Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway

News

Diesels, NER Petrol Electric and Beer 30/05/09

An odd mix, maybe, but there is a link!

DIESEL GALA: Full details are now on the website, including the Saturday evening BBQ and BEEREX trains. Day Rover tickets are priced at £15 for adults and £5 for children. BOOK NOW for the BBQ and BEEREX - only £8 - limited places available. MORE DETAILS

3170 and trailer at Poppleton Junction near York. (c) Ken Hoole Study Centre NER PETROL ELECTRIC: Despite being based on the Railway for some time now, I have only just got round to putting a page together about the vehicle - many thanks to Simon Gott for the information! As the Railway are part of the Trust which aims to restore and operate this historic vehicle, it is only right that we share some of the information! The Trust has achieved a Stage One pass for Lottery funding. MORE DETAILS.

BEER: We are conducting a 6-month trial in the Buffet Car, serving bottle conditioned local beers and some foreign lagers. So far we have beers from the following breweries: Saltaire, Summer Wine, Naylors, Old Bear with more lined up over the coming months. We currently have a Wheat Beer and a Ginger Beer to see how these go down. We attempt to open the Buffet Car on Saturdays and Sundays, subject to the availability of volunteers to man the Buffet Car. If you'd like to become involved in this, get in touch!

SKIPTON 15/05/09

As has been mentioned elsewhere, we aim to return trains to Skipton, from Embsay. To this end, the first Network Rail study (GRIP 1) has been completed, and so far everything is going well! Two further studies are required before any work can start, and the project will cost somewhere in the region of £2 million. The idea is that Embsay Junction would be reinstated, fully signalled, controlled from York, and we would operate services between Skipton and Embsay, using part Network Rail's branch to Swinden Quarry (Tarmac). We would use Platform 5 at Skipton, which is currently derelict, and could operate a Park and Ride service for Skipton using our large car park at Bolton Abbey station. This would hopefully ease the traffic going into Skipton...

A new range of Skipton Savers has been launched to help raise funds for the project: these can be bought on the train or in the shop at Embsay, and allow your money paid to be doubled against tickets in 12 months' time.

37 294 27/03/09

This Class 37 has just arrived on the Railway following its purchase by a new owner. It will be the guest engine for July's Diesel Gala, and will not operate any services prior to this. The lineup for the Diesel Gala is looking very impressive at the moment:

"37294 will be running at the gala along with 47004, D.5600, 31119, Class 14 D.9513, 08773, 08054, D.2203 & No.36! The 08's, 04 & 36 will be on the shuttles, and it is hoped the Class 14 will be going full line." - A timetable will be published shortly!

37294 upon arrival. (c) Tim Warner 37294 upon arrival. (c) Tim Warner 37294 upon arrival. (c) Tim Warner

The re-railing vehicle purchased by a member earlier this year. (c) Tim Warner The Class 14 is having attention to its cooling system, with replacement parts having been sourced recently. Efforts will now focus on modifying these components to suit. Fowler H.W.Robinson has entered the shed and has been stripped down for repairs. The gearbox issues it suffered from seem to have all come from a collapsed bearing, but time will be spent going through the gearbox carefully and swapping any worn parts with the spares we have.

Annie's boiler freshly painted. (c) Tim Warner 22 has seen much more work carried out with it now being a pile of parts in the shed! The firebox has been removed and sent away to be copied, the valve gear is due back shortly and the cylinders and pistons have been checked. The rings were incredibly worn! Annie is making slow progress as work concentrates on the chassis. Far more jobs have been found that need tackling, and new horns and axlebox modifications are in hand. The boiler has been painted and the new smokebox is being fabricated. Beatrice is moving on apace with the boiler now ready to go back into the frames after the final riveting was completed. Primrose's chassis continues to make progress with all the paint being stripped off and other jobs attended to. Illingworth has now been dismantled again to allow access to the boiler for the remaining work to be completed.

The inner firebox from No.22 on removal - note how thin the top is! (c) Tim Warner The rest of No.22's boiler is in much better condition. (c) Tim Warner No.22 in the course of being stripped back. (c) Tim Warner

Stephen Middleton at work on his 6-wheelers. (c) Tim Warner Site tidying at Embsay continues and recently saw the demise of the old mess hut. It took very little to demolish it! Well done to all those who have heled to fit out the new mess hut, and who are working on the second one at the moment! We hope to have a much tidier site by Easter to benefit both the public who visit and the members who work here. The new toilet block at Embsay is also moving along with work centred on installing the new roof over the existing toilets and the new part of the building. Tom's LMS van undergoing significant work to metal and wood. (c) Tim Warner

Carriage and Wagon are working on the Buffet Car in the shed which is now in need of lifting to see work completed. Tom is busy rebuilding his van... replacing almost everything in the process! I can only hope mine isn't as bad... Work on the Midland Railway coaches from Ireland should start later in the year, subject to space being available. Not a lot of work is required to regauge them back to 4' 8.5", but the opportunity will be taken to tackle the bogies thoroughly. The LMS Shark brakevan is also going to be rebuilt, all being well. Stephen Middleton has been repairing the 6-wheeled carriages and repainting is now taking place ready for the upcoming season. Work can then return to the LNWR Directors' Saloon which is not a long way off. The NER Petrol Electric Autocar has made progress with its funding and more details will follow soon.

S&T have been working away on all projects as and when other commitments allow, with the new groundframe for Bolton Abbey coming on steadily - now at the point of having the rodding runs laid out. The lead-out bench has been completed. Sleights Sidings East has seen a lot of attention focus on removing the LMS designed blockshelf (carefully, for possible reuse) and tackling more of the windows. A new set of rollers for these windows have been made and should arrive soon... as should new shiplap boarding for the downstairs.

More news and photos will be added in the coming week or two, all being well as work commitments have eased for Easter!

Hot Food at Bolton Abbey 31/01/09

We are pleased to announce that on Sundays, starting 1st February 2009, Hot Food will be available at Bolton Abbey Station in the Refreshment Rooms. This home-made food is being produced by Kelvin from Pan Loafy's (formerly in Skipton).

Older news articles can now be found on the Archived News pages.

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Yorkshire Dales Railway Museum Trust (Holdings) Limited
Registered Charity No. 1116386
Bolton Abbey Station, Bolton Abbey, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 6AF
General Enquiries: 01756 710614 - Talking Timetables & Fax: 01756 795189
enquiries AT embsayboltonabbeyrailway DOT org.uk webmaster AT embsayboltonabbeyrailway DOT org.uk
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