author: neil.smith@furnessrailwaytrust.org.uk

After the excitement of seeing FR 20 enter traffic on the 23rd October, it has been back to work in the FRT shed this week.

Further progress has been made with the temporary fitting of boiler cladding sheets to Wootton Hall.

First, Keith had to remove handrail stanchions to enable the cladding to be fitted. Needless to say, after many years out in the open, the stanchions needed some heat treatment before they could be unscrewed and removed.

Although of fairly thin steel sheet, they are heavier than you would think when it comes to lifting them up on to a locomotive boiler. The photos show the number of people required for lifting the second of the right hand cladding sheets.

Sam stands alongside the second fitted sheet.

With the upper superstructure of Fluff now virtually complete, Phil and John Davis have been turning their attention to the side rods, which seem to have suffered from the weather on one side. However, after the application of a thin layer of filler applied by Tim, John was soon able to apply a coat of primer.

Finally, the saga of the fire pump continues with Roger spending some time trying to obtain a spark from the plugs. The pump has been brought into the FRT shed where it is hoped the drier atmosphere will assist the magneto to do its job.

The main news this week surrounds Furness Railway No. 20 which, as forecast in last week’s blog, was scheduled to re-enter service on Saturday after its overhaul. The poor weather last Wednesday morning meant that it was sensible to delay the transfer of the loco to the RSR’s running shed until the afternoon. This allowed time for Alan and Sam to make and fit new joints for the valve spindle tail rod covers which had been leaking steam during previous running in trials. An adjustment was also made to the right hand crosshead cotter, not easy without a pit and with ballast pressing into your back!

John Dixon also took the opportunity to fit the four tender brake shaft collars that were made twenty-three years ago and never fitted! Whilst not vital to the running of the loco, it was a case of finishing the job as it was originally designed back in 1863! Can you spot the difference?

FR 20 was pulled out of the running shed on Friday morning for John Dixon to light a warming fire, again the rain coming down in torrents at times.

Half a dozen FRT members were up early on Saturday morning to prepare both FR 20 and Bagnall 0-6-0ST Courageous, the latter to be used as back up in view of it being FR 20’s first day in traffic. Tim, Stewart and Jack crewed  FR 20 with Ade and Sam preparing Courageous and Alan riding FR 20 as engineer. It was heartening to see that word had got around that FR 20 was back and the car park was filling nicely. In short, FR 20 ran all its scheduled five trips with Courageous being added to the rear of the train at 12.00 and onwards after some knocking from the right hand cross head on FR 20 suggested that caution should prevail. The good news is that the new tender white metal bearings appear to be a success with FR 20 rolling freely and with no signs of any unwanted warmth from the axleboxes. Fortunately, the weather played ball with us on Saturday and there were plenty of people travelling and taking photographs, including a gentleman who had travelled all the way from Northampton to see FR 20. All in all, a very pleasant day and a fitting conclusion for all those who had worked so hard on FR 20 during its overhaul.

As ever, though, work has also been proceeding on the FRT’s other projects. Former member Neil Glover appeared on Wednesday to examine the fire pump that the Trust had acquired pre-Covid for the purpose of improving boiler wash out facilities. Neil is seen unblocking the fuel cut off switch whilst Ade has his finger over the open pipe from the fuel tank. Unfortunately, after attaining a flow of fuel, it was wasn’t possible to gain a spark at the spark plugs which Neil put down to a damp magneto. Roger Benbow, who successfully brought Simplex Rachael back to life at Haverthwaite recently, had a look at the pump on Friday and has promised to return with his tool box this week to have a more detailed look at the magneto.

We noted the arrival of Wootton Hall‘s boiler cladding sheets in last week’s blog so it will come as no surprise that Keith has been busy fitting them to the boiler. Ed is seen underneath the boiler, apparently using his knees to keep a cladding sheet in place.

The first finished right hand sheet can be seen here.

The hardwood for the packing between the top of Wootton Hall’s tender frames and the tank has also arrived and RSR’s joiner John Morgan has started to make the dovetail joints.

John Dixon has been busy with the creation of a new storage cage for the FRT’s gas bottles.

Looking forward, the Ribble Steam Railway’s AGM will take place tomorrow, Tuesday evening, at the Railway’s Museum at 8 pm.

And the final Furness Railway 175 event will take place at Lancaster station on Wednesday, 3rd November from 10.45 onwards with Live Steam being invited to make an appearance to render some railway songs for the occasion. A banner has been erected on the newly redecorated footbridge at Lancaster station on which the sharp-eyed of you will identify the FRT’s logo amongst the many others who have supported the events over the summer.

We are running a day late again this week due to diary congestion!

There was some test running of FR 20 last Wednesday. Alan is seen here inspecting one of the engine’s axleboxes during preparation.

Once the Ribble Rail lads had completed tanker train duties FR 20 was allowed out on to the main line, running up and down within station limits where it managed to accumulate a small amount of mileage and give everyone confidence that it could be used on the RSR’s train service this Saturday, 23rd October. This is now being advertised.

Back in the FRT shed, Phil Bell and John Davis are making good progress with Fluff‘s rebuild, even placing the chimney on top to complete the scene.

There has been further progress on removing items from the roof of GER Royal Saloon No. 5.

Fred came in on Friday and cleaned up one of the torpedo vents – and found the lettering ‘torpedo patent’ on the metalwork, obviously the origin of the name.

Inside the coach, Roger has been cleaning up some of the woodwork that has been stained by water ingress.

Anne and Phil Bolton have been making test sample covers for the seat cushions that fit in the east end saloon.

Sam, Keith and John were at Bury last Friday for the first day of the East Lancs Railway’s Autumn Steam Gala where 5643’s partnership with visiting Dinmore Manor was apparently well received.

