Month: May 2024

GWR 0-6-2T 5643’s radial wheelset, which returned from the East Lancashire Railway last Monday after its tyres had been re-profiled on the wheel lathe, was duly positioned behind 5643’s frames last Wednesday, ready for it to be returned to its rightful position.

John Davis has been busy grinding off more stay heads on 5643’s firebox, this time on the backhead.

Keith has been fettling up 5643’s manifold ready for re-fitting when required.

Meanwhile, John Dixon has started work on cleaning up 5643’s bunker. We hope that the recent warm dry weather will continue to enable him to complete the work without too much down time.

Over in the Ribble Steam Railway running shed, several FRT members have been assisting the FRT’s Mike Rigg, who has for some time been in charge of the Mark 1 coach fleet. BSK 35128 has been undergoing intrusive investigation to its end crash pillars, which has meant removing corridor end platework. As can be seen, Tim has been using his creative skills with body filler to hide the joins in the new platework.

No blog next week, so we will see you again after the holidays.

There was good representation from the Furness Railway Trust at former Treasurer David Rimmer’s funeral at Allerton a week last Wednesday. The family was very grateful for the opportunity to meet Davd’s friends afterwards at a local inn and to learn a little more of David’s many activities with the FRT.

There has been more progress at Preston with the overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643, with a variety of jobs being tackled. Painting and cleaning of the inside motion is just about complete and Ed can be seen here cleaning rust and paint from one of the water tank filler apertures.

Re-profiling of 5643’s radial wheelset on the East Lancashire Railway wheel lathe at Bury has been completed with the wheelset arriving back at Preston today.

Talking of the ELR, the railway has just announced that Furness Railway No. 20 will be visiting for their Autumn Steam Gala on the 11^th to 13^th October. FR 20 is also scheduled to be travelling elsewhere this summer, but details are still to be announced by the host railway. Last Wednesday saw FR 20 out of the running shed at Preston for its ashpan to be re-installed and a warming fire to be lit after its cold examination by the boiler surveyor. It was then successfully steamed for the boiler surveyor on Friday so is now back in ticket.

On a totally unrelated subject, last Saturday saw the launch of Live Steam guitarist Pete Skellon’s book “Bahamas” at the Kents Bank Station Library. This is Pete’s fourth book (the others all having sold out) and has taken him nine years to write, telling the tale of how Jubilee class 4-6-0 No. 45596 Bahamas was saved from the scrapyard, as well as describing its working life with the  LMS/BR and then its time in preservation, including its stints on the main line. Our folk group, Live Steam, first met up with Pete when they were invited to play in a marquee at Dinting in 1988 on the occasion of the first steaming of Bahamas after overhaul and also marking the 21^st Anniversary of the Bahamas Locomotive Society. It was a memorable evening and we have been glad to be able to re-acquaint ourselves with the BLS volunteers on a number of occasions since then, including at Blaenavon last year. Back to the book, it is, as you would expect from Pete (he was a technical writer at the Barrow Shipyard), a high quality product which not only relates the history of the locomotive, but tells the story of the people who have preserved and looked after this splendid machine. Priced at £35, it can be obtained through the BLS web site for £39 including postage. However, Tim will be able to obtain copies direct from Pete (saving the postage) for delivery to Preston and, if there is enough interest, a batch will be purchased on trade terms. Please contact Tim in the first instance.