Fenwick was built in 1911 as Peckett Works Number 1221 and worked at Canons Marsh Gas Works.
Thanks to a heads-up from fellow volunteer Bob, I acquired this photo from eBay which is dated on the back as 11th August 1949 and shows Fenwick between duties with the mighty gasometer in the background.
Peckett 0-6-0ST ‘Henbury’ was out on test last week, the annual boiler exam is just around the corner, so there was a need to test the operation of the vacuum ejector beforehand. Last season ‘Portbury’ supplied the vacuum but with that loco now out of service for overhaul, Henbury needs to be able to operate solo.
Thanks to Beth for the photo.
Thanks to Paul Atkinson for sending me the link for this, it’s a really interesting piece of reference material.
I’ve scanned in the booklet and it can be downloaded for your perusal here.
It’s available on the reference page here.
Last Sunday (30th October) was the final operating day of the 2022 season for the working exhibits. Pyronaut was givng rides in the harbour and Portbury was working its final shift before being withdrawn for the upcoming 10-year overhaul.
… And that was it! ‘Farewell Portbury’ chalked on the smokebox door, ashed out over the pit, fire dropped, then back on shed. I couldn’t resist putting the Patrick nameplates (in honour of a friend) back on for a quick photo.
The team have wasted no time in starting the stripdown for overhaul, making the most of a gap in the weather this week. Thanks to Beth for these pics.
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.
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.
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.
Both locos are out on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, suitably attired for the special occasion!
A look back to 2015 when resident Peckett ‘Henbury’ (at that point awaiting overhaul) was joined by ‘Kilmersdon’ (1788/1929) and ‘Teddy’ (2012/1941). Many thanks to David Stagg for these photos.
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