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 enabling us to access our locomotive to work on it properly. This departure has also enabled LMS staff to re-start working on 76077 as well as other projects which is great news indeed.
The cab continues to make progress, although we are trying to use as much volunteer effort on this as possible to keep costs down. I am working on the fitting of the front spectacle plate sections which have to interface precisely with the side sheets. Much time has been spent trying to get everything to line up nicely, the previous work carried out by the original contractor has needed rectifying, with plate work and angle, cut and re-welded to achieve the fit we want. The cab roof ventilator, (or sun roof if you prefer) is also being worked on. New sliding sections are being made, to replace badly corroded and bent pieces. Volunteers Ian Pogson and Graham Gould have been rolling and drilling the sections ready for it to be riveted together.
Steel pipe work for the vacuum brake train pipe is being shaped ready to fit between the frames. Currently this is awaiting final painting before being permanently installed. There is another section of pipe work under the cab that comes up through the drivers pedestal and into the brake valve but that will have to wait until the cab is fitted and the pedestal refurbished. All other vacuum pipe work runs underneath the LHS running board so it can’t be finished until the boiler is mounted and the running boards attached.
The refurbishment of the tender wheel axle boxes continues, with volunteer Rob Southwell having done a great job cleaning off 70 years of rust and corrosion on the rear axlebox covers and sealing collars. One of the sealing collars had a build up of steel welded to the inside, which looks to have been caused by molten metal running from one of the roller bearings. This probably occurred at the steelworks but has required machining to remove. The new roller bearings are due to arrive towards the end of July, so we are preparing all the parts in preparation for their fitment.
The next bit of good news is that the main body housings for the driver’s reversing gearbox have been finished machined. Ace CNC machinist Simon Hunter at LMS, has done an absolutely superb job of these complex parts. This was aided by the excellent work of the pattern maker and foundry who supplied them, with the correct amount of material as a machining allowance, being provided in all the right places. Unfortunately the volunteer who previously agreed to help with the organising and manufacture of the parts to go inside the gearbox has, for various reasons, had a change of heart. He has sourced some parts and we will be buying anything of use from him, but the organising and supply of the remaining parts has now fallen to me. I have already been in touch with a company based in Glasgow that previously made these parts for another loco restoration, so hopefully we will be placing an order with them soon. The cost of these parts alone will be in the region of £3500. It looks like we will exceed the budgeted £10,500 estimate for this build, but in our defence this is entirely due to the fact that we had to have new patterns made for the housings, replacing those lost by another locomotive group.
At Toddington the machine shop have been kept busy with work for another GWSR resident, heavy freight 2-8-0 3850, this is nearing the end of a very extensive overhaul, so we wish them well for a successful return to traffic later in 2024. The machine shop have however found time to do a few little jobs for us, namely caps for the grease nipples on the combination levers, and pins for the rocking grate linkage. I am about to give them another list of parts required so hopefully there’s more of their very valuable work to come. As always a big thank you goes to all the machinists in the GWSR workshop your help and support is greatly appreciated.
TSL volunteers continue to do good work on the boiler crinolines, cladding, and refurbishing the rocking grate actuators, as well as a multitude of other small parts that make up our giant 3D jigsaw. The first of our mechanical lubricators has been completed and set up on test to check its performance and the second lubricator is currently being re-assembled ready for testing before fitting to the locomotive. Thanks to all our volunteers for their time and support, we couldn’t do this without you.
Words and Pictures: Andrew Meredith – TSLL Engineering director