Cutting Thread Tap
10th January 2022
Our workshop at Churston is very fortunate in having a lot of old original railway tools acquired from Swindon Works and Newton Abbot Shed. Many tools were made by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and were specifically designed to enable fitters and engineers to carry out all sorts of maintenance and repair jobs on the locomotives. The majority of these tools are stamped GWR or latterly, after 1948, BR (W) which stood for British Railways (Western region).
However, we recently discovered a thread cutting tap in one of the drawers at the workshop and noticed that it was stamped B&ER. This stands for ‘Bristol and Exeter Railway’ which was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel using his famous broad gauge track and which fully opened in 1844. The B&ER was eventually amalgamated within the GWR in 1876 - meaning that this tap is at least 146 years old!!!
Reviews
- What a great trip! - A lovely time was had on this trip on the train itself and then river boat - we had the river trip on the paddler which was just perfect - a coal fired train and a coal fired boat! Enjoy.
- Agatha Christie country - The ride on the train is beautiful right along the coast & Dart valley. You can also take your well behaved dog. I would highly recommend this excursion, we go every time that we are in Devon, it is not to be missed.
- Brilliant! - We had to write to tell you what a thoroughly enjoyable trip we had on your "Steam Train & Cruise". The train was brilliant and the cruise was a revelation. We will be back to experience it again. Thank you.