February 2025 Update

By Pete Maddicks & Tony Howard. 

We are not going to be making huge steps forward as all the large components are now together, therefore for the next few months it will be “little and often”, but then we will be taking the cab roof, and tanks off to get the boiler out so it can be finished off, and tested. Once all that is done it will be one giant push to get the loco running. 

About 12 years ago we bought a welder to use whilst we built the bunker, tanks, and made the cladding. At the end of January it decided it had done enough and went bang! Therefore we had to buy a new one, (see photo 1) as you can see it looks really smart in its Taw Valley lilac livery! I would like to thank Carl Horton of H.W.S. for his help, and for delivering it to Bridgnorth. 

Phil H has tidied up the ATC box, (see photo 2) he polished the brass bell, cleaned up the paintwork and made a new cover for the vacuum switch. We have not yet decided whether to repaint it as it is still in the paint put on when it was last overhauled in 1968 at Reading. We will install the box in the cab with all the pipes so the cab is complete, as the SVR does not have the line side equipment for it to work it will be isolated. 

Saturday 1st February.
No work today.

Monday 3rd February.
Bob L, Charles L, Dave L, Dave Mc, Jack K, Peter D, Peter M, Phil H, Steve T, Tony H.
Work was done on the left-hand side of the cab roof. It is now sitting correctly.
Charles and Tony put the new bolts in the left-hand bunker balance pipe. They then turned their attention to the right-hand tank balance pipe. The water space in the bunker can be filled to check for leaks again.
Peter D, working on more lubricating pipework. Bob as usual was painting, Dave L and Steve working on cladding.
The front window frames were got out of storage and were trial fitted, needed some fettling to fit correctly.

Saturday 8th February.
Jacob L, Kevin S, Peter M, Simon B, Steve M, Tony H.
Cleaning up after the welding session earlier in the week. Round-headed bolts were replaced in the cab roof. We then turned our attention to the front window frames. We clamped them into position and adjusted them to fit equally all round.
We clamped them securely and ran a drill through the pilot holes that had been drilled when the frames were machined some time ago. 6mm bolts were fitted, four to each window and tightened up.
All the holes will need to be opened up to 11/32" and countersunk for 5/16" Whitworth brass screws.

Monday 10th February  
Charles L, Dave L, Dave Mc, Peter D, Peter M, Phil H, Steve T, Tony H.
All the fixing holes in the window frames were drilled to 11/32", then countersunk. All ready to be fitted next working day. Work was done on the cladding. The operating lever for the front sand boxes was fitted.

Saturday 15th February.
Jacob L, Kevin S, Peter M, Steve M, Tony H.
The spectacle plate was drilled to 11/32", also the two holes for the 5/8" round-headed bolts that support the window frames by the hinges. The 10mm injector was fitted along with the foot valve, and overflow pipe.

Monday 17th February.
Bob L, Dave L, Dave Mc, Peter D, Peter M, Phil H, Steve T, Tony H.
We found an assortment of 5/8" Whitworth round-headed bolts of various lengths of thread these were ideal for the window frames. There were not enough of the longer ones, so the nuts were reduced in width on these slightly shorter bolts.
The old 8mm injector was fitted, without the foot valve. This will give us a guide for making the pipework that feeds water to the clack valves. Work continues on the cladding, and painting.

Saturday 22nd February.
Kevin S, Peter M, Simon B, Steve M, Tony.
The front window frames were fitted.
We noticed the bottom hinge bolt would not clear the top of the right-hand water tank. We removed the window frame, and we will shorten the bolt on Monday. The cover plate for the quadrant was fitted as well as the drain cock lever in the cab.

Monday 24th February.
Bob L, Dave L, Dave Mc, Peter D, Peter M, Phil H, Steve T, Tony H.
The troublesome bolt from the previous Saturday was shortened and the frame was refitted. The other part of the frame that holds the glass was fitted in both windows. More fettling was required to make them fit to our satisfaction. We noticed that the spring that holds the windows shut did not look right, we found that we had put them on the wrong way round, once corrected they work a lot better. Work was done on the cladding that covers the gap between top of the tanks and the boiler cladding sheets. A bracket was made for holding the fire irons on the top of the left-hand tank. More parts were painted.