Well, that’s the end of the 2015 operating season on the BHR. Plenty of exciting updates to come, with the ongoing metrobus and Whapping Wharf/Sugar Quay developments, and M Shed’s own projects.
Here’s a photo of a scene that won’t be repeated again, the old Butterfly Junction halt with ‘Judy’ on the passenger train.
What a nice weekend! The weather was good and the crowds turned out to both the Docks Heritage Weekend, and on Saturday evening, the Crane Dance. The dance, featuring live music and choreographed lighting and movement, was devised by Laura Kriefman and was a collaboration between:
M Shed, Underfall Yard, RSVP Bhangra, The Balmoral, Bristol Pilot Gig Club, Bristol Channel Social Rowers, Watershed, Studio 360.
Here’s a few clips:
Jamie Corbin put together this timelapse of the crane dance:
In the daytime, there were dockside loading and unloading demonstrations, actors from the Show of Strength Theatre Company, mosaics, the steam crane in operation, rides on the tug John King, and the chance to drive Judy for £10, and more…
Here’s an example of one of the mosaics made by Mosaic Madness
The steam crane had quite an unusual load…
Henbury was on display in the yard. She is in need of 149 new boiler tubes for her overhaul and any and all donations towards this are very welcome!
This delightful Bristol bus was busy ferrying people between M Shed and Underfall Yard.
This coming weekend is the excellent Docks Heritage Weekend. Here’s a couple of pics and videos from last years event in case you missed it.
Freshly painted MOGO
Here’s what the Official M Shed Website has to say about the event:
A weekend of activities across two sites exploring the history and working life of the old City Docks.
Stroll around the fantastic Underfall Yard as its restoration programme gets into full swing and take part in activities at M Shed including boat trips, crane visits, have a go experiences and performances.
Events at M Shed
Mosaic Madness will be helping visitors create mosaics inspired by Bristol’s working docks and the river Avon
Screenings of historic films about the port
Dramatic interludes from Show of Strength Theatre Company exploring characters from the dock’s past Saturday and Sunday at 11am, 11.30am, 2pm and 2.30pm
Pop on a hard hat and take a look behind the scenes of the restoration works
Visit the viewing platform for spectacular harbour views
Family activities
Dramatic interludes from Show of Strength Theatre Company exploring stories from the yard’s past, Saturday and Sunday at 12.30pm and 3.30pm
Guided walks to Brunel’s Other Bridge, Sunday 1pm and 3pm
Explore reuse and recycling stories from Bristol’s boating communities and make your own floaty boaty (run in partnership with Bristol Green Capital), Sunday 2-4pm
A special event will also be taking place on Saturday evening. This is the Crane Dance performance, devised by Laura Kriefman. Starting at 8pm, this will combine lights, boats, choirs, live bhangra band music, and choreographed synchronised cranes!
This event is completely free and best viewed from the Arnolfini or Lloyds Amphitheatre.
The pictures below were taken the weekend before last, with Judy on passenger duties and Teddy once again offering ‘Driver fora Tenner’ experiences in the yard. These photos were taken by Tim Symons, who has given permission for them to be reproduced here.
‘Teddy’ and ‘Judy’ are working again this weekend – Teddy is glimpsed here shunting on the quayside earlier today.
Steve Cockram took these great photos of the Harbour Festival weekend which not only show the attractions on show, but also showcase a lot of M Shed’s Bristol-built displays. He’s kindly given permission to reproduce the photos here, you can also check out his facebook page for more!
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.
The diminutive Port of Par twin engines ‘Alfred’ and ‘Judy’ have arrived in Bristol.
Thursday September 12th will see them operating photo charters, and as an added bonus, they will be operating service trains in conjunction with the BHR’s own ‘Portbury’ this coming weekend.
The charter and the visit has been organised through 30742 Charters with the Bristol Harbour Railway, the Locomotive’s owners, and the haulage company.
To find out more about these locomotives follow the link: