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OVERHAUL 2015 - 2022


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In April 2022 Sir Nigel Gresley returned from an overhaul which took more than six years and cost about £800,000 plus about £100,000 for the support coach. If you would like to make a donation towards the cost of this overhaul please click on the donate button.


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Notes from information supplied by Darrin Crone, Locomotive Engineer.

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January to December 2020.

24 December 2020

The coach has been moved from storage to contractor's premises for the recommencement of its overhaul. The contractors wasted no time and within a week the overhauled voltage regulator and dynamo had been refitted, the auxiliary air tank has been removed and will be sent for contractor overhaul. The vacuum brake cylinders have also been overhauled and refitted. The buckeye couplings have been removed for overhaul and test.

A week after arrival the coach was also surveyed for the preparation of the design for the Controlled Emission Toilet (CET) installation. Our coach being unusual in having the early pattern bogies and uncompensated braking means we have underslung brake pull rods and the tank will have to accommodate the location of the rod that goes from the brake gear to the bogie. During the survey it was apparent the the ETH cabling will have to be re-routed to allow the fitting of the tank mounting brackets. We await the design proposal, meanwhile the ETH cable has been re-routed and the old toilet removed.

A week after the coach survey we again visited the coach to see it lifted and this allowed a thorough survey of the bogies and the bogie castings on the bottom of the coach. Things didn't look half bad. There are a few jobs to attend to but these are mainly normal maintenance jobs like re-shimming horns and checking pins for wear. With the weight off the bogie the springs look very good with the leaves remaining tight together. The coach has now been put back on its bogies and moved outside while the contractors await our instructions to proceed to the next stage of the overhaul.

It is planned that the SNG Operations Team will visit the coach in the new year to sheet it and work up a plan for the fitting out of the coach interior.

Now the platework at the front of the tender is complete the various fittings that are attached to it have been collected together. The positions of the fire iron brackets was marked on the tender from a drawing produced before the tender was dismantled. The fire iron brackets have been tacked in place.

The canopy above the corridor has been finished by dressing the weld to make it a little less obvious that it is welded on, as originally the tender was all rivetted.

Also on the front of the tender the water valve handles have been tried in position. The new floor plate will require alteration to accommodate the water handles and hand brake shaft which pass thorough the plate.

The tender rail guard irons have returned from the NYMR. One had been bent during a derailment at Grosmont MPD while in service and they had kindly offered to return it to its correct profile. The undamaged one being used as a pattern. Both are now refitted, however the right hand bolt ends are very close to a brake hanger, the left bolts are machined flush with their nuts to prevent contact. The right are now being similarly treated.

The tender to loco safety links have been heat treated and returned to York. They were polished all over to remove the heat treated finish and have now been painted and are ready for fitting.

The steam supply pipe to the air pump is in "hard" and has been lagged. Some further bracketing is being worked on.

On the tender top the installation of the pipework and air tanks continues. To increase the hours spent on piping another volunteer has been added to the Pipe Fitting TeamThe little air tank, one of three tanks on the tender, when fitted it was found that the mounting brackets were skewed to the centre of the tank. The brackets have now been reworked and fit very well picking up existing holes in the tender top. Two of the three tanks are now permanently fitted and piping installed. There are some pipe brackets to be welded in place which will allow the installation of the pipe between the two large tanks and the air system relief valve.

The area around the tanks has footplating that protects the pipe runs and prevents people from walking on the little tank. The footplating assemblies have now been trial fitted and painted. The securing of the largest section has been improved and required a little modification to fit with renewed tender platework.

Progress has been made with the boiler cladding. The right leading boiler panel has been previously weld repaired and was kind of OK, but would need further cosmetic and fitting work. However, the left side panels are in worse condition, perhaps due to being on the east side of the loco on the NYMR. So the left panels will require even more work.

Considering the amount of time that the right leading panel has consumed and how much more work is needed on the left panels, it was decided that a new approach was required. So it was decided to replace the entire right leading panel. The material was specified and a flat sheet and a rolled section were collected from Teesside by an Engineering Team volunteer. A couple of days work later we put up a new panel with full material thickness and no patches. In fact it looks a lot better than its ex-service neighbour. So we are capable, and have a time and cost effective method to proceed with recladding the boiler, where it needs it. The panels are awkward things to handle and we are so lucky to have the overhead crane.

