August 2023

By Pete Maddicks and Tony Howard

Some really good news to start this month’s update, the first tank has gone into the boiler shop and the riveting has started. Also the larger copper pipe work is booked to start in about a month’s time. We really are on the home stretch know.

Just a quick reminder, on Saturday 9th. September at 1400hrs is the Funds AGM. at the Kidderminster Railway Museum. Hope to to see you there.

Saturday 5th August
Bob L, Charles L, Dave Mc, Kevin S, Peter D, Peter M, Simon B, Steve M, Tony H.
Earlier in the week Dave Mc had been helping out in the boiler shop to clear a space for the water tanks. The wagon they were on was shunted into the boiler shop and the left hand tank was lifted off. The wagon with the right hand tank was shunted back outside. The job today was to remove the two back plates along with the joining plate, and the back plate that is on the part of the tank that is in the cab. Once this was done the two top plates were removed. The tank is now ready for riveting. Charles bought some more pipework items for welding. Simon welded them ready for fitting on Monday.

Monday 7th August
Bob L, Charles L, Peter M, Phil H, Steve T, Tony H.
We realised that we needed to remove the two plates that the lifting eyes are bolted to, and the long angle that the back plates are bolted to. This will make it a lot easier for riveting. The new threaded studs were fitted to the safety valve, and the clack valves were temporary fitted. An open ended spanner was made with the handle welded on at the appropriate angle for tightening the back nut on the low level water feed inside the water space in the bunker. A box spanner was also made to tighten the back nut under the bunker.

Saturday 12th August
Bob L, Kevin S, Simon B, Steve M, Tony H.
Over the last few months we have made some space in our allocated area in the GUV by getting items fitted to the loco. Today we moved items from the Fruit D into the GUV freeing up shelve and floor space. Steve was painting parts of the water tank that we dismantled last week, until the rain put a stop to this.

Monday 14th August
Charles L, Dave L, Dave Mc, Peter D, Peter M, Steve T, Tony H.
Charles and Steve fitted the new low level filler pipes. Tony fitted the new foot valve to the 8mm injector. This is a new casting and is newly machined. It is complete except the spring that holds the overflow valve closed. All was going well until the overflow pipe flange was found to be not the right one for the foot valve we had got. A pattern was made to get a new flange made, rivets were sorted into diameters and lengths we would need for riveting the tanks. A 'Foot' was made to support the tank when riveting commences.

Saturday 19th August
No work today, no one was available.

Monday 21st August
Bob L, Bryn T, Charles L, Dave Mc, Peter M, Phil H, Tony H.
Dave Mc bought the two pieces of 2" pipe threaded on one end so the hose attachments can be screwed on. This will allow the boiler to be back filled through the injectors if needed. These need to be welded on the overflow pipes. More work was done on the main steam pipes.
A start was made on riveting the left hand water tank. The outside plates are riveted to top and bottom angles. The top ones use 10mm rivets and the bottom 12mm rivets. There are vertical rows that fix the plates to the baffles and stretchers inside the tank, these also use 10mm rivets. A start was made on the 12mm rivets but after putting 6 rivets in we were not happy about the shape of the heads. We then made a start fitting the 10mm ones. These were a lot better and in around a hour we had fitted every other one the whole length of the tank, with only one failure. This and the six 12mm ones will be removed on Saturday.

Saturday 26th August
Dave Mc, Peter M, Si B, Steve M, Tony H.
We removed the offending rivets from the bottom angle, and also the one from the top one. The nuts and bolts were removed from the top angle ready for the rest of the rivets to be done next week. The Boilersmith has found a different method of fitting the 12mm rivets so the heads are acceptable and we do not have to get longer rivets.

Monday 28th
Charles L, Dave Mc, Peter M, Phil H, Steve T, Tony H.
More work was done on the main steam pipes. The overflow pipe on the 10mm injector was cut off to a length so the new pipe with the hose attachment could be prepped ready to be welded on. It was tack welded together and will be finished next week. Once we receive the new flange, the 8mm injector will be done the same. The left hand low level water feed was completed.

Tuesday 29th
Phill, Jack, Dave Mc, and Pete M. in the boiler shop today.
Off to a great start today, we flew along the top putting the final rivets along the top of the tank, then the specially made rivet snap failed, it broke into two. We will get a new one manufactured, and hardened next week. We then moved on to the larger rivets along the bottom of the tank. Once we had set up we got going, and by the end of the day we had fitted over 150.