Have-A-Go Week, 29’s Overhaul, A New Pontoon and a Spot of Gardening

Posted on October 20, 2025 by corwinb

HAVE-A-GO!
Last week (13-17th October) was ‘Have-a-Go’, where people can book a session of 20 minutes 1-on-1 tuition on driving the steam locomotive on the quayside as well as 20 minutes of driving the electric crane. We don’t know of anywhere else in the UK that does this combination so it’s a fun experience. Happy to report that this week was a sell-out success!
Thanks to Bob Edwardes and Paul Stanford (who got the experience as a wedding anniversary gift, lucky!) for these photos. Paul is a lifelong railway worker who has written extensively about the railways of Bristol and the South-West. His latest book, From Chocolate to Cider charts over 180 years of family railway history.

A NEW PONTOON AND A SPOT OF GARDENING
Two large concrete pontoons have been a regular feature of the harbourside for decades. One of them formerly had a boathouse atop it. More recently, The Matthew has been using a pontoon for safe loading and mooring of their ship, whilst the other was repurposed as a community garden. The latter has fallen out of use (especially since Covid) and is now to begin a new life at M Shed. The ability to load boat trips at deck-height, coupled with no longer needing to raise and lower the gangplank steps for every sailing, will be a great help.
Bob Edwardes and James Stanley captured the Harbour Master’s boats bringing the pontoon to its new home on 8th October. Note that the derricks were cut off to enable it to pass under Bristol Bridge and Redcliffe Bridge.

There is A LOT of soil on this pontoon, which is no longer needed. Some of this will be re-used in a project at SS Great Britain platform. Since the points leading to the defunct double-track section were taken out some years ago, a lot of people have been using the trackbed as a shortcut or dog-walking area. This isn’t ideal when there are trains departing the station (trip hazards etc.) so a raised bed is being constructed from surplus sleepers and timbers.
The first steps were made here during an operating weekend, with the crane and Larry bringing supplies over for the volunteers to work on.

29’S OVERHAUL

Crane 29 has been a long-term restoration project, having been something of a parts donor to get the others running again in the early 2000s. Bruce and the crane gang have been working hard to get it back into use.
Recently this involved some close-up work on the bearings and jib, for which the man-cage was a great help, Crane 30 doing the honours. As you can imagine this job requires a calm day with very little wind, quite unlike what we experienced over Docks Heritage Weekend!

Docks Heritage Weekend 2025

Posted on October 19, 2025 by corwinb

On 4th and 5th October, M Shed hosted Docks Heritage Weekend (one of my favourite events of the year) with the support of Bristol Port Company and the Show of Strength Theatre Company.
This is the time when we bring the quayside back to life and give a flavour of what a working port looked like in the 1950s.
Featuring cranes lifting appropriate loads, the capstan in operation, boat trips, and this year we re-jigged things a little so that the steam engine was part of the quayside demonstrations as it shunted wagons around.
The Bristol lorry suffered a leaking radiator hose on Sunday morning which will need repairing, so Henbury did a bit more shunting on the second day. The freshly-painted MOGO van took pride of place.
The storyline of Mr. and Mrs. Purnell this year revolved around their tin wedding anniversary and involved a mop bucket and a tin of beans!
Thanks to Bob Edwardes and Adam White for taking some of these photos.

Steam Loco/Electric Crane Driving Experiences in October

Posted on September 10, 2025 by corwinb

Back by popular demand are the HAVE-A-GO experiences at M Shed.

YOU can have a go at driving steam locomotive ‘Henbury’ as well as one of the electric cranes.
For just £80 you receive 20 minutes one-on-one tuition on each machine as well as a certificate of achievement (you might even get a free cup of tea!).

Have-a-go is running from Monday 13th to Friday 17th October 2025

Click here for more information.
or
Click here to book your driving experience.

Harbour Festival 2025

Posted on July 31, 2025 by corwinb

Harbour Fest was held on 19th and 20th July this year, as always it was a packed event with lots of visitors. The crowds mean taking additional safety measures such as volunteers on crowd control duty. Always a busy time but no mishaps, thanks to the volunteers and staff of the Working Exhibits.
Saturday night saw a BBQ for the workers, held aboard John King.
Pyronaut unfortunately sustained some damage due to another vessel. She required some emergency repairs to the handrails to be able to take part in the celebrations.
A particular highlight was the attendance by replica tall ship Galéon Andalucia. Very impressive!

Thanks to Katie, Dave and Bob for the photos!

Gromit Unleashed Returns!

Posted on July 3, 2025 by corwinb

Last week Henbury once again took centre stage in kicking off Gromit Unleashed and delivered several brand-new sculptures from SS Great Britain Halt (opposite Aardman’s offices) to M Shed where they were unloaded by the dockside cranes. Aardman founder Nick Park once again took to the footplate!
The first Gromit Unleashed was wayy back in 2013.
Thanks to the M Shed volunteers who participated for sending in these photos.

Gromit Unleashed 3 is running across Bristol from 30th June – 31st August as part of the Grand Appeal.

Henbury Pulling Passengers in the Port

Posted on April 13, 2025 by corwinb

Youtube channel brunelheritage was on hand to record Henbury’s first day back in service. The sun shone for most of the weekend and passenger numbers were strong on both the train and ‘Pyronaut’, the museum’s fire-fighting boat giving tours around the harbour

Brake Van Rides with Pannier 1369 – 1 day only!

Posted on March 7, 2025 by corwinb

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.

Last Operating Weekend of 2024 (Sunday)

Posted on October 28, 2024 by corwinb

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

Posted on October 26, 2024 by corwinb

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

Posted on October 19, 2024 by corwinb

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.