All the washout top hats have been rivetted back on to their cladding sheets.

New dust guard ropes have been fitted to the bogie.

The cracked Cartazzi hornstay has now been repaired by contractors. They also rebuilt the ends and machined them at no extra cost over the initial quote for welding. The hornstay will require fitting.

When the Cartazzi brasses were checked before machining it was found that one did not to have enough whitemetal on its ends to be able to machine the overall length we require. The bearing has been returned to the white-metallers for rework.

The white-metaled leading valve crossheads have been collected from the white-metallers and all the necessary dimensions have been taken from the valves and crosshead slides to enable the crossheads to be machined.

The leading piston valve guides have now been machined true, with only one needing a final skim to centre its valve crosshead. This has removed all the wear from the valve guides and ensures the vertical running surfaces are in line with the valve spindles.

The little end keyways in the connecting rods are being dressed to accept the little end bush keys. The outside are done, with the middle underway.

The little end bushes have been completed having been slotted for their oiling felts and their keyways machined. Only the keys are now required. The slots were put in at a commercial engineering works on a slotter, by an Engineering Team volunteer with the machine time generously donated.

The middle big end bearing, which is in two halves, has had its mating surfaces skimmed and soft soldered together. The faces are skimmed to give the best circularity from the raw castings and soldered to hold them rigidly while the rest of the bearing is machined.

The four new loco brakeshaft bearings have now been machined and are being fitted. The housings in the loco are worn out of round so they are being honed and finished to provide a good fit for the bearings.

The brakeshafts are now ready for refitting after rebushing.

All the new pins for the loco brake gear have been machined and are now being cross drilled for split pins. All the rebushing of the brake pulls and links has been completed.

In the smokebox the right and last steel steam pipe has been trial fitted. This pipe required a couple of cuts to get it to fit on the new cast iron pipe. All three steel pipes have now been set up and require contractor welding. A number of contractors have been asked to quote for this work, which has also been discussed with our boiler insurer.

The cast iron steam pipes were then removed from the smokebox for drilling of the atomiser connections. The left is now completed.

Work has started on the repair of the smokebox tapped holes for the superheater cover plates.

The left union link being measured for twist. 24 November 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Left union link

The new handbrake link machined by Engineering Team volunteers with the ex-service behind. 27 November 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

New handbrake link

The coach has arrived at contractors for the overhaul of the underframes. 2 December 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

The coach

The new loco brakeshaft bearings during machining, with the same components in model form for a 7¼" A4. 3 December 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Loco brakeshaft bearings

The new tender corridor canopy fitted. Original drawings were used to fabricate this part. 4 December 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Tender corridor canopy

The two loco brakeshafts being rebushed. 4 December 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Loco brakeshafts

The little end bearings being slotted for their oiling felts. 8 December 2020
Photograph: Tony Bickerstaffe

Little end bearings

One of the cast iron steam pipes being set up for drilling. 11 December 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Cast iron steam pipe

The coach has been lifted for the underneath of the coach and bogies to be thoroughly inspected. 16 December 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

The coach lifted

Everything needs painting, and work proceeds on a little end keyway. 18 December 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Painting

The ex-service cladding sheets with a new steel sheet being marked out and drilled. 18 December 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Ex-service cladding sheets

Not mentioned in the report but the valve covers provide end stops for the valve liners. These stops have been finished to provide the correct stop position when assembled. 18 December 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Valve covers

One of the middle big end bearing half castings having the mating surface machined. 21 December 2020
Photograph: Tony Bickerstaffe

Middle big end bearing

After the faces are machined they are tinned with solder. 22 December 2020
Photograph: Tony Bickerstaffe

Faces tinned with solder

After aligning the halves they are soldered together. 22 December 2020
Photograph: Tony Bickerstaffe

Halves are soldered together

The new cladding sheet being welded. In front the middle trailing valve cover waiting to be welded so that the end stop can be finished to the correct length. 22 December 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

New cladding sheet

Santa's leading artisan elf popped in to help with some pipework on his way to the North Pole. 22 December 2020<
Photograph: Richard Swales

Artisan elf

The middle big end bearing halves soldered ready to go for machining. 23 December 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Middle big end bearing

The new right leading boiler cladding panel in place. 23 December 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Right leading cladding

The right leading brakeshaft bearing in position. 23 December 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Right leading brakeshaft

The leading left brakeshaft bearing housing is honed to remove taper and improve circularity for the fitting of the bearing. 23 December 2020
Photograph: Tony Bickerstaffe

Brakeshaft bearing housing

1 December 2020

The volunteer Piping Team has completed the new steam supply pipe run to the air pump. The pipe has been hydraulically pressure tested. It is now being lagged and finally fitted.

