Work continues on No2

Brian and Ronnie countersinking the
remaining holes in the smokebox

Monday's work

Derek preparing the the back head for
the fitting of the regulator stuffing box

Sunday Reprised

All photos below courtesy of Stu Armstrong:

Owen cleaning Twizell

A Bright Sunday

Kyle polishing Twizell's buffer

Loco Projects on Saturday

Chris removing Horden's running plate
(photo courtesy of Mark Pearce)

Tomorrow's Trains

Tomorrow's loco will be Twizell (No.3), hauling trains from Andrews House station for Sunniside, Causey and Tanfield at 11 am, 12.15, 1.30, 2.45 and 4 pm.

Twizell at Andrews House water tower, featuring Ryan
(Jubilee weekend photo courtesy of Eric Garrod)

Back to Basics

Firstly, happy birthday today to one of our founders, Alan Thompson.   He avoided being photographed while on carriage and toilet cleaning duty.

Malcolm and Owen completing work on a section of the main yard point, later joined by Stewart:

Thursday Trains

Stewart the driver filling oil cans at start of day .....

A Mixed Day

Stewart oiling between Cochrane's frames

Tomorrow's Trains

We will be running trains every Wednesday and Thursday, in addition to Sundays, from tomorrow until the last Thursday in August, to coincide with school holidays.   See the  timetable on the main TR web  for details.

Tomorrow's loco will be Sir Cecil A Cochrane, hauling trains from Andrews House station for Sunniside, Causey and Tanfield at 11 am, 12.30, 2 and 3.30 pm.

Today, Vic has been loading coal to be taken to Andrews
House station, to enable Cochrane to be coaled

More Work on No.2's Smokebox

Ryan and Ian continue fixing the smokebox and tubeplate to No.2's mounting block :

Tanfield Volunteers Abroad

Tanfield volunteers visited  Foxfield Railway  for the gala at the weekend,and on the way back visited  Crich Tramway Village :

Group pose at Crich .....
(photo courtesy of  Owen Edwards)

Work on HL No.2

Work today centred on No.2 (Hawthorn Leslie works no. 2859 of 1911):

Phil finishing off the regulator rod

A Good Day

Peter the driver oiling Cochrane at start of day

Tomorrow's Trains

Tomorrow's loco will be Sir Cecil A Cochrane, hauling trains from Andrews House station for Sunniside, Causey and Tanfield at 11 am, 12.15, 1.30, 2.45 and 4 pm.

Cochrane approaching Boyd's crossing on
Freight Train Day in February 2012
(photo courtesy of Dave Hewitt)

Rounding Off the Week

To round off the week, I recommend listening to  Malcolm talking about Tanfield Railway  for the Australian ABC Sound Cloud.

Malcolm and I moving refurbished vac cylinders ....
(photo courtesy of Kerrin Mansfield)

Very Old News

Idly Googling the web, I ended up in  Marley Hill on Wikipedia, in which I found a link to a Youtube video showing the Mayor of Gateshead  presenting the tubs  which we rebuilt last year (search for tubs on this blog).

Projects Continue

Ian and Ryan have started to fit No.2's smokebox - it needs some shortening and other adaptions :

Ryan dressing a shortened side .....

Projects Continued

Jack cleans Horden's frames .....

Projects Move Forward

Testing the crane with a known 2 tonne load

Yesterday's News

Yesterday, Stuart working on Horden's frames ....
(photo courtesy of Mark Pearce)

Sunny Sunday

Tom retrieves a sample of Twizell's boiler water ....

Tomorrow's Trains

Tomorrow's loco will be Renishaw Ironworks No.6, hauling trains from Andrews House station for Sunniside, Causey and Tanfield at 11 am, 12.15, 1.30, 2.45 and 4 pm.

No.6 passes Marley Hill box on 12/02/2012
(photo courtesy of Carl Chambers)

A Typical Friday

Matthew jacking and rewheeling the boiler carrier
to make space for No.2 in the workshop

HL no2 steam test

HL no2 steam test at Severn Valley Railway

A Mixed Day

Matthew reflecting in his work

A Wet Wednesday

Bob, Ryan and Geoff removing a wheelset from
the wheel lathe (ex Consett steelworks) ....

Typical Tuesday - Raining

Dave assisting Angela clean inside Horden' boiler

Usual Work

Ryan building up Horden's smobebox ring

Typical Sunday

Cochrane, its passenger train and crew:

Steve collecting the Sunniside token

Aln Valley Railway

Phase 1 of the Aln Valley Railway will open next Saturday 14 July - also see Northumberland Gazette article

Tomorrow's Trains

Tomorrow's loco will be Sir Cecil A Cochrane, hauling trains from Andrews House station for Sunniside, Causey and Tanfield at 11 am, 12.15, 1.30, 2.45 and 4 pm.

There may be alterations to the timetable if the weather is extremely severe in the meanwhile.

Cochrane creates its own mist in May 2011
(photo courtesy of Stu Armstrong)

Jobs Continued

Rob refurbishing a vac release valve .....

Ongoing Work

Ronnie, Brian and Ryan removing rivets from Horden's smokebox :

Various Jobs

Topping off the bankside support at East Tanfield

No 2 Fire lit

At last, No2,s boiler gets a warming fire
in the new firebox!

General Jobs

Brian drilling out Horden's smokebox ring
(necessary to remove the front tubeplate)

A Typical Day

Vic loading concrete blocks

Blog Anniversary

This blog was first published on 30 June 2011.   Since then there have been over 54000 page views of about 440 posts, many of which look similar because of the recurring work at the railway.   Thanks to all workers for taking part, especially the few star performers, and to photographers.

The aim remains to show ordinary working scenes at Tanfield Railway, as far as possible on a daily basis.   If you would like to comment or assist, please contact

Children's Day

Cochrane's crew wait for the road at start of day