Today the running and commissioning trials of Samson began at Beamish. Having made a static (in steam) appearance at the Great War Steam Fair, further adjustments have been carried out enabling the first day of testing to begin with the locomotive in full ‘trim’ and making use of the new triangle on the narrow gauge. A very successful day was had and whilst there are some further jobs to attend to, not least adding some weight to the front end, the locomotive behaved very well indeed.
Below: David Watchman made a short film of the occasion…
Below: Here are some stills… The opportunity was also taken to gather a large number of images to enable completion of the forthcoming book on Samson’s construction – whilst it did snow (!) the sun also shone…
