Thank You Andy King

Posted on June 22, 2021 by corwinb

To say thank you to M Shed and Bristol Industrial Museum Curator Andy King upon his retirement after 40 years, all the working exhibits at M Shed were fired up for a surprise. Andy took newly-recommissioned steam tug ‘Mayflower’ out for a spin around the docks, while family, friends, past and present colleagues and volunteers were around the harbour to wave and cheer him en-route.

The Harbour Master provided an escort and hooters, horns and bells sounded out from other vessels. When they returned, ‘Pyronaut’ sprang into action for a salute, and Cranes 31 and 32 saluted with synchronised moves and flags that spelled out ANDY and KING. The weather conditions were quite poor but it was nice to be able to say thank you to Andy for all his hard work with the museums and working exhibits.

Coles Crane in Yellow

Posted on June 19, 2021 by corwinb

Bob’s been busy with his paintbrush again, this time it was the turn of the Coles self-propelled crane, which is no longer pink/red but yellow with wasp stripes and signwritten ‘Coles’ logo.
Thanks to Bob for these photos.

Photo Exhibition – ‘The Floating Harbour: Jem Southam’

Posted on June 15, 2021 by corwinb

Readers of this blog may be interested to know there will be an exhibition of photographs at Underfall Yard as part of Bristol Photo Festival 2021.
The exhibition opens on June 18 2021 and depicts the harbour in decline in the late 1970s, as buildings were being torn down and business was moving away or closing for good.
A fascinating insight into the city’s past before the rejuvenation of recent years.

Portbury in Blue

Posted on June 1, 2021 by corwinb

Thanks to Archie Beale for these photos of Portbury ex-works in either 1988-89 or the 1990s doing passenger trips on the harbourside.

Cranes ready for paint

Posted on May 4, 2021 by corwinb

The four electric cranes have been moved down to the Prince Street end of the quayside in readiness for painting. This should help protect them for years to come, as you can imagine painting something of this size is no easy task!

These 2 photos courtesy Bob Edwardes

In order for this to happen, the M Shed station platform had to be moved down to the far end of the quay, near the cafe. Here it is midway through reassembly (while the cranes were being moved).

Henbury in Steam

Posted on April 24, 2021 by corwinb

On Wednesday 21st April, Henbury moved under its own steam for the first time since 2014. Bob drove it off shed and on a short test run, all seems well so far.

Thanks to Bruce Davies for these photos.

Henbury’s Fire is Lit

Posted on April 18, 2021 by corwinb

Work on Henbury progresses as Coronavirus restrictions are relaxed. The majority of the loco has been reassembled and today it was pulled out of the shed to have a warming fire lit. Over the next few days the loco will steadily be brought up to pressure and every joint checked.

Thanks to Rob Skuse for the photos and information.

Oops! – Collision on Cumberland Road (1950s?)

Posted on April 8, 2021 by corwinb

Following on from last week’s post about Ashton Avenue Bridge, it features in the background of this photo (with thanks to Jonathan and Bob Edwardes for sending the photo).

Details are scant but a pannier tank has clearly come to grief after striking a truck (looks like it may be an ex-military workshop truck) on the old level crossing at the end of Cumberland Road.

Judging by the recovery truck the scene looks to be 1950s although the loco is likely still in GWR livery (no smokebox numberplate).

Also of interest are the layout of sidings in the background. The proposed new station layout is quite close to this setup. The old signal box is still extant, guarding the junction to Canon’s Marsh.

If you have any information about this scene please do let us know!

The End of Ashton Avenue Double Decker Bridge – 1967

Posted on April 1, 2021 by corwinb

This photograph was published on Geograph.co.uk by Martin Tester and is shared here under a Creative Commons Licence.

It is dated around 1966-1967 and shows the upper deck of Ashton Avenue Bridge in the process of being dismantled. At this time the lines across the bridge were still double track, the West line was not removed until some time later.

“At one time this bridge over the New Cut was a really extraordinary structure – it had 2 decks, road above rail, & swung, using power supplied from the City Docks hydraulic system. The control cabin was on an elevated structure spanning the roadway. Built by Bristol Corporation & opened in 1906 it allowed the GWR’s line to Wapping Wharf (from Temple Meads) to be extended to serve more wharves, a new goods shed at Canon’s Marsh, & to connect with the Portishead Branch. A swing bridge was needed because the New Cut was used by river traffic to access Bathurst Basin. It was last swung in 1934 & formally fixed in 1951. The roadway & control cabin were removed in 1965-66 as part of major road changes around Cumberland Basin.”

This photo (source unknown) shows the bridge when both decks were in use. Note the tracks crossing left to right to access to other sidings next to A Bond, where the Create Centre car park now is. The diverging line at the bottom of the photo is the one to Canon’s Marsh.

GWR 1338 at the BHR (2000)

Posted on February 25, 2021 by corwinb

On 8th July 2000, visiting loco No.1338, built by Kitson for the Cardiff Railway and later absorbed into the GWR, was used in a photo charter down the New Cut branch. This locomotive is now based at Didcot on static display.

1338 rounds the corner at Butterfly Junction (image courtesy Pete Doel, with thanks)

Youtube channel ‘Classic Traction’ published a slideshow of the event.

Bristol Harbour Railway Blog

An unofficial blog site about the BHR and industrial railways in Bristol

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