The Railway Magazine – August 2019

August2019 •TheRailway Magazine•71

Bo’nesslinegets£740k

lotteryaward fornew

engineering centre

THE Scotti sh Railway Preservation

Society(SRPS) is erecting an

all-new engineering facilityatt he

Bo’ness &KinneilRailway.

Thedevelopmentisb eing

prog ressed thanksto a£741,500

grantfrom the NationalLottery

He ritageFund towardsits

Steaming Ahead project.

Themulti-faceted project

will see the creation ofanew

engineering facility, which will

be usedto repair the SRPS steam

locomotivecollection and carry

out overhauls andrestor ation

work.

Currently,major rebuildwork is

carried out in an old Romney Hut,

which is cramped and not fitfor

the railway’s purposes.The new

facilitywill be built on the area of

land to the south of the Romney

Hut,wherethereare currently

three sidings andalot of waste

ground.

In additionto the physical

engineering aspect, the new

workshop will allowthe railwayto

train volunteers and apprentices,

as well as improveand expand the

overall visitorexperience.

An in terpretivetrail will be

crea tedalong anew levelwalking

routetot he steam shed and onto

anew entrancefor the Museum of

ScottishRailways.Interpretation

will be provided within the steam

shed,together with new

hands-on activities.

Thetraining aspect, andthe

desiretopass on the skills needed

to carefor and operatesteam

locomotivesto anew generation,

wasakey elementint he

successful awarding ofthe grant.

Threenew members of staff

will be employedtooversee

the volunteer training,with staff

members in placefor the five-year

duration of theSteaming Ahead

project. Anew training schemefor

the SRPS’s volunteers is one part

of this,with an apprenticeship

and trainee scheme also planned.

Six apprentices will

train through theModern

Apprenticeship scheme,delivered

in association withFalkirk Council.

SRPS chairmanSteve

Humphreyssaid:“The Steaming

Ahe ad projectwill allowustotake

amajor stepforwardinhaving

not only the rightinfrastructure

to maintain andoverhaul

locomotives,but alsoto ensure

we can train the next generation

of volunteers and apprentices

with the necessaryengineering

skills .”

“Thereisalot of hardwork

ahead of us andwe arelooking

forwardtostartingwork on it all.”

Thenew facilities areexpected

to be readybythe spring of 2021.

Broken piston sidelinesBradleyManorfor

‘considerableperiod’ at West Somerset

COLLETT‘Manor’No. 7802

Bradley Manorhas been

withdrawnfromtraffic at the

West SomersetRailway (WSR)

aftersufferingabrokenpiston

rodwhile in serviceonthe line.

TheErlestokeManorFund’s

(EMF) 4-6-0wasworking

the 10.15 BishopsLydeard-

Minehead serviceonJuly 7

when the incidentoccurred,

busting thecylinder end

cover off and damaging the

cylinder casting.The train and

locomotiveweresubsequently

recoveredto BishopsLydear d,

whereNo. 7802wasremoved.

Inspectionreve aled

the‘Manor’has suffered

significantdamageto the

cylinder asaresult and itwas

withdrawnfromservic efor a

full investigation and further

examination priorto repair.

Material failure

AjointstatementfromWSR

chief mechanical engineerBob

Meanley and the EMF’sTerry

Jenkinsconfirmed the locois

likelyto remain out of service

for“aconsiderable period”.

Thestatementadded:“We

must stressat this pointint ime

thatthis appearsto be avery

unfortunate material failureat

alocation whereitwas totally

impossibleto visually detect

potential defects,and therewas

nothing which currently links

the failuretothe allocatedcrew

on the day.”

Bradley Manoris currently on

aseason-long hiretothe WSR

from its homeat theSevern

Valley Railway (SVR).

It movedtoSomerset inMay

as partofanexchange deal that

saw‘Modified Hall’No. 6960

Raveningham Hallreturn to

the SVR.

Just over aweek beforeits withdrawal,No. 7802BradleyManorpassesCastle Hill,near Williton, with
the 14.30Minehead-BishopsLydeardservic eonthe West SomersetRailway on June 27.PAUL ABIGGS

JONATHANJones-

Pratt’srecently acquired

Hawksworth 0-6-0PT

No.9466 wasexpectedto

makeanappearanceat

the West SomersetRailway

Association’s Steam&Vintage

Rally at NortonFitzwarren on

August 3-4.

TheRed routelocois

currently on hiretothe

South DevonRailway forthe

season as it istooheavy to

run over the full length of

the West SomersetRailway;

the line has beentemporarily

downgraded from Redto

Blueroutestatus while

essential track upgrades are

carried out.

However, the section of line

between NortonFitzwarren

and BishopsLydeardhas

retained its Redroutecode,

and thiswaswherethe

pannierwasdue to run

during theweekend.

Mr Jones-Pratt, who is

chairman ofWest Somerset

Railway plc,provided the loco

free of chargeforthe event,

with all moneyreceived on

brakevan andfootplate rides

donatedtothe association’s

on-going £250,000 track

renewal appeal.

At the time of goingto

press this hadreached the

£50,000 mark.

HAWKSWORTHPANNIERVISITS WEST SOMERSET RALLY

GLOUCESTERSHIREWarwickshireRailway-

based‘Manor’No. 7820DinmoreManoris back

in trafficat theDartm outh Steam Railway at

the startofaseason-long hire.

TheCollett 4-6-0 is dueto stayinSouth

Devonuntil September,and is seen here

passingWatersideCarava nPark with the 14.25

Paignton QueensPark-Kingswear on July 6.

TheDinmoreManorLocomotiveLtd-owned

locomotiveisnostran ger to theformerGWR

line,having gone on hiretherein2015 and

2016.DAVID HUNT

TheRomneyHut at Bo’ness, wherethe Bo’ness&Kinneil Railway

undertakes itsoverhauls andrepairs,isp ictured on July 12.The

cramped building iscurrently hometo under-restoration BR‘4MT’

2-6-4T No.80105.IAN LOTHIAN

THE Grea tWesternSociety’s

projecttor e-crea te an exampleof

GJChurchward’s lost‘47XX’2-8-0s

has reached another milestoneat

the LlangollenRailway.

Recentwork on No.4709 has

concentratedonthe spring

hanger brackets,which is now

all butcomplete, as theproject

team look aheadat wheeling

the locomotive. These have been

modified from Churchward’s

originalcompensating

suspension, and instead are

identicalto those fittedto Collett’s

later‘Grange’4-6-0s.

Thealter ation has been

made in lightoft he changing

requirements andregulations

thathavecome into general use

sincethe original‘47XXs’were

built,and wasdeemed necessary

if the big 2-8-0 isto work on the

main line in the future.

Oncethe brackets have been

machined andtest fit ted, they

will be aligned usingapurpose-

built visual jig,then secured

to the frames using specially

manufactured bolts and rivets.

Forfurther information on the

projectvisit: http://www.4709.org.uk

DinmoreManorreturnstoKingswear

Anothermilestone for

‘Night Owl’ re-creation

Haveyougotastoryforus?Email: [email protected]