We are approaching the end of the month of February, and already there seems to be a lot that has taken place this year!  When I compile each month’s blog post, I consider any items that might fit within the annual review, and file these separately – a folder that is already growing somewhat!  I assemble the posts across the whole month, and this one almost justifies breaking into further parts – I’ll keep an eye on that for March but would welcome any feedback with regards to the length of each post and whether more, shorter posts, are preferred, or the larger monthly summaries (with extra posts for one-off news and events)?

There is a great deal of work to carry out and with the focus being on the day to day ‘delivery’ (i.e. trams, buses, rolling stock etc. needed for the core service), there are some elements of the team’s work that may well be put on the back burner whilst we concentrate on a few core projects.  Steam Elephant is going out on short-term loan to Hopetown, to participate in an exhibition there and so quite a lot of the valve gear has been in the machine shop for overhaul – to enable it to be refitted before it departs, and a quicker return to steam when it returns from Darlington in the summer.

Work on SCT 2 has temporarily paused whilst all effort is focussed on Darlington 4, whose structural condition has proved to be something of a curate’s egg – good in parts, but also pretty bad in others.  The photos later in this post show just how extensive the framing repairs have become on this vehicle.

This work has therefore become the priority, after which the focus returns to Gateshead 10.  Another are to explore is storage, and where/how we can make better use of the space we have, without future or long-term projects residing in the same space.  One of the challenges faced by all museums and heritage railways, of course.  I’ll perhaps return to this subject later in the year, as we try and maximise output vs resource vs space and, of course, the operational requirements of the museum.  As alluded to before in these pages, the future will probably be a more consistent working collection, maintained to a higher standard and with fewer side projects (but enough to keep the interest levels!) – these being the ways in which we can develop the collections in new directions, and engage visitors with items not previously seen/seen in operational condition.  But enough of the musing…

Tram Depot Improvements

Below: The tram depot has been receiving quite a lot of attention from staff and contractors, including installing new lighting (and replacement of the very old wiring that was previously in use until it failed during one of 2024’s storms/flooding events) and refurbishment of the tramcar inspection pit.  This has new pit lighting and has also been deep-cleaned and repainted to create a much brighter working environment.

We will be installing a new gantry, manufactured specifically for the purpose of inspecting/accessing tramcar roof and electrical equipment.  This will enable, with some additional additions, the current restriction on working at height to be lifted in the tram depot.  We have a similar (and simpler) project for Rowley Station, and sometime ago introduced stepladder access at the Waggonway (to avoid having to climb onto the locomotives themselves to apply oil to the tops of the valve gear – which can be some way off the ground on the vertically-cylindered locomotives).

There is a long list of improvements that we would like to make to the depot and workshops – at some point much of the building will have to be re-roofed, and this will present an opportunity to fit insulated panels and introduce more energy efficient technology into the space.  I am also pondering whether we divide the interior up further, in order to create more hospitable working areas.

Dunrobin

Below: Two overall views showing progress on Dunrobin.  The brand new cab/bunker is now fitted to the frames, and priming work on this and the running plate has been taking place.  In the boilershop, the final materials to complete the new dome have been ordered and once fitted, this will see the boiler largely complete and ready for hydraulic testing.

Below: The team have also continued to work on the assembly of overhauled mechanical components, as illustrated here with the slidebars and crosshead fitted to the piston rods, and valve rods also fitted into position.  A great deal of work has been required to set these up – bearing in mind the cylinder block is new and therefore all internal surfaces have had to be machined and prepared, as well as the new valves and valve rod spindles being manufactured.

Duke of Sutherland Saloon 58A

Below:  Work on the roof of the saloon continues, with all of the canvas having received several coats of dark grey paint (to hid the inevitable dirt that will accumulate on the roof in the future), all of the fittings been well bedded into position and then the screw holes filled and painted, and the sides of the clerestory prepared and painted into the dark green coach livery.  The lamp fittings remain to be secured at the time this view was taken.  The beading has been painted to match the roof, whilst the final coat of green remain to be applied (this also being used to straighten and tidy the edges where colours meet etc.).  John has gone to a great deal of trouble to seal all of the joints as we very much hope that this re-canvassing (possibly only the second in the coach’s life?) will endure for many decades to come.  It is also critical to keeping water out of the precious carriage structure and away from the internal panels too, so this has very much been in mind too.

Below: The toilet cistern filler had a rather haphazard arrangement for repelling water, and also included an overflow pipe which discharges onto the roof.  Chris and Dan have manufactured a rather nice collar to enable the whole assembly to be properly bedded down onto the roof and capturing the canvas in the process.  I wonder if we should keep it in brass in order to give us something to polish?!  The hole for the overflow spout is nearest the camera.

Below: One of the bezels that we saw under repair in a previous post, fitted and bedded onto the roof prior to painting.

Below: With the final fitting of various roof components, and application of the final coats of paint, the work on the roof is now complete…  The coach will be moved out of the painting bay shortly, and placed with the NLR coach in Road 1 of the RMS, so that it can be varnished, whilst the NLR coach is repainted into Highland Railway Green.  The GWR Mink goods van will be placed into the scaffold bay for some work to its roof, before returning to display in the station area.  Later on, we are planing to bring the NER birdcage brakevan into this area, so that the roof can be repaired and re-canvassed (the canvas already being in stock).  This will start off the overhaul of this vehicle, with a view to returning it to display in 2026 (the fiftieth anniversary of the formal opening/reopening of Rowley Station…).