With the completion of the air pump steam supply pipe the team has revisited the tender top air system. One of the large air pipes re-routed up one of the drain pipes has been cut to length and the fittings for linking to the air tanks are being prepared.

New cone ends for the 1/2" steam supply pipes to the atomisers have been made and have been fitted. All these cone ends are made to the LNER drawing dimensions and replace a wonderful variety of worn cone ends probably made piecemeal over the years.

A new end, threaded 1-7/8" for the steel smokebox atomiser steam supply stub pipe has been machined.

The remaining leading lubrication pipes have been annealed and a batch of new 3/8" cone ends machined.

The Cartazzi brasses are now with contractors for machining.

The new Cartazzi oiler pads have been collected from the manufacturer.

The cast iron steam pipes have been pressure tested after their fit in the smokebox had been checked. The pipes were refitted in the smokebox and the steel pipes that connect the superheater to the cast iron pipes tried in. When the pipes are finally fitted they are fitted with lens rings that are used to seal the pipes and to allow slight misalignments to be accommodated. The specification is for there to be a 3/8" gap between the pipes so misalignment is sure to be taken on the lens ring. To represent this gap plates have been used, sandwiched between the end flanges of the pipes. As the cast iron pipes are new the existing steel pipes don't quite meet the cast iron ones so the steel pipes require modification. This is done by cutting the steel pipes and fastening their ends at the superheater and on the cast iron pipes. The gaps are then bridged with steel pieces to hold the pipe to its new shape. The pipes will then be sent to contractors for welding and where necessary new sections of pipe will have be added. This is difficult and heavy work.

The left and middle pipes have now been dealt with. Before the pipes are sent to contractors for welding our boiler insurers have requested that they see the welding procedure documentation. This request has been sent on to our usual welding contractors.

The tender floor supports have now been fabricated and fitted to the tender tank floorplate. The water gauge connection below floor level has been cleaned of scale and prime painted in preparation for receiving the gauge.

The small canopy at the end of the corridor has been fitted. Where it meets the tender side the top tender streamlining and the tender front plate have also to be finished. It's quite a complicated coming together. I don't think the Boilermaking Team is going to enjoy work where it can't swing a big hammer or get max-amps on the job.

The rivet heads on the front of the tender front plate that secure the coal door frame have been ground down. There's more to do, but the plate will be left flush when completed.

The speedo crank on the left trailing coupled wheel has now been fitted.

The little ends bush machining continues. They are complete except for the slots for the oiling felts, which will be done off-site by one of our volunteers. The oiling rings that fit on the ends of the bushes have been roughed out. The keyways in the rod little ends and the ex-service keys have been examined. The keyways will be refurbished, as those in the coupling rods and big ends have been. It is most likely that new keys will also be required.

The reassembly of the valve gear continues. The outside valve heads have been put on their spindles in what should be their final positions. This required some machining of the central bosses of the leading heads to get them correctly positioned. The old head in this position was a middle head casting which has a differently dimensioned centre. Just to ensure we knew what was going on the dimensions of the valve, valve liners and distance to the valve crosshead were rechecked and this confirmed that the heads required modification. The leading right and left heads were modified and the assembly confirmed as when on their spindles with the securing nuts tightened, the cotter pin holes in the valve spindles were correctly exposed.

The middle steam chest has been measured for setting its valve positions.

The height of the running surfaces for the valve crossheads is set with shims. New material was ordered and has now been ground to the correct thickness for the leading valve crossheads. These have been fitted and the heights to the valve spindles measured. This allows the dimensions for these valve crossheads to be finalised.

