Heritage Engineering Skills, Laying the Foundations

 A few blog posts ago, I mentioned the visit of ex-footplate man Dennis Herbert to the GWSR.  One of his erstwhile colleagues from Tyseley Depot and also an ex driver on the GWSR, Colin Jacks has paid us a visit as well.   Colin was not only a driver here at the GWSR, but also the steam dept's training manager until his retirement 16 years ago.  He was invited here by Tony (Broadway Station Master) and taken out on the footplate of 6023, King Edward II.  Colin had last been on the footplate of 6023 when he fired it from Birmingham Snow Hill to London Paddington.

Colin on the footplate of 6023 (photo courtesy of Tony Stockwell)

The obligatory photo in the driver's seat (photo courtesy of Tony Stockwell)

Firemen on the main line back in Colin's day didn't have the distraction of mobile phones when having their photos taken...

(L-R), Colin, Jeff (driver) & Dan (fireman) (photo courtesy of Tony Stockwell)

 ...however today it seems that they do.

The blog has been a little quiet of late as your humble scribe took a fortnight off to visit some of the more elevated locations in the Lake District.  The weather was not my friend on this occasion, and I was either roasted to death on ridiculously hot days, or experiencing storms more usually associated with the monsoon season in the far East.  Lying awake at night in a leaky tent to the accompaniment of thunder, lightning & heavy rain is not the best way to spend a holiday.  So what does the enterprising young blogger do when rain is falling fit to wash away bridges and imperil dams?  He looks for a nearby heritage railway to visit of course.  Having done the lakeside & Haverthwaite and Ravenglass & Eskdale lines to death on similarly wet days in the past, I looked a little further afield this time.  I was eventually seduced away to the Embsay & Bolton Railway by the promise on their website that a certain loco of which I am very fond would be visiting and may even be in steam.  The website turned out to be slightly out of date and the loco of interest had returned whence it came however the steam loco running that day was one that I and indeed the GWSR was familiar with:

Number 18...

...and the name Jessie.

 She is not so familiar to us as either number 18, nor Jessie.  She has visited us quite frequently in recent years, but bearing the number 1 and although not carrying a name plate, going by the name of Thomas.  

Yes, this really is the same loco

She has been converted back to her previous guise, (side tanks removed, original saddle tanks reinstated) and given the livery (including wasp stripes) that she carried during her working life at Eastmoor Steelworks in Cardiff.  It was very nice to see her again.

Persistent precipitation meant that watching the trains was very much to be done from indoors in the dry, either in the observation coach that was included in Jessie's rake, or from the brake van of the freight train that was also running that day.

Thomas Jessie as seen from the brake van of the other train running

Jessie arriving at Embsay

 The Embsay & Bolton Railway was in the news last year for the restoration of their royal carriage

Queen Victoria's carriage...

...she was not amused.

 I heard that Queen Victoria was eventually amused by reading through several of the many back issues of the Cornishman that were to be found on sale in the shop at Embsay.

You can't escape the GWSR where ever you go.

The weather meanwhile turned out to be far better back down South, I received the following photo from Ade showing the foundations being laid for the welfare building... in glorious sunshine.

Foundations underway (photo courtesy of Ade Showell)

On Saturday, I was back and could see the progress for myself.

Where the welfare building will stand.

 The welfare building will provide mess facilities, toilets, showers, training rooms, admin rooms and an extension to the workshop.  It will be built in the same style of brick as the goods shed and will form a southern extension from it. 

Also happening on Saturday was a steam test for 2807, so she was sat on a pit being gently brought round.  Needless to say, all was well and she passed yet again.

2807 coming into steam, 4270 sits alongside.

 The weekend was a "bricks" event.  Nothing to do with the building blocks of the new welfare building, but the somewhat smaller ones made of plastic that go by a 4 letter trade name that can't be used for the event.   A marquee was set up in front of the diesel shed with some stands in it, and many more were to be found inside the diesel shed itself.  The displays included a variety of themes, but needless to say railways were well represented.

