Welcome to the latest blog post and in particular, hello to new readers who are joining from the museum’s Facebook page.  The blog has been active for something like 15 years now, and contains a detailed record of the transport/engineering activities throughout this period.  There are various ideas to develop it further being discussed, so as ever, watch this space…

On to the latest workshop diary (a new heading for the blog’s content and one intended to align better with other potential formats and social media formats that the museum is looking at developing)…  Let’s call this Workshop Diary September 2024.

Workshop Diary

Below: Last week, Crosville 716 was on the pit for attention to the handbrake pivot pin, which is mounted onto the side of the gearbox.  During inspection, it had been noted that the pin was loose, and required attention.  The easiest way to do this was raid the spare cub parts we have in store, to substitute the case into which the pin is fixed.  Job one done.  At the same time, it was also noted that a problem that was being monitored, wear in the steering box, was reaching a point at which it would be deemed unacceptable.  Whilst the bus was in the workshop and with considerable enthusiasm for making permanent repairs, it was decided to remove the box and dismantle it.  What was discovered was that the sector shaft was scored as well as worn down in diameter.

Again, the spares pile was raided and a suitable (but temporary) replacement was substituted.  The example removed from 716 is seen on the left of the first photo (the one on the right being another spare, which has the same issue) and a close up of the scoring can be seen in the second photo.  The plan is to overhaul the one removed from 716, turning the shaft true in the lathe, hardening it and then making a bus to fit the steering box and accommodate the slightly reduced diameter.  It is times like these that the decision to acquire so many bits of dismantled Leyland Cub are vindicated!

Below: The Delvac mechanical lubricator for the Brightside steam engine (which will be on display as an operational exhibit adjacent to the boiler house in the Colliery) has now been reassembled.  We obtained a workshop wall illustrated instruction panel from a vendor in Australia, and this will form both part of the operating manual, and also the display.

Below: We’ve taken, on loan, three Hudson V skips.  These were previously located on the Tanfield Railway at Marley Hill, and will fill-in on our narrow gauge railway pending construction of some new open waggons of a suitably Edwardian appearance.  One of the skip waggons is in the fabrication shop for some repairs to its couplings.  The loan is from the Hawthorn Engine and Carriage Trust, with whom we are developing a relationship for rolling stock ownership and display/operation in the north east.

Below: The other two skips.  These are Hudson Rugga Skip Wagons, too modern for use in the Edwardian Colliery really, but not inappropriate for running with Glyder.  These have had the original bodies replaced, the pressed components being replaced with a simple fabrication of the appropriate skip shape.

Below: Oporto 196 had an accidental activation of the life tray, which caused damage and resulted in the temporary substitution of one of its Oporto trays, pending the repair of the replacement – seen below waiting to be fitted.  We’ve had this occurrence with this tram on a number of occasions – the tray is deployed when the lifeguard at the front of the tram (beneath the fender) is pushed backwards.  We’ve had this occur due to strong headwinds, striking small objects within the four-foot (between the rails) and the testing of these forms part of the daily checklist for drivers.  Th system has a spring within the mechanism, to accelerate its activation, and this can act at a hair-trigger level sometimes,  making some trays more prone to being activated than others.

Below: The new components for Lisbon 730’s brakegear have been made and trial fitted (the bits in black).  These needed a few more tweaks at the time of this photo, work that was progressed earlier this week.

Sunderland Corporation Transport 2 (Leyland Lion LT1)

Below: Sam (our engineering apprentice) is currently manufacturing new window mechanisms for SCT 2.  Here is a reminder of the mechanism – this allows the window to be opened to any position (it slides down to open) and the little brake to secure it.  There are springs within the tube (seen with the window lowering wire wrapped around it) which secure the window in whatever position it is stopped in.  New springs are on order (these are not cheap!) as part of the replication of these components.

Below: This sequence of photos shows the new bearings in which the central axle runs at each side of the window (largely hidden in the view above).  Several of these have been made by engineering apprentice Sam, so that we have a spare unit for the future as well as the three required on the bus.

Below: Sam then went on to manufacture the ratchet components for the window mechanisms.  The first photo shows one of the originals, used as a basis for recreating several more of these items from scratch, to enable the missing mechanisms to be recreated.

Below: We now follow a sequence of photos showing the process of milling the brass bar to the correct profile.

Below: New components – ready for assembly onto the shafts that form part of the new mechanisms.

Sunderland Corporation Transport No.2

Below:  Work on dismantling SCT 2 continues, as the exploration of the body frame and interior continues.  Whilst generally in good condition, there are areas that will require restoration or reconstruction.  Sections around the wheel arch are currently being explored.  In this view, the wheel arch is to the left, with the rear boarding of it visible, and through which screws are seen penetrating, but into no sound (or actual!) timber.

Below: Stepping back from the view above, you can see where the timber has perished in the sections behind the arch walls.  Also of note is that the internal panelling has all been removed now (and will all be replaced).  The frame can be seen to be sound for the most part, which is encouraging!  Agaisnt this, the floor hasn’t proved to be as consistently sound as was hoped.

