What have we been saddled with at the Rocks By Rail Museum?

What have we been saddled with at the Rocks By Rail Museum?

Well, it is the saddle tank to steam loco Elizabeth that has returned from repairs at an outside specialist contractor.

Unloading involved lifting slings and the CAT.

And this is where it was heading to - the Lowmac wagon which already had the cab to the loco on it.

Because there are two valves and a number of bolts protruding from the bottom of the tank it has to be rested on some wooden supports.

I got entrusted to move the supports around to miss the protrusions and there was not a lot of margin for error - no pressure then!

Due to my shill or more likely luck, the saddle tank was lowered into place without incident! Richard took the slings off and the Lowmac with its load was taken back to a siding where the tank and cab will await further work.

Whilst at that end of the line I did notice this.

I am informed that these sleepers will be used to demark the edge off the narrow gauge exhibits from the gassed area. The sleepers will stop the gravel which is to be laid from spilling onto the grass.

Back in the Restoration Shed things are progressing with the Southern Brake Van.

John was also bust stripping paint from the grab handles that he has removed.

Whilst walking round the brake van I noticed something that I really should have noticed before.

At various points along the chassis are welded in  markings for British Steel who produced the chassis members - all the wording is upside down though!

Going outside I noticed Andy and Richard working on the mesh to the ballast washer.

They have remade the mesh with stronger stainless steel individual rods which needed tying together.

They have been using welding wire twisted in place - a labour intensive task indeed! As they had done about a third of it I helpfully suggested that rebar gun would be a lot easier! They had never heard of such a thing so I used the wonders of the internet to illustrate and all I got was 'Why could I not have suggested that before they started!' My defence of only just seeing them do the work did not go down well! I think there may be a rebar gun arriving soon!

For me? Well for the first time since June I got Morris Mower out!

He obviously enjoyed his Summer break and started first time before leading me on a vegetational butchery spree!

With the amount of rain that we are now getting it may be a while before Morris takes his Winter break!

Shunting on a Bank Holiday!

 It was a day of shunting for me at the Rocks By Rail Museum on Bank Holiday Monday.

Whilst many of our guest were enjoying brake van rides....

...the 'action' was taking place in the quarry!

...

That is the coupling between the locomotive and the first wagon of the rake to be shunted.

Mr D was the shunting loco ably driven by John.

This is the face shovel ably operated by Martyn.

Every hour or so we swop the rake of wagons. So this set of tipplers is replaced by these four hoppers.

The hoppers do make an impressive sight.

For those doing the shunting swapping the two rakes over, getting the brake van on the right end of the outgoing rake and the loco at the other can be a hectic time but having done this for many times we can generally swap the two in about ten minutes!

Then the outgoing train sets off back down the line with everyone happy that it has gone well!

My fellow shunter, Gary, took the opportunity whilst being in the quarry of looking over his new purchase...

.. one of only two LIMA cranes in the UK. It needs a lot of work but hopefully Gary will be able to get it into some form of working order in the next few years when it may be able to be on show to visitors!

I do like a nice bit of cake!

 Its a wet and rainy day at the Rocks By Rail Museum!

So what happens on such a day?

Well, it seems as though everyone gathers round something in the Restoration Shed! But what?

It is actually Richard who is the centre of attention using Oxyacetylene to try to separate the mounting flange from the broken chimney of steam loco Uppingham! 

Not sure what is going on here but yet more volunteers sheltering in the Shed!

And yet more!

Even I kept in the dry sorting out some more banners!

However, not put off by the rain, Rob continued work on the Eucild dump truck. However, even he had to admit welding as not a safe option but he could grind and paint in the shelter of the tipper body!

It is birthday on Sunday, Happy Birthday Rob, so he brought in cake!

I do like a nice bit of cake!

Shady goings-on at the Rocks By Rail Museum!

 Following the lunar eclipse on Wednesday it appears that the sun was out for revenge on Thursday having had its rays disrupted by the Moon.  Well that is how it felt at the Rocks By rail Museum.

Just like one of those apocalyptic films, you could see where things had been done like more painting on Uppingham.

The new timber sections in the Southern brake van had been painted.

More work on steam loco 1931 had been done.

The flowers on the platform had been watered.

But where was everyone? Seeking the shade! That is where they were!

Well, everyone was in the shade! John here enjoying some iced water!

Rob who appears to have given up on painting!

Dave and David were in the shadow side of steam loco Uppingham!

Barbara was counting money in the shade of the cafe!

And the all inspiring Ray was resting whilst watching Barbara!

For me there was no vegetational butchery but I used the shade of the Signing In Office to sort out the banners! 

Interestingly, the loco behind Elizabeth is Singapore which had a birthday card left on it.

Well I did try to bring industrial levels of vegetational butchery to the Rocks By Rail Museum but without that machine from yesterdays post I was on a hiding to nothing! More on that later but first off we have a signal that things are moving on - literally with the signal head for the new control system installed.

I did turn a few switches but nothing happened so I presume that there is still work to do just as there is more to do to steam loco Uppingham.

More painting has gone on and slowly it begins to look more like a cared for loco!

Talking of cared for, diesel loco Elizabeth is slowly coming back to life with work being carried our on various electrical components. 

Once working that will bring the number of running diesels to five which is the most I have ever known! 

Interestingly, the loco behind Elizabeth is Singapore which had a birthday card left on it. That made us all wonder until this appeared on YouTube..

Meanwhile my lack of industrial might like yesterdays featured machine didn't mean that I lacked some progress in vegetational butchery as...

...became this....

 ...and I even managed to battle through to last Winters butchery operation!

I was somewhat achy after all that but went home happy!

We agreed that it had been a great day at the Museum!

During August the Rocks By Rail Museum opens every Sunday regardless of whether there is an event or not. This allows visitors the chance to see the Museum in a quiet setting at a weekend rather than being limited to a weekday. For some reason I found myself volunteered along with John for the first Sunday of August. John is always great to work with and we had some interesting visitors so the morning flew by as we chatted in the relaxed atmosphere of a non-event day. One visitor was from a model railway club and wanted one of our exhibits at his clubs exhibition next year so we will have to see how that goes! Another gentleman was called Bob Fleming who has authored a book called 'Room on top' which is about the prototype double-decker unit that British Rail built in 1949 (see the publisher's notes here ).

There has recently been a model released of the prototype by the now liquidated K R Models which been the subject of some heated chatter on model railway forums due to various issues with the model itself as well as problems with getting money returned from what has mainly been a crowd funded company.

Yet another gentleman brought in some good quality military jerry cans, tools and PPE as a donation to the museum. 

We had several family groups where the young child was mad keen about railways but the parents were not so could not understand where the interest came from! Never the less they are nuturing that interest by visiting the Museum! 

Before the day passed by I did actually get some vegetational butchery done with Sammy Strimmer - no visit to the museum can be complete without such activity!

The target was the overgrowth around the Coles crane.

On a less destructional note, I did end the day by watering the flower containers which have been a great success this year.

All in all as John and I locked up we agreed that it had been a great day at the Museum!