Keeping my nose to the grindstone

There were no trains running on Saturday, but there was still plenty to be getting on with on the list of winter maintenance tasks.  To start with, there was quite a lot of activity taking place on Foremarke Hall.  The feed pipes from the injectors to the clack valves are about to be replaced with new copper ones.  The flanges from the existing ones will be recycled though, so Paul was cleaning them up:

Paul fettles the flanges

Meanwhile the nuts and bolts that join the sections of pipes together needed a bit of cleaning up too:

A different Paul hard at work

Meanwhile the top of Foremarke Hall looked like she had been raided by lead copper thieves:

No copper cap!

Close up view

It turns out that we hadn't been burgled after all, Foremarke Hall is about to get a new copper cap on her chimney. Ben was up there later on with a needle gun removing the rust.  Speaking of Foremarke Hall, the decision by the owning group as to whether or not she will run for the first day of the Christmas Cracker has not been taken yet.  It is quite possible that she will not run again in this ticket.  I'll let you know more when I know more.  

Progress has been noted on a few of our restoration projects, the 35006 gang were out in force doing trial fittings of the smoke deflectors:

It still needs a top coat or two, but it's getting there.

4270 is now looking much more complete having had her side tanks and cab fitted:

Definitely starting to look more complete now

Sometime over the last couple of weeks, Owsden Hall's boiler had disappeared off to join the rest of the loco on the Swindon & Cricklade Railway and the boiler of 44027 had been rotated through 90 degrees giving more access on all sides:

44027's boiler

 I know better than to ask when any of 44027,  35006 or 4270 will be in traffic.... one day I'll turn up and be pleasantly surprised to find that one of them is in steam.

Winter maintenance was in evidence on the 117 class DMU as well, with a number of people swarming over it:

James greases an unidentified object under one of the 117 cars

 A refresher driving lesson for one of the diesel shunters had been arranged for some of the steam loco dept.  The diesel shunter concerned is an ex industrial 0-6-0 Yorkshire, unofficially known as 'Des'.  

Des

Cliff decided that a bit of extra-curricular manual reading to remind him of how to operate Des would be in order before the refresher course started as he hadn't had call to drive her for a while:

Cliff

I decided that I'd like to help out with 2807's maintenance.  There were two tasks that were to be taken on, checking/replacing the piston valve rods and repairing the ash pan.

Piston valve rod just about visible from the front...

...and from the rear

Bruce and several others were having fun extricating the piston valve rod, which to achieve the necessary access required several other items removing.  I left them to it, preferring to work on the ash pan.  Not out of any sense of altruism you understand, but because since the hopper door had broken and been welded shut over a year ago, getting ash out of the rear hopper had become a very difficult process and I was keen to do anything I could to make the situation easier.  The first thing that needed doing before the rear hopper could be modified was to remove the welded on door. Ordinarily that wouldn't have been too tricky a process, put a cutting disk on an angle grinder and cut through the welds and Bob's your Auntie's live in lover.  Gilbert cut through the hinges on one side of the hopper door fairly quickly.  The trouble was, the other end of the rear hopper is in a very confined space and it's difficult to work in there.  At one point I managed to clobber myself in the nose with the angle grinder (literally keeping my nose to the grindstone).  It smarted for a while, but I soldiered on.  The welds as it turned out were both on the inside and the outside of the hopper door. The cutting disk couldn't reach as far as the welds on the inside. 

Hopper door from the easy to access end

The pieces of wood were a safety measure in case the hopper door decided to suddenly break free and fall.  We needn't have bothered, the last thing on the hopper door's mind was breaking free.

Andy decided that he would give it a go to see if he could shift it.

Andy seeking divine inspiration before starting

Not being able to easily get at the welded bits inside the ash pan from underneath the loco, Andy decided to try and get access through the grate:

Andy in the firebox

Only to find that a false floor had been welded in above the level of the hopper door.  That meant there would be even more work required to open up the ash pan.

Back underneath 2807, somehow Gilbert got in there with a larger angle grinder:

Gilbert brings out the big guns

Unfortunately, his efforts were still to no avail.  Eventually there was enough movement in the hopper door for me to wrench the recently hinged end down and let Andy get at the inside welds with an oxy acetylene cutter.

Andy axing with gas

Hopper door gone, Gilbert and friend inspect the false floor that will now need removing

It was starting to get dark by now, so we decided to call it a day.  The false floor can wait until next time.

Is there a defibrillator on board?

I hadn't intended to write about this, but having offered the guilty parties an opt-out clause which they almost unanimously rejected, here goes: 

Back in August I mentioned that Mark Young was now Young in name only, having reached one of those milestone birthdays.  Plans to celebrate had been hatched, but the day to day running of the railway had meant that no free weekend to celebrate in style could be identified until the end of the season, so last weekend it was. 

