A lovely rainbow over the museum as Henbury shunts in the yard this afternoon, rounding off this Easter bank holiday weekend’s activities.
Easter Weekend
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First Operating Weekend of 2024
Henbury is out raising steam for this weekend’s activities with steam train rides on Saturday and Sunday. Come on down to the quayside and have a ride!
Portbury in the Workshop
With the GWR O18 wagon freshly painted and out on the quayside again, it was time for Portbury to go in to the workshop to continue its 10 year overhaul. The volunteers and staff have done a lot of prep work getting the tank off and freeing up the boiler.
Henbury was being warmed up on Saturday for the move whilst the track inside the workshop had been extended.
On Monday morning, Henbury dragged its shedmate onto the quayside and Crane 32 was used to lift the boiler off and onto the boiler trolley.
Thanks to Art Spicer for this photo.
Dave Blackburn took these photos of the boiler lift and shunt.
The rolling chassis required a larger crane so one was hired to pick up the two halves of the loco, turn them through 90 degrees and onto the track going in to the workshop.
Thanks again to Dave Blackburn for these photos of the lift:
Now it’s all inside, work can continue!
Thanks to Bob Edwardes for these photos.
Wagon 61110 back on the rails
Good news from the harbourside as the restoration of ex-GWR O18 open wagon No.61110 is finished. It’s been brought out of the workshop and placed back on the running line.
This item of stock was bought by the Port of Bristol Authority in 1961 for use at Avonmouth.
The protective cover is metal and can be lifted by one of the cranes if needed.
Thanks to Bob Edwardes for the photograph.
Autumn Highlights 2023
It’s the last operating day of the season tomorrow, so here’s a little round-up of things that have been happening.
Docks Heritage Weekend took place over 30th September/1st October.
Good turnout of volunteers in period dress, along with the Show of Strength Theatre Company interacting with the public. Henbury was in steam both days and collected the BD wagon (which had been in use with the capstan) on the Sunday after the toys had been put away.
Steam tug ‘Mayflower’ has made a return to service following repairs to its engine. It’s been great to see it working on the harbour again over the past two weekends.
‘Have a go’ week took place over the October half term, where customers can pay to have 20 minutes learning to drive the steam loco on the quayside line, followed by 20 minutes on the crane. I was firing on Thursday, Bob Edwardes took some pics too.
Henbury has been running services single-handedly this season. In the shed, Portbury’s strip-down is ongoing.
Portbury is waiting for a free slot in the workshop, currently occupied by the GWR O18 wagon. Bob lettered it up into PBA condition as 61110 earlier this month. Hopefully not long until it’s back on display.
Re-Sleepering in the Yard
I’ve been a bit lax in updating the blog this year, so there may be a few late uploads.
On the weekend of 28th August some of the volunteers and staff were undertaking sleeper replacement in the yard. This has been on the cards for some time as the old ones were life-expired.
Corrie Nash 2023
The railway and diesel tug ‘John King’ were operating over the Chazza Cozza weekend, with the train suitable carrying flags and bunting for the occasion.
Of course the skipper of ‘John King’ had been revising their morse code for a 12:00 sound-off!
Aerial Footage of the Portishead Branch
Youtube channel ‘Stef’ posted this interesting video of the line from Portishead to the junction at Portbury, passing the site where the locomotive now known as ‘Portbury’ once worked.
Also visible is the loop that was used for steam specials to Portishead back in 1985.
First operating weekend of 2023
‘Henbury’ was out and on the quayside line this weekend. Despite a late start on Saturday due to the awful weather in the morning, things brightened up considerably!
Thanks for Beth for sharing these photos of the weekend’s running.
Canons Marsh Gas Works Peckett ‘Fenwick’
Fenwick was built in 1911 as Peckett Works Number 1221 and worked at Canons Marsh Gas Works.
Thanks to a heads-up from fellow volunteer Bob, I acquired this photo from eBay which is dated on the back as 11th August 1949 and shows Fenwick between duties with the mighty gasometer in the background.
Bristol Harbour Railway Blog 