09/10/2004
 
Above Left; the class 37 (097) has been receiving a coat of paint in preparation for the winter. My spies tell me this loco is not far off running now! Above right; a major restoration project! This elderly boxvan is the only item of original Caledonian Railway stock on the railway, and as can be seen it's in quite a state. A solebar-upwards rebuild is proposed, and we hope this restoration scheme will be more successful than previous aborted attempts.

At B.o.D trackwork continues apace.

25/09/2004 Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Personal circumstances have meant that I have not been at the railway this month as much as usual, so the website updates have sufffered. Needless to say, plenty has been going on over the last month.....

Above: Network Rail donated us this nice old door from Edinburgh Waverley. My picture is a bit poor, but the etched glass says "Caledonian Railway Engineers Office".
Left: Work is progressing to restore the lower half of the 1848 wing of Brechin station, with a new concrete floor poured and walls being erected. The new door (above) will be incorporated into this development.
 

 
Left: Our long-serving 0-4-0 Barclay (1863/1926) is to receive a new saddletank over the winter, and is pictured here with the old one being removed. The new (stainless steel) tank has already been ordered.
Above: The project to concrete the shed floor is gathering momentum, with a fresh pad poured last week.

Lastly, traction inspector Bailey (below right) has been passing out Ken Joy to drive the class 11 shunter.

30/08/2004 We had a highly successful steam gala weekend, just passed. Although the event was not without incident, passenger numbers were satisfyingly high, with at least one train leaving Brechin full to capacity on Sunday. A few photos (below) give a flavour of the event.   
Above: Peckett and Barclay double-header. Above right:  Peckett draws its train the last few feet into Brechin.
 
Above: Harlaxton makes a smoky run-round at Bridge of Dun. Above right: Jed Scott (18) passed out as a guard during the weekend.

24/08/2004 Construction work has commenced on the project to turn the derelict wing of Brechin station into a cafe, with flat above. The foundation wall, left, will eventually form the walls of the stairwell allowing access to the flat from the lower floors.

This project will be a milestone in the restoration of Brechin station, and should hopefully be complete within a year.

Don't miss the steam gala this weekend - it promises to be a good one!

19/08/2004 We have introduced some incredibly lifelike detail to the stonework on the station's facade as part of ongoing restoration work. Click here for the results!
 

12/08/2004 With a number of members on holiday this week, some of us have been taking day trips to other railways. On Monday we went to Bo'ness and the Falkirk Wheel, then yesterday we took a trip to England. We went for a ride on the Wensleydale Railway but also paid a visit to see our coaches operating on the Weardale Railway. Being a railway member brings a new social life - why not join in?

Far left is Ken Joy (who was celebrating a large birthday) sampling a trip in a class 107 DMU, and on the immediate left our BSK #34539 is seen at Frosterley Station on the Weardale, immediately behind a lovely North Eastern Railway P3 locomotive. Pics by Graeme Muir.

06/08/2004 No photos this week, but a good deal has been happening on site. Mark 2 TSO 5188 has departed for the Weardale Railway, following in the footsteps of our BSK 34539 and another Mark 2 TSO, 5145. These will remain on loan to the Weardale until at least October, and will bring in valuable hire fees for us instead of lying idle in the sidings. Graeme Muir and Blair Winton from the CR Diesel Group have been working on the class 25 all week, while Tommy Henderson has started to re-wire our class 08 (D3059). The carriage department have been active at Bridge of Dun putting new aluminium doors onto some of the coaches and Mike Thompson and Derek Thompson (no relation) have been busying themselves with cosmetic work to Mike's Peckett. Some interesting photos of Mike's other railway stock (kept at Kirkby Stephen in North Yorkshire) can be found at this site.

30/07/2004 Shop manager Derek Thomson has been diversifying his business this week. Graeme Muir was the first customer for "Caledonian Cutting Ltd"


28/07/2004 At Brechin the diesels are being worked on. 25083 has been parked in the station headshunt (left) for finishing work, where Graeme Muir (centre) is seen working on a new cover for the Battery Isolation Switches. On the right, 26035's spare set of bogies are being given some cosmetic treatment prior to its scheduled bogie swap.

 
22/07/2004 We hosted a wedding party today...Mr John Jackson was getting married at the Gardner Memorial Church opposite Brechin station, and had a wedding reception organised at the House of Dun, close to Dun station. He chartered a train as a means of transporting his guests between venues!