Below: Some of the gusset plates (metal triangles with angled faces to interface with corners and provide rigidity in these areas) have become quite poor, as can be seen here, with the area of white bloom being particularly affected.

Below:  These gussets were removed and Dan in the fabircation shop quickly replicated them to allow the replacements to be fitted at this early stage of the work.

Below: Two views showing new gusset plates in place prior to being secured in place.

Work on SCT 2 will continue on an as-and-when basis, but with three of the workshops being involved (machine shop, joinery and fabrication shop), work is progressing at a pleasing rate.

Infrastructure

Below: I’ve started to consider the completion work needed at Rowley Station in the loco preparation/servicing area.  As well as the water pipe arrangement needing completion (and the water supply to the tank repairing), the central area is going to have a platform to allow safe work on rolling stock – be this watering locomotive or cleaning carriage windows etc.  I’m thinking that we’ll have a steel frame, with non-slip timber deck on top.  Thi may be double-sided so as to enable both sides of an item to be accessed (my moving from one track to the other) for cleaning/maintenance etc. as well as any work required for daily service.

This means that Dunrobin (and other locos) can be coaled and watered without climbing onto it, and when climbing is necessary, there is an elevated platform to both sides of it to reduce the working height above ground level.  This is a bit of a ‘thought in progress’ but should be in place in 2025 as Rowley becomes operational again.  The large doors to the RMS behind also need some attention!

Loans in, Loans out

A couple of updates on rolling stock moves, with the NRM’s Simplex now being based at the Leighton Buzzard Railway in Bedfordshire, and our own Trolleybus,  Newcastle 501, moving on a two-year loan to the Santoft Transport Centre.  If you wish to ride on it in the coming months, keep an eye on their social media for information on operating days.  This will give it a chance to blow away the cobwebs before it returns to Beamish in the future.

A bit of background to the current loans philosophy…

Loans both into and from any institution or organisation are very common.  Over time they enable museums to enhance the stories they tell, by expanding on elements of their own collections or even areas they don’t have objects for.  In the heritage railway community they allow for the potential restoration and use of rolling stock where this might not otherwise be possible.  It is worth separating loans here, from hires – where there is a commercial transaction for the use of the object, either short or long term.

Beamish has several significant loans out, including the R. Stephenson 0-6-0T Twizell, at the Tanfield Railway, or Sheffield tram 513 at the East Anglia Transport Museum.  Along with many smaller loans across the whole of the museum’s collecting themes.  We also have loans in, for example the recent stay by the NRM’s Simplex, a tariff board on display at the Waggonway or Roker, the Sunderland crane locomotive that worked at the Doxford shipyard.

There is a cost to loans, however, and often the competing challenge of storage and display.  As a result, loans in are currently being reviewed, to see if we can either convert them to transfer of ownership to Beamish, terminate them or return them at the end of their current period.  Obviously, where these loans are important to the museum and remain so, whatever option allows them to be retained is explored.

We are often approached by people who wish to loan objects to us from their private ownership.  This is often a car or motorcycle, that has been received in the estate by beneficiaries of a will and who perhaps don’t know what to do with the item otherwise.  We tend not to accept these as they can be complicated to administer and often hard to track in the longer term.  We would always press (if it is an item that we wish to add to the collection) for transfer of ownership.  This applies to corporate or commercial items too, and there are examples of this that should bear fruit in the next six months or so.

We certainly can’t act as a storage centre or showroom for private objects that the owners may actually then wish to sell or use – this being a more common situation than you might think!  So, loans tend to be initiated by us, to borrow items, rather than being received unsolicited (they would be donations).

Q&A Time…

Recent social media profile of the blog has led to several questions, and we may do a Q&A podcast or similar in the future, but for now I thought that I would address the No.1 question that has come up lately – are Beamish still planning to build a trolleybus route?

The answer, in short, is yes!  It was hoped to complete this project as part of the Remaking Beamish scheme, but this area of work, being so extensive, has been deferred for now.  That said, the design work is more or less complete and substantial efforts were made in terms of preparing some of the overhead line equipment.  Some traction poles have been installed, with more to follow this winter, and perhaps a programme that will also be tied in to the site lighting  might yield quite a few more poles in the ground during 2025.  The aim is still to erect the poles, for later attachment of the fittings and then wire.  Phasing the scheme is tricky, as if it isn’t complete in one go (one loop), it means vehicles have to be turned at each end of a run and it also misaligns with the current bus services on site.

So the question of when this might all happen?  Well, I’d like to think we will continue to actively work on the infrastructure over the next three years or so, to the point where will then be able to commit to a date for erectign all of the contact wire and associated equipment.  Not a long long way off then, but certainly not in the next two years either.  We already have two trolleybuses for our route, with a third likely to join these, as well as an older trolleybus (railless to be strictly accurate) in store in unrestored condition.  I am sure that once it is up and running, other vehicles will visit to enhance the variety – and there are other north-east trolleybuses that I am sure we would all enjoy seeing paying a working visit to Beamish in the future…

Photos in this post by: Matt Bedard, Phil Doran, Paul Jarman and Sam Telfer

This post would have been T&I News 14 2024 in the old titling system.