Today was rather busy getting back into the stride of ‘normal’ life at work, but here are some photos taken yesterday before the mass exodus at the end of the day!  Overall we attracted over 13,000 visitors over the four days of the GNSF, the peak being over 5000 on Saturday!  This is possibly a record as we’re normally busy at over 3000.  Amazing the effect a bit of sunshine can have!  We’re in the process of preparing for the final four days of the festival – remember, the last chance to ride on Lisbon 730 and Glasgow 1068 before the return home next week.  I’ll also post some further images from the festival later in the week, there being many superb pictures submitted.  I’ll try to create a gallery on the blog for easy access to this sort of thing in the future…

Here is a sequence of photos showing the ‘Hudson Easi-turn’ in operation, something that proved to be fascinating to many visitors and which ably demonstrates the versatility of the temporary contractors railway. The photos are self-explanatory, the turntable allowing access to tip stone/rubble more evenly across the area to be rolled and thus minimise handling and arduous shovelling.

Below: We’ve teamed up with the Road Roller Association to take on loan a number of implements and a small pavement roller.  The implements are a Phoenix tar pot and grader, the roller is a Wallis & Steevens B type, known (for obvious reasons!) as ‘Rot’!  These will be overhauled to use at Beamish in due course, possibly playing a part in the development of our 1950s area when the time comes to start on its construction.  We also have numerous mortar mills and other plant from this era (largely used in the early construction days at Beamish) and a suitable display for these is an aspiration.

Below: A useful side product of the saw bench is this pile of logs ready for drying to use on site this winter…