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.
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’ on passenger duties while ‘Portbury’ stands over the pit . A bit of drizzle over the weekend didn’t dampen spirits, its good to be back in action!
(Photo appears with the kind permission of Adrian Croshaw)
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!
Today was the last day of operation for the M Shed working exhibits. ‘Portbury’, the steam tug ‘Mayflower’, and the steam crane were all in service.
Portbury was given a clean before collecting the passenger train.
I spent the morning on the train – mostly trying to keep seats dry in between showers!
The afternoon was spent dismantling the fence and gateway across the shed road, this is where the new access road is going to go. The point nearest the camera (To the now defunct line around the back of M Shed) is coming out and being replaced with plain rail and concrete sleepers.
This cake was the best thing I’ve seen this year, made by Emily.
At the end of the day, ‘Portbury’ pulled the goods rake out from the long siding and coupled the NE brake van to the passenger train…
..before heading back to the shed.
Services begin again in Easter, but there’s a lot of work to do in between now and then, so keep checking back for updates!
A little reminder that the railway’s final operating weekend of 2013 is coming up! If you want to come down and see this unique steam-operated line in action this year, do come down this weekend and have a ride!
Just a little compilation of photographs and video from 14th-15th September 2013, when Port of Par twins ‘Alfred’ and ‘Judy’ worked trains together with resident ‘Portbury’.
Here’s a few videos on Youtube of the trio in action:
Saturday’s operations by 47840chaser
theonlyadzrulz recorded Sunday’s workings
Sunday saw Portbury develop a small steam leak which should be fixed soon.
Shunting taking place on Friday in the pouring rain (A large roof hatch is good for visibility but not ideal for stopping drips!)
Lastly, some photos from Sunday’s workings.
A huge thanks must go out to all those involved in arranging for the twin engines’ visit.
Bagnall locomotives ‘Alfred’ and ‘Judy’ took part in a photo charter with resident Avonside ‘Portbury’ on Thursday 12th September. Martin Creese of 30742 charters took the following images and has kindly given permission for them to be reposted here.
You can see all the pics on Martin’s flickr set here:
Additionally, flickr user ‘Mangotsfield Mike’ took some pictures of the prep, visible at the following link:
Finally, here’s a small clip of the two locos parallel running on the dockside.
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