Bristol Harbour Railway - Updates and Goings on

Photos look excellent Martin

I was gutted I couldn't take the time off. All being well I should be there this coming sunday though.

 

I made a visit to the Bristol Harbourside Railway today and was very impressed by the two little 0-4-0ST Port of Par locomotives that are in service this weekend. The trains ran double-headed
from the 'M shed' with 0-6-0ST 'Portbury' running in top 'n tail mode. All trains were packed. The trips ran alternatively between the 'M shed' and the SS Great Britain / Cumberland Road. <BJ

 

Have heard the whistling all day from my house!

 

Great afternoon at the Bristol Harbour railway with the Port of Par twins a day rover is very good value at £4.oo the trip to the create centre is well worth doing.A Great shame that the mainline connection is lost. Bristol is so backward when it comes to railways I Remember GWR150 when the Mickey Mouse and Hinton Manor came down here from Temple meads along with a chocolate & cream DMU .

 

A few pics from shunting taking place in the pouring rain on Friday...

 

Made a visit down to the harbour today to see the twins in action, despite the rain it was good to see the twins in a harbour setting!

 

The two diminutive saddle tanks on the harbourside on Saturday. http://www.flickr.com/photos/16582147@N07/sets/72157635544542442/

 

Oh dear, Portbury was sounding a little off there... blown main steam pipe perhaps? Matt didn't mention that when I spoke to him yesterday morning.

 

It was a steam leak, David diagnosed it Sunday evening, apparently it's quite accessible so should be fixed relatively quickly.

 

A few more clips of the passenger service on Sunday



Alfred was doing the majority of work on the dockside when heading toward the Create Centre/SS GB, with Judy providing the vacuum and assisting once over the junction.

 

A lot can change in a week! There is a hole in the sky as 'The Barn' is dismantled. In the current redevelopment plans, the siding on the right will be reconnected to the shed road on the left, forming a loop into the yard again. The stone setts on the right (under the telehandler) are to be replaced with an access road, which will cross both lines roughly where I am standing to take the picture. This will take traffic away from the current choke point around the front of the Olive Shed.

 

The shed is gone and the headshunt now reconnected! There has been clearance work down at A Bond warehouse as well.
Click on the picture to see the blog post and more pics.

 

That's something I've been wondering myself, since the new access road is likely to be tarmac. Would be such a shame to lose them completely! I'll make a note to ask next time I'm there.

 

Well, today was the end of season for the M Shed working exhibits, follow the link to the blog post!

http://bristolharbourrailway.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/end-of-season-2013/

Plenty planned for the winter, so stay tuned...

Also enjoy this picture of the fantastic cake of 'Henbury' and 'Portbury'.


Martin - I'm not certain if the setts will be coming out via contractor or not but will see what happens.

 

I've added a new post to the blog featuring some pictures and an insight into 'Portbury's life in preservation.
Click here to see it:
http://bristolharbourrailway.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/portbury-in-preservation/

Here's a little pic of her in lined blue back in 1992:

 

Bristol's metrobus guided busway scheme is given the go-ahead, with revised route.
See full blog post here:
http://bristolharbourrailway.wordpress.com/2013/11/28/bristol-metrobus-revised-plans/

 

That sounds like partial good news although it does seem that it will still impact in some way on the railway. Hopefully though sense will prevail at some point and the pointless missguided busway will fall by the wayside!