Toad brake van repainted

Posted on February 5, 2018 by corwinb

The Bristol Harbour Railway is 40 years old this year!

In 1978 a group of keen and like minded people began operating steam train rides on Bristol’s harbourside. They had one working locomotive and an ex-GW brake van.

Henbury and the TOAD outside M Shed in 1979 (Courtesy John Law)

Since then, the van has given thousands of passengers rides up and down the line. It is essential to the running of the railway, becoming the leading end of the train when being propelled, and the large veranda gives a good field of vision for the guard.

Over the winter of 2017-2018, the van has been taken into the shed and been given a makeover. Rotten wood has been repaired, the whole vehicle has been sanded down and repainted, and it now sports a ‘Bristol’ allocation.

It looks very smart and is a credit to the volunteers and employees at M Shed.

I am trying to find out more information on the history of this brake van before it came to the BHR. If anyone does know of its past life, please do leave a comment below.

Docks Heritage Weekend 30th Sept-1st Oct

Posted on September 29, 2017 by corwinb

It’s Docks Heritage Weekend tomorrow and Sunday, featuring a variety of attractions, one of the most varied weekends of the year.

Portbury was warming up outside the shed earlier this week.

Take a look at Will Stratford’s video of last year’s event showing some crane and goods action on the quayside:

More photos from the night shoot

Posted on April 9, 2017 by corwinb

Alistair Grieve took these great photos at the recent night photo shoot with Portbury, and has kindly given permission for them to be reproduced here.

You can see all of Ali’s photos on his smugmug site.

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M Shed in Miniature

Posted on March 12, 2017 by corwinb

I managed to get down to the Nailsea Model Railway Exhibition today and snap some photos of John’s lovely EM gauge (1:76 scale) model of M Shed.

The layout has Portbury and Henbury complete with the passenger train (much of which was scratchbuilt), as well as the Ruston and Larry, and the steam crane (which is motorised!).

Night Shoot with Portbury

Posted on February 19, 2017 by corwinb

Last night the BHR was host to another of the popular photo charters organised by 30742 Charters and M Shed Museum.

This time it was a night shoot on the quayside, where Portbury shared the limelight with the museum’s Bristol lorry.

Here’s a video posted by Martin Creese on the 30742 facebook page:

and a couple of snaps from the evening from the same page:

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Docks Heritage Weekend

Posted on October 7, 2016 by corwinb

Will Stratford captured these images (posted on the M Shed Working Exhibits Facebook Page) of the Docks Heritage weekend.

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and also this timelapse!

With thanks to Will Stratford.

Overhauls and Maintenance

Posted on April 6, 2016 by corwinb

There’s plenty going on at M Shed at the moment. Henbury is in the shed being dismantled for overhaul.

If you are visiting M Shed and would like to make a donation to help Henbury steam again, there is a donation box in front of the viewing window. All donations are welcome!

The TOAD brake van, meanwhile, is outside the workshop receiving new boards and a lick of paint on the door.

Much further down the line, Ashton Avenue Bridge is inside its cocoon, being repaired for use by MetroBus.

Operating days for 2016, Larry gets a new look

Posted on March 17, 2016 by corwinb

The planned railway operating days are now up on the M Shed website, click here to take a look!

Judy was out on the line today getting warmed up for the first operating weekend of the year – 19/20th March.

Also out in the sun was resident front loader ‘Larry’, looking resplendent in a fresh coat of paint!

Cranes and Boats and Trains

Posted on October 28, 2015 by corwinb

The last operating weekend of the season is this coming Saturday and Sunday on the BHR, before the winter shut down begins. M Shed museum will be open as normal.

The steam tug Mayflower will also be giving rides.

One of the electric cranes is open to visitors from 11am-4pm today, if you want to go up in the cab and see the controls!

End of the Line

Posted on October 20, 2015 by corwinb

Track lifting is well under way at Butterfly Junction, just the pointwork rails and the sleepers remaining in the station area. These photos also show the vegetation clearance that has taken place.

Ashton Avenue Bridge is now closed for refurbishment, along with the former trackbed. No doubt the rails still on the bridge will be coming out shortly.

A different scene over at SS Great Britain Halt, where the buffer stop has been moved from the end of the line here. I believe that this is to be used as the basis for a small shed, which should come in useful if the branch along the New Cut is closed while MetroBus is under construction.

Bristol Harbour Railway Blog

An unofficial blog site about the BHR and industrial railways in Bristol

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