After what seems to have been an eternal winter (perhaps because it followed a fairly uninspiring summer?) the weather has finally offered the first inklings of spring, with warmth in the air and even the sun making the occasional appearance!  I thought a more detailed summary than usual might be of interest, perhaps reflecting the scale of work being undertaken ahead of the new ‘main’ season (Easter to the end of October, but in reality, until the end of December).

With the winter season behind us and the start of our summer season commencing next weekend, we are looking at a not inconsiderable backlog of work, caused partly by the appalling weather in the new year and partly by the longer and more intensive season placing new demands on the various fleets.  It is probably fair to say we no longer have ‘seasons’ within the cycle of life here, so it is perhaps timely that we are commencing a review as to how to best cope with this new pattern and ensure the operations can be sustained year-round.

We have been unfortunate to have suffered a quick succession of failures on the steam side, coupled with a compressed period within which to deal with them, alongside the statutory works.  Priorities have to be set and reopening Rowley, repairing Steam Elephant’s pump and attending to No.18 (axle box lubrication starvation) have been at the top of the agenda on the railway side.  We await progress on Rambler to replace some of the front tubeplate rivets and now know that tubes need blanking on both Edward Sholto and Coffee Pot No.1.  The seemingly common situation nationally with tubes is that they just aren’t made of the quality material they once were, and we can certainly concur with that – a ten year life is now the exception rather than the norm and this is with water treatment and favourable operating conditions.

The gallopers has probably suffered the most over the winter – its operation for a solid 9+ months meaning that it has to be tackled in a very short period between January and March.  With the same staff as look after it now also managing the ice rink until late February, this has added to the challenge.  However, the new cranks and bearing blocks that were purchased in advance of the winter plus a number of other jobs in hand now nearing completion, will mark another phase of renewal in the life of the ride.   Jonathan and his team are doing great work in this regard, but also have the wider fairground area to continue to develop.  Suddenly a twelve month year seems very short indeed!

Below: New cranks and bearings, painted and ready for fitting to the ride as part of its ongoing restoration and upgrade to cope with the intensive level of operation it now experiences.

On the plus side, the rebuild of Sheffield 264 really is on the home straight now, to be followed by completion of the Duke of Sutherland’s saloon, 58A hopefully in time for the summer season (the painters also have six horses for the gallopers to complete!).  The Leyland Cub, Crosville 716, is rapidly progressing again to the stage where an engine start-up in the near future can be looked forward to, at which point it should be possible to drive itself for the first time since the 1950s.  Samson is being prepared for painting and should follow 264 as the next-completed project.  The Morris Commercial will return once a lorry can be grabbed for a run north, and it will be accompanied by something else that we have purchased and will be revealed on here soon.

Below: Sheffield 264’s lining and lettering is coming together beautifully…

Out on site Bob Fielding is working wonders with the site support team (there are only half a dozen of them!), with the footbridge at Rowley a very high priority alongside the progressive refurbishment of the cottages in the Pit Village – this isn’t just about painting, but new gutters, new floors, new doors (assisted by the work the Friends volunteers are carrying out) and wallpaper plus paint.  It doesn’t end there as the Chapel and the School need major attention and I am also looking at options to have the appalling surface of the street in the Colliery tackled as soon as possible – but there is not a cheap option for this.  Easter looms large on all of our calendars, followed almost immediately by a month of transport festival.

Samson

Below: Dave has now completed the manufacture of the complex boiler cladding sheets for Samson – expressing, perhaps with a ring of truth, that if this had been a job at the start of the project, there it would have stopped!  The result is impressive, and the carefully made and rolled, shaped and sculptured pieces will now be removed in order for painting to be completed…  That’s my bit and it looks certain to offer its own challenges along the way!

Below: The tender wheelsets have also arrived back following pressing onto their axles locally.  Dave is now machining the bearing pedestals ready for white metalling.

RHEC

Below: Ian Reavley is seen at work on the sidecar chassis for the P&M motorcycle.  This has required a lot of attention to make it fit for operation now that the work on the motorcycle itself is complete.

Below: Test runs!  Ian Reavley tests the P&M for the first time, whilst Ian Bean (just visible through clouds of ‘years in storage’) tries out the Triumph Model H.

