17th April 2010

Day three has passed, bright, sunny and warm. We have been tremendously lucky with the weather and visitor attendance has been excellent with the site busy and activity across the museum pretty much all of the time. Here is a short selection of photos plus a film from the day:

Below: A typical scene in the town with ‘Vintage and Veteran Traffic’ in abundance.

Below: The ‘home fleet’ performed superbly – a real highlight being Mary Margaret on the thresher and baler set – a lengthy and heavy ‘train’ which provided some spectacular sights. There is a film later in this post of her ascent of the colliery bank, but the top – gear ascent of Pockerley bank later in the day was equally impressive, sadly my camera let me down at just that moment but I’m sure we’ll recreate the scene another weekend!

Below: The Friends had (and ran) the SOS bus which is very near to the end of a long and extensive restoration – one to very much look forward to and maybe something for the Great North Steam Fair in September…

Below: Steam lorries galore! Having now driven this Sentinel S6 I am totally smitten with the sophistication of these lorries, which are unlike any other steam engine to drive. It would be nice to add one to the home fleet!

Below: The dry weather and long hard climb up Pockerley bank did result in some spark throwing setting the vegetation alight (also at risk from brake sparks from descending trams). A matter of seconds work by the fire brigade dealt with the fire and services were little interrupted.

Below: A clip of Mary Margaret’s climb out of the colliery. This is a seriously steep hill – though it is totally flattened by the engine in this film!