Although it has been a quiet start to the year, things in the workshop are progressing. The gold tractor is in for some TLC, as you can see with bits all over the workshop it is a big job. Helga had another steam test which was successful this time. Before Christmas we did steam her, […]

After the fun of the weekend which we all enjoyed we started planning the winter work, first was washing out and cleaning the two locos we used over the weekend. We  also had a reshuffle of the shed to get Zambezi to front, as she will have a hydraulic test soon. Coach 7 was also […]

This week we reattached the cab on Helga, it was retrieved from the field which has been its home for the last couple of months. It has not been finally fixed down as we had a list of jobs that needed to be completed in readiness for the Santa weekend, which is approaching very quickly. […]

Things are progressing nicely in the workshop. Starting with coach number 6, the second lighting strip is in and the wiring to the battery installed. The painting department has started on the newly prepared floor. Helga was steamed to check the various pipes, fittings and set the safety valves, other than a few leaks it […]

Today we had a number of tasks to do, replace sleepers, replace some signal wire support guide posts and clear some fallen trees. In the base of one of the fallen trees was a nice little village of fungi. The biggest job was the replacing of two large point switch sleepers.

This week the cleaning of the locos used on the Halloween event has started Armistice has been drained of water, cleaned and checked over as she is not going to be used over the winter. We had a move around of the locos, this is in preparation for bringing some of the coaches into the […]

Those of you who noticed Helga’s boiler was outside the loco shed, this was to enable us to do a couple of light steamings. Also to check all was well with the few jobs that had been completed before reuniting it with the rest of the loco. The job of lifting the boiler in is […]

This week work continues on Helga’s boiler. After a few light steaming sessions the boiler is settling down, some of the fittings had a bit of attention to stop a few drips. We pumped the boiler up hydraulically and it was gratifying when she held pressure, one step closer to the hydraulic test. We have […]

The last couple of weeks have been busy around the workshop after the June open day. Firstly the cleaning of the locos and doing any maintenance jobs on them, with only one small issue with one of Eigiau’s injectors, which was tracked down to the clack valve seat not sealing correctly. After doing the the […]

Today was mostly outside work as it was a lovely day. We prepared the works train which will be needed for some more track maintenance. Loco cleaning continues with attention paid to all those hard to get at greasy bits. Inside the shed Helga’s boiler is now on the trailer and has had the new […]