Category Archives: Current Locomotives

Henbury Holiday, Coles Controls and Toad TLC

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Henbury is currently on vacation down at the South Devon Railway. Unfortunately it missed its guest appearance at the winter gala partially due to a weeping washout plug. Hopefully the SDR engineers can work their magic on it while its at Buckfastleigh.
Bob Edwardes and I got some photos of Henbury and the SDR fleet over the course of the gala,

Back at M Shed, the Coles has been having issues with its control switches. Tis was traced to eroded contacts. These were replaced with NOS contacts (never throw anything away) and after some fettling, seems to have worked, with the crane being able to move again.

The TOAD’s refurbished springs are due back soon, and the shed space will be required, so there have been a few work sessions at cleaning up the underside (which may not have been touched in decades). Plenty of scraping, grinding, brushing, rust treatment and onto primer. Some volunteers almost managed to get more paint on themselves than the van…
There was also maintenance to do on Larry the Loader and John King the tug.
Thanks to Katie and Bob for the photos!

Portbury Progress

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Now Portbury’s boiler has been detubed, work moves on to the next job. Today we started the process of removing the wheelsets.
First, the eccentric rods were taken off the centre axle.

Then the brake rodding was dropped out and the brake blocks and hangers removed (fronts have been left on for now until we can move the axle due to clearances on the slide bars).

With all the gubbins out of the way, the process of jacking the loco up can start. 2 hydraulic jacks (one at each end) with 4 screw jacks (one on each corner) and plenty of timber packing. By the end of the day, we had nearly lifted the loco enough to drop the axleboxes out of the hornguides.
The weekday team will be picking things up next.

Last Operating Weekend of 2024 (Sunday)

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That’s it! Another season of passenger operations finished. Now the winter maintenance can begin.

This includes getting the tank of the Sulphiric Acid Tanker rubbed down and repainted. The chassis is still in good condition but the tank has suffered a bit from flaking paint and rust bubbles.
The Coles Crane was used to bring the tanker out of the yard and set it down on to Henbury at the end of the working day. The steam loco then propelled it onto the quayside to be pressure-washed. Earlier in the day we did a test lift to ensure the crane would be able to slew it into the warehouse.

Henbury was then ashed out (the plates in the ashpan were removed at the same time) and taken back to the shed as the light faded.

Thanks to Katie Richards for the photos.

Last Operating Weekend of 2024

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Tomorrow is the last day of passenger services on the BHR this year. This morning there was quite a bit of shunting to do to put the Toad back on the train after fulfilling its ‘waiting room’ duties for Have-A-Go week. Similarly the BD and red flat wagon were put back into the yard having been used to limit the area of quayside Henbury could shunt up and down on.

It was also David’s final day as a driver on passenger trains. David’s been a key part of the preserved railway on the docks since the very beginning in 1978.

A few more pics from the day – thanks to Jay Parker and Katie Richards for some of these.

A big shunt also took place at the end of the day to release the sulphuric acid tanker, which is getting some TLC over winter. Henbury had to pull most of the stock out of the back road and towards the shed before propelling it into the middle road. Thanks to Katie for these photos.

Docks Heritage Weekend 2024

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One of my favourite events of the year, DOCKS HERITAGE WEEKEND took place over 28th and 29th September.
This event featured our friends at the Show of Strength Theatre Company once again, this time with a new storyline (featuring George and Sheila of course) with more jeopardy and a longer run time (and some singing!).
Sheila’s ordered a new television on hire-purchase, but she’s not told George about it! Will he find out?
John King was on duty giving rides around the harbour, 2 cranes were working (one for visitors and one loading the lorry), the capstan was in operation again and Henbury was in steam for cab visits. Saturday also featured live performances from the choir in L Shed.

Thanks to Katie Richards and Bob Edwardes for these photos.

Harbour Festival 2024

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A few photos from this year’s Harbour Festival (20th/21st July). We survived another year with lots of volunteers working together to deliver the boat and train service. Pyronaut, still fresh from overhaul, did its part in the displays showing off its pumping ability, with stalwart John King providing passenger trips. The steam launches were a personal highlight. Mixed weather didn’t appear to put too many people off as can be seen from the crowded quayside!
Thankfully on these occasions extra volunteers are deployed for crowd safety.
Thanks to Bob Edwardes and Ned Minns for the additional photos.

Have a Go at Driving a Steam Loco and Electric Crane

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It’s have-a-go week and there are slots available for you to come and try your hand at driving ‘Henbury’ and one of the electric cranes on the quayside.
The price is £80 per person for 20 minutes on each machine getting one-on-one tutoring.
Book your tickets here:
https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/m-shed/whats-on/train-and-crane-driving-experiences/

Photo Courtesy Bob Edwardes