June 2014 Update
Summer is in full swing. The BLR is in full swing. Ambitious projects are gathering momentum. It is a great time of the year for all concerned.
Chilmark
Progress on restoring this venerable old lady for active service has been marching on in a slowly but very surely manner, and her transformation to rude health will be chronicled at a later date. She is has been repainted in British Racing Green with white hand rails and 'wasp stripes' front and rear.
The existing unsightly buffers have been removed and will be replaced with wooden blocks similar to those on Alice. The recalcitrant oil pump is now behaving, but the most remarkable cure is the almost entire eradication of oil smoke. This problem was such that, on a test run, some wag thought another engine was in steam, such was the cloud!
Removing the silencer and filming the exhaust showed that cylinders one and two were not behaving. But removal and close inspection of the heads and piston rings revealed nothing amiss. More head scratching occurred, until Rob Houghton had a veritable 'lightbulb' moment. The air inlet pipe was then routed through the silencer as a simple form of pre-heating the air. Bingo, end of oil smoke.
Both Rob Houghton and Dan Laidlaw deserve enormous praise for these major developments, as well as the new colour scheme.
Padarn Brakeman's Van
We have followed the remarkable resurrection of this almost unique wagon from a pile of 'heritage firewood' on this page. This vehicle recently had its first outing, returning to the line where it was first used on slate trains bound from Dinorwic to the docks on transporter wagons. The Llanberis Lake Railway borrowed the Brakeman's Van for their Gala where it was seen attached to a line of restored slate wagons.
Miscellaneous
A great deal of satisfaction can be gleaned from visitors to the BLR and here are two delightful stories about people who discovered more than they expected.
Firstly, a young lady called Alice whose parents had bought her a copy of Pauline Hazelwood's enchanting book about Alice was given the offer of posing with 'the real thing', her joy can be clearly seen in the photograph. It is always a delight for us to be able to add to someone's visit. A little extra gives so much.
A second instance was an American couple who bought a copy of Pauline's book about Winifred's journey to America in the 1960s, for their niece who lives in Norfolk, Virginia. While in the station shop, they bumped into Rob Houghton, who asked if they would like to see 'the real thing'. Their reaction to the fact that the story was not fiction was one of amazement and they were delighted to accept Rob's offer of a VIP tour of Winifred to see the progress on her restoration.