A little animated gif of Henbury propelling the passenger train past Portbury, on ‘driver for a fiver’ duties, in the yard.
You still have the chance to drive Portbury on the next two operating weekends this year! After that, Henbury’s boiler ticket will expire and she will be withdrawn, with her stablemate taking over passenger duties.
In this photo found on the Bristol Railway Archive, ‘Henbury’ complete with full yellow end and bufferbeam, meets ‘Western Pride’ on Whapping wharf circa 1981.
The diesel loco is standing on what is now the long siding in the yard. This photo also illustrates the industrial backdrop of the early days of the Harbour Railway, quite a contrast to the contemporary view.
This bank holiday weekend, both ‘Henbury’ and ‘Portbury’ were in operation, with ‘Henbury’ on regular passenger duties, while her Bristol-built stablemate was to be found in the yard, where members of the public could have a go at driving it!
Pictures courtesy of Adrian Croshaw
This coming Fathers Day (Sunday 15th June), ‘Portbury’ will be on driver experience duties once more, as part of the ‘Fathers Day: A Grand Day Out’ offer from M Shed. At just £35, you can treat Dad to driving both a steam loco and two of the dockside cranes!
On Friday, ‘Henbury’ had prepared the yard by shunting most of the stock into the New Cut siding.
Henbury with a warming fire lit ahead of this bank holiday weekend’s services. Construction of the Sugar Quay development continues in the background, whilst in the foreground, the new square with map of Bristol inlaid, and new lighting overhead, is visible.
From the 24-27th May 1996, Bristol Harbour was host to the International Festival of the Sea. This was a huge event featuring many guest ships and attractions, and of course the BHR played a part. A shining and fully-lined out ‘Henbury’ was joined by LB&SCR E1 class 0-6-0T No.B110, then based at the East Somerset Railway (Now being restored to service on the Isle of Wight as No.W2 ‘Yarmouth’). The two locos operated a shuttle service between the station at Ashton Meadows and the Bristol Industrial Museum with 3 loaned coaches.
The following pictures appear with the kind permission of Geoff Hartland.
Number 110 was built at Brighton Works in 1877 and named ‘Burgundy’. It was withdrawn in 1927 and sold to a colliery in Rugeley, which resulted in it being the only member of its class to survive scrapping, being sold into preservation in 1963. It was in service on the ESR between 1993 and 1997, when it was withdrawn early due to firebox problems. She is now on display at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway’s ‘Train Story’ exhibition, and will be restored in due course.
With the first running weekend of the year just around the corner (5-6th April), the two steam locos were out in the open to be inspected. Henbury has had new seals fitted over the winter, and Portbury is nearing the end of her running-in period.
The curtailed siding at M Shed has been re-filled.
Here are a few more pics and vids from Henbury’s trip to Midsomer Norton.
The following are from the Somerset and Dorset Railway’s web site:
This video was posted by YouTube user Steam trains by XxBec3509
M Shed’s Peckett ‘Henbury’ is in operation this festive season, at the Midsomer Norton headquarters of the Somerset and Dorset Railway Heritage Trust.
Henbury was previously based at Radstock station on the S & D for a short while, as seen here:
http://www.sdrt.org/trust/history/radstock_images/index.htm
Henbury was in operation 14th/15th December (In conjunction with the ‘Santa at the Station’ special event), and again on 21st-22nd, before returning to Bristol.
Youtube user swearingkevo uploaded this footage of Henbury tackling the gradient.
as did Youtube user andy collett
The following images appear here with the kind permission of the Somerset and Dorset Railway Heritage Trust.
Storming out of Midsomer Norton in rather sunnier conditions, during the 2nd operating weekend.
The visit has been well-received, and even made the local news.
Rob Skuse has added a great set of pics and video clips to the M Shed Working Exhibits Facebook Page, click on the photos to see the whole set!
On Saturday 29th June the BHR team celebrated one of our volunteers’ 18th Birthday. ‘Henbury’ was renamed ‘Emily Anne’ for the day and wore a ‘Birthday Special’ headboard.
Here’s a few photos from the day.
Henbury is dragged out of the shed by the front loader.
Morning checks, and the fire is lit.
Some shunting was necessary as the Weltrol wagon used for ‘Gromit Unleashed’ on Friday needed to be shunted back into the long siding, and the passenger train reassembled.
The birthday girl
The belly of the beast
The last service of the day was a special train for volunteers, running down to the Create Centre and back
At the end of the day, the fire is dropped and Henbury/Emily Anne uses the last of her steam to return to the shed.
Unfortunately, ‘Portbury’s return to service has been delayed a bit. Hopefully she’ll be back in steam before the end of the year and ready to take over from her stablemate, as ‘Henbury’ will be withdrawn for her ten-year overhaul in July 2014.
Cycled down to the quayside in my lunch break as a launch party for Visit Bristol’s ‘Gromit Unleashed’ project was underway.
Several decorated Gromits were on a flat wagon pulled by ‘Henbury’.
Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park was there being filmed by a tv crew
Follow the link to the official post on the M-Shed website
http://mshed.org/about-us/news/gromits-make-a-grand-entrance-on-the-henbury/
Visit England made this short news piece on the launch:
Bristol Harbour Railway Blog 
