Bristol Harbour Railway - Updates and Goings on

To see even more updates and pictures not only from the BHR but also the other working exhibits at M Shed, including the steam and electric cranes, tug ‘John King’, fire boat ‘Pyronaut’ and more, it’s well worth checking out the facebook group on the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/198001523638936/
(You will need a facebook account to see this page)
Here is one such picture of the elusive Fox Walker loco, taken before the M Shed rebuild. This photo also illustrates how the running shed linked to the old workshop in L shed.

 

A little animated teaser for Portbury...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v42/Butch/drag-henbury-and-portbury-out-of-shed_zpsbbe83a87.gif

 

Don't see why they could dual track the bridge.

 

I believe the plans include a dual-lane busway going over the Portishead branch on a bridge, then taking the BHR branch trackbed to the old swing bridge and across the river.
If it were dual-lane, I don't think there would be room for a rail line or run round loop.
I imagine that using the rail line would preclude the use of double deckers due to overbridges etc. I hope a solution can be found that does the least amount of long term damage.

 

Google maps’ view of the area around M Shed is now outdated, but does give an interesting insight into how the landscape around the railway has and continues to evolve. I cobbled together a few images to give a bigger picture.
You can see how M and L shed were formerly much more separate, with rail access to the workshops in L shed behind.
Also visible are the old reclamation yards to the South, now a building site for Umberslade’s housing project.
The end of the loop where the temporary ‘barn’ was constructed is to the West side of the picture.

 

I was lucky enough to take some holiday last week and have spent the days down at the railway. 'Portbury' has been the main focus of attention as she is prepared for her steam tests.

Here's a few pics I've taken over the course of the week.

Firstly, lining in progress (During Harbour Festival)



Painting up the inside of the frames


and the coupling links (red oxide first)




Smokebox front rubbed down and first coat applied



The obligatory front three quarter view



More to come...

 

In order to rearrange the two saddle tanks, and to get 'Henbury' over the inspection pit, it was necessary to do some rearranging using the Ruston diesel shunter, not often seen on the line.
The Ruston itself was in the 'Barn', behind the line's self-propelled crane.

The crane shunts the coal wagon back out of the way.





With a growl and a puff of smoke, the Ruston creeps out of the barn, collects the two vans (Which double up as a good way of preventing people falling into the pit), and deposits them back outside the shed before heading down to M Shed.









Dragging the two steam locos out, Portbury deposited in the siding while Henbury heads to the pit.




Henbury is pushed back into the shed first....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v42/Butch/push-henbury-back-to-shed-1-500_zpsad9cbc4a.gif

and Portbury basks in the sun



This week, she's been treated to warming fires to test the boiler for any leaks. Sunday saw her courting attention on the quayside.

 

Good to see progress with Portbury. There could well be a market for photo charters with the Ruston. It looks a very authentic background for a docks railway, not too sanitised everywhere.

 

Is the charter date set now martin? Are BHR et al on board with the new date?

 

The diminutive Port of Par twin engines 'Alfred' and 'Judy' have arrived in Bristol.

Thursday September 12th will see them operating photo charters, and as an added bonus, they will be operating service trains in conjunction with the BHR's own 'Portbury' this coming weekend.



The charter and the visit has been organised through 30742 Charters with the Bristol Harbour Railway, the Locomotive's owners, and the haulage company.

To find out more about these locomotives follow the link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagnall_0-4-0ST_"Alfred"_and_"Judy"

Also see below for bonus panorama fun:

 

Sorry but is anyone else having trouble with this thread ? the amount of pics and GIF's is totally killing my browser and taking well over 15 mins to scroll through page 4.

 

ahaaa I suspected that might be an issue, sorry! It's due to my laziness for dumping the pics straight from wordpress rather than photobucket. I'll try and fix it ASAP

EDIT: Have changed the photo links to photobucket ones, so they should be smaller and load a lot quicker. Will make a note to do the same for page 3 when I can. Hope that helps!

 

Managed to sneak a peek at the charters on the quayside this morning, side by side running under the cranes!

 

Yes 5 to 10 minutes for me.

 

Lame. Will swap to thumbnails when I get the chance. Loads in about 10 seconds on my (>£1k, work provided) machine running google chrome

 

Ok, GIFs replaced with links and thumbnails swapped in where possible. How is it now?

 

Loads ok now.

Thanks
Paul

 

Awesome.

Now here's something that may crash your browser again. Parallel running on the dockside.