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 say the least with a distinct lack of detail – so it’s a case of making it up as you go along. Chris had also planned to increase the amount of insulation around the steam chests as the original set up did not allow any room for insulation. To achieve this, he had the cladding made ½” larger in diameter than the cylinder casting. We have had to fit packing pieces between the cladding and cylinder to achieve a satisfactory fit and finish. Next on the list of things to do is to fit the rear cylinder covers and slidebars, albeit on a temporary basis to check the fitment of the cladding in these areas, it’s all very tight with just enough room to get to the front slidebar securing bolts. Once we are confident everything will fit together nicely, our attention will turn to replicating the process on the RHS of the locomotive.
The cab has been removed from the frames and stripped to a point of making it ready to receive the new cab side sheets. The profile cut sheets have arrived – but now need to have the bends formed so as to match the original side profile. The rivets have also arrived ready to final assemble the complete cab. It is hoped that LMS can now make rapid progress and complete the cab, ready for our volunteers to complete the painting and fitting out of the structure.
The sand traps recovered from a scrap class 08 diesel shunter’s have been cleaned up and repaired ready to fit to the new sand boxes once they are fabricated.
The brake cross shafts are now complete, having had their steel sleeves shrink fitted. This process involves boring the new sleeves between 0.005 -0.008” smaller than the brake cross shaft. The sleeve is then heated to expand it until it will slide over the brake shaft. Once cooled the sleeve grips the shaft preventing it moving in service.
Our supporter Malcolm Stringer has been very busy in his home workshop. Since before Christmas he has been machining parts for the lubrication oil non-return valves for the loco. Each non-return valve consists of a base, spring, 5/16” diameter stainless steel ball and a pipe connection. I am most grateful for his help producing these parts. The good news is that the production of these parts hasn’t put him off and after a short break he has offered to do more parts for us in the future.
Some of Malcolm’s parts have also been fitted to our two new atomiser bodies which were machined in the GWSR workshop. To finish the atomisers, I made the pipe fittings, end caps, and outlets and assembled everything together ready to fit to the loco once the cylinder cladding is finally fitted (they fit above the cylinders and the outlets are piped up to feed atomised oil into the valves and pistons).
In the GWSR workshop all the bushes for the brake hangers have been completed and have been taken to LMS to be pressed into the hangers. Their attention has now turned to machining the remaining pins and bushes for the brake pull rods. This will complete all the pins and bushes required for the locomotives brake gear.
Unfortunately 2807’s boiler lift has been delayed. We had hoped to have it in position behind the David Page engine shed so visitors to the steam gala could see the new crinolines and cladding starting to take shape. With the steam gala approaching and with visiting locomotives starting to arrive it was decided to wait until after the Gala to lift 2807’s boiler. Hopefully we will have use of their crane for an hour in the afternoon to position our boiler ready to crack on with the cladding.
Once again thank you to everyone for your help and support, whether it financially or practically it all makes a difference.
Andrew Meredith
TSLL Engineering director