Darlington 4

This hard-working vehicle is currently having some lower saloon structural repairs, work that has entailed removal of the side panels (no easy task!) in order to expose the framework.

Below: This view shows the relative simplicity of the body structure, and mix of timer and steel within the assembly.

Below: A close up showing some of the degraded timberwork, which has suffered from its inevitable contact with damp road conditions over many years.

Below: The steel components have also suffered, again the mixture of wet and salty roads have done it no favours, where these have managed to permeate the body.

Below: With the frame now exposed, both coachwork and metal fabrication workshops can set to and manufacture replacement components before the side panels are refitted and the paintwork tidied up.  Getting to this stage has been a challenge for Matt, Dan, Chris and Tony – but new parts are now being made, and items prepared for re-fitting – so with care, we can say that it isn’t quite as bad as it looks!

Below: Further dismantling then took place, revealing a body crossmember requiring replacement, and several other jobs that will be attended to whilst this area of the bus is so accessible.

Below: The new rear body crossmember (left) alongside the original (right).  This had both perished in integrity, but also been subject to numerous repairs in the past, including attachment of steel reinforcing plates to the sides of it (now extensively corroded).

Below: Replacement components are being created in increasing numbers – this example showing why it is sensible to repair, rather than replace, in some instances.  Unlike SCT 2, we are not approaching this project as a conservation exercise, so far more new material can be introduced into the repairs as what we are seeking is longevity and rigidity as a result of this work.

Below: Looking down onto one of the rear panels – the piece of wood sat on top of it is a remaining fragment of the wheel arch frame support.

Below: The same fragment is seen sat on top of its replacement – showing just how much was lost to degradation and which disintegrated during the process of dismantling.

Below: The cab structure has also been exposed below the waistline, and shows similar need for repair work, though this is not as extensive as has been found in other areas.  Matt’s conclusion has been that the ‘good’ bits are better than thought, whilst the worst bits are far worse than expected and indicated upon the preliminary inspection.

Below: A close up of the new frame made for the driver’s footstep – a high-wear area.  The first photo shows the old components and their replacements, whilst the second shows the new assembly dry-fitted in place.

Steam Elephant

Below: All of the working fleet of locomotives have undergone their annual boiler inspections and subsequent steam tests.  One boiler that has been reactivated is that of Steam Elephant, which was retubed in 2019 but due to COVID-19, did not then receive the mechanical overhaul that winter as planned.  With the backlog that the pandemic created, we have now seen significant progress on Steam Elephant, with a large percentage of the valve gear removed (from above and below the locomotive’s frames), and overhauled.  As well as this, a Non Destructive Test (NDT) of the boiled barrel’s longitudinal seam weld has been carried out (necessitating the removal of the wooden lagging) as well as a thorough internal examination.  This work is to enable it to be returned to steam in the summer, after its visit to Hopetown Darlington: https://www.hopetowndarlington.co.uk/whats-on/Railway-Pioneers/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIhcghleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHXfAVRga1TWmgQt-_GALqOIp2Dz4TTS-wtkp_iAHK6a4eyE21RhA02HKbg_aem_nQw5wS2mLbGGs-2OcBtSJw

Below: A close up view of the seam weld and the white paint associated with the Non Destructive Testing process.  When the locomotive returns to Beamish in June (directly to the Waggonway), it will be commissioned back into traffic (some mechanical reassembly and steam testing), enabling it to resume its work at Beamish for the first time in over five years.  It has one other visit planned in September, but otherwise should settle back into the routine it shares with Puffing Billy.

Oporto tram 196

Below: Readers may recall the work that was being undertaken on Oporto 196’s brakegear last year.  Some outstanding actions include replacement of the bevel gears within the gearboxes in the handbrake assemblies (work that is currently at the design stage) and also re-bushing the handbrake columns where these locate into the floor.  A considerable amount of wear had to be taken out of the assembly, so the shaft itself was turned to true up the journal (the part that rotates within the bearing), seen below in a before and after view.

Below:  A split bush was made to suit the new journal diamater, and which locates into the socket within the floor.  Comparing the new (left) with the old, shows just how worn and oval the original had become.  We will take a look at the gearboxes themselves in a future post.

Work on Lisbon 730 is currently on hold, pending delivery of a new inverter for the low-voltage electrics on the tram (an item that is made to our requirements in Canada).  It is also anticipated that Newcastle 114 will take priority in the electrical shop, once we have established a method of rebuilding one controller and overhauling the second.  It is unlikely to see service in 2025 as a result of this, so we will also look at any other work that can sensibly be accomodated within this period of maintenance.

Permanent Way and Infrastructure

Below: The team continue to manipulate and lay the rails at the eastern end of the Town (High Street).  Once in place, they will be bonded, then tested in open form, before a contractor returns to lay the infill and new Tarmac surface before the Easter holidays start.

We also have a contractor working on several elements of the tramway’s overhead line equipment, work that will then enable us to carry out some work ourselves (in particular, replacing span wires and strain insulators) but we are also looking at bringing in a contractor to help expedite the work we wish to carry out in a more timely manner.  Visitors to site will also have noticed quite substantial clearance work on the trees alongside the tramway (and in other areas), and this is work that will continue across site over the next month or so, and then resume next winter (in particular on the railway line at Rowley) as we start to bring the lineside vegetation under closer management.

Photos in this post by Matt Bedard, Phil Doran, Paul Jarman, John Marshall, Phil Smith and Russell Walker