Festoon in the Snow

Photos below showing Richard setting up festoon lighting along the pathway to the platform in this mornings lovely blizzard!

Ashington No.5 out on test

Ashington No.5 has been in full steam today, testing out the safety valves & steam heating

ACC5 on the South end of the coaching stock with the safety valves successfully lifting whilst testing the steam heating

Light engine test run up the line

Simmering in the moon light

Fire's Lit in ACC5

Ashington No.5 had a warming fire lit this morning for the first time since June, she will be out on test tomorrow

Steam Heat & Carriage Lighting Tests

Volunteers have had the coaching stock out tonight in order to test the lighting works as well as the newly fitted steam heating to A.No.5

Brake & SLO lit up

First Class lit up

The steam heating that has been fitted to A.No.5 has been borrowed from No.1 and is fitted in such a way that it is completely reversible, this is due to the locomotive being a museum object

A5 will be a standby loco throughout this years Santa Specials with Ashington No.5 rostered as the main loco

Paint job on ACC5

After the heavy work that has been carried out on Ashington No.5 recently, the running board was a bit of a mess, Michael and John have spent this afternoon giving it a new lick of black gloss

Stain & Varnish

The fireman's seat from Ashington No.5 was removed today for some cosmetic work

Progress after the wood was stained and then varnished

Peckett Progress Update

Its been another busy evening in the workshop tonight, with Ashington No.5's smokebox getting cemented around the base of the blastpipe, as well as the brick arch getting put in as well as a few other smaller jobs, see photos and captions below

Fire bricks placed in the smokebox to minimise the amount of cement being used

Michael applying some denso tape around the nuts that hold the blastpipe base down, this is partly to protect them and to make the job easier for the next group of people who take the blast pipe out

Mixing cement

John in the smokebox placing and smoothing out the cement

Rob getting the next batch of cement ready to mix

Cementing the smokebox complete

Next onto the brick arch, here Michael is already in and smoothing out cement that has been placed on the brick arch former

Once in, it will take 4 to 5 days for the cement to set, which is when the former can be removed

The manifold now in place, the steam heat valve was removed temporarily to have the spindle straightened

Photo showing the steam space in the dome, steam collector for the regulator and new shiny (ish) tubes in place

The last job for tonight was removing the very heavy dome plate in order to replace the gasket, here Michael is cleaning up the face before applying graphite paste and fitting a new gasket

New Wall

The wall adjacent to the pit has now been extended, the wall to the left (the bit that is painted white) was put up a couple of years ago, this replaces steel fencing and looks a bit more aesthetically pleasing

Museum Makeover

As well as getting the engines ready, the Stephenson Railway Museum has been getting a seasonal makeover in preparation for excited families coming to see the big man in red! Photos below

Blast Pipe Re-Fitting

Blast pipe in the smokebox having been fitted by Michael

The ejector pipe and blower ring were also fitted this afternoon, next job at the smokebox end is to cement the space around the base of the blastpipe

Successful Hydraulic

Ashington No.5s boiler at 240psi, proving to be a successful hydraulic test with no leaks. The 'boxing up' process can now begin

Ashington No.5 Update

Work is now 90% finished on both the firebox tubeplate and smokebox tubeplate with both ends of each tube has been expanded using a pneumatic tool and expander. The firebox end also has the ends beaded over for extra protection, work is now progressing to get the engine ready for initial hydraulic tests

Firebox end

Smokebox end

Coal Stage Progress

Sleeper wall progress around the concrete pad

Michael using the large pillar drill to drill brackets to be used on the wall

Beginning to take shape