Wednesday, 8 April 2015

Sunshine and Success! - Weekly Progress Report

The Easter Weekend was a great success and we were blessed with some of the hottest days of 2015, making it even more pleasant. Greenbat and Manrider 103 handled the services to Middleton up the mainline and re-launched Peggy operated on the smaller branch line down into Steeplehouse Quarry.

The Motive Power Department has also had great successes over the weekend, the first being the trial and successful return to working order of ZM32, which has had an oil change in readiness for the summer operating season. Attentions then turned to Manrider 104, which has languished in the Carriage and Wagon Shed all winter, finally breaking away to have its pre-season examination in readiness for operations. It passed successfully and was taken out on a test run coupled with ZM32 as this is its designated partner.

The major success was with Hibberd 4008, the locomotive has had various successes and stoppers with regard to its brake rigging in the last couple of weeks, but finally the brake rigging was fitted and trialled, adjusted and then trialled again. Late on Monday the locomotive left the workshops at Steeplehouse on a solo run up the line, the first time it has moved under its own power in preservation, a major achievement for the team!

A successful weekend all round!

Manrider 104 on the traverser during the exam

Hibberd 4008 passes the service train at Lawson's Loop

The Hibberd 4008 team after the run was complete

Hibberd 4008 on the traverser at the end of the day

ZM32 and the service train pass at Lawson's Loop