Back to work after Christmas, we return to Locomotion where we see EHSI trainee Nigel Jenkins painting a J27 locomotive cylinder block. This block was a failed casting, which is due to be exhibited soon at Locomotion alongside the original cracked block that it was due to replace to show the scale of engineering involved. The casting weighs around two tonnes. The good news is that a new casting has been made and is in the process of being machined. See more on this story on the NELPG website.

Nigel has also been busy with The Robert Stephenson and Hawthorn Locomotive ‘Eustace Forth’. This engine was built in 1942 for Dunston ‘B’ power station. The station closed in 1981 and the site, just north of Gateshead Metro Centre, was re-developed by American membership warehouse chain Costco. A sub-station building remains in use. Locomotion has now authorised the removal of all the boiler tubes, having first removed some of the bottom rows of tubes pending a boiler inspection. Above we see Nigel removing a boiler tube, with his mentor Richard working on top of the saddle tank in the background.

While the first rows of tubes were being removed, Stephen Unsworth showed me how the tubes are cut through with a gas torch to collapse the ends. This allows them to be pulled through the boiler’s tubeplates and out of the locomotive’s boiler.

Here’s a shot of the front tubeplate, which shows the tubes that have been removed towards the top right and the tubes yet to be removed, which have been cut through with a torch.

Moving now to the work of Jonathan Crowe at Stanegate Restoration, we can see the work in progress to repair one of the buffer beams on the Stockton and Darlington Coach, which is undergoing restoration at the company’s Haltwhistle workshop. Above we see new wood that has been let into the buffer beam to replace a rotted section and thus make a cost effective repair.

Here’s Jonathan working on the S+D coach’s bulkhead.

On my latest visit to Tanfield we looked at the welding training Owen has been doing with fellow trainee Chris Armstrong. This shot shows Owen looking at some of the test welds he's been carrying out, tutored by Chris.

Here’s Owen preparing a piece of channel for welding with an angle grinder.

Chris Armstrong has been carefully measuring the 1904 Andrew Barclay locomotive ‘Horden’, which needs a new cab and saddle tank. Tanfield has a copy of the locomotives 1904 general arrangement drawing, but no detailed drawings. Chris is therefore making new drawings, using computer-aided design software. For some of the measurements he has made a special measuring stick - here he is using it to measure the radius of the locomotive’s saddle tank.

On 15th December I posted a shot of the new track in the tram shed, which was waiting for concrete to complete the track installation. Here is a series of photographs taken this morning, showing the operation. Firstly, the concrete mixer is discharging the concrete into the slots in the floor that take the flat-bottomed rail which is bolted into the concrete floor slab.

All the concrete has been laid now, and is being smoothed out with trowels.

The concrete is beginning to dry now. Before it sets the track team will run a wheelset
along the track to create a flange way for the tram wheels. Then it's job done!

Kevin Malone, EHSI Project Co-ordinator 19.12.2011

Just a quick update on the Work of Owen Edwards at Beamish where he is working 4 days a week with Darren Hall and Mark Elliott, the track gang at Beamish Museum. A month ago I posted a shot of the progress in installing a new turnout in the tramway rail. Since then the project has moved on quite a bit, with the turnout now fully installed.

Beamish have had contractors on site to cut slots in the concrete floor of the tram shed. These have been broken out and new concrete laid to bring the rails to floor level before being concreted in their final position. Here we see the rails in position inside the tram shed prior to final concreting.

Here we see Owen (yes he is wearing ear plugs!) with track gang member Mark Elliott. They are tamping the track just outside the entrance to the tram depot, on the final length of ballasted track just before the section that will eventually be concreted in place within the depot.

Darren Hall, driving the Telehandler, arrives with another bucket of ballast whilst Mark and Owen get on with the tamping.

Let’s leave Owen to his tamping and move on to our second trainee at Beamish, Daniel Belcher. He's been helping out on the laying of the tram tracks too. He made these pieces of timber formwork that were used during the laying of the concrete foundations that support the new rails in the tram shed. The formwork was used to ensure that all the concrete was laid to the same depth.

Daniel has been working with his mentor Shaun Kay on some bigger projects, like the fitting out of these cottages at Home Farm.

At the back of the building, the original kitchen windows need replacing.

