TBT – Southern E1 at the Festival of the Sea

Posted on April 24, 2014 by corwinb

From the 24-27th May 1996, Bristol Harbour was host to the International Festival of the Sea. This was a huge event featuring many guest ships and attractions, and of course the BHR played a part. A shining and fully-lined out ‘Henbury’ was joined by LB&SCR E1 class 0-6-0T No.B110, then based at the East Somerset Railway (Now being restored to service on the Isle of Wight as No.W2 ‘Yarmouth’). The two locos operated a shuttle service between the station at Ashton Meadows and the Bristol Industrial Museum with 3 loaned coaches.
The following pictures appear with the kind permission of Geoff Hartland.

Number 110 was built at Brighton Works in 1877 and named ‘Burgundy’. It was withdrawn in 1927 and sold to a colliery in Rugeley, which resulted in it being the only member of its class to survive scrapping, being sold into preservation in 1963. It was in service on the ESR between 1993 and 1997, when it was withdrawn early due to firebox problems. She is now on display at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway’s ‘Train Story’ exhibition, and will be restored in due course.

Spring is here….

Posted on March 30, 2014 by corwinb

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.

TBT – USA Tank 30075 (Video)

Posted on March 6, 2014 by corwinb

Today’s Throwback Thursday post – back in September 1997, ‘USA’ tank 30075 (Built in 1960 in Yugoslavia to a WW2 design) ran some photo charters.
Ian Silvester took this video, and has given permission for it to be reproduced here.

Birthday Special

Posted on June 30, 2013 by corwinb

On Saturday 29th June the BHR team celebrated one of our volunteers’ 18th Birthday. ‘Henbury’ was renamed ‘Emily Anne’ for the day and wore a ‘Birthday Special’ headboard.

Here’s a few photos from the day.

Henbury is dragged out of the shed by the front loader.
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Morning checks, and the fire is lit.

Some shunting was necessary as the Weltrol wagon used for ‘Gromit Unleashed’ on Friday needed to be shunted back into the long siding, and the passenger train reassembled.

The birthday girl

The belly of the beast

The last service of the day was a special train for volunteers, running down to the Create Centre and back

At the end of the day, the fire is dropped and Henbury/Emily Anne uses the last of her steam to return to the shed.

Unfortunately, ‘Portbury’s return to service has been delayed a bit. Hopefully she’ll be back in steam before the end of the year and ready to take over from her stablemate, as ‘Henbury’ will be withdrawn for her ten-year overhaul in July 2014.

‘Portbury’ Returns!

Posted on May 29, 2013 by corwinb

‘Evening all.

A few pics of what’s been going on…

Demolition of the former coal yard/car park is proceeding rapidly. The half of the car park that is left will keep functioning for 18 months, then the bulldozers will move in

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The site seen from the mud dock deli toward M/L sheds and the former goods platform (Now roofless)

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About 2 weeks ago an old friend returned to ‘The Cathedral’, seen through the glass here…

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…and inside the shed here.

‘Portbury has returned from Buckfastleigh workshops on the South Devon Railway after her overhaul, and is being reassembled. It is hoped she will be back in traffic for the Harbour Festival later this summer

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At the time of these photos, ‘Henbury’ was outside getting steam up for the bank holiday weekend

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There are more updates and track modifications up the line toward the SS Great Britain which I hope to report on later in the week.

That’s it for now!

2012-2013 Updates

Posted on February 2, 2013 by corwinb

Found the phone cable and uploaded a few pics from the last six months or so.

The olive shed building has been re-roofed, which has resulted in the little goods platform around the back losing its roof (This used to be a sleeping spots for some of Bristol’s homeless population, I doubt they’ll want to rest here with no cover)

Before

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After

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A large part of the pay and display car park has been dug up as part of an archaeological survey, and the disused warehouse at the back of the old Western Fuel Depot has had a roof cave-in (It was sagging a lot for as long as I can remember)

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This may well lead to the building’s demolition sooner than expected, who knows?

As discussed here:

http://railways.national-preservation.com/heritage-railways-centres-uk/11128-west-somerset-railway-developments-32.html

The GUV that stood at the SS Great Britain Halt has been sold to the WSR to be dismantled and used as spares and storage.

It was dragged out on to the quay for its last few weeks in Bristol

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A few assorted pics from 2012

The line that the coal wagon is standing on has now had bollards welded to the rails to act as a pedestrian walkway (The loop line around the back of M Shed is now useless, as M Shed’s foyer has taken the place of the back doors and crossover track into the shed).

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The Matthew giving tours in the harbour

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Crane 30 striking an impressive pose

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Henbury on-shed back in June. The area of car park where I am standing in this photo has now been completely excavated.

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Tracing the ‘old’ BHR – East

Posted on March 3, 2010 by corwinb

Here’s a little post on some of the remaining items of the old BHR, which ran from Ashton Junction all the way through to Bristol Temple Meads.

Eerie fog in the morning at Wapping Wharf Car Park (Formerly the coal depot)

Steam crane just visible through the mist

Bristol Temple Meads – The old grosvenor hotel on the left, the goods only line to the docks passed over the road, on top of the building in the centre. This line was last used in 1962.

And the other side, BTM is behind the camera

The old station, still very imposing!

Back at the docks…

The Eastern extent of the BHR

First Day

Posted on July 8, 2009 by corwinb

Well, yesterday was my first day of work on the BHR. The main task was to prep the Peckett ‘Henbury’ for the weekends work, among others!

Bristol harbour has a military visitor

I arrived to find Henburys fire lit having been dragged out of the shed.

The wagons covering the pit had to be shunted out of the way before oiling could be completed, once the loco had steam up and I ineffectually tried to clean some grease off the wheels!

Rob dropped the clinker out

All oiled up and ready to go, Rob collected the coal wagon from the middle siding and brought it back to the crossing where coal was loaded into the excavator bucket

Then brought the train forward to the crossover to load the coal into the bunker

Then a short jaunt down to the end of the line (By Ashton Swing Bridge) to collect the flat wagon of sleepers Rob and David had sorted previously in the week.