Other Interests

Many volunteers have interests beyond Tanfield Railway.   Bob Hedley goes back to the era of horse drawn waggonways as a member of the Sealed Knot, reenacting Civil War battles as a musketeer in the Royalist northern army of the Marquis of Newcastle.   In the video clip below he is wearing a light shirt and blue bonnet (of Scots and northern English regiments).

Bob's in the blue bonnet 

The clip is from one of several on YouTube covering the Battle of Nantwich on 25 January 1644, reenacted January 2014.

The coal trade and the Civil War, in which north east waggonways have their roots, meet again at tomorrow's Newcastle - Sunderland derby.

Incidentally, Bob previously starred in a TV video at Tanfield - see the Blog post of 28 October 2013 - We're on the Telly Tonight.

Twizell & Train

Dave removing Twizell's front sanders ....

Some Progress

An unexpected task - Ian surveying the result
of a waggon 'clipping' the front gate post

The Tuesday Crew

Steve & Colin working on Twizell .....

Today's Work

Jim milling hex flats on a handrail knob

Sunday at Tanfield Railway

Richard checking plate thickness on HL No.2

Bowes Blog Update

Bowes Railway waggon shop roof progress
(photo Bowes blog / Eric Garrod)

Tomorrow's Trains

HL No.2 will haul trains from Andrews House for Sunniside, Causey & return at the new times of 10.30 am, 12 noon, 1.30 & 3 pm.    There will be no passenger trains beyond Causey due to track relaying on East Tanfield bank.

No.2 near Marley Hill signalbox earlier this month
(photo courtesy of Henry Elliott)

As an aside, newly found photographs of Renishaw Ironworks No.6 have been published on Facebook:

Renishaw Ironworks No.6 at Crosby Mines - see
more Phil Rounce photos on Tanfield Facebook

More Aerial Shots

The photographs below are courtesy of Dave Hewitt

49 at Andrews House, showing the relative sizes of carriages

Causey and the Woods

Resleepering at Causey, Another Gang

Geoff, Richard, Dave & Nigel at work

Resleepering at Causey

All photos below courtesy of Dave Dixon (DD) and Steve Floate (SF)

Dave & Bob packing under a chair (SF)

Marley Hill Monday

More stripping of Twizell in readiness for boiler removal for its 10 year test:

Malcolm & Richard removing Twizell's blow down boss

Sunday Around Tanfield

Phil chatting to Cochrane's crew at Andrews House

Tomorrow's Trains

Sir Cecil A Cochrane will haul trains from Andrews House for Sunniside, Causey & return at the new times of 10.30 am, 12 noon, 1.30 & 3 pm.    There will be no passenger trains beyond Causey due to track relaying on East Tanfield bank.

Cochrane passing Causey car park last Sunday
(photo courtesy of Ken Snowdon)

Preparation & Testing

Another aerial shot - Vic returning from Causey

From the Air

Another of Dave Hewitt's shots, this time of the Marley Hill shed
site (see post of Sunday 5 Jan for DH's previous aerial photo).
Click to enlarge.   Can anyone work out the date?

Track Maintenance

Ian loading ballast at East Tanfield .....

Wednesday Work

Nigel & Steve delivering sleepers to Vic,
for later installation

New Year, Same Work

Steve & Colin dragging out old sleepers 

Snowdon Shots

A few shots from last windy cold Sunday taken by Ken Snowdon

Cochran propelling the empty stock around
Marley Hill curve at the start of the day

Monday at Marley Hill

 Ian and the man from Lloyds check the crane, which passed its annual inspection

Back in the Woods

While the trains were running, a gang worked on the closed section of line in Causey Woods.   The photos below are courtesy of Matthew Pickering:

 John, Steve & David shovel pack replaced sleepers

Dan packs while David, Ian & Angela prepare to lift another panel

 The photos above are courtesy of Matthew Pickering

Tanfield Trains

David  the guard and Angela driving AW No.2 at Causey

Tomorrow's Trains

Sir Cecil Algernon Cochrane will haul trains from Andrews House for Sunniside, Causey & return at the new times of 10.30 am, 12 noon, 1.30 & 3 pm.    There will be no passenger trains beyond Causey due to track relaying on East Tanfield bank.

Cochrane leaving Andrews House in January 2013

A Few Friday Jobs

Tom showing a Japanese visitor
how he uses a shunting pole

Thursday Tasks

Angela pushing coal to light Twizell

Wednesday Work

Steve draining the tractor to protect against frost

Odd Jobs

Sun between showers as the team clear sleeper
supports of the temporary platform
- the landscaping is still to be done

Sunday Shots

The photos below were taken on Sunday 5/1/14, and are courtesy of Henry Elliott (HE) and Ken Snowdon (KS)

Tom takes HL No.2 off
Marley Hill shed (KS)

Some of Today's Work

Eric, Dave & Malcolm clearing the station site .....

Sunday Around Marley Hill

Peter assisting with shunting the stock
(photo courtesy of Antony Walker)

EHSI Placements 2014

The North East Civic Trust is again offering bursary placements for one year starting February 2014 at several locations including Tanfield.   This is an educational opportunity aimed primarily at those wishing to enter heritage engineering.   Note that the bursary is tax free; and many previous trainees are now in paid employment.

***  Closing date for all placements is 9 January 2014  ***.

Tomorrow's Trains

HL No.2 will haul trains from Andrews House for Sunniside, Causey & return at the new times of 10.30 am, 12 noon, 1.30 & 3 pm.    There will be no passenger trains beyond Causey due to track relaying on East Tanfield bank.

Tom with HL No.2 at Causey on 24/11/13

C&W Work Tomorrow

Work on the NER saloon and Lambton brakevan continues

New and old volunteers welcome from 9am Saturday

Tanfield Railway 2014 Visitor Guide

Head Wrightson

Walking over a bridge at Barnard Castle today, I noticed the builders plate:

Builder's plate on footbridge across the Tees,
upstream of old gas works site at Barnard Castle

Head Wrightson started in the early Victorian period at Stockton, expanding to Thornaby & Hartlepool to become a massive industrial manufacturer.   What did they build before closing in the 1980s?

Journey to the North Pole

The photos below were taken over several days, and show points between Causey and the north North Pole.

On the 1725 Causey embankment
(photo courtesy of Ken Snowdon)

IRON175

Happy New Year to all of our volunteers, readers, followers and contributors!   2014 is the year of IRON175 at Tanfield!

See below our exciting year long celebration and fascinating special events, and the TR Web for more information.