Author Archives: Brian Mason

Hi

We had our first, fairly low key running day on Saturday 8th April when ‘Bronwyn’ ‘Prospero’, ‘Chieftain’, ‘Viceroy’ , the ‘Class 08’ and ‘The Shay’ all came out to play. (maybe not so low key !!!)

John, Keith and Brian B with ‘Bronwyn’

Peter’s family visited and they all enjoyed themselves having plenty of rides and some drives. Peter gave Isaac his first experience of driving a steam loco, which went down very well !!!!

Peter supervising Isaac driving ‘Prospero’

Brian B came over and had a drive of ‘Bronwyn’ and the ‘Gronk’, once he discovered it went without having to put any coal in !!!!!

Brian B with ‘Bronwyn’

So a very pleasant afternoon and it was good to have trains running again, let’s hope for many more running sessions throughout the year!!!!

Oh and why the sheep? well Jane and John are helping a local, young shepherd by allowing his flock to graze the East View Farm ‘grass’, which they are doing nicely and providing some entertainment!!. There are lambs too with the two newest ones making an appearance here a week or two back. Lovely to see , proving it’s definitely Spring !!!. 

     John and Peter working on the signal lights

Hi there

It always seems a quiet time of year but we have kept ourselves occupied with a variety of tasks that we didn’t get round to yet, such as sorting our tools so we have a set in the tool van and a good set in the pit shed  (with an additional shadow board to keep things tidy., thanks Keith). It’s all part of an exercise to find out what we really have accumulated over the years so we can have a sort out  !!!

We have also made a start on our next exciting project to provide a longer loop from the Laurel Siding headshunt around to the layby siding, which will give is just two passing loops that will help the bi-directional running. We needed some more rail to complete this excercise, so we decided to purchase some new 16mm alloy rail  and use this in the storage shed so we could use the 22 mm rail in there on the new loop to match the existing .We have replaced one track so far.

Peter and John replacing Track i

Also as part of this plan, we have been for some time looking at  the different ways of installing automatic colour light signals on the railway and  Peter (with some input from Kevin and others !!!!), is now looking at utilising a ‘raspberry pi’  ‘computer’ to work the system. John has also been busy making up a signal head out of 5 mm plastic using those 3 light led ‘push for on’ , lights used in cupboards etc. We have dismantled them and removed the switch and rewired them to be on or off via a  switch in the ‘mini computer’ system,and the initial one looks very impressive !

The other job we have started is to fettle and repaint the point levers giving each one a number to identify its location when requiring attention.

  Point number lever 4 done

Hi there

Well the days do seem to be getting longer so maybe Spring is just around the corner ????? We are keeping busy ish with one or two jobs around the railway. Keith and Peter have started to take in the point levers to give them a good clean and a repaint, with each one being given a number for ease of location identification. We have purchased a new window for the kitchen end outside wall of the Clubroom as the old one was getting past its best, so we are ensuring we have all the materials needed to allow us to fit it in one session, hopefully, next month sometime depending on the weather. The work to the Shay is now complete with the whistle sound unit fitted and working.

We are also planning to build an open wagon to carry ballast to work areas which will be really useful when we  carry out planned trackwork alterations. More on that later ! This plan has also encouraged us to make use of the lathe with Brian B and Ben’s help. We have two wheeled axles that we are going to use and the axles have been turned down (think that’s the correct technical expression) with a shoulder formed to take the bearings, and we are now just compiling a list of materials that we need to build the vehicle.

Apart from that we still meet on Wednesdays and Saturdays to chat, plan, put the world to rights, have a cuppa or  two and try to finish off the mince pies, cheese straws and stuff left over from Christmas and the New Year !!!!.  

Happy New Year everyone, let’s hope it will be a good one !Take care

We would like to wish you and your families a Very Merry Christmas and let’s hope for a Healthy and Prosperous New Year with lots of trains of whatever size! Take care

From all the Boys and Girls at the EVFR 

 

 

 

 

Hi there

Last Saturday (19th Nov) saw us having our annual meeting to bring our members up to date with our finances and jobs to be done. All is looking good and once the ‘meeting’ was concluded and we had had a cuppa and some ‘nibbles’ , we got some trains out to have a play, by which time the sun had come out. So ‘Isabel’, ‘Prospero’ and the ‘Shay’ all made an appearance and completed several circuits through the day all running very well indeed. It was a cold day but very enjoyable in the lovely sunshine, 

 

 

Ray had a ride round with Keith and JP behind ‘Isabel’;

Hi there we had a great day on Saturday when we had another running day.  In the morning  Brian B came over with his good lady (Wroxham shopping??) and successfully tested ‘Isabel’ and ‘Bronwyn’ for us, so they can remain ‘in ticket’ ,so we were able to give them a run, which was great, both running really well , and Peter steamed up ‘Prospero”, so it was great to have our three steamers out together, with ‘Chieftain’ also having  some trundles round the circuit. The weather was great and our visitors enjoyed the trains , the chat and the refreshments, as did we.

