2807 to the Rescue

The big news of the last week (well aside from the "Last Mile to Broadway" share launch, click on the photo on the right of your screen for more details) , is that 35006 has made some trial runs up and down some sections of the line under her own steam. 

The brake actuating rods are now in place.

Dan Wigg was the fireman on both days that this happened and he has kindly sent me the following four photos that he took:

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.

Some footage on YouTube of the even can be found by clicking on this link.

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)

On Sunday the 3rd, Foremarke Hall was making excellent progress, with boiler cladding in place back as far as the safety valve covers, the steam pipe cladding is in place too:

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

I had my second firing turn of the season on the 3rd on 2807.  As I already had a blog item written covering 5542's departure, I hadn't intended to say anything about it, but it turned into a fairly unusual day.  It was booked as a driver training turn for Andy:

Andy on the regulator...

...under the watchful gaze of Stephen.

Eleanor was the cleaner (here swapping tokens at Winchcombe with Neil)

 I had a relaxing day, doing some of the firing, and watching Eleanor do some too

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

 Initially there was nothing more out of the ordinary than an oiled up lubricator glass, which required Andy to have a go at cleaning it out:

Too much oil in that one

Andy isolated it and...

...successfully demonstrated how to fix it.

 All was well and good, until we got to Toddington and were just about to start our third round trip, when we were informed that the diesel on the other train had failed and we had to go and rescue it.  I had happy visions of taking our stock down to Chelthenham Race Course, hooking on the other seven carriages plus the failed diesel and then pulling the whole lot back to Toddington. 2807 hardly notices that it has seven carriages behind it, fourteen plus over 100 tons of diesel might make it a bit more interesting. Unfortunately, as it turned out, we were to go down light engine and just return with the stock.

Eleanor, uncoupling our stock, before we set off light engine

 You'll note that a tail lamp has been attached to 2807 indicating that it will be running as a light engine. One of the things that a fireman is supposed to check before setting off in the morning, is that the loco has two lamps, both with red shades.  This was the first occasion that I had ever had to make use of a red shade.

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.

 I'd never been on a light engine loco run that far before, it made an interesting change.  You use far less steam light engine than you do with seven carriages behind you.

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

 We were now effectively hauling train 2, rather than train one, which meant that we still had another round trip to do.

 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

 When we got back to Winchcombe for what was 2807's fourth round trip, we had to wait a short while for the class 47 to return with the failed class 45.

Classes 47 & 45, now both on train 1

The class 45 had been unable to pull its brakes off apparently, hopefully the problem that caused that will soon be rectified, if it hasn't been already.

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

 There was also the smallest of lineside fires to deal with at Cheltenham Race Course:

More of a smoulder than a fire really

Eleanor demonstrated her newly acquired skills at pep pipe operation and briefly became the other kind of fireman

Eleanor... confused about which type of fireman she wants to be

 Once we were back at Winchcombe again, we found that a line possession was being set up for some engineering works on the Monday:

No idea what was going to happen I'm afraid.

And finally, this last weekend, I had the pleasure of acting as an owner's rep for Dinmore Manor during her visit to the Llangollen Railway.  I took my camera along (as if I wouldn't), so here are a few pictures from a very pleasant event.  Hopefully next weekend I'll be able to find a bit of time to catch up with what has been going on with Foremarke Hall now she's back at Toddington, she's progressing at a phenomenal rate.  

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

 As it turned out, Dinmore Manor had more than enough volunteers to cover the turns as owner's representatives over the weekend, I elected to be transferred to Foxcote Manor for a bit of a change.

Dinmore Manor pulling out of Llangollen, as viewed from Foxcote Manor

Approaching Berwyn Station

 I had been forewarned, but it still didn't really prepare me for it, Berwyn tunnel is fairly long and has a very narrow bore.  If you're on the footplate of the trailing engine, it can be more than a little unpleasant in there.  I clasped my neckerchief firmly over my mouth and nose all the way through, but even so, it was easy to see how crews occasionally died of asphyxiation.

Entering Berwyn tunnel

 The entire length of the line snakes its way through the beautiful Dee valley:

Beautiful scenery for the whole route

 Foxcote Manor wasn't the only double headed combination, Dinmore Manor paired up with small prairie 4566 for one trip:

7820 & 4566 approaching Deeside Halt

 All the staff at Llangollen were very welcoming, and none more so than Graham, a trainee fireman on the GWSR, and a fully fledged fireman at Llangollen.

Graham at Carrog (firing 6430 on Saturday)

 On Sunday, Dinmore Manor swapped places with Foxcote Manor on the 09:20 from Llangollen.  Unfortunately, the fireman on Foxcote Manor was a little over-enthusiastic with the shovel and the emission from the safety valves obscured not only Dinmore Manor, but also the rather beautiful station building at Berwyn.

Foxcote Manor leading Dinmore Manor

 My luck with the sun stayed true to form, the cloud preceded Dinmore Manor up the line at Garth Y Dwr by a few yards and the sun reappeared again just in time to illuminate its tail lamp.

Ain't it always the way!

 Dinmore Manor will of course be part of our home fleet of locos for the gala at the end of May