What did Mark decide would be a good way to celebrate?  To visit another steam railway of course.  The Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway was his railway of choice and if you're going that far, you might just as well make a weekend of it and take in the Bluebell Railway as well. 

The early start on Saturday from Toddington seemed to mean that most people dozed off in the minibus that we'd hired and soon the gentle sound of snoring could be heard from all directions.... at least I think it was snoring, you can never be too sure with some of our volunteers.  Mercifully, regardless of the precedent set only a couple of days earlier by one of our number, our designated driver (Mark) didn't fall asleep at the wheel.

Our first target was the Bluebell Railway which of course had only this year managed to complete their northern extension to East Grinstead where they were now able to connect with the mainline.  When we arrived, we discovered that George Forrest had already had his way there:

Ok, it's an 'R' short, but still George felt at home

Mark put on his skilled negotiators hat and managed to persuade the booking clerk that working volunteers from the GWSR were worthy of a 100% discount as part of a reciprocal arrangement that we have with the Bluebell and certain other railways. I've arranged for Mark to negotiate on my behalf with certain utility companies to see if he can come up with the same level of discount again.  I'll probably get him to pick some lottery numbers for me as well.

Motive power for our journey to Sheffield Park was South Eastern & Chatham Railway's H class 0-4-4T, number 263 of 1905 (which of course makes her the same age as 2807):

263 arrives at East Grinstead

When we arrived at Sheffield Park, the southern end of the line, a look around revealed many of the Bluebell's out of service locos.  Given the chance, this is the one that I would have wanted to abscond with and add to the collection of locos that we have at Toddington. It is of course, GWR Dukedog, 9017, Earl of Berkeley:

She looks gorgeous in BR black, but is sadly withdrawn from service and awaiting her turn in the restoration queue.  In best Blue Peter tradition though, here are a few photos that I prepared earlier of her during her last period in service:

9017 exiting Sharpthorn tunnel on the Bluebell Railway

Departing Berwyn on the Llangollen Railway

Before too long, it was all aboard for the trip back to East Grinstead again hauled by 263.  Getting everybody together for a group photo was like herding cats, so I made the best of a bad job and grabbed this shot just before departure when we were all crammed into a compartment of one of the rather nice Victorian era carriages.

GWSR steam dept on tour

Now that the Bluebell Railway has a main line connection at East Grinstead, it can accept incoming railtours and this was what was happening on Saturday.  BR standard Britannia class, 70013, Oliver Cromwell was arriving from Bridgnorth on the Severn Valley Railway.  At least one of the GWSR's steam loco dept, Chris Hayes, had been seduced by the prospect of that tour and was on board that rather than on tour with us.  He was a bit surprised to spot us on the platform at Kingscote as his train crossed ours.

Token exchange as Oliver Cromwell passes through Kingscote

The next stop on the tour was the Kent and East Sussex Railway. Normally gaining access to the off-limits carriage works at Tenterden is extremely difficult, but Ian and George had bought along some DMU parts that they wanted by way of a bribe.  This of course gave us the opportunity to have a bit of a nose around inside the carriage works and in particular take a closer look at the work on the restoration of GWR diesel railcar number 20 of 1940. 

George & Derek discuss the finer points of the Flying Banana

I'm not the world's greatest fan of DMUs, and this one doesn't look up to much without its bodywork in place, but even I have a soft spot for these things.  As she has been out of service since 1980, my photograhic archives can come up with nothing better than a view of her hidden under a tarpaulin. Wikipedia to the rescue! 

Meanwhile the ladies in the party had lost the will to live and seemed pleased at the distraction of having a camera pointed at them:

Laura and Tina

In her own words, Laura was the "Token WAG" and has minimal interest in railways.  Ed, her other half, still harbours the delusion that he can persuade her to join the steam loco dept.
 
 Just on the off chance, we paid a visit to their steam loco dept at Rolvenden and even though it was the end of the day and light was fading, we were treated to a tour of the yard and loco workshops.  They have a couple of USA Corps of Engineers, S100 class 0-6-0T locomotives.  I think that this one in the workshop was 30070, Wainwright.

Also in the works for a repaint into BR black was the sole surviving GWR 1600 class 0-6-0PT, 1638:

Any colour you like, as long as it's black

She was in green earlier on this year when I saw her on the Bodmin and Wenford Railway:

Not so long ago in mid-chrome green

Of great interest to me and especially to Ian (currently hard at work restoring 4270), was the restoration of GWR 2-8-0T, 4253.  I remember seeing her at Barry Island scrapyard and later at the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway in a very dilapidated state:

4253 at Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway

No significant restoration work had taken place on her whilst on the P&BR and for many years she just languished in the open slowly rusting away.  A couple of years ago, a group at the KESR bought her and have made considerable progress in restoring her to running order in the short time that they have owned her.  Although she isn't inside the main workshop, she is at least under some sort of cover and things are definitely moving in the right direction.