When happy with the valves the union links were tried in position. We were aware that the left union link is bent. This was discovered during the fitting of the new motion pins. In addition when the left piston crosshead was machined it was found that the crosshead sliding surfaces were not square to the drop link hole. Probably to accommodate the union link. We are only talking thou's but that matters when the motion pin clearances are also thou's. It has also been found that the swing of the combination lever isn't exactly in line with the slidebars. This makes the union links tight on the crosshead and combination lever in parts of their travel. This all probably originates in the mix and match approach of Crewe when they used 60026 and 60007 parts. To free off the tight spots the combination levers have now been adjusted to a best position where their travel is free. The right is now fine for final fitting but the left union link requires attention to align the pin holes with those in the crosshead. This won't be easy as the union link holes are hardened.

Work on the boiler cladding continues with the refurbishment the right side sheets. A lot of work has been done over the last couple of weeks cleaning, trimming back and treating corroded feather edges and prime painting. The boiler washout access "top hats" have been removed so that the concealed surfaces can be cleaned and painted. Some have been re-riveted back in place but there is more to do. The material for the new cladding panel has been ordered and is now available for collection.

Meanwhile the crinoline spine threaded holes have been cleaned out.

The new coutersunk screws in the crinoline that hold the belly straps project out of their holes more than the old screws. The new screws are also hard so their tops have been ground to reduce the chance of them cutting in to the cladding sheets.

The right boiler handrail and knobs have been brought in to the workshop from store to be prepared before fitting.

Work continues on rebushing and pinning the brake gear. The pins are now complete for the lower brake pulls.

The new handbrake link has been finish machined. When the spacers put in for fabrication were removed the assembly sprung and it has now visited the jack and press and now complies with drawing. The link was then di-pen tested to ensure there is no surface defects and it is now ready for painting and fitting.

The new loco brakeshaft bearings have been cast and are ready for collection.

The assembly of the tender to loco drawgear continues. The spacer plates behind the dragbox are now in place, pinned so that when the eyebolt is removed they don't fall on your head. They also take the weight of the eyebolt when in position so reducing further wear to the dragbox casting. The eyebolt required a new cotter and this has been made.

The large rubber spring that reduces the shock loading to the intermediate drawbar is now under scrutiny. We have obtained a copy of the original drawing for the spring so we have the correct loading and rate information for the assembly.

The intermediate drawgear side or safety links have now gone to contractors for heat treatment.

The new cast iron steam pipes that are fastened to the tops of the cylinders are fastened together and pressure tested on 12 November 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Cast iron steam pipes

The CME ponders on the valve head positions on the spindle on 12 November 2020.
Photograph: Tont Bickerstaffe

The CME ponders

One of the little end bushes during machining by one of our Engineering Team volunteers on 12 November 2020.
Photograph: Tont Bickerstaffe

One of the little end bushes

The handbrake link being machined in a volunteer's workshop on 17 November 2020. Photograph: Richard Swales

The handbrake link

The steam supply pipe to the air pump is pressure tested before final fitting to the loco. 17 November 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

The steam supply pipe

Not open to the public a view of the loco from the viewing gallery on 19 November 2020.
Photograph: Richard Swales

Loco from the viewing gallery

Also seen from the public gallery, the tender. 19 November 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Tender from viewing gallery

The new cast iron steam pipe in position with the ex-service steel pipe cut to fit. 19 November 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

The new cast iron steam pipe

The left lower combination lever and piston crosshead drop link pin holes are compared for alignment during fitting of the union link. 20 November 2020 Photograph: Richard Swales

Left lower combination lever

Once cut and with the end flanges in position the cuts in the pipe are bridged to hold the pipes new shape. 20 November 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Pipes held in new shape

The right side valve gear assembly with union link fitted. 20 November 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Right side valve gear assembly

10 November 2020

The tender coal space door frame has now been rivetted in place. This is the last major riveting that will be done on the loco.

The new battery box has now been fitted to the front tender bulkhead and welded in place.

The corridor had a small canopy projecting from the top. It was originally pressed to follow the corridor profile with a nice lip to it. Unfortunately the original cannot be reused, even though it might date from the original construction. It has been plated over numerous times to make up corrosion and is beyond further use, like the corridor roof we have had to replace. The original drawings were consulted and dimensions taken off the tender and a new canopy has been specified and ordered.

At the back of the tender the sealing done to stop the pitch leaking seems to have gone really well, so we've moved on to tackle the flow inside the vestibule space. A very unpleasant job cleaning this stuff out. It wants to stick to everything and only flows when your back is turned. After a week it looks like this has been successful so the area has now been given a final clean out and a coat of primer.

