A weeks holiday in the north east allowed for a visit to the Beamish Open Air Museum. I’d last visited about 20 years ago, and my memories were somewhat sketchy to say the least, but a check of their website suggested that a few new areas had been added to the site, so it had to be worth another look. Alas, only half the site was open due to it being early season, but entry was half the normal price, which seemed fair.

The key areas open were the Colliery and Pit Village, and the Main Street, and the station was accessible, although no trains were running. Main Street was great, but slightly off topic for this blog (and I forgot to take any photos….), so I’ll concentrate on the more industrial bits.

 Ruston Bucyrus RB25 Steam Navvy Bucket, which is somewhat smaller than the Bucyrus dragline at Leeds.
 

Colliery

This is Malleable No.5, an engine built by Stockton Ironworks in 190o. There are long term plans to restore this engine, which is nice.