Tag Archives: steam locomotive

A Pannier in the Port Again!

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As Henbury is currently away at the South Devon Railway, in return the BHR has Collett pannier tank No.1369 on loan. It arrived earlier this week, straight from a guest appearance at the Battlefield Railway’s winter gala. Thanks to Bob, Katie and Jay for these photos.

After the trailer was lined up on the quayside and the loco winched down, Larry did the honours of towing it to the Buttery, with the crane assisting on the way to the shed.

There is a photo charter planned with 1369 and hopefully it’ll make a few appearances in steam.

Portbury Progress

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Now Portbury’s boiler has been detubed, work moves on to the next job. Today we started the process of removing the wheelsets.
First, the eccentric rods were taken off the centre axle.

Then the brake rodding was dropped out and the brake blocks and hangers removed (fronts have been left on for now until we can move the axle due to clearances on the slide bars).

With all the gubbins out of the way, the process of jacking the loco up can start. 2 hydraulic jacks (one at each end) with 4 screw jacks (one on each corner) and plenty of timber packing. By the end of the day, we had nearly lifted the loco enough to drop the axleboxes out of the hornguides.
The weekday team will be picking things up next.

Last Operating Weekend of 2024 (Sunday)

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That’s it! Another season of passenger operations finished. Now the winter maintenance can begin.

This includes getting the tank of the Sulphiric Acid Tanker rubbed down and repainted. The chassis is still in good condition but the tank has suffered a bit from flaking paint and rust bubbles.
The Coles Crane was used to bring the tanker out of the yard and set it down on to Henbury at the end of the working day. The steam loco then propelled it onto the quayside to be pressure-washed. Earlier in the day we did a test lift to ensure the crane would be able to slew it into the warehouse.

Henbury was then ashed out (the plates in the ashpan were removed at the same time) and taken back to the shed as the light faded.

Thanks to Katie Richards for the photos.

Docks Heritage Weekend 2024

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One of my favourite events of the year, DOCKS HERITAGE WEEKEND took place over 28th and 29th September.
This event featured our friends at the Show of Strength Theatre Company once again, this time with a new storyline (featuring George and Sheila of course) with more jeopardy and a longer run time (and some singing!).
Sheila’s ordered a new television on hire-purchase, but she’s not told George about it! Will he find out?
John King was on duty giving rides around the harbour, 2 cranes were working (one for visitors and one loading the lorry), the capstan was in operation again and Henbury was in steam for cab visits. Saturday also featured live performances from the choir in L Shed.

Thanks to Katie Richards and Bob Edwardes for these photos.

Autumn Highlights 2023

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It’s the last operating day of the season tomorrow, so here’s a little round-up of things that have been happening.

Docks Heritage Weekend took place over 30th September/1st October.
Good turnout of volunteers in period dress, along with the Show of Strength Theatre Company interacting with the public. Henbury was in steam both days and collected the BD wagon (which had been in use with the capstan) on the Sunday after the toys had been put away.

Steam tug ‘Mayflower’ has made a return to service following repairs to its engine. It’s been great to see it working on the harbour again over the past two weekends.

‘Have a go’ week took place over the October half term, where customers can pay to have 20 minutes learning to drive the steam loco on the quayside line, followed by 20 minutes on the crane. I was firing on Thursday, Bob Edwardes took some pics too.

Henbury has been running services single-handedly this season. In the shed, Portbury’s strip-down is ongoing.

Portbury is waiting for a free slot in the workshop, currently occupied by the GWR O18 wagon. Bob lettered it up into PBA condition as 61110 earlier this month. Hopefully not long until it’s back on display.

June 2022 Update

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Both locos are back in steam this coming weekend, and last Saturday/Sunday saw the steam crane in operation for the first time this year.

Chris and Mike coaling up the steam crane (Bill Drewett)

On the 3rd train on Saturday of Platinum Jubilee weekend, ‘Henbury’ blew out a gasket on the main steam pipe to the right hand cylinder. It was taken off the passenger train and sent up the branch to diagnose the issue before heading back to the shed.

‘Portbury’ worked push-pull services for the rest of the day as we waited for the Peckett to cool down enough to work on.
This involved clearing out all the ash from the smokebox, then chiselling out the cement from the smokebox floor (which is used to vacuum-seal it and prevent it drawing air through the front end).
The pipe was removed and the broken seal extracted so it could be used as a template to make a fresh one.
Once this was done, the whole lot was bolted back together and left to seal overnight.
Sunday morning a fire was lit and the loco brought back up to 50psi to test for any leaks, this having been satisfactory Chris was able to re-seal the smokebox with quick-drying cement.
Henbury rejoined the passenger train that morning which was a very satisfying result for the team.
It was my first real experience of locomotive repair and what happens when things go awry, so for me it was an education!

At the same time, the opportunity was taken to take the rear drawhook off and send it to the workshop to have the screw thread mended. The thread had been worn flat on top, preventing the nut from being tightened as much as we wanted it to be. Now it is tight against the bufferbeam.

Bob Edwardes took these pics over the weekend featuring the custom headboards he made for the locos.