October Update

Thursday, 20th October, 2022

Steam Loco 80097

Our loco 80097 headed a memorial train on Wednesday 14th September.

She carried a wreath, designed by the Bury Standard 4 Group, in memory of our Queen Elizabeth II and also of our late workshop colleague Gary Marland, whose family travelled on the train. Members of the Bury Standard 4 Group attended to pay their respects. Our thanks to Alan, Derek, Adam and Ethan who spent hours giving her an extra special clean up.

80097 has had 6 rubber oil feed hoses replaced and had a boiler washout. She is now rostered regularly on the East Lancashire Railway and is a key member now that ‘City of Wells’ has been taken out for a major overhaul.

On Saturday 8th October there was a surprise visit by the ‘Flying Scotsman’, which was being trialled at the ELR following a major overhaul. 80097 partnered her all day in support.

Our 'Sponsor A Tube' appeal is rolling on and after a very supportive Autumn Steam Gala, where many visitors gave donations, we are now down to just 46 (out of the total 157) boiler tubes left to pay for.

This is a fantastic response and we are very grateful to all our Supporters who have donated to this appeal.

A sincere big 'thank you' to you all.

80097 celebrated the 4 year anniversary since she first ran on the 18th October 2018 after her 34 year restoration by the Bury Standard 4 Group.

Ivatt loco 46428

Steady progress has continued in the restoration of our Ivatt loco.  We've removed the chimney (without too much trouble).

A new smokebox is steadily taking shape with the door frame now having been rivetted on by Nigel and Dave. Aadil has wire brushed the inner surface ready for priming.

Meanwhile the old smokebox seriously resisted attempts to seperate it from the boiler. After all the rivet heads were ground off it needed to have a pilot hole drilled in the remaining rivets, then a larger hole and followed by being hammer punched out. The team of Bob, Mark, Alan, Nigel and Dave have battled on and even had to resort to using a pneumatic hammer punch.

Nigel ground a large slit down the side to encourage the seperation. With the further use of sledge hammers and guide ropes they finally overcame and the smokebox was off.

Another weekend saw further dismantling of the front end of the Ivatt boiler. The team tackled the smokebox ring with more sledge hammering and use of the pneumatic hammer by the Saturday team of Alan, David, Dave, Nigel and Derek until they got it to slide off.

The final prize of removing the superheater header, which had probably not been removed since it was fitted in 1948 was next. With the heat from the boiler and some considerable rusting to the studs, it was definitely well fused on. Lots of hammering, levering and wedging wouldn't budge it.

The team continued on Sunday with more of the same, plus the use of a gas torch to apply heat to try and shift it. By mid afternoon it was levered off.

Dan has loosened and poked out a lot of the encrusted sediment from the firebox end water jacket

Stuart and David have continued to fabricate cab steps, while Rodney, Toby and Alan support them all by keeping the infrastructure in place and tidy.

Activity has also started on refurbishing the brake control rods, which have also severely resisted seperation. Alan, David, Dave, Derek and Ian have had to put some serious graft into this.

Wagons

The ELR team gathered wagons in preparation for the Autumn Steam Gala, which as well as the display of   L & Y and LNWR era locos, also had goods trains running and shunting demonstrations at Castlecroft and Ramsbottom.

Most of the goods wagons are owned by the Bury Standard 4 Group and all of them are maintained by our Keith Savory and his team in the Bury Freight Repairs Group.

He can always use extra help so, if you are interested in wagon preservation, please contact us.

Shop

Our fund raising Shop at the end of platform 2 at Bury Bolton Street station is open every Saturday and Sunday (and most Wednesdays).

Come down and see our range of 00 and N gauge models, books, dvd’s, magazines and toys.

Workshop tours can be arranged through the Shop for anyone who is interested in joining our restoration teams.