Here we see the newly primed windows that Shaun and Daniel have made in the Beamish joinery workshop. They are of the Yorkshire sliding sash style, which are felt to be a more appropriate replacement for this traditional agricultural building.

Moving on from Beamish, we go to Stanegate restoration in Haltwhistle, where EHSI trainee Jonathan Crowe has had an interesting time fitting the side body frames to the S+D coach. The team suspect that the coach sustained accident damage during its life, as the body framing had to be heavily modified to ensure it was all square when the frames were finally fitted. Here we see the coach with its six side frames fitted. Once additional temporary bracing has been fitted the Stanegate team can get to grips with taking the end frames apart to see what this reveals.

The process of dismantling begins; here Jonathan is removing the coach bolts that hold the side frames to the iron brackets, joining the side frame to the floor.

Here we see the outside of the end frame. The coach had vertical wooden buttress frames fitted that joined the end frame by bolts to the buffer beam. You can see the bolt that held it in place at the bottom right of the photograph, and the darker colour of the wood that shows its position on the buttress framing before it was removed.

This shot shows the corrosive effect that oak can have on metal look at the wasted shape of the second and fourth bolt from the camera, caused by the acidic nature of the wood through which the bolt has been fitted.

The wooden buttress framing hasn’t done all that well either, as this rotten section from the buffer beam area shows. More restoration work for the Stanegate team!

Kevin Malone, EHSI Project Co-ordinator 15.12.2011

Throughout November, Tin Man Films' ‘150’, a documentary about the restoration of the Saltburn Cliff Lift, was streamed from Newcastle on SideTV, which screens an eclectic mix of contemporary and archive north-east documentaries. You can view the film above, and to find further information, photos and blog posts about the making of ‘150’ and its companion piece ’55 Seconds’, just follow this link.

Owen Edwards has moved to Beamish to complete the second half of his traineeship. He has joined the track gang for 4 days a week to get involved in a new Beamish project, the installation of a new running line into the tram shed. On Fridays, Owen will be joining his fellow trainee, Chris Armstrong, at Tanfield Railway to further develop his welding skills. Above we see work in progress outside the tram depot.

Also at Beamish for EHSI steam engineering trainee, David Grindley and his mentor Stuart Hines, it’s been time for the replica 19th century locomotives, Locomotion, The Steam Elephant and Puffing Billy to have all their boiler fittings and external flues removed for inspection. Here we see a montage of photos showing close ups of the boilers and their fittings ready for the attentions of the boiler inspector.

The Eston church rebuild continues at Beamish with EHSI trainee Daniel Belcher under the guidance of mentor Shaun Kay. Daniel is making more wooden formwork, this time for the erection of the window arches.

At Stanegate Restoration, EHSI trainee Jonathan Crowe is working on the two of the current restoration projects being carried out at Haltwhistle, the NER No.70 coach body and the Stockton and Darlington Railway coach. All the doors of the S+D coach have now been carefully conserved and repaired, ensuring their authentic 19th Century design features are retained. Here we see one of the doors in its undercoat. The inner panelling of the door is still to complete, and awaiting research on an authentic design.

Jonathan is also working on the side frames of the S+D coach. These have been removed for careful measurement, and new hardwood replacement frames are being made. Above is one of the replacement frames lying on the floor of the coach, ready for trimming to size and test fitting.

A new floor has been test fitted. Here we see the area around the handbrake screw.

Jonathan working on one of the replacement side frames.

Meanwhile more challenges remain. Here's a close up of one of the buffer beams which will have to be replaced.

The NER No. 70 coach body is going to have some of its panelling replaced. Above is one of the end frames where the panelling has been removed to check the state of the structure before repairs commence.

Recently at Tanfield Railway Chris Armstrong had a look at what are likely to be the next two 0-6-0 tank locomotives to have work carried out on them at Tanfield. The nearest one is 'Horden' a 1904 Scottish locomotive from Andrew Barclay in Kilmarnock. The second locomotive, shown here, is a slightly younger Tyneside-built Hawthorn Leslie from 1923.

Both locomotives need much of their platework rebuilding. Here's a close up which gives an idea of the scale of work that will be involved.

We mentioned earlier that Owen Edwards is spending one day a week at Tanfield working with Chris Armstrong, to help him develop his welding skills. Here's Owen arc welding handrails on the steps leading to the shed.

