We start this week’s blog with the very sad news that David Rimmer, former Membership Secretary and then (extremely) long time Treasurer of both the Lakeside Railway Society and the Furness Railway Trust, passed away at the age of 80 last Thursday, 18th April, after being diagnosed with cancer. David was a guard, booking office clerk and locomotive cleaner at Haverthwaite during the earlier days and became a stalwart of the Carriage and Wagon gang. He was also involved in the restorations of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643 and Furness Railway No. 20 as well as being a keen supporter of t ..read more

Last Wednesday saw Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643’s boiler being dragged out of the FRT shed during a gap in the rain showers in order to remove the chimney, manifold and safety valves. John Dixon went inside the smokebox to fix the chains below the chimney. Keith went on top to guide Paul Wood, Ribble’s RRV operator, using the microphone and earphones clamped to his head to communicate. The manifold and safety valves followed without problems, but an attempt to remove the smokebox door failed when the locating pin in the hinges refused to move despite strenuous efforts by John wit ..read more

We start this week’s blog with the sad news that long time member and former Press and Publicity Officer of the Lakeside Railway Society (forerunner of the FRT) Michael Cooke has passed away recently at the age of 85. Despite suffering from ill health, Michael had kept in touch in recent years, sponsoring the purchase of some storage shelves and supplying the mess room with tea bags for the benefit of volunteers. The funeral will be private and we send our condolences to Michael’s family. The overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643 is making steady progress with Sim Dixon alongside b ..read more

A short catch up this week. That is not to say that work is not continuing apace as usual. Keith has been drilling out more stays in the firebox of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643 whilst John, Jon and Simeon Dixon have been working on cleaning and painting 5643’s frames. The Ribble Steam Railway’s Spring Steam Gala took place on Saturday and Sunday which meant that some resources were deployed to clean Furness Railway No. 20 and prepare it for action. Great Eastern Railway royal saloon No. 5 was also in traffic over the weekend so it was given a good vacuuming, a polish of the internal w ..read more

It has been another week of steady progress on the overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T locomotive No. 5643 at Preston. Keith was busy on Wednesday making adjustments to the right hand big end, where unwanted movement of the bearings had been detected during inspection. John Dixon has continued his quest to clean up and paint those areas of the frames not usually visible to the public. Keith has now started to drill out stays on the left hand side of the firebox; his work on the right hand side so far can be seen here with 71 stay holes visible. More horse chestnut leaf patterned moquette ..read more

Work has continued with the overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643 with Keith seen here scraping in the white metal on one of the axleboxes. Jon Dixon continued the beautification of the driving wheels which, after significant effort, are now rapidly becoming very black and shiny. With the start of the Ribble Steam Railway’s operating season fast approaching, Ade transferred Furness Railway locomotive No. 20 and Great Eastern Railway royal saloon No. 5 to the RSR running shed last Wednesday. Sam used the opportunity to fit the mudhole doors on FR 20 whilst it was over the pit. GER N ..read more

Work at Preston has again focussed on the heavy general overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643. Jon and Sim Dixon have been working on sprucing up the appearance of the driving wheelsets. Paul Balshaw has been cleaning one of the pistons. Ed has been working inside the frames, viewed here through the left hand cylinder. Ian Massey has completed his welding work on 5643’s boiler. Allen looks on as Keith drills out another of the 300 stays to be replaced. With Mother’s Day fast approaching, work has also been taking place to de-winterise Great Eastern Railway royal saloon No. 5 so tha ..read more

We are very sorry to have to start this week’s blog with the very sad news that Fred Jones, a long-time member of the Trust and regular volunteer at Preston, passed away peacefully in Lancaster Royal infirmary last night. As readers of this blog will be aware, Fred suffered a medical problem recently and we were all hoping that we would see him back again at Preston in the not-too-distant future. However, Fred was taken into Lancaster Royal Infirmary last week for tests after continuing to feel unwell. Fred loved railways and thoroughly enjoyed working both at Haverthwaite and at Preston, taki ..read more

Things are getting back to normal now we hope with a more consistent publication of the blog following illness. Work has continued on the overhaul of Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643. John Dixon has been giving the spring hanger bolts a good clean and several coats of paint. Sim (left) and Jon Dixon are seen here giving the exterior of the steam chest and smokebox saddle a coat of high temperature black paint. We now have a first blog photo of the new chimney casting for Great Western Railway ‘Hall’ class 4-6-0 No. 4979 that was recently supplied by the Severn Valley Railway. The casting ..read more

Apologies once again for the inconsistent publication of the blog. We are hoping that the effects of the winter ailments are now mainly behind us! First of all this week, a big thanks to all those of you who have made such generous donations to the Trust whilst renewing membership over the past couple of months. With so much potentially expensive work going on at the moment it is really very heartening to have such support from members. It is very much appreciated. The overhaul of 5643 has continued apace with the coded welder Ian Massey paying a visit last Wednesday to commence work on 5643’s ..read more