Thompson Park Miniature Railway, Burnley, Lancashire UK.

Narrative by Bret Harrison, Track Maintenance Dept.

Pictures by Bret and Richard Walker, Society Chairman

Welcome to our September 2024 newsletter where we try to keep the reader appraised of what we have been up to in the past month.  The end of September marks the end of our summer running period. It has been an odd sort of summer due to the varied days we have had of different climatic conditions, but we have kept going and fulfilled our advertised running days, some days we have very few passengers and indeed people in the park and others we have been mega busy. The attendance of visitors to the park generally very much reflects the weather conditions.

Regular readers may recall from the August newsletter of the issues we had on the second path crossing on the outer loop after the station where the tarmac had lifted on one side of the track and was catching the undersides of the trains.  We effected a temporary fix enabling us to continue running trains and this month the first job of the month was to complete the rebuild of the crossing. We removed the section of track and cleared out the rest of the tarmac, dug out the area we needed to put in place cross timbers to carry both the track and the 3 decking pieces. The track was put back in situ and levelled, new fishplates fitted as we do.  We tested the running with the works train, and all was well.

As previously mentioned at this time of year encroaching grass and vegetation into the trackbed is a problem and I am pleased to say that we are largely on top of clearing this thanks to certain members pitching in, but the bulk of this clearing has been down to one man, John M. has done and continues to do a sterling job in this respect.

 We have been having trouble with our ballast supplies and we needed to order some emergency supplies so Wednesday the 18th saw a huge artic truck deliver us 2 one tonne bags whilst we attempt to resolve a source of 10 bulk tonnes for our ballast bay, this issue is ongoing. We need to sort this as soon as possible.

On the subject of ballast, we have been experiencing a logistic problem when we have been out on the track doing trackwork in as much as our 4 wheel ballast wagon is proving too small for the ballast we often need and we have been having to return to load up again mid job. This is unsatisfactory and a solution presented itself in the shape of an unused coach chassis languishing in one of our sheds. Air braked bogies have been fitted to the 8 foot long chassis and the chassis frame extended width wise., bolted and welded where required to carry the tongue and groove timber box body we are presently building. A pic below shows the wagon in its early stage of build. Further pics to follow next month. 

 Track wise we continue with looking after the track and the present section of track we are refurbishing is the inner loop in front of the sheds between the station throat and the return loop. Initial inspection revealed that the timber sleepers were very dry. This section of track dates to when we first opened the railway so many years ago and formed part of the original track plan. I expected to be replacing most of these sleepers, but the opposite proved to be the case. In this long stretch we found only 5 sleepers needing replacement. Very gratifying I would say, however there are other issues, corroded fastening screws being one and these are all being replaced. All the sleepers have been oiled to hopefully preserve them for longer and we have all the fishplates to renew. This work should see this section operational for many years to come.

The P way Dept has asked for me to highlight that the track on the left is dry and is next in line for refurbishment.

September 21/22. saw the national 7.25 AGM at Rainsbrook Valley Railway, Rugby, Warks. hosted by the Rugby Model engineers club and 4 of our engines went to join in along with several club members. They enjoyed their weekend out. Next September we have been asked by the 7.25 organisation to host the AGM over the last weekend in September which should attract a lot of visiting locomotives to our railway. Everything is happening then, our charity weekend running and the 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington railway opening. This milestone is being celebrated all over the Country so maybe our little railway can add some input into the occasion in some way.

Fagan, our red club owned steam engine, I don’t like this name, we must rename the loco!!!! Fagan was not a nice chap, it has been suggested that we follow the Arthurian theme which 2 of our other engines carry, our electric loco, Excalibur and one of our UP’s named Sir Richard. The engine is clearly male so suggestions to our Facebook site or this website could be useful. Anyway, back on the subject, Fagan’s fire grate was poorly and so a new fire grate is being fabricated made from stainless steel. This should put Fagan back into rude health.

We now, as has been alluded to now move into our winter maintenance programme where we have the time and the freedom of no service trains running to repair what we need to and improve our railway as we see fit. Next running apart from a couple of private running sessions will take place in December when it is Santa trains time.