Thomas the Tank Engine Blog

No, sadly I’m not talking about a visiting engine from a quaint narrow gauge line in Europe! 8A recently came into the workshops for attention, including leaking lens rings on…

Following a noticeable drop-off in performance during last years final FETs (Footplate Experience Trains), 861 was transferred to the locomotive workshops at Belgrave to try and ascertain what was causing…

The day creeps ever closer when we can strike a match and light the pile of oily rags for the first time. That’s not to say everything has gone exactly…

It has been some time since we have had time to update you, and there has been a lot of action on our South African Garratt since last time, so…

Progress abounds down in the Belgrave workshop, as the storage racking gets lighter and the engine gets heavier! Work in progress or completed to date includes: Brake release spring and…

With the final concept design approved, the engineering team settled down to the task of producing detailed drawings for every individual component, on top of the major sub-assemblies such as…

The big question: How to grow traffic on the Lakeside-Gembrook section of the railway to keep up with demand and manage the capacity constraints.

Many parts and assemblies are finding their way onto the something which now distinctly resembles an NG/G16 class Garratt!

Signs of corrosion through the side of the chimney … and no spare parts …. then what ???

With a projected completion date of mid-2019, the race is on to get our re-gauged South African NG/G16 class Garratt assembled and tested. A lot has been happening, so here’s…