More photos from Wednesday night

These photos were sent to me by Ian Dobson, who visited with the Leeds & District Traction engine club last wednesday.

Little Ruston on the passenger train at the Abbey

Atlas shortly after being dragged out of the shed and bump started.

Odin, next to the hog roast. the chimney protruding out of Odin's cab belongs to the steam roller behind it, not a log stove installed in the cab (now theres an Idea for those cold winter Sundays)

The Lister, on the ramp line.

The Gogo Tractor, having made it to the Abbey with Druid and coaches in tow. Druid was there purely to operate the train brakes, the Gogo was doing all the pulling.

Gogo tractor meets steam roller.

The Baguley-Lister combo

And Ian himself, having driven George the electric engine up the line. This was so he could claim to have riden behind (or on) all our operational locomotives in one night!

Thanks for the pics Ian.

High-tech automatic lawnmower

We welcome Tommy the horse to the railway. He is owned by the landlord of the Bridge Inn, on Bridge Road, and is allowed to graze on the platform during the day. In return, he is keeping it nice and short for us, which saves one volunteer a few hours toil with the lawnmower and the cost of petrol to run it. he is only a young horse, so Wednesday when we were running for the traction engine club was probably the first time he had ever seen a train, and a steam roller for that matter.

"WTF?"

Steam engine at the railway!

On Wednesday 19th, the Leeds and District traction engine club had a hog roast at the railway. One member brought along this beautifully preserved, and imaculately turned out steam roller, which became the first steam engine at the railway since Peter Pan visited in the early 2000s.

The hog roast company were back, serving pork sandiwches and drinks from a gazebo again, and we got all our engines out and ran them all in turn on the passenger train. Even the Gogo tractor hauled a train, and did very well until when it was uncoupled from the coaches and was going to run back through to the yard, when it stalled and wouldn't restart.

Here it is seen hauling Druid and coaches towards Bridge Road, very very slowly.

Odin gets some admiration at the Abbey station.

Vulcan also hauled a train, and it started without a problem on it's electric start. The lights have also been repaired, so it is back to full health.

Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery, but Justin has taken some more photos, which I will put up when he emails them to me.

16th May 2010

Yesterday it was the turn of Loweco, the Lister, on the passenger train. Although it was a nice sunny afternoon, passengers were a bit thin on the ground. Just as well as the Lister is the smallest diesel on the railway, and the loaded passenger train uphill is really pushing it. (However I did manage one almost full uphill train without grinding to a halt!).

Meanwhile, more scrap has been gathered, including some steel rod with was retieved with Druid and the crane wagon between passenger trains.

Progress has also been made on the O&K gearbox, with the fitting of some more bits to the new sump.

9th May

Today's engine was the Little Ruston. But despite the fine weather in the afternoon, there were not many passengers about. However, it did the Ruston good to run all afternoon and its exhaust was nice and clear by the end of it.

With long waits at the Abbey station, I had chance to mess about with my camera and take some 'artistic' pictures of the train out of focus with some of the wild flowers in the foreground. Probably a bit amateurish if your a professional photographer, but they still look quite nice.

This picture was taken from on top of the sleuce gate at the top of the mill race next to the Abbey station. It is a view not often enjoyed by us volunteers.

The scrap drive also continues, unfortunately with the scrapping of some sort-of historic items today. Druid's original cab has been cut up for scrap, along with some Fordson tractor parts. It does seem a shame, but when nobody wants to buy these things (and they have been offered for sale many times) the options are either leave them and risk having them stolen, or weigh them in ourselves for scrap and make money from it, so we have done the lesser of two evils. Them money raised from all this scrap is going back into the railway anyway in the form of parts for the O&K and Muir Hill.

Bank Holiday Monday

I was travelling down to Devon for a job interview last Monday so couldn't report on what happened. However, I can now. The train was going to be hauled with the little Ruston, but because of the drizzle Druid was used instead. I also got the job. :-D

Today's loco was Atlas, and we did ok, hauling a good number of passengers for a somewhat miserable May bank holiday Sunday.
The continuing srounging for scrap metal continues, with these stainless steel sheets the next to go. Here they are extracted by Druid and the crane wagon in between passenger trains.

Work continues on the O&K gearbox, with the holes in the sheet of metal that the base is made of filled.

The railway will be open tomorrow, Bank Holiday monday, but I will not be there to report on goings on, so apologies for the lack of a report tomorrow.