The blog returns after a short break (as I was on annual leave), with a summary of work that has been taking place in the transport areas of the museum.  This is by no means an exhaustive list, but (as usual) serves to keep readers informed about progress and plans.  There is a lot to report on the buses in this post, but this doesn’t mean progress on other transport items has stopped.

Steam locomotives

The working steam fleet is in use or ready for use, so attracts little attention at this time of year, though work is ongoing on Dunrobin at the SVR. The Waggonway is on daily operation now, in the hands of Puffing Billy, and a preliminary inspection of Steam Elephant has been undertaken in order to plan the valve gear overhaul that it requires.  It will be out on loan (static display) for part of 2025, so we want to complete this work before then, and then commission it in steam once it returns.  It may move to the Colliery Engine Works in order to make use of the pit there.

Tramcars

Gateshead 10’s painting is now more or less complete, with signwriting booked for September.  Sunderland 16 will also be receiving attention to its paintwork, with panel repairs required, and then repainting and lining after that.  It should be finished by early October.  Oporto 196 is back in service after the brake component overhaul.  Lisbon 730’s commissioning is ongoing, with regular visits to the pit to allow the brake components to be inspected and an understanding of its operation reached – it is likely that we will modify the system to conform with what we believe was originally in place on this tram (bear in mind that the truck had to be regauged).  On the mechanical front of Gateshead 10 has new air receivers on order, and drawings have been submitted to potential suppliers, for the manufacture of new spring hangers, none of the originals being alike, or really fitting correctly.

United Automobile Services BL011

We have another bus to add to the fleet.  It’s certainly a ‘project’, but it is one that will offer capacity and versatility to the fleet.  It is registered as a 1938 Bristol L5G single decker (DHN 475) though is actually the chassis of EHN 539, which was re-bodied with that from DHN 475, though it seems to have taken the older registration forward with it (certainly in preservation times).  It was operated by United Automobile Services Limited and so plugs another gap in the collection, representing a big local company operator.  The bus has been partially restored but there is much still to do and I’ll cover it more in detail in future posts.  For now it is being assessed for suitability as a Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle/Easy Access Bus as it could potentially operate as both general service bus (Colliery) and WAV in the winter months.

Below: Fleet number BL011 (later BL039) is seen after delivery to Beamish.

Below: A familiar engine unit to us at Beamish – a Gardner 5LW diesel engine.

Below: The interior, after cleaning out the piles of components that had been removed or gathered for the restoration.  Initial scrutiny suggests the body is sound, but with quite a lot of work required on the roof structure and rear end of the bus.  There are seats for the bus, which have been collected separately.

Below: The rear end of the bus.  This is being surveyed to produce a CAD drawing, in order that we can play with ideas for adapting the vehicle with a wheelchair lift.  Much of the material at the rear end is replacement, so there is little curatorial concern in carrying out such work, and it is also work that would unlikely ever be carried out if the bus had not passed to the museum.  This is very similar to the situation we had with Crosville 716, where only a few voices had objected to the adaptations – and that bus certainly would never have been restored if it were not to allow it to be restored and adapted to enable visitors using wheelchairs in particular, to access the museum.

As I say, this is early days for this potential project.  If it looks feasible, it will likely jump the restoration queue over West Riding 560, due to the higher capacity and greater versatility it would offer.  560 remains in the plan – ultimately J2007 will need to be replaced…

There are quite a few questions around this vehicle – which appears to have registration documents for both of its guises in existence (with different registration numbers being carried).  These identities have also carried bodies with front and rear entrances, and I am keen to learn more of the bus’ service and post-service history, prior to coming to us. Is there another chassis (the real DHN) still out there?  Or is this an amalgam of the two?  Sadly the person who was restoring the bus is deceased, but I would be glad to hear from anyone who might be able to help fill in the gaps for us.

Engineering

Below: Following the demise of our Dean Smith & Grace lathe, we have now purchased this Colchester Triump, to replace it.  This lathe has a smaller footprint, though the same capacity, so has been located in a different position within the machine shop.  It has now been installed and a PUWER assessment carried out, so is already in use by the team.  We hope to add a similar, though larger lathe, to the machine shop in the future.  The next new item to the shop will be a heavy duty bandsaw.  A surface grainer has also been purchased, and will be installed shortly.

Below: This item is the valve rod for the Brightside vertical stationary steam engine.  Readers may recall this was overhauled and installed in the Colliery (adjacent to the boiler house).  The final connections have now been made and it was tested on steam (for the first time in decades).  I’ll feature this in more detail soon, but meanwhile, a new valve rod has been manufactured to replace the worn original that was inhibiting satisfactory performance of the engine.  The new one is on the left of this view.

Castle Eden Stationary Engine

Below: For many years, a dismantled horizontal stationary steam engine has been stored in the carriage shed at the Waggonway.  There is very little in our records with regard to how this came to be in the collection or what its history was, other than it was thought to date from the 1840s, and came from the Castle Eden Brewery, in East Durham.

