Birthday Special

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.
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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.
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The birthday girl

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

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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she’ll be back in steam before the end of the year and ready to take over from her stablemate, as ‘Henbury’ will be withdrawn for her ten-year overhaul in July 2014.

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Portbury Overhaul Update 2

I called in at ‘The Cathedral’ (M Shed MPD) on the way from work today and met Chris, who will be taking on the role of General Manager from David Martin, who has been there since the railway’s inception in 1978.
Chris was repainting much of ‘Portbury’ as she was being reassembled. The hope is to get her ready in time for the Harbour Festival, but the aim is not to rush unnecessarily as ‘Portbury’ will be taking over from ‘Henbury’ as the sole steam locomotive when ‘Henbury’s boiler ticket expires in July 2014.

Pics showing the progress:
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