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 the NDT examination. Over 200 monel stays identified as being flawed by the NDT probe above the proposed cut section are also being removed ready for replacement. The Boiler inspector is booked to visit in early April to view progress before hopefully we can turn a corner and start to replace the removed parts. The inspector will also be looking closely at areas of the boiler where access has previously been impossible. The foundation ring will be removed to enable testing for cracks and weld repairs to corrosion in the corners carried out to prolong its life. Leaky Finders have ordered the new throatplate section and smoke box tube plate pressing, together with a new rolled and submerge arc welded barrel section which are due for delivery very soon.
Whilst the results of the recent NDT examination were clearly not the news we had wished for, significantly increasing the costs of the boiler overhaul, doing all this extra work now will hopefully result in a much simpler (and cheaper) boiler overhaul after 76077’s first 10 years of operation.
At LMS our volunteers and some LMS staff have been busy making the framework to support the new wooden cab floor. Like most things “standard” it’s far more complex than is really required, but we are nearing the end of the work now. One of our Shareholders Chris Theaker (owner of Theaker Joinery) has kindly agreed to supply the Iroko wooden floor FOC for which we are very grateful. We might have to put a sign-up asking people to wear their slippers before entering the cab!!!
At Toddington the work continues making and repairing all the smaller parts that make up the locomotive. Graham Gould our chief polisher has been busy again cleaning up all the castings for the hand wheels in the cab.
Andy Beale and new volunteer Keith Harvey have been working on the steel parts for the folding arm rests and the retaining plates for the cab windows. I’m pleased to say we have attracted another new volunteer Rob Garwood. Rob has welding and fabrication skills, so I asked if he would take on the fabrication of the new driver’s pedestal. I drew up the steel plate work on CAD and supplied Rob with a kit of parts. 2 weeks after giving him the parts he arrived at Toddington with an almost finished corrosion free pedestal which looks superb. We can now shot blast and paint it ready to install in the cab.
If we haven’t frightened him off after this job, I have just taken delivery of a kit of parts for the new sandboxes so there will be plenty to keep us all busy. The rest of our team have been busy cleaning up, straightening and painting of reusable parts recovered from storage.
On a recent workday we had 11 volunteers on site, whilst this was very welcome, we ran out of tools for everyone to use, so we were able to offer some help to the railway who were washing out newly arrived 6880 Betton Grange. Dr Pogson spent all day working with the boiler washout team which he thoroughly enjoyed. His newly acquired skills will hopefully be put to good use once our locomotive is complete, and we move from restoring to maintaining our locomotive.
Words and Pictures by Andrew Meredith – TSLL Engineering director