I believe that it was on display in the brewery reception area before being donated to Beamish in the early years of the museum.  It was later observed by a brewery representative (possibly director) in a dismantled state at the (then) new Beamish museum site.  This wasn’t well received, but I don’t know what the outcome then was – possibly a removal into storage indoors.  The early years were a hasty rescue of whatever could be saved, so records from that period (early 1970s) can sometimes be quite sparse.  Whatever the truth, the engine is now receiving attention to enable it to be placed initially on display, and later put back into operation if practicable.

As it was looking so forlorn, it has been brought up to the workshops to be cleaned, inspected and potentially reassembled, so that it is all in one place.

Below: The largest components are the flywheel assembly and the cylinder/engine bed.  The engine was cosmetically restored by a local traction engine owner in the past, whence the very good condition of the paintwork.

Below: The flywheel is an interesting assembly, with the shaft being stepped, a slender crank and an adjustable eccentric (arranged for running in one direction).  The cast bedplate does look more modern than the suggested date, as horizontal engines became more common as they were developed from the 1850sonwards.  Concerns of excessive cylinder wear before this time had stifled development.  The casting is quite slender too, so was manufactured with some level of care and casting sophistication.

Below: The cylinder has been stripped of any lagging (thank goodness!) and/or cladding.  We may consider fitting wooden lagging with bands, which would be typical of the period and evidenced by photos of similar engines from the George Watkins archive of images that have been published in many books on stationary engines, including his very useful book ‘The Stationary Steam Engine’ published in 1968.  In conserving this engine ( a decision still to be taken, I should add!), we would seek to avoid painting it, so anything we add will have to have a similar patina to that already present.  This presumably being applied for display at the Castle Eden brewery.

Below: The pedestal bearings, eccentric rod and forked connecting rod are shown here, being prepared for cleaning and inspection.  The second view shows the very slender little-end (where the connecting rod is attached to the piston rod – this remaining inside the cylinder at present).  This suggests a fairly low-power engine (as suggested too, by the small cylinder capacity).  We’ll progress our survey of this engine, so as ever, follow this process on this site.

Below: I started writing this post in July, so there has been a little progress on this engine since the photos above.  It is important to stress that this isn’t a priority project, and that the aim is to assemble the engine and place it on display.  However, where there are opportunities to carry out work to make a return to use easier in the future, these will be undertaken.  The valve chest has had both cover seat and valve face machined true, the former being seen in the first photo, the latter in the second.  Also in hand is the construction of a base unit, to allow the engine to be assembled and relatively mobile, until a permanent location is found for it.

Below: The completed work on the steam chest, with the valve itself also overhauled and a new valve rod made for it (the rod with the hole for the little end pin at the left hand end of it).

Below: Also on the as-and-when list is the diesel locomotive Ashover’s gearbox – seen here on the boring machine for attention to some of the bearing surfaces.  Once the unit has been assembled and tested, the locomotive itself will be brought up to the workshops for this to be fitted and for some other work to be carried out on the locomotive.

Tales from the bus workshop…

Ben Wilson, one of the team who maintain and inspect the buses, sent through some photos and comments to cover recent activity in the bus workshop – which nicely illustrates the sort of day to day work that goes into keeping the fleet operational and in a safe condition.  Additionally, he has also done the exam on (and some remedial work for) the Leyland Titan that is currently staying with us to help cover the summer peak.  Throw in a couple of Landrovers, vans and the odd bit of plant, and the workshop has see quite a variety of work through its doors in the last few weeks.

Below: Crosville 716 arrived in the workshop with a failed drive shaft for the alternator/fan belt assembly.  The front of the bus was dismantled to access the components.

Below: The replacement shaft, a like for like replacement of the old, manufactured in the workshop here, is seen after being fitted.

Below: This is the old shaft, before removal.  Note the condition of the thread.

Below: The damaged pulley wheel, which mounts on the drive shaft, before repair.

Below: J2007 (the current spare wheelchair accessible vehicle) came into the workshop for a replacement clutch.  this view from underneath shows the engine/gearbox sans flywheel and clutch.  The flywheel, when checked at this opportunity, was found to have excessive play, so a new one was also fitted at the same time.

Below: The new flywheel and clutch in situ.  This is dual-mass flywheel, which is essentially two flywheels, connected via springs and linkages, absorbs the shock loads and vibrations passing through the transmission – one half connected to the engine output, the other to the transmission.  The buses do very little ‘cruising’, rather, lots of stops and starts (a huge number, proportionate to their limited mileages), so clutch degradation is something that the team are acutely aware of.

Below: Three buses have required repairs to their exhausts (J2007, Rotherham 220 and Scout Motor Services 18 – the Leyland Titan).  The new sections of exhaust on 18 are seen here, after fitting.

Below: A section of 220’s old exhaust is seen here, to illustrate the fairly usual problem with corrosion.  We will look at options for stainless exhausts where practicable and affordable.

In addition to the type of work illustrated above, activity is also underway to ‘energise’ the line shafting and some of the machinery in the Town Garage – something that has been on the to-do list for a very long time!  This is also a background project, but progress is being made and hopefully we will be able to have this operational for the 2025 season.