The upper vestibule support guides have been assembled and well greased and have been fitted.

The plates in the back of the leading tender dragbox that the intermediate coupling fits through, were positioned and were tack welded to hold them in the correct position relative to each other. They have now been removed and the central square hole is being machined to give a good support to the tender coupling that fits in it.

The new intermediate coupling side links have been collected from contractors and have had their edges ground back to remove the profiling marks and to remove any sharp edges. They were profiled oversize to allow this. Attention has now moved to the replacement of the main drawbar.

The safety shackle normally on the rear bufferbeam has been given its final inspection and is now painted in primer.

The fabricated handbrake link has now been collected from contractors. It now requires machining.

The cylinder covers have now all been inspected for defects. All are OK for reuse.

In the smokebox the superheater header plates put on to enable it to be hydraulically tested have been removed. One of the studs on the middle cover where the main steam pipe attaches was found to be wasted. The other studs on this flange look new and must have been renewed at Llangollen. We decided that this stud should be replaced so it has now been removed. It didn't come easy being in the top corner of the smokebox facing to the side. To get to it the stud in front of it had to be removed and after removal it also required replacement. Both studs have now been replaced with studs machined by the Engineering Team.

The stub pipes that connect to the front tubeplate that supply the atomisers and blower were retrieved from store and examined. Both sealing faces of the flanges have been refurbished to remove corrosion and to return them to flat. They both show corrosion to their other threaded ends, but the blower is suitable for further use. The atomiser pipe will require a new end machining then welding on.

New copper gaskets for the flange ends of the stub pipes have been purchase.

On the threaded end of the atomiser stub pipe a large diameter copper pipe goes to the atomiser valve that can be seen over the left nameplate. The valve has been refurbished and a new nut and cone end for the pipe was made. Unfortunately the new cone end doesn't fit the existing pipe as it is not to original specification, so a new cone will have to be made or a new copper pipe made up.

All the new cast iron steam pipes have now been tried in place and the middle steel pipe that connects the cast iron pipe to the superheater has also been tried in. The first fit of this pipe is surprisingly good.

The cast iron pipes have now been removed and are being prepared for pressure testing. Seals for the test and a couple of end plates have been made. After testing they will be drilled for their lubrication connections.

We need new loco brakeshaft bearings. They are made from cast bronze, but could be made from bar material. I have talked to other similar loco owners to see if they had patterns but I couldn't find any. Quotes were received for suitable bar and for castings, and surprisingly the cheapest way of doing the job was to go for castings. The order is now placed and I plan for the castings to be machined by our volunteers.

Work continues on the loco brake gear, with the brake pull a rrangement that goes between the brake beams mostly done. It had previously been done with different sized pins, perhaps to take up wear in bushes without replacing the bush, or when done piecemeal, as the LNER/BR drawing shows all the pins we are working with to be the same size. It has been proposed that some of the larger sizes are retained to reduce the amount of work we have to do, and this is acceptable in some locations where it would not cause confusion when stripping or assembling the gear. Some work has been done to the links that connect the brake cylinders to the leading brakeshaft but work is concentrating on the lower links between the beams.

The purchase order for the machining of the Cartazzi brasses has now been placed. We were asked for a journal disc to be made for the new bearing and this has now been made. Unfortunately the contractor has not been able to start machining them yet.

The liners for the trailing Cartazzi horns are now on order.

The Cartazzi gauge/jig used to ensure that the horns are parallel and spaced equally was retrieved from our Grosmont store. This will be used when the the new liners are fitted.

The new Cartazzi hangers have now been slotted and the radii at the end of the threaded sections finished, all by an Engineering Team volunteer. The spare has been painted in primer and has now been put in to store. The others are staying in the workshop to be fitted.

New Cartazzi oiler pads have been ordered.

The installation of the steam supply pipe to the air pump continues. A very tidy hole has been cut through the footplating and the full pipe run is now in place. Just some minor tweaking to complete.

In the same area as the air pump, good progress has been made fitting the new throatplate cladding.

The atomiser pipework around the outside of the smokebox has been revisited. The steam supply pipe splits at a tee and goes off to two banks of atomisers, one either side of the smoke box. This is at boiler pressure so the joints have to be good. It was decided that the old pipe ends require renewal at the tee and new cones have now been made.

