Never camera shy, the railway’s operational steam fleet made a cameo appearance on Channel 5’s ‘Emergency Bikers’ programme last week.
TV Stars…
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Category Archives: Locomotives and Stock
‘The Bug’ – Ruston 0-4-0DM
‘The Bug’ is the nickname for the green Ruston & Hornsby diesel shunter based on the railway.
The loco is not fitted with vacuum brakes so cannot haul passenger trains, but is one of the most useful bits of kit on the railway, along with Larry the Loader and the Self Propelled Crane. As a diesel loco, the time required to start up is a fraction of the that required to bring a steam engine up to working pressure, you just switch it on and go! This means it can be used to shunt wagons and locos about on non-operating days.
0-4-0 refers to the 4 coupled wheels, and the DM stands for Diesel Mechanical, meaning the engine drives the wheels through a mechanical transmission, rather than hydraulic or with electric traction motors as found on most modern locos.
The Headlight and Makers’ Plate
Shunting two vans off the inspection pit
Shunting the two operational steam locos into the shed
The locomotive, like most of the rolling stock in the museum’s collection, has a local connection. For many years it worked at the British Gas site in Hallen Marsh near Avonmouth, and it was there that these two photos were taken.
These photographs are linked here from the Bristol Rail Archive site and are the property of Mike P.
The loco was donated to the museum by British Gas in 1995. It was subsequently repainted green with red motion and bufferbeams, and given a fictional shedplate (82 was the Bristol area shed code under BR).
‘MOGO’ Van Restoration – 3
The doors on the South side have been removed for work. Note also the volunteers at M Shed have completely repainted the underframe of the wagon.
It’s coming on well. For comparison, here is a photo of the van from last year.
Trusty Ruston Shunting
The green bug out on the shed road, rearranging the weedkiller wagon and ready to move Henbury back to the shed.
‘MOGO’ Van Restoration – 2
A few pics of progress on the box van, now with more undercoat applied.
…and a bonus photo showing the progress on the Sugar Quay development.
Henbury’s Last Day
It’s the second day of the Bristol Harbour Festival, and compared to Saturday’s thunderstorms, the weather is positively delightful.
Peckett ‘Henbury’ comes out of traffic today as her 10-year boiler certificate is due to expire. She’s been a long time stalwart of the Bristol Harbour Railway from the very beginning.
These images are from ‘Henbury’s second to last operating day, and appear here with the kind permission of Juliet Eden. You can see more of Juliet’s fantastic photos on her website: http://julieteden.com/mdashshed
Portbury on ‘Driver for a fiver’ (Juliet Eden)
Henbury (Juliet Eden)
On the quayside (Juliet Eden)
‘MOGO’ Van Restoration – 1
One of the railway’s goods wagons is currently having a bit of TLC. This van has previously been the victim of graffiti tagging, and while the worst was quickly cleaned off, the remnants were still visible.
It’s Bristol Harbour Festival this weekend! The railway will be in operation both days. Various ships are arriving at the docks, including this tugboat.
Driver for a fiver
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.
TBT – Steam meets diesel on the wharf
Copyright Mike Radford
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.
Ruston on the quayside
The green diesel shunter eases wagons onto the wharf earlier this morning.
A familiar sight has returned to the harbour in the shape of the MV Balmoral, back from dry dock with fresh paint shining in the morning sun.