The cladding sheets for Wootton Hall’s boiler have now arrived so there will be plenty of work for Keith to do over the next few weeks.

We are back to the normal Monday schedule for the blog and delighted to inform you all that Furness Railway No. 20 passed its formal steam test with the boiler surveyor at lunchtime on Thursday and is once again officially Britain’s oldest operational standard gauge steam locomotive.

Steam was initially raised on Wednesday when the opportunity was taken to clear some of the soot out of the tubes to ensure that there should be no problem in raising steam in time on Thursday. Fortunately, the original time for the test of 08.00 was amended to 11.00, for which we thank our boiler surveyor, Alan Bennett, which allowed us some more time in bed that morning!

Early Thursday morning saw John Dixon fastening some newly fabricated brackets to hold the injector delivery pipes to the clack valve in position using existing holes in  the frames – perhaps this had been a feature earlier in the career of the locomotive.

Alan then set about replacing a split pin in one of the cotters – one of those deferred jobs that he had meant to do whilst the loco was over the pit!!

Anyhow, by 11.00 FR 20 had reached the blowing off point and, after a final adjustment of the valves, it was ready for the arrival of Alan Bennett. After a thorough inspection of the locomotive, Alan declared it fit and thanked us all for the work that we had done to get it prepared for him. Alan then informed us that this would probably be his last inspection of FR 20 before his intended retirement in December; we wish him a long and happy retirement with his family.

Needless to say, work has also continued on other projects in the shed. John Dixon and Ed have finally managed to remove two of the gas fittings from the roof of GER royal saloon No. 5 whilst Anne and Phil Bolton have found a source which can supply matching replacement moquette for the interior of the coach. Ade has also been busy working on Caliban.

John Davis and Phil have continued their work on re-constructing Fluff’s bonnet.

Keith, having conducted a successful water test on the newly fabricated water take off tank for Wootton Hall‘s tender, has now started drilling holes in it (!!) so that a flanged pipe can be connected.

Finally, the late Derek Milby was at last given a proper send off on Saturday evening at the Ulverston Brewery Company when many of the exhibitors from the annual Barrow Model Railway Exhibition arrived by preserved bus, courtesy of the Barrow Transport Group. They were joined by members of the FRT and Derek’s two brothers, Don and Ken. An enlarged and re-united Live Steam provided the music and all agreed that it had been an occasion of which Derek would have approved. (Even Derek hadn’t managed to arrange a party in a brewery!) We can reveal that all attempts to drink the brewery dry failed despite some valiant efforts by some. The Live Steam photo shows Gary Weldon, Nigel Harris, Tim Owen, Alan Middleton and Pete Skellon. Pete’s brother, Geoff, also gave assistance with the bodhran.

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.

This week we focus on Furness Railway No. 20 as its lengthy overhaul progresses towards a conclusion.

On Tuesday, the loco received its final formal cold inspection by the boiler surveyor when it was deemed to be ready for a steam test.

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.

There was then a trip to the water tower to fill the tender tank with water before the loco was returned to the front of the FRT shed. Most of Friday was spent on finishing jobs in the smokebox.

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.

Sunday morning saw John Dixon, Alan and Tim reconvene to undertake some fettling jobs, including the fitting of a couple of new joints on the right hand injector delivery pipe, before raising steam once again. The remedial works appeared to be successful and, after a gentle trip up and down the yard, FR 20 was duly viewed as being ready for a formal ‘in steam’ inspection by the boiler surveyor.

A final reminder now that the Annual General Meeting of the Furness Railway Trust will take place in the FRT shed tomorrow night, Tuesday, at 7.30 pm. We have been promised cake once the contents of the Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts have been digested and approved!

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!

The boiler surveyor is due to give FR 20 what we hope will be a final cold boiler inspection on Tuesday before we light a fire in the firebox. Fingers crossed!

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.

The aforementioned ‘volunteer open day’ attracted a number of prospective volunteers on Saturday. Tim and Ade were on hand to show them around plus quite a few other passengers who took the opportunity to visit the FRT shed and purchase some souvenirs. Both Tim and Alison had contributed to a two hour long BBC Radio Lancashire programme on Thursday evening, along with RSR’s Dave Watkins, Gary Severn and Steve Cain, which highlighted the work of volunteers at the RSR and FRT.

A reminder that the Annual General Meeting will take place next Tuesday evening, 28th September, at 7.30 pm in the FRT shed at Preston. We are informed that there will be cake on hand to tempt members to attend!

 

As we head into the more comfortable autumn weather, work in the FRT has been progressing well.

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.

A short update this week.

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.

There was a stamp licking session in the mess room last Friday so members should now be receiving their copy of The Iron Horse through the letterbox. The envelope will also contain the Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts for 2020 plus an invitation to the Annual General Meeting on the evening of Tuesday, 28th September.

It has always been the intention to have a social gathering to celebrate the life of the late Derek Milby. This has now been arranged at the Ulverston Brewing Company’s premises in Derek’s home town of Ulverston on the evening of Saturday, 9th October. This event will coincide with the annual Barrow Model Railway Club exhibition when many of Derek’s friends will be in the area. The premises can only accommodate 50 people so it would be helpful if any readers who wish to attend can contact Tim Owen who will liaise with the Furness Model Railway Club regarding numbers. The event will close at 10.30 pm and Live Steam will be making their first scheduled post lock down appearance.

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.

Finally, the Annual General Meeting will be held this year at the FRT shed at Preston at 7.30 pm on Tuesday evening, 28th September; please put this in your diary. The formal invitations to members will go out with the latest edition of The Iron Horse magazine, which is now in production with the proofs being returned to the printer last week.