 Busy station scene

                                                      Peter with ‘Prospero’ steaming well!

 Not a lot else to report apart from more investigative work on the Shay to enable us to gain better access to the hydrostatic oil reservoir to see how the oil is escaping. (P.S. on Wednesday we managed to gain access and found the reservoir was slightly ‘unthreaded’, so managed to remove it (thanks JP!) and checked it all over, refitted it,  put some oil in, started the engine and ran the loco up and down the yard, checked for leaks….none, result! Happy Boys)

 

Keith with ‘Isabel’ entering the station

 

Hi there

We had a lovely running day on Saturday (20th August), when we ran only battery electric locos as a precaution against fire as we have had no rain to speak of here and everything is still tinder dry. So we ran ‘Chieftain, ‘Viceroy’ and the Class  08 with all of our rolling stock at some time, and had a great afternoon in the lovely sunshine.

‘Chieftain’ in charge of the afternoon freight

The Class 08 also did some freight runs !

     ‘     

Viceroy’ with Keith driving

We also thought we would run everything round in the opposite direction which was fun too . Oh yes, and we used our newly commissioned turntable to turn some stock round which is very easy to use and we are delighted with it, it is a very useful addition to the railway

. Peter give the ‘Shay’ a spin on the new turntable

 

                                                   Preparing the locos on 16th Running Day

Hi, not a lot to report for July, we had a good running day on the 16th when we steamed ‘isabel’ and ‘Prospero’, gave the Shay a trundle round,  (think we have found the oil leak !) and Chieftain was popular with Stuart and Isaac ! Stuart’s family came along and enjoyed a picnic in the shade under the trees in the station. We had to postpone the steam tests on ‘Isabel’ and ‘Bronwyn’ due to the fire risk, especially as there was, as you may have seen, a serious fire which destroyed two properties in the village just near East View Farm, scary..

 

Isaac and Stuart enjoying ‘Chieftain’ while the family picnic on the station

Work continues on the turntable installation which is coming on well, and we have been looking at altering the track plan slightly !! More later once we are agreed, (which we nearly are now !!!). 

 

 

• 

John, Peter and Keith concreting the turntable approach ramps

Think that’s about all, July was busier than I thought !!!! lets hope for some more rain soon, take care.

Locos being prepared for Running on 18th June

We have been busy since our last post, did we mention that we planned to install a turntable to enable stock to be turned  allowing us to run trains in both directions ? Well,we are pleased to tell that the work is well advanced as the photos will show, and so it should be ‘commissioned’ in the not too distant future. So now all we have to decide is what method of signalling we should use to ensure safe running , Suffice to say there are options on the table that have been mulled over ! Watch this space !!!

 

 

We had a nice afternoon running trains last Saturday afternoon (18th), for the benefit  of a local Parkinsons Group that John meets with, when 4 couples came over and enjoyed several rides behind ,’Isobel’, Chieftain and The Shay, with Prospero also being steamed up . Tea and cakes were enjoyed, of course, and the weather behaved and stayed fine whilst we were running..

Hi,  we decided to have a break from ‘work’ things and have a running day on Saturday 21st, which was excellent. The weather was good and all the trains behaved themselves, any problems being driver ones, (like a certain bloke who shall be nameless, but you know who it was! , who let ‘Bronwyn’s fire go to sleep over the lunch break !!!!.) Hey ho !!!!!!

 

 

So ‘Bronwyn’, ‘Prospero’,’Chieftain’, ‘Viceroy’, the Class 08′, and the Shay (running nicely but still losing hydrostatic oil from somewhere?) all came out. It was great to see Kevin and Lynne come over to enjoy the afternoon, despite Kevin’s ongoing health problems, and we wish him well. It was also good to see Dave Jones having a good old drive on ‘Chieftain’ and ‘Viceroy’  with Stuart and Isaac also enjoying some driving.

Smiles all round !!!