Saturday 27th June

The Anniversary Proms Concert, given by the Walsall Symphony Orchestra, was well attended, with extra seating brought into the Heritage Centre right up until the Concert started.

There were train rides before the concert, during the interval and at the end, steam hauled by Barclay engine 1964/1929 now in NCB West Midlands livery.

The engine which was perhaps going to be used on Saturday evening and Sunday, Wimblebury, was sadly left in the Heritage Centre with water problems.  Shame, but these things happen.

Museum News

At last it’s happened – all the cases have lighting. 

No more watching our visitors pressing their noses to the glass to see what we have in our collection.  What a relief!

Our latest addition is a model of a locomotive boiler, based on a Royal Scot class loco. 

Another of our newer items is a local warning sign, originally from the top of Ironstone Road,  from the level crossing above the ‘Rag’ public house.

One  other local item is the train staff for the single line from Walsall Wood colliery to Norton Junction on the LNWR.  It’s the black one at the front.

Our museum is well worth a visit, so why not come along?  It’s free!

In a couple of weeks, 12th July, we shall be holding our model railway exhibition, and there will be one layout in the museum.

Next on the agenda, as far as I am concerned, is a laptop for museum use.  Life would be so much easier.  One has been promised, but when………?

We did get one shortly afterwards (not new) but now, in 2015, it is approaching coplete knackeredupness!!

What a Great Weekend!

An absolutely brilliant weekend in my opinion – I certainly can’t remember a better one!

Two newly painted engines and a newly painted coach all out of the workshop in time, a lot of hard work went into getting the rolling stock ready, well done to all concerned.

Rolling stock all ready, but what of the track – the amount of work put in over the last few weeks, and by not-too-many members, took a terrific effort – it was so good to see trains in both bays and both main platforms.

Steam on the Narrow Gauge was another tremendous success, they were kept busy all day for both days really good to see – a great attraction.

The Museum staff was also kept busy all weekend – it was very handy during the (fortunately) few showers, but it’s true to say that there were a lot of people coming in anyway.

I don’t know what all the public thought of the Gala, but all I can say is that a friend of mine brought her grandson along for a train ride and he was enjoying himself so much that it took her 4 hours to get him away!! That’s what we like to hear!

There was so much going on all weekend that it is difficult to put it all on paper (or blog!), but if I have missed anything in this very brief summary I’m very sorry, but I’ll bet it was as good as the rest!!

50th Anniversay Gala – Father’s Day

 

 June 20th & 21st Anniversary Gala

Father’s Day, Sunday June 21st

Dads like steam trains,too!

A huge celebration of our 50^th year, with visiting engines, historic vehicles and lots going on all over the railway.

Prices – Adults £4.45, Children £2.45,

Family (2 Adults+up to 4 Children) £9.45

Hawthorn,Leslie 0-4-0ST ‘Asbestos’ 2780/1909

Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST No.701 1968/1929

Bagnall 0-4-0ST ‘Linda’ 2468/1941

Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST ‘Colin McAndrew’ 1223/1911

Visiting Locos

Hunslett 0-6-0ST NCB No.7 ‘Wimblebury’ 3839/1956

Peckett 0-6-0ST Type B3 2000/1942

2 ft gauge 0-4-0 VBT De Winton replica ‘Taffy’ 30/1990

 Intensive Train Service  Brake Van Rides

Freight Train and Coal Wagon Train

 Saturday 20^th June  9.30am till late

Sunday 21^st June 9.00am till 6.00pm

Chasewater Railway

Chasewater Country Park, Brownhills, WS8 7NL    

01543 452623     http://www.chaserail.com

Rebuilt Flat Wagon

Flat Wagon

The Leek Station sign is nice, but we’re looking at the flat wagon!

Wagons of this style were used to carry coal, loaded in three boxes, from the pit to the canal, where the boxes were lifted by crane from the wagon and emptied into a narrow boat.

This wagon was completely rebuilt by two members from four wheels and buffers and any other metal parts that were found, plus a lot of timber.  The idea was to use it as a runner for the Hand Crane.  Now all that’s needed is three boxes!

Chasewater Bus Rally

Sunday 14th June was the day of the very successful bus rally, held, this year in Chasewater Park.  There was a first class turn-out of buses and I would

 

imagine that the organisers were well satisfied.  Although the rally was advertised in the Chasewater Railway leaflet I don’t think it was an official railway event, but some of the organisers were railway members.  Congratulations to all. 

 

From what I’ve heard, the bus rides were quite well filled and the next bus running advised at the bus-stop, so that people could ride on different vehicles.  I was told that  one of the bus owners was also a quite high up Scout member and he took the Railway’s visiting Beavers on a ride on a double-decker.  Thanks for that!

The Railway Museum staff decided to open the top gate, nearer to the buses, and were rewarded with a lot more visitors than normal, another very good result.

There are more photos on flickr

Riding Van

 

This is an LNER Riding Van, built by Pickering of Glasgow in 1947, No.DE544440.  It came to Chasewater from Shackerstone.

The first photo was taken shortly after arrival, the second after considerable renovation work had taken place.

Pump Trolley

Hand Pump Trolley

This trolley was purchased (after a whip –round!) from the British Rail permanent way yard in Walsall in the 1970s.  A few years later, in their 1981 session, it was renovated by students of the West Bromwich College of Commerce and Technology

Midland Railway Hand Crane

This crane was built by the Midland Railway Company at Derby in about 1880 and was used for light lifting in railway yards.  Its last known operation was at Repton & Willington goods yard in the 1960s.  It was designed for a maximum lift of about one and a half tons by single man operation.

The lift was achieved by winding the handle through gears, and the weight lowered by a clutch system.

The crane was used at Chasewater from about 1964 till 1976.  It was left in a dilapidated state in the old station area for about 20 years and brought to our present site and left in the car park.

Now it is good to see restoration completed.

Taylor & Hubbard Steam Crane

Taylor & Hubbard 10 ton capacity steam crane – No. 330274

The crane is a 6 wheel self-propelled steam crane built in Leicester by Taylor & Hubbard in 1945 for the LNER. During the course of its working life it has been assigned several identification numbers – LNER 274 – 80/015 – DE330274.

It was fitted with its current Spencer Hopwood boiler in 1951, which has a working pressure of 120psi.  The crane weighs about 50 tons in working order and has a 40 foot jib.  It was built as a permanent way crane and is to be used for the same job at Chasewater, as well as boiler and other heavy lifting duties.

The crane’s runner was built in 1927 as a Great Northern Brake Third carriage no. 22313, but was converted to its present form by BR in 1961 as DE 320882.