At Locomotion, although the exterior of the 03 diesel repainting is complete, the tricky five colour repaint of the cab interior is still underway. Here we see Nigel Jenkins wielding his paintbrush!

Also at Locomotion, the museum's 1942 Robert Stephenson and Hawthorn 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotive (which used to shunt at Newcastle's Forth Banks Power Station) is being prepared for an inspection of its boiler, to determine the scope of repairs that might be needed. Here we see EHSI trainee Stephen Unsworth gently tapping the wash out plugs on the boiler backhead, in order to remove them for inspection.

Recently, EHSI Beamish trainee Daniel Belcher was called upon to make a repair for the wooden body framing of the Blackpool English Electric 'Balloon' tram (currently on loan to Beamish from the Lancastrian Transport Trust). Here's a shot of the finished job. The wooden repair piece was inserted in the frame and the tram 'bumpers' once again bolted through the framing by volunteer members of the Beamish Tramway Group.

On 18th October English Heritage launched the latest edition of their ‘Heritage at Risk’
Register. The register provides an annual national overview of heritage sites that are at risk.
As Bowes Railway is top of the North East region ‘at risk’ list, English Heritage appropriately chose the Bowes Railway site for the launch.

EHSI Bowes trainee Owen Edwards was of course on site, with the colliery manrider he had rebuilt at Bowes Railway, supported by mentors John Moor and John Young. EHSI trainees from Locomotion, Nigel Jenkins and Stephen Unsworth, and Daniel Belcher from Beamish were also in attendance, manning the forge in the chainmaker’s shop and enjoying the opportunity to practice their blacksmithing skills.

The ‘Heritage at Risk’ launch received some excellent coverage in The Journal and Sunderland Echo, whilst the EHSI project had a useful boost of publicity through a feature broadcast the following day on BBC Radio Newcastle’s breakfast programme.

Congratulations to Tom Dorney, formerly a trainee with the EHSI project at Beamish Museum. Tom applied for a vacancy that had become available in the Beamish transport maintenance department and was, we are delighted to say, the successful candidate.

Now a Beamish employee, Tom will be working with Brian Williams on maintenance of the Beamish road and tram fleet.

Below is a round-up of some of the work that EHSI trainees are doing around the region.
Kevin Malone, EHSI Co-ordinator, 30th September 2011.

Let's have a look at what's happening at Stanegate restoration in Haltwhistle.

EHSI trainee Jonathan Crowe, under guidance from his mentor Ian Yates, has completed the latest schedule of work on NER saloon No. 70. Above we see a floor level shot of No. 70, whose framing has been repaired. The next step for No. 70 may be to tackle the vehicle's doors.

Just to give readers an idea of how rotten some of the structure of NER No. 70 was when it arrived at Stanegate, here's a close up of some of the rotten framing timbers that have been replaced.

Another job that Stanegate are tackling is the restoration of a Stockton and Darlington railway coach destined for Beamish Museum. Below we see Jonathan Crowe planing some of the replacement timbers in one of the coach doors.

Over at Shildon's Locomotion museum, EHSI trainees Nigel Jenkins and Stephen Unsworth have been working on the 03 class BR diesel locomotive under the guidance of Richard Pearson. The locomotive has been having a complete repaint which, since our last posting on 24th August, has been completed. Here we see the locomotive waiting to have its bonnet doors fitted.

Here we see the doors freshly painted and varnished waiting to be fitted.

Here's the finished locomotive on the morning of 30th September.

Here's an earlier job that EHSI trainees were involved with. The J21 basks in the early morning sunshine on 22nd September, after its return for the Stainmore 150 celebrations

It's not often that you get this kind of shot. Here's GWR City of Truro's footplate at Shildon.

Below is the next job in line for our EHSI trainees at Locomotion. Work has already started on the Thomas Smith and Sons rail crane. Stuart Pearson intends to remount the jib on the crane and re-install the wire ropes that operate the jib on to the crane's rope drums.

In the two following shots we see EHSI trainee Tom Dorney and his mentor in the pit beside the Blackpool 'Balloon' tram, repairing a spring mount on one of the trams' trucks.

Below, Tom Tightens up the tram's spring mounts after completing repairs with his mentor Brian Williams.

Moving across to the running sheds, we can experience the 'romance of steam' as EHSI trainee David Grindley, under the watchful eye of mentor Stuart Hines, looks after the museum's steam fleet.

