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Author: Ben Coulson

Chief website tinkerer, bear washer, paintbrush botherer and wire brush wielder.
Eimco 401 and compressor wagon
📹 September Open Day Videos ?>

📹 September Open Day Videos

Rob Needham has created two YouTube videos from our recent Open Weekend on 16th & 17th September 2017. Our new arrival, a wagon-mounted compressor, supplied air for the Eimco 401 locomotive and 12B rocker shovel, as well as a rock drill which was demonstrated to visitors. Our resident Simplex 21282 was also in action with four battery-electric locomotives on display in varying states of restoration. Our Open Weekends are an important source of revenue for the Railway’s projects. If you…

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Compressor Wagon
📅 Save the Date — 16th & 17th September ?>

📅 Save the Date — 16th & 17th September

Planning is under way for the next Open Day on 16th & 17th September 2017. We will be welcoming a visiting locomotive in the form of Simplex № 8540 which was № 38 at Arnold’s in Leighton Buzzard before it was preserved. Update: Due to other commitments, the owner of 8540 will be unable to attend with the locomotive. We will have our new compressor wagon on site. Our resident Eimco 12B rocker shovel will once again be put to…

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Flat wagon full of stone for the wall
🔨 Bring on the Wall ?>

🔨 Bring on the Wall

Following the clearance of the mine tip area, a large quantity of partially-dressed stone has been stockpiled at the other end of the running line. Part of the planned work to utilise the flat area on top of the tip includes re-laying the track which leads to the container. Most of the sleepers will need replacement and some of the soil needs digging away to allow better drainage so the new sleepers won’t rot away like the old ones. To…

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Gareth driving Whistling Pig
❓ Quirks & Curiosities II — a Follow-Up ?>

❓ Quirks & Curiosities II — a Follow-Up

A group of members from Lea Bailey Light Railway Society travelled up to the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways event Quirks & Curiosities II on the weekend of 28th April – 1st May. Our resident Eimco 401 “Whistling Pig” and “Issing Sid” from Statfold Barn Railway were in operation in Minffordd yard throughout the event. Following the Eimco’s return to Lea Bailey it was joined by Sid for our Spring Open Weekend  on 13th-14th May. Web Link Spring Open Weekend…

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The two Bens with Issing Sid
📅 Save the Date — 13th & 14th May ?>

📅 Save the Date — 13th & 14th May

Planning is under way for the next Open Day which will take place on 13th & 14th May 2017. We will be welcoming “Issing Sid” from Statfold Barn Railway for a return visit after our popular Running on Air event in 2015. Amongst the residents that we hope to have running will be the Eimco 401 compressed-air locomotive, Wingrove & Rogers WR8 battery-electric locomotive, and the Eimco 401 rocker shovel which will be operating on its own special display line…

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Mini digger on the pit
⛏ Digging in the Dirt ?>

⛏ Digging in the Dirt

Following the Grand Tidy Up in February, we decided to take the opportunity to do some groundworks around the site. We are certainly not short of shovels, nor of enthusiasm, but the nature of the work to be done would have taken several months of Sundays, so we enlisted the help of a mini-digger with a skilled operator for the day. Your generous donations at our Open Weekends and annual Membership Subscriptions make projects like this possible. One important job…

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HIAB starts the first lift of the day
👷 The Grand Tidy Up, February 2017 ?>

👷 The Grand Tidy Up, February 2017

⚖ There are some things that are just too heavy to be moved with a Tirfor winch, and the Lea Bailey Light Railway has a large collection of these things. Despite the term “light railway” being part of our name, a lot of the old mining equipment in our collection is of a heavy-duty nature and therefore requires a little more than man-power for mechanical handling. The first items to be moved were two sets of 3-car articulated manriders, which…

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Working on the Eimco springs
⛄️ Winter works, January 2017 ?>

⛄️ Winter works, January 2017

Most of the Heritage Railways in the UK have a period during the winter when they carry out maintenance, and ours is no exception, although we don’t have any scheduled passenger services to suspend during this time. During our last public Open Weekend in September 2016 one of our wagons developed a fault with the wheels siezing up, and had been upturned at the lineside awaiting investigation. Two volunteers, Nick and Richard, waved their magic spanners over the axles and…

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Merddin Emrys at Porthmadog
❓ Quirks & Curiosities II ?>

❓ Quirks & Curiosities II

The Lea Bailey Light Railway Society has been invited to exhibit the Eimco 401 air locomotive at the Ffestiniog Railway for their Quirks & Curiosities II event in 2017. The first event took place back in May 2010 and a number of the more unusal types of narrow gauge locomotives and rolling stock were assembled in the yard at Porthmadog Harbour station. The event will take place over the weekend of 28th April to 1st May 2017. One of the…

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📅 2017 Calendar now available ?>

📅 2017 Calendar now available

It has become a tradition in recent years to produce a calendar highlighting some of the events and milestones that have passed in the previous year. Twelve photographs have been selected from 2016, printed in full colour on glossy card, and spiral bound complete with holes for hanging. The cost is £7.00 each, plus postage which varies depending on location. Collection in person is free of charge. To order yours please use the contact details below. Rob Needham: rob@lblr.org.uk