October Update

 

The last few months have seen further progress with the locomotive as the tender nears completion and the engine itself continues to accrue a collection of parts ready for assembly in 2023. In our last update we were delighted by the tender frames coming together but since then a new tender tank has arrived ready to join a rolling chassis in the New Year.

 

Following its arrival at the Locomotive Maintenance Services Ltd workshops in January this year, the team there have been busy completing the tank with fittings such as dummy rivets (it’s of welded construction), lockers, water feed assemblies etc. Now adorned in a first protective coat of gloss green it sits patiently in the workshops awaiting its chassis.

 

The chassis itself has been a more complicated build than one might think. For starters, the old tender frames were reassembled first in order to try out each part against them before measuring up and drilling the matching location on the new frames. The wheelsets themselves have needed complete refurbishment; new tyres, bushes, corrective welding on the wheels to address minor cracking, and also one new axle. With all wheelsets back from South Devon Railway Engineering Ltd this summer the team at LMS have continued with the work to marry them up to the frames: axleboxes, horn-guides, brakes, and of course painting. A completed tender awaits early in 2023 which will then free up the LMS team to focus on the main event; reassembly of the engine itself.

 

As alluded to above, work on the engine has already begun but those efforts do not necessarily yield “juicy” images for our website and social media. Major parts such as the cylinder block, driving wheels and new foundation ring are ready and waiting in the works. The new frames, cut back in 2020, will be machined this winter. Meanwhile the boiler has been making steady progress with the new inner firebox already under construction along with the outer wrapper that has been substantially repaired. In short, a long way to go but still on track for steaming in 2024.

 

Meanwhile in Cumbria, the restoration of our 1902 H2 pattern NER Stores Van has continued towards completion. The exterior is largely complete now that the new roof canvas, raised roof ducket and droplights have all been fitted. Resplendent in undercoat, the vehicle will finally receive its gloss coat this winter.

 

Inside the vehicle is similarly on the home straight with the crew compartment now very much back to its 1902 condition; the new moquette on the seating adding a superb touch. Elsewhere within the vehicle, the return of fittings such as the cupboards and desks have been returned to serve its purpose as a dispensary of equipment and stores vital to keep the various remote stations on the NER network functioning. The stores items being as varied as lamp oil, blank tickets and brooms. The most recent headline news for this vehicle has been the rigging up of the replica Pinsch lamps to the electricity to check they work okay; the results speak for themselves!

 

This has been a painstaking and first-class restoration; please do come and see it at Kirkby Stephen East!

 

For more regular updates on project progress, please also check out our Facebook page; J21 65033.