A few operating weekends have passed with Henbury, but today we are looking back to when GWR No. 1369 visited. Paul Stanford sent in these photos of 1369 working on the brake van specials down the branch. Thanks Paul!
It’s not often that we get enthusiast photos from the New Cut branch so it’s great to be able to share them here.
YouTube user ‘Bovine of the Rails’ took these clips from that day:
‘Heritage in the 21st Century’ shared these clips from the photo charters run by 30742 Charters:
If you’d like the chance to ride behind GWR Pannier Tank No. 1369 on the Bristol Harbour Railway, there will be a one-time chance to do so.
To celebrate RAIL200, on Friday 14th March 2025, 1369 will be running short trips with the newly-outshopped Toad Brake Van up to Vauxhall Bridge and back on the branch. There may be the opportunity to dismount at Vauxhall Bridge and take photos.
Places are limited to 10 people per trip and the price is £10 per person for 1 round trip (cash or card, payable on the day).
Spaces are on a first-come, first-serve basis on the day and the first trip will be at 11am. There will be approximately 4 trips on the day (depending on demand and staffing).
1369 will be returning to the South Devon Railway soon so this may be the only chance to travel behind it and a rare opportunity to ride on the New Cut Branch.
Please note that as the Toad is the only passenger vehicle on this service, it will be difficult to provide wheelchair access due to the width of the doors.
On Monday, 1369 once again took to the harbourside to star in a photo charter in central Bristol, organised by 30742 charters.
Here are some photos from the day, thanks to Bob Edwardes and David Stagg.
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!
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.
The BHR will be in operation tomorrow and Sunday! An early start for an exciting year, and the public debut of the newly overhauled TOAD.
Portbury was out on Thursday shunting the passenger train together.
The Bristol Harbour Railway is 40 years old this year!
In 1978 a group of keen and like minded people began operating steam train rides on Bristol’s harbourside. They had one working locomotive and an ex-GW brake van.
Henbury and the TOAD outside M Shed in 1979 (Courtesy John Law)
Since then, the van has given thousands of passengers rides up and down the line. It is essential to the running of the railway, becoming the leading end of the train when being propelled, and the large veranda gives a good field of vision for the guard.
Over the winter of 2017-2018, the van has been taken into the shed and been given a makeover. Rotten wood has been repaired, the whole vehicle has been sanded down and repainted, and it now sports a ‘Bristol’ allocation.
It looks very smart and is a credit to the volunteers and employees at M Shed.
I am trying to find out more information on the history of this brake van before it came to the BHR. If anyone does know of its past life, please do leave a comment below.
There’s plenty going on at M Shed at the moment. Henbury is in the shed being dismantled for overhaul.
If you are visiting M Shed and would like to make a donation to help Henbury steam again, there is a donation box in front of the viewing window. All donations are welcome!
The TOAD brake van, meanwhile, is outside the workshop receiving new boards and a lick of paint on the door.
Much further down the line, Ashton Avenue Bridge is inside its cocoon, being repaired for use by MetroBus.
The ‘Toad’ brake van is receiving some attention this winter. The rather tired door is being renewed, and the van has been jacked up, the springs removed, and packing wood in place.
Pictured here is the former harbour plug, used from 1804-1935 when it was replaced by one made of rubber. The harbour needed to be drained fully to allow the plug to be removed, restricting navigation for 2 days.*
*This is not true, just a joke!
Bristol Harbour Railway Blog 