Transport Blog 2009

Firstly, Happy New Year to all those following this blog, and welcome to any new readers. Well, here’s to a new year and a lot of work to come! As a reminder of 2008 and the developments that took place or started, here is an appropriate ‘tailpiece’ image to remind us just how good Beamish can look! 2009 should see a lot more steam, road and rail, so please keep visiting these pages to keep up to date!

January 5^th 2009

So, what has happened over Christmas? Not a lot is the short answer. However, the structural work of the water tower is complete and the builders have done an excellent job. We just need to prepare the water tank for installation in coming weeks to complete the job.

The track gang (Darren, Mark and Bob) have completed the headshunt and release road turnout, buried the track to rail-top level and commissioned the point operating mechanism. This is an excellent job, made trickier by the need to retain vehicle access for arrivals/departures over this particular piece of track. The lads will now move onto relaying some of the curved rails on the tramway, where the route makes a reverse curved entry to the street. This promises to be a tricky job, though the rails have been pre-curved. After this, the lads will return to the colliery railway track to commence re-sleepering as required.

The photos below show the water tank and turnout/headshunt.

New views have been opened up in the colliery. The three photographs below show the effect of building a new perimeter path around the colliery yard. This will ensure access across this area when the level crossing is closed to allow trains to operate. It has created an excellent grandstand of the area and I expect it will become a popular vantage point to watch and photograph coal trains from. It has also opened up a new vista on the winding house (and made accessible the explosives cabin).

The third view shows the completed formation, ballasted, through the rear cutting towards Pockerley (though this view is looking towards Francis Street Exchange Sidings). The widening is to enable a turnout to separate the lines, to the left a contractors track, towards the photographer access to a new loading/unloading area. Pockerley tram stop lies some 50 yards behind the camera vantage point.

No further progress will be made here until the exchange sidings have been re-laid and pointwork overhauled, but I for one look forward for a blast up this steep gradient through a very rural aspect of the museum.

8^th January 2009

Industrial waggons (yes, spelt with two ‘g’s!): Beamish has a superb (nationally important) collection of industrial waggons, ranging from colliery chaldrons to contractors construction waggons and river authority maintenance stock. These have received little if no attention over the last 20 years, but to improve our demonstrations it is hoped to commence a programme of rebuilding and restoration work. Starting with two chaldron waggons. Funding is being sought to enable the two Londonderry Railway chaldron waggons to be completely rebuilt, after survey and preparation of drawings and a historical record. This will appear on this website in due course. Other chaldron waggons will be repaired, with the aim of having a reliable fleet of eight in the not to distant future. My ultimate aim is to have ten available for traffic, so as to create a realistic impression of colliery activity.

The chaldrons are likely to be supported by their historical descendants, the Bowes Railway ‘Jubilee’ and ‘Stripe’ wagons in the short/medium term.

Another superb waggon in the collection is iron-bodied side-tipper No.96. This wagon, thought to date from the 1880s, was one of a fleet of 100 identical wagons used to take ore from the mines at Hodbarrow in Cumbria to the shipping point at Crab Marsh Quay on the River Duddon. The jetty here closed in c1940 leaving the fleet redundant, however at least 20 wagons survived and were employed to carry scrap wood, ballast and stone for concrete making. Only six remained in use by there 1960s, including No.s 74 and 96 – our example. In the mid 1960s a group of enthusiasts were formed to preserve what was left of the Hodbarrow railway system, purchasing a number of items (including this wagon and the one ex John Aird Ltd. MSC type wagon) at the disposal sale held upon the mines closure in 1968. The two side tipping wagons were later moved to Steamtown Carnforth for display, until moving to Beamish in 2008.

The wooden bodied waggon is a long-term project, but No.96 will be brought indoors this spring for restoration. This is likely to involve replacing the iron body and timber chassis – with exact replicas. The other components appear to be salvageable. I am very familiar with the wooden variants of contractors waggon, but this iron version is something quite rare and, I suspect, quite old. It has had a works plate (long since removed) and identifying the manufacture and replicating the plate would certainly be satisfying!

Any offers of financial support for this project would be gratefully received! We can do the work but we still have to spend the money!

Jon Marsh visited Hodbarrow, where two of Beamish’s side tipping waggons worked, in March 1968. He filmed Neilson crane tank ‘Snipey’ and Avonside No.1563 at work around the Cumbrian site hauling both internal user waggons (including side tippers) and hoppers from the national network. We are grateful to John for allowing us to use this film, part of a series of industrial railway DVDs he has produced. This video clip is reproduced with his kind permission.

