December 2023 update

By Pete Maddicks and Tony Howard

First may I and all the team wish you a Happy Christmas and a great New Year. As I write this update the Christmas trains on the SVR are in full swing. It is great to see happy people, children and adults, enjoying their trip on the railway.

We had some expensive news this month, the copper steam pipes from the regulator box to superheater header are cracked and are beyond repair. We are currently looking into replacements. We know that they will cost a fairly large four figure sum, and as yet we do not know what the delivery time will be. As the crack is an old one, this could have been the reason the loco was withdrawn!

We have been busy on the loco again this month, Tony will as usual give you a full report on this the last update of 2023.

Monday 4th December.
Bob L, Charles L, Peter M, Steve T, Tony H.
Bob painted the steam heat pipework that was welded a couple of weeks ago, also painted the inside of the two tool boxes. Peter and Tony sorted out the items ready for the two copper pipes to be hydraulically tested. All of us then had a good clean up of the Fruit D. By the end of the day a lot more space was made available. Another session of riveting the tanks was going ahead in late afternoon. More riveting later on.

Saturday 9th December
No work today.

Monday 11th December.
Charles L, Dave Mc, Steve T, Tony H .
Dave, using his new skill of driving the crane, and the rest of us temporarily fitted the regulator box and superheater header in the Smokebox. All ready for the copper steam pipes, and a start can be made on manufacturing the steel pipes.
Another session of riveting the water tanks is planned for later this afternoon.

Saturday 16th December
Peter M, Simon B, Tony H.
The front and rear steam heat pipework was refitted, following the welding of the flanges and painting. The small vacuum pipe was also fitted.

Monday 18th December.
Bryn T, Charles L, Dave Mc, Peter M, Peter D, Phil H, Si B, Steve T, Tony H.
Ĺast working day of this year, and a good turnout. Peter D visited us for lunch.
As said last Monday we temporarily fitted the regulator box. Today we had to remove the regulator box as the end of some of the studs were fouling the back of the casting. The studs were removed, and Phil shortened them on the lathe. Once the studs were refitted the regulator box was fitted. The copper steam pipes that connects the regulator box to the superheater header were hydraulically tested last week. Unfortunately they failed, and we will need new ones. So we fitted the old ones to check if they could be used to make a pattern to make new ones. They fitted correctly. It also shows that the superheater header is in the correct position so the new steel steam pipes can be made.
More work was done on the water tanks.