Category Archives: Operations

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

Autumn Highlights 2023

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It’s the last operating day of the season tomorrow, so here’s a little round-up of things that have been happening.

Docks Heritage Weekend took place over 30th September/1st October.
Good turnout of volunteers in period dress, along with the Show of Strength Theatre Company interacting with the public. Henbury was in steam both days and collected the BD wagon (which had been in use with the capstan) on the Sunday after the toys had been put away.

Steam tug ‘Mayflower’ has made a return to service following repairs to its engine. It’s been great to see it working on the harbour again over the past two weekends.

‘Have a go’ week took place over the October half term, where customers can pay to have 20 minutes learning to drive the steam loco on the quayside line, followed by 20 minutes on the crane. I was firing on Thursday, Bob Edwardes took some pics too.

Henbury has been running services single-handedly this season. In the shed, Portbury’s strip-down is ongoing.

Portbury is waiting for a free slot in the workshop, currently occupied by the GWR O18 wagon. Bob lettered it up into PBA condition as 61110 earlier this month. Hopefully not long until it’s back on display.

Docks Heritage Weekend 2022

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Last weekend saw the annual Docks Heritage event where we try to give a flavour of cargo handling and other activities for the public to see. Sadly we were sans actors this year but the volunteers put in a good shift in demonstrating the exhibits, including rides in Pyronaut, crane 31, and loading demos with crane 30 along with a few shunting actions using the capstan.
Thanks to Emily for these pics.

Portbury was also on the quayside for people to have a look in the cab. At the end of the day it was seen shunting the stock back into the yard.

June 2022 Update

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Both locos are back in steam this coming weekend, and last Saturday/Sunday saw the steam crane in operation for the first time this year.

Chris and Mike coaling up the steam crane (Bill Drewett)

On the 3rd train on Saturday of Platinum Jubilee weekend, ‘Henbury’ blew out a gasket on the main steam pipe to the right hand cylinder. It was taken off the passenger train and sent up the branch to diagnose the issue before heading back to the shed.

‘Portbury’ worked push-pull services for the rest of the day as we waited for the Peckett to cool down enough to work on.
This involved clearing out all the ash from the smokebox, then chiselling out the cement from the smokebox floor (which is used to vacuum-seal it and prevent it drawing air through the front end).
The pipe was removed and the broken seal extracted so it could be used as a template to make a fresh one.
Once this was done, the whole lot was bolted back together and left to seal overnight.
Sunday morning a fire was lit and the loco brought back up to 50psi to test for any leaks, this having been satisfactory Chris was able to re-seal the smokebox with quick-drying cement.
Henbury rejoined the passenger train that morning which was a very satisfying result for the team.
It was my first real experience of locomotive repair and what happens when things go awry, so for me it was an education!

At the same time, the opportunity was taken to take the rear drawhook off and send it to the workshop to have the screw thread mended. The thread had been worn flat on top, preventing the nut from being tightened as much as we wanted it to be. Now it is tight against the bufferbeam.

Bob Edwardes took these pics over the weekend featuring the custom headboards he made for the locos.

Docks Heritage Weekend 2021

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It’s been a week since the first public outing for the working exhibits in over a year, Docks Heritage Weekend. What a blast! So great to have the volunteers working with the public again. Both Portbury and Henbury were on display and the capstan was back in operation both days, and crane 30 was kept busy loading and unloading the lorry.
Quayside operations were bolstered with audience interaction from the Show of Strength Theatre company.
Thanks for Bob, Bruce and the M Shed social media channels for these photos of the weekend.