Ed & Laura look on as Derek peeks under the covers at 4253

The following day saw us all up bright and early (with only mild hangovers) and heading off to the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway.  Mark's negotiating skills failed us this time as the RH&DR have no reciprocal arrangements for working volunteers and we actually had to pay to get in.  It was well worth it though.  I've heard the RH&DR described before as the "Best train set in the world" and it's a pretty accurate description.  Yes, everything is small (third scale locos on a quarter scale track), but it is incredibly good fun.  As a bonus, last Sunday was their 'End of Season Parade', with all serviceable locos running. We arrived at Hythe in time to catch the first service up the line hauled by number 1, Green Goddess.  She was built in 1925 and is styled like an LNER Gresley A1. She was utterly gorgeous in her apple green livery:

Green Goddess arrives at Hythe

A quick oil around whilst on the turntable

Then back off to couple on to the stock again

One man operation is feasible for these locos. I'm not sure that the footplate of one of these locos would be such a fun place to be in the rain.  We might complain about some of the weather protection properties of some of our locos, but these don't protect the driver's head from the rain at all.  There are some fairly low bridges over the line as well, I imagine that clouting your head on one if you were not careful would be a distinct possibility. On the plus side, the firebox is tiny, just a few lumps of coal and she was ready to go again.

Two lumps up the front and one in each of the back corners

 Although the coaches might be miniature versions of the real thing, the passengers are not and some found it a little cosy inside:

Mark & Ian didn't seem to mind the cramped conditions too much

Ed & Laura even seemed to prefer being cramped up close together

Derek decided that the best way to get any leg room was to disappear off and find a carriage all to himself.  This was the last I saw of him for a while:

We thought that he'd blagged a footplate ride, but apparently not.

I hadn't appreciated that the RH&DR is largely double tracked until at one point a train went whizzing past in the other direction.  A little later at Dymchurch, we were waiting in the platform as a non-stop express went charging through:

Northern Chief and Black Prince haul the non-stop from Dungeness to Hythe

As seen from on the platform by Dan Wigg

Once at Romney, we alighted (the train was scheduled to continue behind a diesel) and we took a few moments to inspect the locos that weren't in service:

Hurricane and Samson had blown out and had their hair cut respectively

 Sadly, their smallest loco failed early in the day with leaking tubes and needed to be rescued.  'The Bug' (curious name for a steam loco) appeared in the loco shed later in the day looking quite forlorn:

The Bug, 0-4-0 (rather than 0-4-0T according to Wikipedia)

Next stop Dungeness, this time behind number 7, Typhoon:

Pulling in towards Dungeness station

Derek has a chat with the driver, Dan checks out Typhoon

Whilst we were there, Sir Winston Churchill and Northern Chief pulled into the loop:

Sir Winston Churchill and Northern Chief

Although Sir Winston Churchill was built in 1931 by the Yorkshire Engine Company, she has a distinctly American look about her.  I wonder what the real Sir Winston Churchill made of it if he ever saw her.

There was a bit of a loco swap at this point and we found Sir Winston Churchill hauling us back to Romney:

Off back to Romney

There was quite a strong and distinctly frosty breeze coming in off the north sea and the carriages were just a bit draughty.  George decided that steam railways are much more fun in cold weather if you're up on the footplate near to the fire:

George feeling the cold

 Meanwhile, I had worked out how to deal with the lack of leg room in the carriages problem, just sit opposite Tina.  She was the only one of us built for carriages on this scale:

No shortage of leg room

We passed Black Prince at St Mary's Halt:

Number 11, Black Prince

This Black Prince was a 4-6-2, built in 1937.  To us volunteers on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway, the real Black Prince is a considerably larger 2-10-0, BR Standard 9F numbered 92203:

The real Black Prince

After lunch at Romney, we returned to Hythe and our waiting minibus in time to watch a triple headed service disappear off down the line to Dungeness.  In fact we were early enough to see a light engine movement of one of the locos so that there would be three locos available at Hythe to form the triple header with:

Number 5, Hercules running light engine

There are three locos in there.... honest!

Sir Winston Churchill, Black Prince & Hercules storm past

After an extremely enjoyable weekend, it was back to face the perils of the M25 on our way back home and start planning next year's weekend away.
 
Errata:
Apparently my sources on the GWSR last week had failed to inform me that for the last round trip and for the coaching stock movement to Winchcombe at the end of the day, the fireman was Clive Norton, not Ade Showell.  Clive seems to have successfully managed to elude the combined three cameras of Dan, Mark and Matt, though I'm informed that a video from the footplate does exist.