January 16^th 2009

Well, its Friday afternoon and after a busy week (and a busy one to come!) I thought I’d catch up on various projects around the site that might be of interest to readers.

Firstly, the sign writer Phil Anderson was in recently to carry out some work on the stable yard doors. The finished result looks very well indeed and certainly gives a better sense of what the purpose of the yard is.

It isn’t just the transport side that is being developed at Beamish. The rural life collections are also receiving a great deal of thought and attention. Have a look at Seb Littlewood’s blog for latest news. One of his jobs recently passed through the engine shed, when I turned up a steel peg for a cake breaker which is receiving a complete restoration. The original peg was wrought iron and clearly made by a blacksmith. This would suggest it was not the original as the rest of the machine is of manufactured quality. The two photos below show the peg being made and the finished result, alongside the original. Check out Seb’s blog for ongoing news on this and many other projects.

On Wednesday I called in at the Bowes Railway to see how work was progressing on our rebuilt level crossing gates. One gate is completely finished and stood outside after painting. It is a superb job and faithfully copies the tapering of the original timbers. These gates had clearly been modified in the past and we have eliminated some of the weaknesses arising from this. The Douglas fir timber from which they are made is very durable (construction quality timber) and the parts, once cut and shaped were tanalised to ensure longevity. With regular painting (black bitumen!) these gates should last a very long time.

Also on show was one of the newly rebuilt Bowes wagons. A number of examples were destroyed by arsonists last year, the resulting insurance claim being used to rebuild five examples, this being the first completed. A phoenix like awakening!

Here at Beamish the track team, Darren, Mark and Bob, have been busy relaying rails on the town curves. These rails are subject to extensive wear and the decision has been taken to renew them. Other options had included welding up the profile and regrinding, but this is an expensive alternative. Greasing and watering of these curves will be stepped up in the future, and wear patterns closely monitored.

January 30^th 2009

A number of plans are coming together to preview the colliery lamp cabin, before its official launch on 28^th March. As part of this we will be opening the colliery on weekends throughout March, leading up to the full museum site opening the weekend before Easter. As a result of this we are going to put on something rather special. Joining us from the Bowes Railway (and with enormous gratitude to John Young and Phil Dawe there) will be their Barclay 0-4-0ST No.22. This engine visited us a few years back, working in the station area. Now it will be in action in the colliery and is likely to stay until the May ‘Power from the Past’ event (see separate Blog for details!). I also hope to borrow a trio of Bowes wagons to complete the picture and enable us to put on a worthwhile shunting demonstration.

As a result of all of this, we are working hard to tidy up the colliery, install fencing, hang the new gates, complete the water tower and build a coal dock (more anon). Passenger rides are not a feature of this activity, this area being kept purely industrial – something I am sure enthusiasts and photographers will appreciate!

A work experience scheme from Sunderland has been helping me build the wooden coal dock which is immediately adjacent to the water tower. They have dug out the foundations and placed the sleepers into place to form the structure. This is then tied together by various means before being filled with earth. The last stage is to place steel/iron plates to act as a smooth shovelling surface. Progress has been rapid and filling work will commence over the next week or so. Attention can then be given to tidying the shed and partly reassembling Coffee Pot No.1 so as to create space for No.22 inside the building.

January 30^th 2009

A number of plans are coming together to preview the colliery lamp cabin, before its official launch on 28^thMarch. As part of this we will be opening the colliery on weekends throughout March, leading up to the full museum site opening the weekend before Easter. As a result of this we are going to put on something rather special. Joining us from the Bowes Railway (and with enormous gratitude to John Young and Phil Dawe there) will be their Barclay 0-4-0ST No.22. This engine visited us a few years back, working in the station area. Now it will be in action in the colliery and is likely to stay until the May ‘Power from the Past’ event (see separate Blog for details!). I also hope to borrow a trio of Bowes wagons to complete the picture and enable us to put on a worthwhile shunting demonstration.

As a result of all of this, we are working hard to tidy up the colliery, install fencing, hang the new gates, complete the water tower and build a coal dock (more anon). Passenger rides are not a feature of this activity, this area being kept purely industrial – something I am sure enthusiasts and photographers will appreciate!

A work experience scheme from Sunderland has been helping me build the wooden coal dock which is immediately adjacent to the water tower. They have dug out the foundations and placed the sleepers into place to form the structure. This is then tied together by various means before being filled with earth. The last stage is to place steel/iron plates to act as a smooth shovelling surface. Progress has been rapid and filling work will commence over the next week or so. Attention can then be given to tidying the shed and partly reassembling Coffee Pot No.1 so as to create space for No.22 inside the building.