Great North Steam Fair preparations – narrow gauge railway
With less than a week to go until the Great North (War) Steam Fair, Friday and Saturday have been spent preparing the Colliery area, largely around the narrow gauge and saw bench activities/displays.
The two guest locomotives, Hunslets Statfold and Jack Lane, arrived from the Statfold Barn Railway in Staffordshire. Statfold was then used as motive power for the shunting needed to prepare the trains which will be operated at the event.
A number of new waggons were also completed, with final work being carried out as they moved to the Colliery! Here, then, are some photographs that show what visitors can look forward to seeing next week and beyond (the locomotives are staying with us beyond the event).
Below: Statfold and Jack Lane arrived on Thursday. Statfold has now become well acquainted with the railway here during shunting operations. I’ll try and get around to putting some film on the blog showing these runs. Unusually, there was some sunshine for the first photo on Thursday. Friday and Saturday was attended by cloud, rain, sleet and more rain!
Below: The two side tipping Ffestiniog Railway granite waggons. Matt Ellis described these in an earlier post. Both are now complete and moved to the railway in the last couple of days (so much space in the workshops now!) after a lot of evening effort to complete the work.
Below: Ffestiniog Railway coal waggon No.26. Comprehensively rebuilt and repainted in the RHEC and placed on the railway here for the first time this morning.
Below: The two bolster waggons on loan from the Apedale Valley Railway and which have been repaired, shotblasted and repainted as part of their loan to us. They arrived for the GNSF last year and area appearing again at this event.
Below: The potential extension of the line is seen here. Not particularly long but it would enable a couple of sidings and for us to display rolling stock adjacent to the Sinkers catering outlet so that visitors can see the waggons etc. when we are not operating the railway. The small matter of losing a mound of stone and rubble to contend with first…
Below: The brake van (tool van!) has been completed and tested. Its handbrake is very effective and we are delighted with the way this waggon has turned out. It looks very well with the FR stock as well as our own, and is a useful place to store items needed for operating the railway and which always get left in a shed a walk away!
Below: The ‘beer waggon’ seen on test – it does seem to hold water! It will provide a mobile water supply for traction engines operating the saw bench both at this event and in the future. With a 200 gallon capacity it should be ably suited to the role, and next week will be used in conjunction with the Steam Mule.
Below: A few general views taken through the gloom and rain…
Posted by Paul Jarman
Assistant Director – Curatorial
The N.G. railway is looking good & starting to blend into the landscape. It should look the part with the heritage F.R. rolling stock. Good to see so much progress in the relatively short time since the first portable railway in the pit yard with Graham Morris’s Peter Pan & 2 v-skips.
Hi paul, found this treasure trove on flickr, it’s from sept 1984 with j21, coffee pot, no 14 and locomotion in steam, so the dates with the j21 last steaming are out.
and includes passenger stock visiting the colliery.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nigelmenzies/sets/72157692030625182
see what you think
Cheers
Rob
Hi Rob. Thanks for the link. Some fascinating images. Passenger stock to the Colliery was rare – the actual permission to operate didn’t extend beyond our present running operation. The inspectorate was concerned about the gradient, curvature and quality of the track beyond that point to the Colliery – so passengers shouldn’t have been carried even in the 70s/80s. I have seen drawings of the proposed station in Pit Hill village. Behind the cottages.
Looking at these photos. And the fact the J31 is hauling a mixed train with no continuous brake, I would image it is a demonstration operation only. Interesting to see the amount of visitor access to the track itself at Rowley! Different World then. No accidents. But more common sense in those days perhaps… (you know what they say about common sense… it isn’t very common!).
Maybe one day I’ll find time to write a more comprehensive history of the transport collection at Beamish… in 45+ years we’ve created quite a lot of our own!
Cheers
Paul
Hi paul
Glad you like it, as it helps with the history, so when did the J21 actually last steam? as someone said 1983 but clearly not as she was steaming in 1984, as when did the boiler certificate run out on her? But some good images though, In time when the line eventually gets extended will the unrestored coach in the RMS be restored so enable you guys to run 2 coach trains? Fantastic blog keep up the good work.
Cheers
rob