This week seems to have passed in a blur, with all manner of things progressing/occurring of interest to the T&I department at Beamish – here is a snapshot of some of what has been taking place…

Below: In connection with the Colliery Stables build, Shaun and Dan have been mass-producing windows (seen piled to the left).  They also have the doors and other timber items to build for this (though not the roof), before moving on to their next project…

Below: Tony and Matt have been building up the chaldron waggon which will be placed on the roadside leading up to the Museum from Chester-le-Street.  The waggon is seen here in three stages, rapidly building up into the familiar shape of these ex Londonderry Railway waggons.  The timber is tanilised (treated under pressure) Douglas Fir, which should ensure its durability, and all of the metalwork has been cleaned and primed for similar reasons.  The final finish will, of course, be black with white lettering.

Below: The Temperance van is now complete and, when all of the wheels are refitted, ready to go back out on to site for use by the period food retail team – it looks very smart in the grey and cream colours, with lettering based on various contemporary Temperance movement adverts.

Below: Chris has completed the refurbishment of the ex Groverake narrow gauge turnout, with the rail head restored to its correct profile and the adapter rails (taking it onto our ‘standard’ of 35lbs per yard) welded in place.

Below: A little project that has appeared in the workshop is this stationary engine trolley – originally built by me five years ago for a Lister D, it is to be used under the Museum’s own Lister D which is currently being refreshed by one of the Saturday volunteers to enable its study by a group of students who are carrying out an engineering project into internal combustion engines and their applications.

Below: This morning (Thursday) Scotts arrived to collect 233, its first movement in what will be a lengthy journey taking it to San Francisco for a new life on the Market Street Railway.  There is no end of material available online regarding this tram and its sale to the USA so I won’t cover old ground here.  We prepared it following its last day in service on the 1st September, and the agreement that it would not be available from us before the 9th September was honoured (to give us time to remove the tower etc.) and the collection date of the 19th was provided.  There have been rumours circulating regarding this but the plan has been followed and the contractors have stuck to the dates we were supplied with.  On the plus side the departure gives us some breathing space to enable work to repair Gateshead 10, re-tyre Sunderland 16 and dismantle Sheffield 264 for its overhaul.  These photos show it during a rather protracted (and wet!) loading earlier on.

Below: A view of the refreshed and sign written bread van outside the Bakery in the Town.

Below: John Young, our recent addition to the volunteer team, has been busy sorting and tidying the Colliery Engine Works.  he has also turned his attention to carrying out some light blacksmithing work, using the forge to heat bitumen paint to apply to the Rookhope snowplough, which is currently being repainted as seen below.

Below: We recently purchased these photographs, which I understand are copies of originals that originate from the Hunslet archive, showing the new Hunslet built diesel locomotive fleet at Consett Iron Works.  No.1 is shown, works number 3504 and built in 1947 (from when the photos would, presumably, date).  These engines were fitted with a 186/204hp eight cylinder Gardner diesel engine and No.1 was extensively trialled before further examples followed it into service from 1949.  The wagons seen are slag ladles, used to take the slag from the blast furnaces to the waste tips that surrounded the works.  The Hunslet archive has recently been extensively digitised through an initiative from Hunslet themselves, now based at Statfold Barn, and includes not only photographs but drawings etc. as well.  As might be imagined for such a long lived company, this was a huge undertaking, amplified as Hunslet took over the records of companies such as Kerr Stuart and Avonside – and thus ensuring those restoring locomotives from all of these builders have access to the original prime sources of research.