Busy winter in the works for heritage railway

As everyone prepares for Christmas, here at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway it’s one of our busiest times when it comes to engineering and maintenance. For the engineering department, primary jobs are trackwork, writes Tim Bruce, Director of Civil Engineering.

One of the first tasks is at Grosmont where we will be replacing the running line round deviation curve – so called because it runs over where the existing track layout split for the new alignment in 1865 (‘the deviation'), and which will take about three weeks to complete.

We’re replacing old track from the British Railways days, which is partly buried in ash.

Another piece of track work is also at Grosmont, where we’ll replace siding No.7 into the shed, which is being done at the end of November. When we hit December we’ll be heading to Kingsthorpe, north of Pickering, to complete last winter’s relay work.

We start with offloading all the sleepers and materials during December between the Santa Specials, ready for work starting on January 1.

To complete this work, we must weld up the track, ballast and tamp it during February, and then stress the rails at the beginning of March ahead of the new season.

The other job is to ballast and tamp bridges 24 and 25 which we replaced earlier this year as part of Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey Project – this process lifts the rails up and levels the track out.

On top of all that, Kerry Fieldhouse and her team of volunteers will be busy on the lineside conservation front, clearing and cutting back vegetation, doing some dry stone walling and managing quite considerable ash dieback along the line.

We have undertaken quite a bit of maintenance already this November, making locomotives ready for Santa Specials and Christmas diners, writes Nick Simpson, Motive Power Department Manager. In the works elsewhere:

• The steam fitters are making BR 9F No.92134 ready for its new tyres – and yes steam locomotives have tyres!

• The valve and piston exam on 80136 will see them removed and measurement begins. The crossheads will need new white metal pouring to replace the bearing surfaces, again in-house, and the slide bars these run in require some attention.

• On the diesel front, all the annual tyre measurement is underway; 08850 has recently had new batteries, fuel pumps and its automatic voltage regulator serviced.

• In terms of overhauls and restoration, D7628, our Class 25 diesel locomotive, is having a top end engine rebuild and main generator overhaul; Black 5 No.44806’s overhaul is on track with the frame rebuild on schedule, and our attention will next turn to the tender and machining up the new chimney.

• Steam locomotive No. 34101 Hartland is in the boiler shop where all the large sections of the boiler are now welded back together. This is a huge step forward in the project and is excellent to see it in one piece once more.

And finally for 3672, Vera’s new tender tank and frame overhaul is progressing well. The new tank design is complete and steel ordering is about to begin as the frames near completion of examination. You can help restore this locomotive by donating to the appeal via our website.

Photo: Charlotte Graham.