Below: These new sight-feed glass domes for the Dene motorcycle were procured by Colin Slater from the Sunderland Glass Centre, replacing (with spares!) that fitted to the cycle which had been broken whilst on display.

Below: The machined uprights for the Stockton & Darlington coach have now been fitted – they are impressive items, based on those illustrated in the original coloured drawings of these coaches and very tactile!  The black paint is bound to be worn off…

Below: No.18 has had attention to the rear axleboxes following discovery of lubrication starvation.  This work entailed jacking the locomotive up, then effecting the necessary repairs.  With the footbridge not due to be completed until early next week, No.18 will be in operation around the Colliery this coming weekend.  Steam Technician David Grindley is seen inspecting the axlebox on the fireman’s side of the loco.

Outdoor Works

Below: The track team, amongst their many other duties, are progressing the narrow gauge extension towards Pockerley.  This is an important phase of work as this area will be a new public display area, for the Great War Steam Fair and Horses at War it will host the wood cutting (saw bench) arena as well as giving trains from the Colliery somewhere to go.  Whether or not the triangle will be completed in 17 working days time remains to be seen, but the turnout is in position and work to complete this area will continue this week.

Below: New fencing for the display area is also progressing, with further landscaping to take place at a later date.  This should give additional purpose to the area and something else to see in the Pockerley tram stop area.

Below: The shotblasting and spray-priming of the footbridge at Rowley is now complete, the team turning their hand to painting the bridge in as short a time as possible.  The deck has been prepared and painted and is stored awaiting installation.  We’ve had no end of frustrations carrying out this project, due to the weather being so windy and generally hostile to this type of work – what was around a week of work took nearly three months to execute!  We aim to have trains running here again for Good Friday, so the pressure is on…  The colour chosen is NER Chocolate (brown) in place of the previous ‘Beamish Red’ which was so liberally used around Rowley.  This will just about remove this colour from the area.

Below: With the bridge in this state of undress, a full inspection was carried out by an independent surveyor, giving it a clean bill of health.  It is a popular vantage point for watching trains at Rowley and has long been overdue the refurbishment now being undertaken.  As an idea of cost, we will have spent in the region of £10,000 on this work, excluding the full time staff time and some materials.  Heritage is not cheap to maintain…

Below: David Mahan is seen at work, one of the large team of Site Support staff (and some Steam Team members) working on the rapid completion of the bridge, which is being handpainted following the initial spray-applied primer.

The Site Support Team has been working through a variety of tasks (such as the footbridge, above), one of the most visible being the refurbishment of the cottages in the Pit Village.  Known as Francis Street, that being their origin in Hetton-le-Hole, the buildings had become very tired in their appearance.  The refurbishment has included renewal of doors, windows, guttering, interior paintwork and wallpaper as required, attention to brickwork and the first phase of improvement to the lighting.  These views show some of this work and the amazing effect it has on the buildings so tackles.

The Chapel is next on the list, whilst the School has received attention to the floors and will, in due course, have its internal decoration attended to.  Once the road outside is restored, this should reduce the ‘tread’ of dirt into the exhibits too, at which point other floors (mats, lino etc.) will also need attention.

In addition…

With a weather eye on managing the maintenance and restoration workload, coupled with the anticipated demands associated with the Remaking Beamish project, thoughts are turning to the RHEC and a slight reorganisation of space to make the most of this valuable resource for the Museum.  It will be recalled that the Finishing Shop came about as a result of the relocation of the joinery to the Erecting Shop, where it was better positioned to deal with such projects as Sheffield 264, the S&D coach and the Lighthouse Slip.  I anticipate the role of the Finishing Shop changing again, more of which in due course.  The Middle Barn, which we have assimilated, also presents opportunities, not just for vehicle storage but also to assist the roles of staff and volunteers in their roles.  We have a lot of vehicles now, and these work hard in not always ideal circumstances, so the direction of travel is to dedicate a facility to their upkeep and divide longer term works from daily maintenance.  The proposed bus depot has a maintenance bay within its design, again mixing shorter and longer term aspirations, so flexibility of a finite amount of space is very important to the effective function of the RHEC.  We are very lucky to have these buildings and the teams that work within them, so there will probably always be a process of evolution in and around them as the nature of the work shifts and changes.  As ever, for more on this, watch this space…