January 2023

By Pete Maddicks and Tony Howard

This month’s update has been penned by Tony Howard, but before I pass over to Tony two things to mention. The first was on Tuesday 3rd, the loco was shunted back to in the shed, ready for the track work at the south of the station to be removed and on Thursday 19th I had a email from Peter D to remind me that the loco arrived on the railway 45 years today. I was on the loco that day and it was freezing! If you have any photos of the move on that day please let us know it would be most appreciated.

January 16th.
Bob L, Charles L, Dave Mc, Peter D, Peter M, Phil H, Si B, Steve T, Tony H.
First day back in the New Year. After the "Happy New Year" greetings and the usual cuppa, we split up into three groups. We were told that a batch of 7/8" studs were being made on the CNC lathe at the moment and as we needed six studs could one group get the old studs out, measure them and let the boilersmith have the dimensions So group one did this and also ran a 7/8" Whitworth tap down the holes. Group two set about removing the brake rod that got damaged when the boiler was reunited with the frames. This was achieved and the rod is in the boiler shop awaiting to be straightened. Group three arranged for the firebars and the superheater header to be bought up to the loco shed from safe storage. This would need the JCB for the job. There was no JCB driver available until later in the day, so four of us went to see if we could get the superheater header on a pallet truck. Once we had got the superheater header on a pallet and moved to the door we cleared items so the firebars were easily accessible. The superheater header was bought to the loco shed and using the new crane lifted onto a bench so we could run a 7/8" and 1" Whitworth tap to clean up the threads. It was noticed that when the original studs had been removed a few decades ago one stud had broken off around 1/2" below the surface. Later when the firebars arrived a start was made assembling the grate and drop grate. Some modifications will be needed to finish this task.

Saturday 21st January.
Dave Mc, Jack K, Kevin S, Peter M, Simon B, Tony H. We had to work out the drop grate operation mechanism. We looked at the GWR Manor and the Hall to see how the mechanism had been fixed to the loco. We decided to use the way it been fitted to the Hall, as the way it was fitted was very similar to our loco. We took photos, and measurements and made a sketch of the various parts. We also marked out onto the ashpan the areas that needed cutting out. Luckily the was a 08 driver on site so the loco was pulled out of the shed and over a pit where the offending parts were cut out using oxy acetylene. Once done the loco was pushed back into the shed.

Monday 23rd January.
Bob L, Charles L, Dave Mc, Peter M, Phil H, Steve T, Tony H. We split up into groups. One group was removing the broken stud from the superheater header. The second group made a start fitting the backhead cladding to the boiler. The broken stud was eventually removed from the superheater header but another problem was noticed the threaded holes on the other side of the superheater header were worn, so the need opening the next size up, ie 7/8" BSW to 1" BSW.. The backhead cladding needed some fettling to fit and was sorted out. The fire hole doors were also fitted temporarily, again with a bit of fettling. A temporary walkway was started either side of the boiler ready to fit the crinolines.

28th January
Kevin S, Peter M, Tony H. There was a problem with the bottom sliding bar the fire hole doors sit on. Although there was a cut out in this bar to miss a boiler stay it was still catching the stay. We ground the cut out wider until the bar no longer fouled the stay. Despite this the left hand door was still jamming about an inch from its fully open position. Eventually we found the reason. The bottom of the backhead cladding that we had to alter last week needed a bit more work doing to it. We also made a start fitting the operating lever that opens and shuts the doors. The two large steam pipes were moved from the Fruit D into the shed and placed by the loco.

Monday 30th January
Bob L, Charles L, Dave Mc, Peter D, Peter M, Phil H, Steve T, Tony H. The backhead cladding around the firehole needed more work doing as it was interfering with the operation of the fire hole doors. Eventually everything fitted and worked perfectly. The large steam pipes were examined and it was decided that we needed new ones and an order was raised. Two more pieces of backhead cladding were fitted. The crinolines were bought into the shed from safe storage. New studs were fitted to the firebox.