Author Archives: corwinb

TBT – Black 5 on the Bristol Harbour Railway

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It’s been a while since the last Throwback Thursday post, so here’s an extra special event from the BHR’s history.

In 1983, for the Bristol Wine Fair, some special trains were run from Bristol Temple Meads on to the harbour line. The motive power was Stanier “Black 5′ No. 5000, part of the National Collection. It is pictured both on the BHR and at Temple Meads in company with ex-GWR ‘King George V’.

I believe that, as with the coal trains, the special ran at high tide to reduce the stress on the riverbank.

These pictures appear here courtesy of Paul and John Stanford, with thanks.

Crane Dance/Heritage Weekend Photos and Videos

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What a nice weekend! The weather was good and the crowds turned out to both the Docks Heritage Weekend, and on Saturday evening, the Crane Dance. The dance, featuring live music and choreographed lighting and movement, was devised by Laura Kriefman and was a collaboration between:

M Shed, Underfall Yard, RSVP Bhangra, The Balmoral, Bristol Pilot Gig Club, Bristol Channel Social Rowers, Watershed, Studio 360.

 

Here’s a few clips:

 

Jamie Corbin put together this timelapse of the crane dance:

In the daytime, there were dockside loading and unloading demonstrations, actors from the Show of Strength Theatre Company, mosaics, the steam crane in operation, rides on the tug John King, and the chance to drive Judy for £10, and more…

Here’s an example of one of the mosaics made by Mosaic Madness

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The steam crane had quite an unusual load…

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Henbury was on display in the yard. She is in need of 149 new boiler tubes for her overhaul and any and all donations towards this are very welcome!

This delightful Bristol bus was busy ferrying people between M Shed and Underfall Yard.

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Docks Heritage Weekend and Crane Dance

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This coming weekend  is the excellent Docks Heritage Weekend. Here’s a couple of pics and videos from last years event in case you missed it.

Freshly painted MOGO

Freshly painted MOGO

Here’s what the Official M Shed Website has to say about the event:

A weekend of activities across two sites exploring the history and working life of the old City Docks.

Stroll around the fantastic Underfall Yard as its restoration programme gets into full swing and take part in activities at M Shed including boat trips, crane visits, have a go experiences and performances.

Events at M Shed

  • Mosaic Madness will be helping visitors create mosaics inspired by Bristol’s working docks and the river Avon
  • Screenings of historic films about the port
  • Dramatic interludes from Show of Strength Theatre Company exploring characters from the dock’s past Saturday and Sunday at 11am, 11.30am, 2pm and 2.30pm
  • Visit an electric crane (charges apply)
  • Cargo handling demonstrations
  • Trips on the tug John King (charges apply)
  • Visits to Balmoral, once part of the P & A Campbell fleet
  • Visit the Fairbairn steam crane
  • Drive a steam locomotive (charges apply)

Events at Underfall Yard

  • Demonstrations of traditional skills
  • Pop on a hard hat and take a look behind the scenes of the restoration works
  • Visit the viewing platform for spectacular harbour views
  • Family activities
  • Dramatic interludes from Show of Strength Theatre Company exploring stories from the yard’s past, Saturday and Sunday at 12.30pm and 3.30pm
  • Guided walks to Brunel’s Other Bridge, Sunday 1pm and 3pm
  • Explore reuse and recycling stories from Bristol’s boating communities and make your own floaty boaty (run in partnership with Bristol Green Capital), Sunday 2-4pm

 

A special event will also be taking place on Saturday evening. This is the Crane Dance performance, devised by Laura Kriefman. Starting at 8pm, this will combine  lights, boats, choirs, live bhangra band music, and choreographed synchronised cranes!

This event is completely free and best viewed from the Arnolfini or Lloyds Amphitheatre.

Exciting stuff!

 

Indian Summer, Civil Engineering

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After a particularly cold and wet summer, the weather has taken a turn for the better, giving us some glorious days and incredible sunsets.

Here’s a (bad camera phone quality) snap I took of the golden sunset glimpsed beneath the Cumberland Road bridge.

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Up North, Portbury has been kept busy at Beamish. In this photo reproduced from the Beamish Museum facebook page, she is seen in the company of WW1-era Gordon Highlanders re-enactors at the Agricultural Show event.

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Back in Bristol, there have been multiple engineering projects in the railway’s environs. The Metrobus development has cleared a large area of land at Butterfly Junction and Ashton Meadows, and new drainage has been installed.

One of the most conspicuous developments has been the ongoing repair work to Prince Street Bridge. This is adjacent to the platform at M Shed and has involved the construction of a large temporary bridge. The girders on the swing bridge are corroded and need replacing, so it will be closed to all traffic for 6 months.

Also pictured is Kaskelot, a Bristol-based ship, taking the usual mooring point of Balmoral while the latter was at sea.

 

Judy and Teddy in action

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The pictures below were taken the weekend before last, with Judy on passenger duties and Teddy once again offering ‘Driver fora Tenner’ experiences in the yard. These photos were taken by Tim Symons, who has given permission for them to be reproduced here.

Photo courtesy Tim Symons

Harbour Festival 2015 Photos

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‘Teddy’ and ‘Judy’ are working again this weekend – Teddy is glimpsed here shunting on the quayside earlier today.

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Steve Cockram took these great photos of the Harbour Festival weekend which not only show the attractions on show, but also showcase a lot of M Shed’s Bristol-built displays. He’s kindly given permission to reproduce the photos here, you can also check out his facebook page for more!