19/07/2004 Further pictures (by Davie McIlroy of the SRPS) added to the Day out with Thomas gallery

15/07/2004 The Grampian TV documentary filmed on our line in May will be shown on television on August 6th. Click here for the news item in today's Dundee Courier.

Mark 1 BSK #34539 left the railway today, as seen in the picture on the left. It is going on hire for the summer to the Weardale Railway in North-East England, and should be back in October. George Bett and Ramsay Whittet pulled all the stops out to get the coach reliveried into BR maroon (it was 'chocolate and cream') before going away.

12/07/2004 Click here for photos of the Day out with Thomas event last weekend.

07/07/2004 We had a visit today from Virgin Trains who were taking a party of journalists around Scotland. They stopped in Aberdeen last night and called in to see us, chartering a diesel-hauled special train from Bridge of Dun to Brechin and back. One of the journalists was renowned railway photographer Brian Morrison who was actually born in Brechin. Because of this we decided to award him honorary society membership.

Jeff Olive emailed this picture of Thomas propelling out of Brechin in some rare sunshine. Jeff was a star volunteer during the weekend, acting as a mobile seller of Thomas flags!

06/07/2004 Another phenomenally successful Thomas weekend, with around 3000 visitors over the two days, despite the appalling weather! George Bett managed to find a gap in the rain to take this picture (below) of the lad himself, waiting to leave Bridge of Dun with a packed seven coach train. In the bus turning circle, Freddie the Firstbus was waiting to race Thomas up to Balwyllo Bridge in the absence of Bulgy. More fun this weekend!
 

29/06/2004 Volunteers can view arrangements for the forthcoming Thomas event here.

28/06/2004 Yesterday's running day saw a rare failure in traffic by a steam loco. A split pin on Barclay #1863's cylinder drain cock linkage had worked loose, and fell out shortly after leaving Bridge of Dun. The resultant loss of the drain cock mechanism meant the train was declared a failure and diesel assistance was summoned in the form of 27024. This got us back to Brechin and then returned the train to Dun, but unfortunately it then failed on arrival at Dun! D5314 was brought into action which maintained services for the rest of the day. Steve Pegg spent the day mending the Barclay's damaged drain cock linkage and it should be back in service for next week's Thomas event.

Above: The Station at 5pm, with the Barclay in platform 2 and the service set in platform 1.

Left: Blair Winton & headboards on 27024.
Above: D5314 enters Brechin on the 4.45pm ex-Bridge of Dun. Pics: Graeme Muir

19/06/2004 Schools Day yesterday. This picture by Geoff Olive shows Peckett 2084 at the head of a smart set of maroon coaches, awaiting the arrival of the school parties.

17/06/2004 George Moir has spent a few days erecting these railings along the shed road in Brechin yard. They safely segregate the car park from the shed siding, and will be in use this weekend for Father's Day, when accompanied fathers get a chance to drive the little Barclay up and down here for free! Click here for more information.

The railings are very secure, but designed to be dismantleable. This is because we use this siding to bring in lorries carrying trains, hence why the track is ballasted to railhead height.

In the picture (left), class 11 12093 sits outside the shed, while class 26 26035 is stored on the back road awaiting a bogie swap.  

09/06/2004 Aberdeen-based Firstgroup are kindly supplying a vintage bus to run a service during our "Thomas" event. Click here for more information on "Freddie Firstbus".

08/06/2004 Nairn Goods Shed is having a concrete floor installed by the Caledonian Railway Diesel Group, and so far is is three-quarters complete. Photos Below show the interior of the building yesterday - the view in the middle shows the maintenance pit. The picture on the far left shows an interesting moment during last week's murder mystery, with driver Simon Hickman impersonating fireman Derek, and fireman Derek impersonating driver Simon....
      

04/06/2004 This interesting Internet site contains some arty photos taken at Bridge of Dun.

30/05/2004 A busy weekend (just passed) saw the first time in preservation we have had two different train sets (i.e. loco and carriages) in operation over the line. Saturday saw the green Peckett hauling the 'murder mystery' set of TSO 4676 and BFK "Gladys", while on Sunday "Harlaxton" hauled a tourist set of 3 coaches - 35200, 5025 & 4809.On Sunday the Carriage Squad were finishing off Gladys' repaint, and smart it looks too (below).  

                  Above: The view from the back bedroom of Chez Webmaster today!

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