Stephenson Railway Museum Visit

[Rlangham]

Finally made it to the Stephenson Railway Museum today - haven't been before, small museum as it's a 70s/80s depot build for the Metro testing, but a very interesting collection, free entry too and has a steam locomotive giving rides on selected dates



1826 built 'Killingworth Billy'. It is not in original condition and shows its condition when it was retired, IIRC in the 1860's before being put on display, so, like 'Rocket', shows the modifications made to keep them running and improve them



1883 Kitson of Leeds built 'A no 5', 0-6-0 Pannier Tank, built to Stephenson's 'long boiler' design. Would love to see this working some day





1939 Peckett 'Asington No 5'



Apart from the boiler barrel, original parts of a locomotive called 'Clio' - first thoughts were a Stockton and Darlington Railway 'Long Boiler' 0-6-0 tender engine sold into industrial use?





Tyneside Electric Motor Luggage Van 3267, built at York in 1904 by the North Eastern Railway, was used for parcels etc and were powerful enough to haul other vans. A ventilated compartment at one end (you can see the louvred doors) was used to carry fish from Cullercoats and Tynemouth. This one was retired in 1937 then converted into a de-icing vehicle, with the motors removed, and antifreeze mixture sprayed onto the third rail. I'm not sure if the bogies show the original electric pick up shoe or the equipment for spraying









Another interesting exhibit is E4, one of four Edwardian electric locomotives from the Harton system to survive. E4 is a BO-BO locomotive built by Siemens (two of the others are also Siemens locomotives, but four wheeled, the third is an AEG BO-BO) in 1909, and is in working condition - it picks up the power from a battery in the wagon that it is attached to, although I don't know how often it runs, would be interesting to see it in action

[Danby Wiske]

It is not in original condition and shows its condition when it was retired, IIRC in the 1860's

You must be very old!

Thanks for posting the pictures - you must have a better camera than I do, as the pictures I've taken there in the past have never come out very well. There isn't much space between exhibits and it's a bit gloomy...
Still worth a visit though.

[Rlangham]

Like 'Locomotion' yesterday, i've been using my fiance's pocket digital camera - for museums it's spot on, it's high resolution and with no-flash mode it sacrifices some of the resolution, which it has plenty of, to get a pretty good photograph, in fact much more so than my bigger long-zoom camera which I prefer for outside shots (like most of the Beamish ones). Unfortunately the interior shots of the NER luggage van came out blurry but other than that am pleased with them, 'Locomotion' was usually very hit and miss but they all came out well yesterday - usually I either take a risk with flash turned off and hope the shutter speed is high enough or use flash with possibly poor colour quality

[Danby Wiske]

If I'm correct, the cab with the nameplate "Clio" is the only surviving part of a Blyth & Tyne loco, and is on loan from the NRM. I'm not sure how authentic the other bits attached to it are...

[60041]

If I'm correct, the cab with the nameplate "Clio" is the only surviving part of a Blyth & Tyne loco, and is on loan from the NRM. I'm not sure how authentic the other bits attached to it are...

The cab is indeed from a B&T loco, the only surviving part of any loco from that system, apart from the safety valve shroud that is also displayed. The boiler barrel is a wooden mock up.

The Kitson A No.5 was, for many years, the only surviving standard gauge long boiler locomotive still in use; unfortunately it has now been stuffed and mounted and is unlikely to steam again, because of it's age and fragility.
I drove it for many years when I was a regular volunteer at the NTSR back in the '80's and early 90's; it was a wonderful steamer and we used to joke at the time that it would raise steam with a candle in the firebox: the copper firebox and tubes, coupled with the long barrel made for a very efficient boiler. The only downside was that it was incredibly uncomfortable to ride on, the very short wheelbase and the huge rear overhang resulted in it swaying alarmingly at any speed over 10 - 15 mph and it would crash and thump over the rail joints. Lovely loco though.

[Rlangham]

Found a bit about Clio as well as a photo of it in the Ken Hoole 'North Eastern Album'

'Clio of the Seaham Harbour Dock Company started life in 1875 as an 0-6-0 built by the North Eastern at Gateshead Works. It was sold to the Dock Company in 1911 for £400 and its numberplates had their figures ground down, and letters affixed to form the name. The Dock Company possessed another 0-6-0 which had originated on the Blyth and Tyne Railway and when this engine (Ajax) was scrapped in the 1920s its distinctive cab was transferred to Clio, which ran until the 1950s. This only surviving portion of a Blyth and Tyne locomotive was collected from Seaham by the Railway Museum at York, to be put into store pending preservation, but for some years now it has been dumped in the open air at Clay Cross in Derbyshire'

Shame about the Kitson but understandable, would much rather have it static than not at all. I believe the Stephenson Railway Museum was applying for, or was granted, some money to improve the museum there, which I hope is the case owing to the interesting collection