It is surprising (or maybe not!) just how quickly we get to Easter each year – traditionally the focal point for completing the winter maintenance activities and the start of the new season (in reality, this starts rather earlier – but it’s a useful target to aim for!).  We’ll split the updates into two for this month – before Easter and then after Easter, with some other posts in and around these.  The big news of the month so far has been the completion of the Tramway and its reopening to passenger operation at the beginning of the month.  Our next target is now May 24th and the restart of operations at Rowley Station after a long absence, as well as the Festival of Transport that runs through the Whit half-term week.

Engineering

Below: The trial assembly of Gateshead 10’s bogies continues.  Here, the square section of the brake cross-shaft can be seen in situ, the track brakes themselves being assembled just behind it.

Below:  Taken at 90 degrees to the previous image, the track brake assembly can be seen, with the cross-shaft to the left.  The welders are currently overhauling the other cross-shaft and a number of other components, the aim being to have most of the pieces of the puzzle available at the start of May, for assembly and potentially a trial fit below the body.

Below: Whilst we don’t do outside contract work, as a favour we helped out with a job the National Trust required, which largely focussed on re-bushing a kitchen-related mechanism.  This entailed removing the old bush (second view) and replacement with a new component, then final machining to take the shaft that runs through it, which was also tidied up (seen below).

Trams and Tramway

Below: Lots of new Tarmac – the repaired roadway on the Bakery corner has been resurfaced, completing this quite involved piece of track renewal work.  We said that it would operate for the Easter holidays, so it reopens with a bit of time to spare.

Below: On Tuesday 1st April Blackpool 31 was running on test, to ensure that the Tramway was ready to reopen on Wednesday 2nd April.

Below: New signage is being installed around the roads and tramway – these signs replace the previous black/white printed boards, and look much more in keeping with the setting (though quite bright at the moment!).  There are also signs for High Street to be installed (the main museum street), a number for the bus turning areas (to keep them clear of parked vehicles, especially during events) and lots of new speed limit signs – which need posts making and painting before installation.  That’ll complete the first phase of signage that has been in the making for quite a while but is something that I feel quite strongly about (as a misplaced or period inappropriate sign can look so jarring).  It might be worthwhile creating a ‘signs and street furniture group’ to assist with installing and maintaining these and many others – let me know if anyone is interested!

Below: The new tramcar roof-equipment inspection tower has now been installed.  This is to provide a safe working at height position for the team servicing and inspecting the trolleypoles, trolleybases, roof equipment and top-decks in general on the tram fleet. It is more or less identical to the example used at the National Tramway Museum and enables access to both double and single deck tramcar roofs.  An interlock with the depot overhead line power supply is yet to be installed (to ensure that no access can be gained whilst the power is turned on), and a harness-wire will also need to be installed.  With the new depot lighting and refurbished pit, the facilities are already much-improved, but future works include replacement of the roof and cladding on the depot, painting the floors and some internal rearrangement of the workshop spaces.  These improvements await sufficient funding before they proceed.

Below: Meanwhile, work continues on the gabion installation to reinforce the land immediately to the side of the tram depot.

Another job in planning at the moment is the installation of the ex Darlington Corporation bus shelter.  The Remaking Beamish developments, in the end, did not allow for its installation on the pavement adjacent to the Cinema, so after looking at options elsewhere on site, we have settled on a location at Pockerley, where it will be opposite the tram stop and provide dedicated shelter for visitors waiting for buses.  There is quite a bit of preparatory work required with this option, including dismantling the little half-timber hut, that has always been something of an architectural anomaly for us.

Railways

Below: The Great Western Mink van has returned to display in the goods yard, with the body repairs and repainted roof hopefully giving it a few more years before more substantial attention is required.

Below: The re-arranged RMS area, with the bus present in the scaffolding structure on the right.  After the bus, the NER birdcage brakevan will be placed into the scaffolding for roof repairs and re-canvassing.  We’ll then remove the scaffolding and work will proceed on the brakeman as and when, to restore it to working order, hopefully in time for Rowley’s 50th anniversary next year.

Below: Swanscombe No.1 – a photo of it in the sunshine.  In due course it will be returned (cosmetically) to it’s as-built appearance and livery, and should move over to the Engine Works building at some point this year.  Just to reiterate – this is not a Beamish loco, nor is it part of the collection here so there are definitely no plans for us to restore it to working order or use it at the museum!

Below: As the sun was shining on Glyder, I thought that I’d take a photo!  It is operating its Monday/Tuesday diagram at the moment, with the Waggonway covering Wednesday to Sunday, in order to ensure steam operation is a daily feature at the museum.  In due course this should increase, but for now it provides a chance to see the Colliery narrow gauge in action.

Below: The repaint of the NLR coach has been progressing well, with the coach now in its first coat of the mixed ‘new’ Olive Green.  It does look rather smart and the HR style lettering really looks well against it.

Below: Prior to flatting and re-varnishing of 58A, some repairs to the surface and a partial repaint has been carried out on the buffer beams (headstocks).

Below: The concrete pad adjacent to the inspection pit at Rowley Station has been installed.  This will allow a suitable mobile access platform to be used in this area, as part of the servicing and preparation of steam locomotives and rolling stock and reducing the need to climb onto locomotives wherever practicable.  Scaffolding will shortly be erected to enable the water tower pipework to be re-installed, to a more substantial design was used previously.

Below: Fresh concrete is always quite pleasing – though this will soon turn black with dirt as we begin to use the area once again.

Buses

Below: Weardale 909 is now in the scaffolding booth – this is so that the top deck and roof can be repainted (the ivory having turned to a shade of cream beneath discoloured varnish).  This work will start once the two railway coaches have been completed and returned to service next month.  909’s seats are with a contractor for re-upholstering and the photos that we’ve seen of the work done so far look very good indeed.  Once the roof and top deck is complete, 909 will move again, to allow the lower deck window frames to be repainted, and the decency panel (below the top deck windows) to be repainted to remove the advert.  Then it’s pretty much ready again for service – the target being the summer holidays…

Below: Work to repair some old damage and previous repairs on the SMS Leyland Titan is underway in the Bus Workshop, with the first application of filler following panel work on the dents being applied.

Below: The rebuilt emergency window for KPT 909 has emerged from the workshop this week.  The first view shows the new and old – this being the long rail of the window frame (which sits horizontally at the rear of the top deck).

Below: A close-up view showing new timber and old, married together.  The mortices were cut first, whilst the new material was still square and able to sit better on the machine, after which the curved profile was roughed out on the handsaw then finished by hand using files and rasps.  The hand finishing enables the near-invisible joints to be formed and the profile to be matched.  This is the inside face, with the rebate that the glass sits in clearly visible.

Below: The assembled window, after hand finishing to ensure the angles of each component matched its neighbour exactly.

Below: A close-up view showing the cutter tools that were required for this job, and the process of achieving the rebate.  The timber shows the rebate cut (left hand side) which then acted as a guide for a 30 degree bevel to be cut along the length of the timber where required (see second view).  Hand finishing all of these then gives the required profile as well as capturing the shape of the rebate, needed for the glazing.

We’ll be back with further updates after Easter, as April rolls on at remarkable speed!

Finally – I’ll leave a photo here for readers to enjoy…  Some may have witnessed the volunteers at work reassembling a motorcycle from a pile of boxes, and may even have noticed the larger machine sat just to the side of it.  These are two very exciting recent donations to the collection and there will be much more on this subject in a future post (whence keeping it as something of a cliff hanger for now!)

Photos in this post by matt Bedard, Phil Doran, Paul Jarman, David Moseley, Phil Smith and Ben Wilson