A Trio of Pecketts

This fantastic shot was taken by Flickr User Captain Tower, who has given permission for its use here.

It shows all three Pecketts in action (Well, nearly – Henbury was on static display) at the recent 30742 charters event.

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Peckett Party!

In addition to the Father’s Day Steam Up, the opportunity was taken to run a photo charter, organised by 30742 Charters and featuring ‘Teddy’ and ‘Kilmersdon’ in action, as well as ‘Henbury’ on static display.

Will Stratford was there to capture the occasion in these great photos.

Bank Holiday Weekend Services

Steam trains will be in operation this coming Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday. Kilmersdon will be doing the honours, seen here looking very smart.

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Note: I do apologise for previously publishing inaccurate information regarding operating days this year, this was a mistake which has now been corrected by linking through to the official M Shed page. Please note that this is an unofficial blog site maintained by a volunteer, and that the best place for information on opening times and events is the M Shed website.

TBT – GWR 813 at Ashton Meadows

It’s been a while since I’ve done any Throw Back Thursday posts, but with summer just around the corner, there are more to come!

This is a photo from a charter in 2001, during the last days of Ashton Meadows sidings (note the overgrown bushes). The loco is GWR 813, a unique survivor built in 1901 for the Port Talbot Railway in Wales. The 813 fund have given permission for this photo to be reproduced here.

To find out more about GWR 813 or help fund the group’s restoration projects, click here.

(Courtesy GWR 813 Fund)

(Courtesy GWR 813 Fund)

Butterfly Junction Redevelopment – 1

In this first look at the changing face of the Butterfly Junction area, you can see the extensive clearance of foliage that has taken place. Surveyors have been working in the area over the past few weeks.

 

Further down the line, the area around the Cumberland Road Bridge siding has also been cleared. The spare wagon wheelsets have been moved out of the way. The plans for the bridge indicate that the path here will be raised up to platform height in order to meet the new bridge.

Portbury at Beamish – In Steam

Paul Jarman of Beamish Transport Online has posted updates on Portbury’s arrival at Beamish. Shunted off the lorry siding by departing hire loco ‘John Howe’ (An Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST), Portbury was in steam the next day and immediately put to work shunting the yard at Rowley station.

These photos appear here with Paul’s permission

Helston Railway returns, and Christmas is around the corner…

It’s the first day of the Xmas Steam Up weekends tomorrow, so Portbury and the Fairbairn Steam Crane should be in action on the dockside.

This week, the lovely people from the Helston Railway in Cornwall have been back for more rail and sleepers. Here they are loading up (Photo from the Helston Railway Facebook page, click the link for more).

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The Fox, Walker sees daylight

In May 2014, a shunting move to get rolling stock out of the Smeaton Road shed and into the rebuilt ‘Barn’ saw Fox, Walker and Sons No.242 (NCB No.3) out in the open air. This loco had new bearings fitted before the rebuild of M Shed in 2006, so is a rolling chassis and can be moved around.

The photos also give an indication as to the condition of the loco, and the scale of any restoration that might take place.

These pictures were taken by Michelle Scoplin of the Create Centre and appear here with her kind permission.