A task that all steam folks will be familiar with, digging out the ash from the smokebox after a days running, it's amazing how fine the dust is and where it gets!

Eventually the smokebox is emptied and its time to shut the smokebox door and get on with the next job.

The next job for David was adjustment of the brakes - normally not too difficult a task, but the Y7 is shedded on a line without a pit, so it’s a bit more of a challenge.

On the same day, David moves back a good 60 years technologically as the morning sun streams into the Pockerley Waggonway shed at Beamish. This area of the museum focuses on the pre-Victorian period, when many of the early developments in steam locomotives took place.

Locomotion might look the part of an 1825 locomotive, but stopping power then was no doubt a challenge. To keep up with modern safety standards Locomotion is fitted with modern air brakes. In this photo David is seeing to the air brake system fitted to Locomotion's very basic 'footplate'.

We had a very productive time at the Heritage Skills Festival at Souter Lighthouse last weekend, with five of our trainees showing off their skills to the public - see our update below.

Work continues at Locomotion on the reassembly and repainting of the class 03 diesel locomotive. In this sequence of photos we see EHSI trainee Stephen Unsworth getting on with the reassembly.

On 1960’s shunting diesels a very heavy ‘chimney’ was fitted, its only function was to provide an outlet for the diesel’s exhaust. Here Stephen helps to lower it in place.

Stephen applying the final coat of varnish.

Stephen helps to get the final pieces of the bonnet bolted in place.

The EHSI project team get together on a regular basis for training and visits to organisations which are able to help our trainees improve their knowledge of heritage engineering.

See below for details of our trip to William Lane Ltd.

Here we see David Grindley on the footplate of the Locomotion replica, on the Pockerley Waggonway on 4th September.

David Grindley’s mentor Stuart Hines feels it’s important for David to drive locomotives occasionally so that he develops an understanding of locomotive performance, the ability to find faults and take action to correct any poor performance he finds ‘on the road’. In the photograph David is just checking the valve gear is correctly set before opening the regulator to move the train out of the Waggonway platform.

Chris Armstrong has turned his attention to the fabrication of a new ashpan for HL N0.2. In this series of shots we see the progress of the job from the old rusted ashpan through the process of bending and fabrication to partial completion. The final work on the ashpan will have to wait until the boiler is returned from repairs at the Severn Valley Railway boiler shop later in the autumn.

Chris with the partially completed ashpan – all that remains to be done is fit the sliding base, the damper and then fit to the boiler.

Jonathan Crowe continues with the restoration of No. 70 - the 19th century N.E.R. family saloon.

The flooring and much of the body framing is now complete. The photos that follow show the high quality of Stanegate’s restoration.

The floor is an interesting example of the 19th Century coach builder’s art. To give it a little bit of spring underfoot, it has two floors of diagonally laid flooring with a layer of horse hair in between.

The EHSI display stand was out and about recently, at The Big Bang North East, an event at New College in Durham for schools and colleges from all over the north east.

At the event, 88 engineering and science projects competed for over 20 different prizes and 10 coveted places at the 2012 final of the National Science & Engineering Competition. John Stelling of EHSI acted as one of the judges, whilst Kevin Malone manned the EHSI
display stand. This attracted a great deal of interest - we even had an application for one of the project's bursary placements in 2012!

Nigel jenkins and Stephen Unsworth, our bursary trainees at Locomotion, have been working with contractors from Shildon-based Rail Restoration NE on the cosmetic restoration of
the sole surviving member of the North Eastern Railway J21 class of 0-6-0 tender locomotives.

The locomotive is owned by the Locomotive Conservation and Learning Trust, and is being
re-assembled for exhibition at 'Stainmore 150' - an event held by the Stainmore Railway
Company in Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria on August bank holiday. The event celebrates
the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Stainmore line, which crossed the Pennines at
1370 feet above sea level at Stainmore summit, and was opened by the Stockton Darlington and Lancashire Union Railway in 1861.

The J21 class was used extensively on the line, so there's a strong link with the Stainmore Railway Company's event in August, where the locomotive will be an important exhibit.

A quick update on Owen Edwards and the progress with the re-assembly of the WST at Bowes Railway. As the photographs show, WST is now back in one piece and ready for steam testing and the running in of its new motion bearings.

