This weekend has marked our first Power from the Past of the year (the first of four planned).  These may well reduce in time as we are looking to increase the steam operation (i.e. the narrow gauge and Colliery lines) as part of the regular ‘performance’ on site, so the necessity of advertised running days for these areas will reduce, and so we will focus the PftP theme on other areas of the transport operation.

Before taking a look at the PftP for Saturday, here are some of the other things going on…

RHEC

Below: Dyers Engineering are carrying out a variety of specialised work for us at the moment, particularly as our own machine shop is tied up with work for the Gallopers.  Here is Steam Elephant’s water pump being bored to restore the pump chamber’s parallel sides.  A new piston will also be manufactured to fit the now oversize bore.

Below: The wheels for Samson’s tender/support vehicle (the London Lead Company waggon) have been pressed onto the axles after further machining work to achieve the required clearance to give a secure interference fit.  Note the cast washers in place, these spacing the wheels equally against the bearing pedestal faces – the original waggon being narrower than the two foot gauge these wheelsets are being manufactured to.

Below: The next two photographs show the stanchions for the Stockton & Darlington coach, four of which are required to support the roof above the partitions.  These are being made from an assembly of machined components, which will be welded together then machined again to eliminate evidence of the weld and give the appearance of being made from a single piece of metal – saving considerable amounts of wasted material which would otherwise have had to be machined off.

Below: Back at Beamish, the team of Friends who specialise in veteran motorcycles have been preparing the WW1 era machines for April’s event.  This includes recommissioning the P&M that came on loan to us recently and also the Triumph Model H, which has spent the last two decades on display in the Town Garage.  Both have come back to life now, the P&M taking rather more work of the two.  The Royal Enfield will be the next into the RHEC – in theory meaning all of the potentially operational (i.e. not unrestored) motorcycles are in working condition, probably the first time they have all been so at the same time.

Below: The Triumph (above) and P&M below, seen in the RHEC after successful start-ups.

Below: The ‘Crewe Tractor’ Model T is now being reassembled, with the suspension rebuilt and the radiator re-fitted this morning.

Sheffield 264

Below: In order for visitors to see the process of repainting Sheffield 264, it was brought into the main depot for the weekend whilst lining and lettering work is carried out.  Here Sarah and Phil are seen at work on the corporation lettering and crest respectively.

Below: A close up of the crests, which are both now well advanced.  Some lining has also been applied around them.

Below: An overview of 264 within the depot.  There is still a lot of detail paintwork to attend to but the start of the season later in March should see it re-enter service again after a 12 year absence, and looking better than ever!

Power from the Past March 2016

Below: Outside the service was operated by 16, 114, 147 and 196 with 264 on display at the front of the tram depot.  I am sure others will have taken better images than I have, so here are just a couple of 114, then 147 passing the site of the future bus depot.

Below: Gordon and Margaret Bulmer had once again brought together a nice variety of model tramways for the exhibition in the Regional Resource Centre, including a mixture of themes and scales.  The 1/16 scale Stockport Trams are as eye-catching as ever (my home town!), and Chesfield, a complex O Gauge layout demonstrated a very wide variety of tramcars within its convincing street scene.  Other layouts reflect the north east and Sunderland in particular, with pier tramways also being represented.  Two trade stands were also present.  Here is a set of photographs showing what was presented.