The measurement of the valve spindle and guide offsets has now been completed. The leading valve guides require machining to return their surfaces to be parallel to the valve spindles. These are now being trued up and then will be remeasured before final machining.

The measurements taken have allowed the specification of the shims required to set the lower valve guide surface height. Drawings have now been prepared for ordering the material.

The leading valve crossheads have now been re-metalled and require collection from the contractors.

Both valve gear combination levers have now been fitted. The joints had been previously reamed to suit the pins but were intentionally left close. We knew that final assembly in place would probably require some easing and this was the case. Some minor adjustments were required but both combination levers are now a good fit at the radius rod and in their valve crossheads.

With the combination levers fitted the mid gear positions have been determined for both sides of the loco. With this done, and a nominal spacer fitted between the crosshead and the valve spindle the distance between the leading valve head and leading valve ports can be calculated. The outside valves are now removed and ready for the heads to be set at their final running positions.

The right side coupling rods have been fitted after assembly with the new knuckle pin. To get the rods on the wheels have to be aligned. This was done by taking the weight off each wheelset in turn and pulling the wheelset round. It was a lot of hard work. The rods were then lifted on to packing ready for the final lift on to the crankpins and the bearing felts were put in. The rods were then finally lifted on. The leading crankpin cap was then fitted.

While the springs were being slacked off the opportunity was taken to fit the new coupled spring hanger 2" nuts.

Fitting of the right coupling rods also allowed the fitting of the lubricator drive and linkage, all fully refurbished.

The left coupling rods have also now been fitted. The wheels needed a little adjustment to get the crankpins aligned. The leading crankpin cap has been refitted. The speedo crank for the trailing crankpin has had its final examination and is ready for fitting.

New dust seals have been fitted to the coupled axleboxes.

Work has recommenced on the little end bearings. All have been machined to length and outside diameter, and rough bored. We spent sometime ooking at the differences on BR and LNER drawings before deciding on the tolerancing. The BR arrangement is different form the LNER but the tolerances are well detailed, the LNER tolerancing being absent or vague.

Riveting the coal door frame on to the front plates of the tende on 20 October 2020
Photograph: Peter Brackstone

Coal door frame

An Engineering Team volunteer boring the new little end bushes on 20 October 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Little end bushes

The right coupling rods are lifted on to the crankpins on 20 October 2020.
Photograph: Richard Swales

Right coupling rods

The right coupling rods fitted and leading crankpin cap. 20 October 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Right coupling rods

The ends of the new Cartazzi hangers have been slotted and the undercuts at the ends of the threaded section have been finished. 23 October 2020 Photograph: Darrin Crone

New Cartazzi hangers

New brake pins freshly machined by a volunteer. 23 October 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

New brake pins

A white-metalled crosshead being machined in the home workshop of one of our volunteers on 26 October 2020.
Photograph: Richard Swales

White-metalled crosshead

The right combination lever fitted to the radius rod, the machined valve crosshead in place on the valve spindle but not pinned in to the combination lever. 29 October 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Right combination lever

The middle cylinder steam pipes tried in place on 4 November 2020.
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Middle cylinder steam pipes

The left side combination lever fitted to radius rod and valve crosshead being set up for mid gear position on 5 November 2020. Photograph: Richard Swales

Left side combination lever

New pipe end cones for the atomiser steam supply pipework. 6 November 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

New pipe end cones

20 October 2020

The Engineering Team Leaders finalised the Covid Risk Assessment and Covid Precautions Procedure before our return to York. Copies were sent to the NRM. When we first got in to the workshop we rearranged our toolboxes to allow greater space around the loco to assist in maintaining social distancing. We also set up a wash station with all our own materials and put up our hygiene signs. Our sanitizing wipes were also put close to doors that we may use. We have used some old lockers for our clean PPE and sanitizing materials store. After the first week of working the Procedure was modified to reflect more streamlined working, while carefully considering any infection risks. I must thank the Engineering Team for their cooperation.

The best way to use our volunteer workforce within the reduced time we are allowed in the workshop has been challenging. The major parts of the project have been reviewed with those key volunteers who head up these jobs. The points where these jobs impact on each other have been examined and we've clarified the critical paths. It has been a useful process with the objective of using our limited time on the loco as effectively as possible.