A foreign pacific, probably German if the A3 style smoke deflectors are anything to go by

7802, Bradley Manor

35005, Canadian Pacific... just one short of being our own 35006.

Should you prefer faces on your locos, then there were plenty of those too

The wrong kind of tank engine

There were a couple of Kings on one of the displays, a blue one, as yet without name or number plates which the owner assured me would eventually become 6023, King Edward II.  The green one running alongside it also didn't have name or number plates, however the bell between the lamps at the front instantly gave the game away that it was meant to be 6000, King George V.

A pair of Kings

 I saw at least three different Hogwarts Castles on display, the one below was a rather fine example of the breed.

Standing at platform 9 3/4?

There were at least a couple of others like the one below:

Yet another Hogwarts Castle

 This variant of Hogwarts Castle featured the con rod connecting to the trailing rather than centre driving wheels. There were no coupling rods evident either and the safety valve bonnet is a bit too far forward for comfort too.  I think Harry Potter needs to wave his magic wand over this one.

Taking place on Sunday 11th only, was a Heritage Engineering Skills event, organised by the 2874 Trust.  I could simply cut and paste from their website, but it's easier to provide a link to the page concerned.  

There was a 2874 Trust stand in the marquee in the car park

Saturday therefore was mostly about getting the David Page shed set up for the Heritage Engineering Skills event.  Part of the plan was to have 4270 sat on the indoor pit for people to inspect underneath.  That was my cue to get busy with the pressure washer and clean the accumulation of grot & grime from the indoor pit.  My task was made no easier by the fact that the hose for the pressure washer kept getting removed, either to permit a shunting operation, or to hose out the ash pans of 4270 and Foremarke Hall

Jeremy "borrowing" the hose from the pressure washer...

...and using it to ash out 4270

Meanwhile, 4270 was receiving a little bit of attention, Alex getting new-starters Tracey & David up to speed on removing old fire bars and cleaning out smoke boxes.

Alex (L) and Tracey peeping out through the fire hole door...

...& David at the other end, cleaning out the smoke box

I believe that David & Tracey have transferred to us from the Lineside Clearance team.  One of the many good things about volunteering at the GWSR is that if you find that one department is not entirely to your taste, then transferring to another is an easy process.  A fair number of people volunteer in more than one department, Alex for instance now spends half her time as a signalman.

 I wasn't around for the Sunday to see how it went, however David Foster, chairman of the 2874 Trust said the following after the Heritage Engineering Skills event:

"Many thanks to all who made the Young Persons Introduction to Heritage Engineering Day a success (despite the dreadful weather predictions and reality!). The feedback from the participants was wholly positive - there was a steady stream of visitors to the display area and we conducted over 50 people on the shed tour. Highlights were the opportunity to see underneath a locomotive and to get into the cab of both a steam and diesel - a recurring message from the visitors was that they had "no idea" what was involved on the engineering side so we certainly succeeded with our educational objectives."


Not everything was about preparing for the "Heritage Skills" day, some people just got on with using their heritage skills.  Kenneth & Keith got on with applying insulation to the steam heat pipe that will run underneath 3850's tender.

Kenneth (L) & Keith...

...Keith went on to paint the lagging.

When I finally got the hose back, I didn't make too bad a job of cleaning out the pit.

Meanwhile, out in the car park, alongside the coal dock, Tim was busy erecting a stand that will eventually contain information regarding the restoration of 76077.  The stand is alongside the existing ones for Dimore Manor, Foremarke Hall & 2807.

Tim putting up the 76077 information stand...

...alongside the others

And finally, the bricks event wasn't just about railways, this item caught my attention.  They don't make music videos like this anymore.  You'll have to suffer an advert for something or other before it starts I'm afraid.

We all live in a...

Given the weather we've had lately, perhaps we should switch to running submarines rather than trains through the Cotswolds.