There is lots to report this month.  It is also worth noting that we had to cancel the rest of Sir Berkeley’s steaming dates here, after a problem at the front end manifest itself that could only really be explored at its home railway.  This as a disappointment (not least I missed two days out on it that I’d booked in as a treat!) but I am sure that we will see it return to Beamish again in the future.  It has certainly stirred up some thoughts about our own Manning Wardle, Newcastle (1532/1901) and where it sits in the restoration queue.  Its file is sat on my desk at the ..read more

There has been a great deal of interest in the visit of Manning Wardle No.1210 Sir Berkeley to Beamish, and having promised further steamings, here are the dates that we hope to operate it in the Colliery.  As ever, usual caveats about being ‘subject to availability’ etc. apply, but we will do our very best to ensure it is out on these days: April: 15, 16, 22, 23 and 27 May: 4 and 6 A number of build dates appear for this locomotive – with both 1890 and 1891 being used.  It was ordered and constructed in 1890 and delivered so late in the year, that it was effectively 1891 before the ..read more

Our first Wheels of Industry event has been and gone, with nearly 11,000 visitors over the two days, making it successful operationally and commercially.  Despite the weather forecasts, the weather was actually pretty good, and I saw a lot of photographers making the most of it, across the site.  Sir Berkeley and the narrow gauge locomotives were, understandably, very popular, but the constant movement of road traffic really helped bring the site to life too.  Here are some of my images taken over the weekend, and I’ll soon add some images sent in by others.  The trio of Ta ..read more

The week has been dominated by the arrival of exhibits for Wheels of Industry this weekend, and preparing the various railway exhibits for operation.  Here are some photographs to tempt potential visitors… Wheels of Industry Below: Sir Berkeley arrived from Middleton on Tuesday, and was quickly unloaded. Below:  Coffee Pot No.1 provided the motive power (quite a load for it on wet rails up the gradient into the pit yard!). Below: Safely parked in the shed, in readiness for a fitness to run exam on Friday. Below: Glyder was used to shunt the visiting locomotives on the narrow g ..read more

The blog celebrates fifteen years of existence this month – which is rather hard to believe, looking back!  Some of the earlier posts were rather brief, having been hosted on the museum’s website platform initially, but once it was on its own host, and especially after the move to WordPress, the content grew and grew (largely as I was able to upload posts myself, WordPress being within my own limited IT skills!). I still use the blog as a database, as the search tool is pretty effective, and it often makes interesting reading to pluck a month and year at random, and see what we were doing ..read more

It would be fair to say that news of the 2024 events programme is landing a little late – the pressures of everything else that is going on, plus the competing projects vying for our time making the timescales somewhat tighter for fitting everything in.  This year we have two transport-themed events (rather than four, as last year), and these feature a bit of re-branding to both tailor them to our operation better, and to keep them fresh (the old steam fair format was becoming quite unwieldy for us to manage).  We also have to more proactively manage the health & safety around so ..read more

I think it is fair to say that the blog is becoming more of a monthly newsletter now – and certainly for the T&I posts, I think this is a reasonable aspiration in terms of content and the time to write it.  Additional posts will appear, as ever, to reflect particular themes or news stories – and shortly I’ll be uploading information about the forthcoming Wheels of Industry event in April (this being the new name for the refreshed transport event that we hold in the spring).  We are also planning for June’s Fares Please! event too.  We won’t be having any other transport even ..read more

Happy new year to all readers, and we start the year with an exciting piece of news regarding the tramway… Readers may have seen elsewhere the announcement from Big Heritage, in Merseyside, that they are taking over the operation of the Wirral Tramway and associated transport museum at Taylor Street.  In the announcement, it was revealed that Lisbon tram No.730 will be moving to Beamish in the near future, following the change of operator.  This information did initially appear before we were quite ready to reveal it, along with 730’s owners, the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Socie ..read more

Once again it has been a while since the last blog post.  Work has been progressing on various fronts, but the majority of the time has been taken up assisting with various audits and statutory visits, training and planning.  Audit can be a lengthy and involved process, with visits hosted, documents supplied and then responses formulated.  We have also been continuing to hone the insurance position, with a view to having a much more specific policy to our needs (and hopefully a more resistant to cost uplifts plan) in place.  It has also been conference season (HRA) and also ..read more

For this post I thought we’d focus on the recent transport gala and the narrow gauge railway in particular, given that we presented both a strong Penrhyn Quarry Railway theme, but also Durham County Water Board railway too – and, of course, reunited Glyder with Ogwen, both in steam together since at least 1965… Below: As with all best-laid plans, there was a glitch in the preparation, when one of the couplings on Glyder broke during mid-week running.  Chris turned his attention to making replacements, rather than repairing what had already been repaired at some point in the distant past ..read more