It has been decided to resume the coach overhaul with a staged spending program. We have visited a coach overhauler and discussed the work we require in more detail. Overall we were pleased with their facilities and the work they are doing. Unfortunately they have been affected by the Covid situation and the despatch of their current order book means that our coach cannot be accepted until the beginning of December. I had hoped to transport it mid to late October.

The new Cartazzi hangers and nuts have been received from Contractors part machined to reduce costs. They have now been taken by one of our Engineering team volunteers for finishing.

Measurements have been taken of the Cartazzi horns after further cleaning up. Measuring them is not easy as they are inclined to the loco frames and measurements have to be taken to a projected plane. When the numbers are crunched we will be able to specify new lining plates for the trailing horns.

The Cartazzi brasses have now been returned from whitemetalling and are ready for machining. The machinist has been contacted and he is looking forward to seeing them. The manufacturing drawings have been produced.

The trailing valve crossheads have also returned from whitemetalling and are presently with one of our volunteers who has a jig to accurately located them during machining.

The leading valve crossheads were delivered to the whitemetallers last week.

Two new nuts have been machined for the coupled wheel spring hangers, the flats being machined on by one of our Trainee Engineers. Now we have the same size nuts on all hangers and the 'odd' ones have been discarde.

Steady progress has been made on the loco brake gear. The main pull rods and compensating gear has now been rebushed and measurements are now being taken for manufacturing the pins. A number of the components have been subject to NDT, most have already been done. A couple of the bushes have squeezed in out of round. These have been dressed to allow a sample pin to enter.

The bearings for the main brake shafts are not reusable. Quotations are being sought for both castings and bar material for the manufacture of new.

The tender vestibule floorplate is now bolted in place with those hard to find bolts. The bolts needed a bit of alteration on the lathe but now fit well. Some of the shimming around the rear of the tender was adjusted before it was all bolted down.

The pitch in the tender back corner refuses to stay put and during the lockdown had managed to find a leak path. One of our volunteers bravely tackled the creeping blob and the area was cleaned and resealed. A week later it looks like it's worked. The leak in to the vestibule doorway still needs to be tackled again.

The tender drawgear has been progressed. The spacer plates for the spring on the main intermediate coupling have been put up on the back of the leading dragbox, and the last side link pin bush drawn in to it's hole in the drag box. The 2 new side link pins have now been machined and their fit tested.

At the rear of the tender the lower tender vestibule support brackets, packers, rods and springs have been fitted. Attention has now turned to the upper bracket arrangement. The brackets, looking their age, have been reinforced with welded in pieces.

On the tender top the new fairing along the right side coal space has been fully welded. A series of supporting strips have also been put in.

An audit of the examination of the tender drawgear showed no record of testing the buckeye lock after refurbishment, buckeye support pin and the main tender eyebolt pin. These have now been completed. The arrangement of a stack of washers on the bottom of the main buckeye pin has been replaced by a machined bush.

The machined and hardened knuckle pins and their bushes have come back to York. The bushes have now been pressed in to the rods. Because of the wear to the holes one pressed in slightly out of round. This has now been honed sufficiently to give the specified clearance all round the pin. The left hand coupling rods are assembled and ready to fit after the pin was trial fitted and it proved satisfactory. The final operation was to machine the inside end of the pin that had been left long to give something to hold on to during fitting.

The left hand coupling rod could only be assembled after one of the crankpin bushes was skimmed out at it had closed up excessively when fitted. It was skimmed out to exact size in the rod by contractors and returned to York the day before assembly.

A large circular ring has been made to act as a gauge for the middle big end. The ring goes in place of the bearing and shows where the rod and strap are out of round. The high spots can then be carefully removed. It has been tried in and first signs are that it will work well. Discussions are underway with contractors for the whitemetalling and machining of the bearing.

The piston valve covers are now all fitted and the outside valves trial fitted. This is to allow measurement of the offsets between the valve guides on the covers and the valve spindles. This will give dimensions for the machining of the crossheads and the shimming of the guides.

The integral relief and drain cock valves are being set up and tested offsite by one of our volunteers, who has the first two.

When we were reviewing the jobs it became clear how critical some of the piping jobs are to allow other jobs around the loco to progress. This has caused us to redirect the immediate efforts of the Pipe Fitting Team. Even though well on with the air brake system on top of the tender it has been decided that we should finish the steam supply pipe to the air pump. This allows us to finish the belly cladding in the area around the tubeplate, which in turn allows us to progress the streamlining. Good progress has been made in routing the pipe, unfortunately the pipe fitting team only have 1 day a week on the job instead of the two or three pre-covid due to the reduction in hours we can spend in the workshop.

