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.
Last weekend more preparation for the relaying of the New Cut branch to A Bond warehouse took place along with track maintenance ahead of the first running weekend of the year this coming Saturday and Sunday.
The sleepers were unloaded on to one of the flat wagons earlier in the week. The Coles Crane was to be used but needed to be on the East side of the wagon, so Larry was used to push the truck up the quayside and enable the Coles to couple up. The Coles then propelled the wagon up the branch to the siding alongside Cumberland Road bridge.
We put our cargo handling and crane direction training as seen at Docks Heritage Weekend to good use. Using the brothers (dual chain hooks) enables 2 sleepers to be loaded at a time and stacked neatly on the siding.
With that done and the wagon returned to the yard, in the afternoon the team were jacking and packing sleepers on the running line by the steam crane, as well as slewing the rails to ease the curve either side of the rail join. This required multiple jacks and a lot of sweat!
HENBURY will be in steam tomorrow morning so come on down and enjoy a train ride in the sunshine.
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!
On the 1st January 2025 at 12 noon, whistles across the heritage rail world sounded in celebration of 200 years of train travel.
In 1825, the Stockton and Darlington Railway brought together some new-ish engineering, some novel ideas on funding and some different legal thinking to create something that was far more than the sum of its parts.
With grand plans for railways to link towns and cities, not just mines and rivers. Railway ‘Mania’ was born.
1863 saw the Mayoress, Mrs Sholto Vere Hare lay the first rail for the Bristol Harbour Railway. Originally designed to connect the Floating Harbour to Temple Meads for goods, the line officially opened in 1872. Now, 153 years later the railway is still in use, operated by M Shed’s dedicated volunteer team to provide passenger rides along Bristol’s historic dockside.
With Henbury out on loan and Portbury under overhaul, the honours were done by the trusty compressor with two whistles, the larger of which is from GWR Castle Class No. 7015 Carn Brea Castle.
If you go down to the docks today, you’ll find a host of celebrations and displays about firefighting in the docks as it’s fire float PYRONAUT’s 90th Birthday!
She has recently undergone a heavy overhaul at Able’s Yard and the paint is still drying!
It’s another bank holiday weekend, which means train rides every day.
Here are a few photos from the last few weeks.
Passenger trains, shunting, boat trips, Balmoral’s move to Albion Yard, rain, sunshine and even a rainbow.
The Toad brake van has been receiving some tender loving care, including replacement wood and repainting. This involves shunting it on to the quayside so it can be outside the workshop.
A lovely rainbow over the museum as Henbury shunts in the yard this afternoon, rounding off this Easter bank holiday weekend’s activities.
Youtube channel ‘Stef’ posted this interesting video of the line from Portishead to the junction at Portbury, passing the site where the locomotive now known as ‘Portbury’ once worked.
Also visible is the loop that was used for steam specials to Portishead back in 1985.
Both locos are out on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, suitably attired for the special occasion!
Bristol Harbour Railway Blog 