Starting with the boiler, good progress has been made at Leaky Finders with the removal of most of the foundation ring rivets, patch screws in the firebox lap seams, smoke box tube plate, and the steel side sheets and throat plate sections that have been identified as needing to be replaced following the results of […]
Author: Simon Edmunds
05 February 2025: Work on the overhaul of the boiler of Standard Class 4 2-6-0 no. 76077, owned by Toddington Standard Locomotive Limited (TSLL) for eventual use on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway, has started in earnest – however an NDT (Non-Destructive Testing) examination has revealed additional unexpected problems. When the boiler arrived at the […]
Boiler arrives at Leaky Finders in Devon for overhaul More than half of £150,000 boiler appeal met Boiler appeal remains open “… aspire to see locomotive in steam for 70th birthday in 2026” Toddington Standard Locomotive Limited (TSLL) – owner of Standard Class 4 2-6-0 no. 76077, has passed another important milestone with despatch of […]
With summer behind us the weather has suddenly become quite autumnal, nether the less, our happy band of volunteers continue to make good progress restoring and or replacing parts for our locomotive. In this update I am going to introduce you to some of our volunteers, I will try and show more of our volunteers […]
The first bit of good news is that after 26 months 60163 Tornado has finally left the LMS workshops. It has only been taken down the road to the Great Central Railway and LMS are still involved in making it ready for test running, but at least the area around 76077 is relatively clear now […]
Boiler overhaul contract awarded for 76077 Leaky Finders Ltd of Cullompton, Devon to overhaul boiler Firm chosen after competitive tender process Owner Toddington Standard Locomotive Ltd steps up funding appeal Boiler component sponsorship scheme launched 21 May 2024: Toddington Standard Locomotive Limited (TSLL) has announced that the boiler of their Standard class 4 2-6-0 no. […]
At LMS the work on the locomotive’s motion still awaits the departure of 60163 Tornado although there is a chance it will have moved by the beginning of May, so hopefully progress on our loco can be restarted soon. The cab is still being worked on with a mixture of volunteers and paid staff. The […]
Where has the year gone? I can’t believe the end of the year is upon us again; I think next year to save time, I will leave my Christmas tree up as I’m sure I only just took it down! It may have gone quickly, but as usual it’s been another busy year with our […]
Our summer engineering report starts with the acquisition of the tender wheels. We were very pleased, and to be honest a little surprised after we received a positive response to our renewed offer to purchase these wheels via the Bluebell Railway’s board of directors. Chris Irving and I made a site visit to examine their […]
Wheelsets bought from the Bluebell railway suit a BR2A tender Toddington Standard Locomotive Ltd to build new tender after 76077 returns to service ‘Sponsor a Spoke’ shareholder appeal raises cost of purchase and profiling 28 June 2023: Toddington Standard Locomotive Limited (TSLL), owner of standard class 4 2-6-0 no. 76077, has confirmed that the engine […]
At LMS Loughborough, the cylinder cladding has been trial fitted to the Left Hand Side cylinder. Although we already had the cladding sheets that Chris Hinton had made many years ago, we have had to spend a considerable amount of time getting everything to fit together correctly. The drawings for these items are sketchy to […]
News from the Workshop by Andy Meredith, TSLL Engineering Director At Loughborough, work has started on the brake gear for the locomotive. The brake cross beams that connect to the bottom of the hangers and transfer the force from the brake pull rods to the brake blocks have had the old sleeves removed on two […]
After the flurry of activity in July and September the last few months have been comparatively quiet, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t made progress in many areas. At Loughborough the new brackets for the sand ejectors have been completed and fitted to the frames. This has allowed our previously machined sand ejectors to be […]
One of the most frequent questions I’m asked is “what will you do about building a tender for 76077?”. In this article I will try and explain the history that resulted in the loss of our tender and what options there are to provide our locomotive with a new one. First of all, it’s worth […]
August was a very busy month at LMS with lots of work on 76077 in preparation for our shareholder and supporters day in September. The coupling rod bushes have all been re-metalled, machined and pressed back into the coupling rods. The leading and driving bushes were a good tight press fit in the rods, the […]
The GWSR steam gala gave us the opportunity to show off progress on our Locomotive’s restoration. As costs prevented us transporting the loco to Toddington, we displayed a number of significant completed parts, together with a video slideshow of the locomotive being reassembled at LMS in Loughborough. It was great to meet up with some […]
Apologies for the late arrival of this workshop update, with the GWSR Steam Gala fast approaching I found myself busier than ever trying to prepare things for our sale stand (more about this next month). Back to our loco and the painting of the inside of the frames is now almost complete, only the rear […]
Work continues at Loughborough with the painting of the inside of the locomotive frames. The reversing shaft has been refurbished and is ready for fitting when the inside frame paintwork is completed. All the pins that secure the horn guide frame stays have been hardened to reduce wear together with the latest batch of brake […]
Work at Loughborough has seen the replacement steam operated drain cock castings and the internal parts for these completed. We are now just awaiting the seals and then the drain cocks will be completely assembled ready to be fitted to the cylinders after they are bored next year. The machining of the castings for these […]