Alistair Grieve took these great photos at the recent night photo shoot with Portbury, and has kindly given permission for them to be reproduced here.
You can see all of Ali’s photos on his smugmug site.
I managed to get down to the Nailsea Model Railway Exhibition today and snap some photos of John’s lovely EM gauge (1:76 scale) model of M Shed.
The layout has Portbury and Henbury complete with the passenger train (much of which was scratchbuilt), as well as the Ruston and Larry, and the steam crane (which is motorised!).
Crane 29 has now had its restored window panelling and glazing replaced. Very nice it looks, too!
Last night the BHR was host to another of the popular photo charters organised by 30742 Charters and M Shed Museum.
This time it was a night shoot on the quayside, where Portbury shared the limelight with the museum’s Bristol lorry.
Here’s a video posted by Martin Creese on the 30742 facebook page:
and a couple of snaps from the evening from the same page:
The Bristol – Then and Now facebook page is well worth following if you have an interest in Bristol’s history. Many interesting bits and pieces to be found, including quite a bit of info and pictures on the harbour, and the railways of Bristol.
Roger Baynton posted these images and description today:
Bathurst Basin, view of bridge, engine house and Ostrich Pub.
The 1870s saw the opening for freight services of the Bristol Harbour Railway which ran from Temple meads under St Mary Redcliffe Church to emerge at Bathurst Basin by the Ostrich pub (seen here) and then on to Wapping Wharf
The railway crossed Bathurst lock on a steam-powered bascule (lifting) bridge on the site of the present footbridge, before continuing to Princes Wharf.
The Ostrich Pub in Guinea Street predates 1775. Sorry to contradict an attractive Bristol urban myth but the chamber at the back of the entrance passage, whilst hewn out of the sandstone cliff does not connect to the adjacent Redcliff caves. An whilst I’m in bah humbug mode, the Redcliff caves were not used for ‘storing’ slaves and probably not for smuggling their principal function being to provide raw material for Bristol’s once buoyant glass trade. But that is another story…..
Photo credit goes to Roger Baynton.
RMweb user Kevin aka Rivercider has tracked down some photos of the then-closed Ashton Gate Station site, with Ashton Meadows sidings on the BHR in the background.
This one is from flickr user emmdee and shows an 08 shunting the yard.
Flickr user Blue_Pelican_railway uploaded this one dated 1977, showing that the warehouse on the right has now had its rail connection severed. Nature is starting to take hold of the platforms.
Blue_Pelican_railway also uploaded this shot from May 1984 with a Billy Graham train in the foreground, and a BR Class 37 in the yard. The engineers depot was still in use at this time. The growth of surrounding foliage in the intervening years is evident.
Work on Henbury’s 10 year overhaul is progressing well.
The boiler has now been lifted from the frames (courtesy of Crane 32 with shunting assistance from Portbury). The boiler has been placed on a trolley and taken back to the engine shed, while the frames were lifted and turned 90 degrees, then placed on a temporarily-laid piece of track so they could be pushed into the workshop. The cab and other items are also inside.
During certain running days, visitors to M Shed can see work taking place and even make a donation to the overhaul. There are photographs of the boiler lift on display to show the process.
The above sequence shows the lift.
Above: The boiler, cab, frames and tank all separated out.
Meanwhile, Portbury is running the scheduled services. This weekend is the last operating weekend of the season, with trains running from M Shed and alternating down the branch to Vauxhall Bridge and the quayside line to SS Great Britain.
Here are a few shots of Portbury at work last weekend.
