Peninsular & Oriental S.N. Co Renamed

Saturday saw a bright and early start for me at Toddington on Saturday.  4270 was booked as my steed for the day.  Apart from one trip a couple of weeks ago, this was the first time that I had been out on 4270 in a year, so it was very nice to reacquaint myself with her again.  The crew were Chris (trainee driver) under the tutelage of Andy, with James as our cleaner.

Chris filling the hydrostatic lubricator

There was a bit of a failure on 4270, one of the lamps had lost its door:

Oops

 The other lamps were either in use, or down at C&W for a bit of touch up painting, so the time honoured solution of nicking one from another loco wasn't going to work on this occasion.  Plan B was to light the lamp, then tie a couple of pieces of string around it to prevent the door coming adrift in service.

How could that possibly fail?

 I'm pleased to report that the bodge repair lasted for the day.

That surprised you didn't it!.

 Before I set off on 4270 for the day's work, I had a look around to see what was happening.  Dinmore Manor had been taken out of traffic for a few days to allow for repairs to its ash pan.

Ian welding in the new ash pan door plate

The new plate and door in place

 Work was continuing on 3850's boiler, the removal of the last vestiges of insulating material and needle gunning the rust off. 

Sam needle gunning in the morning

 I understand Sam went on to help with Dinmore Manor's ash pan later on, the rest of the work on the boiler being undertaken by Rob, Steve & Kenneth.

Rob, Steve & Kenneth at the end of the day.

 4270 was running as train 2, with 2807 down as train 1.  2807 set off at 10:00 with the first service of the day as usual:

2807 is in there somewhere

She was being a bit camera shy

That's better.

 There was much civil engineering work being undertaken too.   The relocated toilet blocks were being plumbed in.   An email received yesterday informed me that they are once again back in use.  This is good news, as it's a fairly long walk up to the conveniences in the car park.

Plumbing being installed

Mechanical assistance was employed

At a point in the yard, the other side of the running line from the signal box, we now have pipe work for the water column in the yard, and foundations for a stack of containers.

Foundations and water pipe run

 Up by the water column itself, Neil was keen to point out some of the new plumbing up there.  The pipe in the bottom right hand corner is for the water column, the one above that for a hydrant and the one going to the left will eventually supply water to the narrow gauge railway.The one towards the bottom of the picture is the feed from the water tank on platform 2.  Apparently a pump wil be required to maintain the water pressure.

 The day itself was a very pleasant sunny day.  I was most pleased that 4270 now has a fully functioning pep pipe (apart from a turn a couple of weeks ago, this was my first turn on 4270 in a year).  The ability to damp down the coal to inhibit coal dust was a very useful feature on such a hot dry day.

Platform two at CRC was being tended to in full sunshine

A passenger celebrating his 60th birthday visited the footplate

 It was so sunny that Bill even rolled his sleeves up to exchange tokens at Winchcombe

Bill, risking sun burnt arms

Chris drives, Andy watches

A very pleasant surprise was Anthony joined us at the end of the day to help out with disposal.  He'll go far!

James damping down the ash...

...Anthony raking it out.

 The photo below was of us returning along siding 1 to get back to the yard, whilst 2807 returns from its final run.  Of note is the blue pipe temporarily laid under the tracks, which it is hoped will deliver water to the water column in the yard for the gala.

Temporary blue water pipe

 It had been 2 years since Cliff had passed out as a driver, and Saturday was his biennial inspection (on 2807).  He had obtained a new set of blues for the occasion.

Cliff shows off his new attire

Needless to say, Cliff passed again.

The big news of course, involves our biggest loco.  On Monday (16th), 35006 was officially renamed as "Peninsular & Oriental S.N. Co".   The name plates were already on it in anticipation of the renaming when I arrived on Saturday:

35006, with her name plates fitted

 By the time that I returned to shed on Saturday afternoon, some thing had changed.

That doesn't look quite right...

...aha, the nameplates were now concealed behind brown paper.

 Something else new was that the late BR crest had been applied to the tender.

Ferret & Dartboard

Something else was afoot... well underfoot to be more precise, strips of cardboard had been taped to the footplate steps, to prevent mucky boots befouling them.

Cleanliness is next to impossible on a steam loco

Being a humble wage slave, and needing to save my holiday for the impending gala, I couldn't be there on Monday for the renaming ceremony.  The following selection of photos of the event itself were forwarded to me by Steve Parker:

Pete Waterman (GWSR President) with GWSR PLC Chairman, Alan Bielby

The formation of carriages for the event was not our usual rake of seven BR mk1's, instead it was strengthened to twelve.

Ian (l) & Ben, preparing the extra stock for coupling up

The driver for the day was Ian, the fireman, Dan, appears to have eluded Steve's camera

 Shareholders and volunteers in 35006, Peninsular & Oriental S.N. Co were invited.

The assembled throng of shareholders and volunteers

The naming ceremony was performed by Pete Waterman

Curtain withdrawn

 An interesting feature was the presence of David Brown, an ex-BR fireman who fired 35006 in the last week prior to its withdrawal.

David Brown(r) in the cab of 35006 with Pete Waterman

The newly unveiled name plate

An interesting view of the twelve carriage train from the last coach

 Many other people took photos of the occasion, including the following one by Dan Wigg...

Soon to depart Cheltenham Race Course

...and a similar view from the other side by James Edwards:

 If 12 coaches isn't enough for you, the next time 35006 runs will be for the three days of the "Swindon Built" gala on May 28th - 30th (yes, I know, 35006 is the exception) and on the Saturday evening of the gala, she will be hauling a 14 coach train, top and tailed with visiting BR standard 9F, 92214 (courtesy of the Great Central Railway). Unmissable!