The brake actuating rods are now in place. |
A quick check over for warm bearings etc near Hailes bridge? |
At Winchcombe again (she was there for last year's gala)... |
...but on this occasion, she made it under her own steam |
She even got as far as Gotherington on the first day. |
This is quite a momentous occasion, able to move under her own steam, on all three cylinders, and for the first time, able to stop using her own brakes. If you want to see this product of 33 years of restoration here on the GWSR, then she will be running during the Cotswold festival of Steam "Swindon Built" gala on May 28th - 30th. Ok, I know that she wasn't built at Swindon, but a little of the restoration in the early days of various parts took place in Swindon works. As well as our home fleet, two guest locos, BR Standard 9F, 92214 and Ivatt 2MT, 46521, both courtesy of the Great Central Railway will be present, along with one further guest which has yet to be announced.
Speaking of the gala, it is hoped to lay in a temporary water supply to the water tank that is appearing in the yard in time for the end of May. This will be a great boon to crews, meaning that they can top up with water before going off shed in the morning and not having to make some sort of move into one or other platform. George was to be seen peering out over the top of the water tank whilst doing some welding inside.
George... the king of the castle (photo courtesy of Chris Chewter) |
She's made a lot of progress in the short time that she has been back |
Many more backhead fittings are in situ now too |
Andy on the regulator... |
...under the watchful gaze of Stephen. |
Eleanor was the cleaner (here swapping tokens at Winchcombe with Neil) |
Added to that, it was a very pleasant day from the weather point of view too.. |
Though Stephen complained about a drip of water from the tunnel roof going down the back of his neck |
Eleanor had remembered how to operate a pep pipe without soaking everybody else |
Too much oil in that one |
Andy isolated it and... |
...successfully demonstrated how to fix it. |
Eleanor, uncoupling our stock, before we set off light engine |
On the way to CRC, note, no stock behind us. |
Non-stop through Winchcombe |
Into the tunnel, with rather more light behind us than usual... |
...and picked up the stock and were off with it straight away. |
When we got back to Winchcombe, we crossed what had until recently been our own train, this time with a class 47 diesel in charge.
Heading back into Winchcombe |
I'm afraid that by this time, the timetable had slipped a bit, which is a fairly rare occurrence on our line. I noticed when we got back to Toddington that we were holding up the DMU from coming back from Laverton. We needed to take water too, which unfortunately held them up a bit longer.
The DMU, waiting for us to finish taking water |
Classes 47 & 45, now both on train 1 |
I had noticed on various previous trips that the anaconda that normally lives at Laverton had apparently slithered down to the south end of Greet tunnel:
Hissing Syd on the loose |
More of a smoulder than a fire really |
Eleanor... confused about which type of fireman she wants to be |
No idea what was going to happen I'm afraid. |
The stars of the show were Dinmore Manor & sister engine, Foxcote Manor |
With a fire in her belly, Dinmore Manor is ready for the day's work |
Just before setting off with the 09:20 departure from Llangollen on Saturday, Dinmore Manor leading Foxcote Manor |
Dinmore Manor pulling out of Llangollen, as viewed from Foxcote Manor |
Approaching Berwyn Station |
Entering Berwyn tunnel |
Beautiful scenery for the whole route |
7820 & 4566 approaching Deeside Halt |
Graham at Carrog (firing 6430 on Saturday) |
Foxcote Manor leading Dinmore Manor |
Ain't it always the way! |
Need to teach Eleanor the importance of holding the token "open" for the receiving signal man to catch....
ReplyDeleteJust checked the photo above, she's got it right. She was wearing a plastic glove on her right hand to keep coal dust out of a cut on her hand, which might give the impression that she was holding it the wrong way round.
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