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 !!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John with ‘Bronwyn’

Hi there, on Saturday we had our first running day for 2022 which was very enjoyable with a lovely sunny day and plenty of trains. We steamed up ‘Bronwyn’ and ‘Isabel’ with both having  excellent runs with no problems. ‘Viceroy’ was out as was ‘Chieftain ‘and the ‘Shay ‘ had a good trundle round now that its overhaul is almost complete with its new Loncin engine working well.

Debbie in charge with ‘Viceroy’

it was nice to welcome Paul and Debbie of Model Scenery Supplies, and good to see Brian B and Moira with us too.

Moira had a drive too !

The only shame was that Peter and Jennifer both had Covid so were unable to be there to join in the fun. All in all a very enjoyable day.

Andrew with Chieftain and Richard driving Viceroy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve recently welcomed a new (well nearly) Hunslet loco to the EVFR .This lovely little loco has been here a while (aka ‘Lucille’),but has recently had a bit of a makeover with John, Keith ,Kevin and Ben’s help. The work included replacing  the firebox cladding, cleaning the safety valves, resetting the cylinder drain valves, cleaning  the motion, fitting a safety chain between tender and loco, making a new coalbunker , and the toolbox, inside of the cab, footplate and running boards have all been painted. Once this was all complete the bodywork was ‘T’ cutted, polished and  very smart new nameplates fitted. The loco is now known as ‘Bronwyn’ in true Welsh tradition, looks a treat and is raring to be steamed up again !.(P.S, and we are pleased to report that the loco was sucesfully steamed on Wednesday and went extremely well ! well done Chaps)

We are also pleased that Peter and Kevin sucesfully steamed ‘Prospero’ and had a trundle round too, so Wednesday was a very good day !

and the Shay had its boiler , domes and other bits painted and then ran (well, walked) under power,gently back into the shed.

 

 

Hi

We (John and Brian), were pleased yesterday to be able to reconnect the final few panels of the nine that we took up to refurbish along the old ‘Tunnel’ section and it’s looking good, a nice flowing curve. We can now top up the ballast and level it all through…… then we can run some trains.

Meanwhile Peter, Kevin and Brian B endeavored to remove the safety valve on Peter’s ‘Prospero’ , (they did in the end !) so as to ensure we have the correct fitting to enable Brian to come and carry out the necessary tests to keep the loco’s certification up to date.

….and we have started to degrease and clean the ‘Shay’ s chassis so we can check all is ok underneath then we can put it all back together and have a run !