In an earlier news story we saw David working on the Y7. Here he's dealing with something quite different. Beamish has a set of 117 year old steam gallopers, where a small Savage centre engine drives the ride and the organ.

The photos show David lighting the fire in the engine and later operating the ride under supervision.

Chris Armstrong at Tanfield has now moved on to the fabrication of a new smokebox for 1911 Hawthorn Leslie locomotive No.2.

The first photograph, above, shows the old smokebox, which was used as a pattern for the new one.

The next shot shows the smokebox lying on its back, having had its hinges and door fitted.

The third shot shows the inside of the smokebox, where Chris has fabricated a temporary clamp to hold the door tight shut, whilst the door ring that the door closes against is welded in place. It's very important that a good tight fit is achieved as the locomotive's
performance depends on the door being an airtight fit.

The last shot shows Chris standing beside what looks like a completed smokebox, but in fact it is yet to be welded, which will be his next job.

When the boiler returns after repairs from the Severn Valley Railway boiler shop, Ian Cowan (Chris's mentor) expects to get on with fitting the smokebox to the boiler and then with re-assembly of the locomotive. Hopefully in time for its 100th birthday!

Saturday 9th July

Jonathan Crowe and mentor Ian Yates at Stanegate Restoration in Haltwhistle and, later in the day, David Grindley and mentor Stuart Hines at Beamish Museum were involved in filming for a TV programme, with Jules Hudson and John Craven. The programme is planned for broadcast in early 2012.

We will post more details on the website nearer the time of broadcast.

Chris Armstrong came to EHSI with welding and fabrication skills that have been put to good use over the past 7 weeks, with support and advice from his mentor Ian Cowan.

Chris made a new internal steam pipe for 1919 Hudswell Clarke Locomotive Renishaw Ironworks No.6. The old pipe had rusted through and a new one was needed to get the locomotive back in action.

Also, as part of the refurbishment of the steam pipe, new linkages were needed for the regulator - the big valve that controls the amount of steam that goes to the cylinders and thus the speed of the engine.

Our rural Northumberland-based trainee Jonathan Crowe hasn't featured so
far on the EHSI news page, so were putting that right with some recent shots
of the work he's been doing. Jonathan has been involved with two projects:

1. The construction of a new canopy for an 1890's Aveling and Porter steam
roller - the canopy protects the roller and its driver from the elements, and when
completed will be bolted to a steel structure on top of the steam roller.

2. Jonathan's second project has been the restoration of an 1870 first class family
saloon. The Saloon No. 70 was built by the North Eastern Railway for hire by wealthy
families. Ian Yates, managing director of Stanegate Restorations, describes this as the 19th century equivalent of travelling on Concorde. The 1st class compartment would have been fitted with an upholstered perimeter settee and a central fixed table. A third class compartment was provided for servants, where it's likely that light meals would have been prepared for their employers.

Boiler Washout, NER Y7 tank

Boiler washouts remove the chalky deposits left inside boilers as water is heated to make steam.

Trainee Tom Dorney, who usually works on the trams and road vehicles, joined steam engineering trainee David Grindley, dealing with the removal of an inspection plate under the boiler and the boiler wash out plugs. The job involved working under the locomotive in some very tight conditions.

Tom says he thinks he'll stick to road vehicles in future!

Daniel Belcher at Beamish Museum.

Daniel is getting into his stride working with his mentor Sean Kay on a range
of heritage carpentry and joinery tasks. He recently produced a small box for holding
petrol cans on the Morris Commercial vehicle.

Beamish uses wood that has been donated to the museum from industrial and commercial locations throughout the north east - in this case the wood came from Boldon Colliery.

At Bowes Railway, EHSI Bursary trainee Owen Edwards continues with the reassembly
of the 1954 built Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 saddle tank 'WST'. The boiler inspector
visited this week and has passed the boiler for another year's service. He also carried out a five-yearly ultrasonic non-destructive test on the thickness of the boiler plate, which the boiler also passed.

These photos show the progress of the job - more updates to follow...

Our first intake of trainees, on the steam gallopers at Beamish during their induction week in early May.

Standing L to R: Daniel Belcher, Stephen Unsworth, Chris Armstrong
Sitting L to R: David Grindley, Tom Dorney, Jonathan Crowe, Nigel Jenkins, Owen Edwards