Well, we got the second part of the big shunt finished safely on time tonight, thanks to the team including Ray Towell, who came up from York to help. Another reason to move things around was that on this Sunday, 11th October, some of our volunteers are having a goods shunting day, and the shunt enabled us to get some wagons out for them to play with. Most of these live inside most of the time, so if you are a wagon enthusiast, now’s your chance to see half a dozen out and in use, including the HAA merry go round hopper wagon and the ex ICI limestone hopper, seen below on our running line.
In the meantime, Richard Pearson . our workshop manager, and the apprentices, Johnny & Jason have fitted one of the new bufferbeams for the North Eastern electric loco. Well done and thanks! I’ll try and post a picture of the old beams so you can see how rotten they were. Stanegate Restorations in Haltwhistle provided the new beams, real craftsmen!
I now have a weekend in the South of England, engaged on various collections issues including a visit to Amberley to see their steam crane. More next week!
Great to see the ES1 getting some attention, my favourite loco