There has been a lot of work going on at Leaky Finders to restore our boiler to serviceable condition. There will be a much more detailed report in the next “Toddington Standard” Magazine but here is a brief description of the work done so far.
The picture below shows the extent of the strip down. This has become necessary to fully assess the condition of the boiler, as more issues have come to light.
Work done to date includes the removal of the front tubeplate, parallel barrel section, steel firebox side sheets and the lower section of the throatplate. Whilst trying to replace the rivets in the laps of the copper tubeplate Leaky Finders discovered mis drilled holes which resulted in the removal of the copper tubeplate as patch screws couldn’t be used to replace the rivets as previously hoped. The foundation ring was also removed as what appeared to be a large crack could be seen in one of the front corners. This has been examined, and we think that it is a manufacturing defect, so that will need extensive repairs. The palm stay brackets have been removed and grooving around the brackets welded up in the bottom of the tapered barrel. A small amount of welding to some pitting in the tapered barrel section has also been completed. Hundreds of stays have been removed and holes re-tapped ready for replacement stays to be fitted. The crown stay nuts have been removed and new ones machined ready to be refitted once the replacement 6 rows of crown stays are in position.
Copper welding has started around the Firehole door ring to build up wastage, once this is complete the door plate will be removed to deal with some more poor BR repairs. It will also enable us to assess the condition of the back head the last unknown on the boiler.
As well as the paid staff at Leaky Finders, our volunteers have been welcomed down to their workshops to help with some tasks. The needle gunning of the inside of the tapered barrel section is one area where the use of volunteers helps control the costs. We plan to have more trips down in the future as the work progresses.
The latest news, and some good news for a change, is that the front barrel section has been fitted to the tapered barrel section. Next the rivet holes will be drilled ready for replacement rivets to permanently attach it to the rest of the boiler.
Once again thankyou to everyone who has made investments in TSLL enabling us to overhaul the boiler for 76077. We are exceeding expectations, but we are not out of the woods yet. If you are still thinking of contributing but have not done so yet, please do consider buying shares. Every single pound counts, the sooner we raise the money the sooner the locomotive will steam again.
Andrew Meredith, TSLL Engineering Director