Further work has been done on the belly cladding at the throatplate. More steel sheet has been ordered for this area. New screws have been ordered for the streamline cladding spine as the old ones are corroded under the heads against the cladding. A few of the streamline panels have been tried up.

Another area where piping becomes critical to other jobs is around the smokebox where piping, cladding and smokebox reassembly come together. In the smokebox the fitting of the new studs for the blastpipe and steam pipes is completed. The middle cylinder steam pipe has now been trial fitted after having to ease some of the holes and checking the pipe spigot fit in the saddle casting.

On the smokebox tubeplate are two pipe connections for the blower and atomiser/whistle supply. The blanking plates used during the testing of the boiler have been removed and the faces cleaned. Not easy as access is past the superheater tubes. The stub pipes that fit in here have been retrieved from store and examined. New copper gaskets have now been ordered and the studs on the tubeplate are new.

Two new nuts made for the coupled wheel spring hangers to replace "odd" sized nuts. Now we only need one spanner to adjust the brakes instead of having to remember the odd ones!
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Two new nuts

First day back in the workshop, our maximum permitted attendance is five. Our last day before lockout we had 16. It's very quiet.
Photograph: Richard Swales

First day back

We have set up our own "wash station" in the corner of the workshop. All we need now is to get the hot tap to work,
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Our own "wash station"

The valve covers are fitted
Photograph: Richard Swales

The valve covers

An old tender dragbox bush and the last new one ready to go in. I suppose it was due a change. 2 October 2020
Photograph: Nigel Franklin

Old tender dragbox bush

Two of the four new bushes now fitted in the tender dragbox. The side or safety link pins go through these bushes. The side links provide a backup connection between loco and tender if the main drawbar fails. 2 October 2020
Photograph: Nigel Franklin

Two of the four new bushes

Measurements have been taken of the Cartazzi horn gaps to enable liners to be specified. 7 October 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Cartazzi horn gaps

With the valve cover on and the valve in place the offset dimensions can be taken. 7 October 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Valve in place

The knuckle pin bushes are pressed in to the trailing coupling rods. 8 October 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

The knuckle pin bushes

The loco brake gear is laid out and the rebushed links pinned up to check fit and dimensions taken for new pins. 16 October 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

The loco brake gear

One of the refurbished lower vestibule support assemblies fitted with the new floorplate above. 16 October 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Lower vestibule support

The new tender side link pins that will go through the new bushes. The one with the longer top goes through a longer hole in the cast iron balance weight. It gives me something to hold on to for removal. 18 October 2020 Photograph: Darrin Crone

Tender side link pins

11 September 2020

The knuckelpins have been heat treated and returned. They have been checked and we have found the heat treatment had introduced minimal distortion so that after a polish they are ready for fitting. The knuckle pin bushes that will be pressed in to the rods have also been machined by one of our volunteers.

The overhaul of the lubricator drive linkage has now been completed by our resident bearing expert, who has made some modifications to the bearing supports to ensure they have a long, reliable life.

The remaining studs for the blastpipe and steam pipes in the smokebox saddle have been machined in a home workshop for the cost of the material. I'm now looking at doing the same for countersunk bolts for the vestibule floor as from suppliers in the size we need they are very, very expensive.

The new blastpipe caps have been machined by one of the volunteer Engineering Team to drawings we produced from the original BR drawing. They are awkward things to hold on the machine when machining the insides, being conical, so some additional parts were made to secure them while being machined. The inside of the blastpipe caps have been given a polished surface to make cleaning them out easier when in service.

The material for the new intermediate coupling side links has been bought and cut to shape. They were then taken to subcontractors as they are just a little too big for the available volunteer home workshops. The links are now being machined to a drawing we have produced.

Material for the handbrake link plates has also been purchased and machined in a volunteer workshop. The completed link is made up of two parallel plates spaced from each other by a central spacing block then welded together. For welding, the side plates have to be accurately aligned so the plates were fitted with alignment dowels. After welding it requires machining to fit the handbrake screw nut and a long slot for the brakeshaft pin. I had planned for our volunteer welder to do the welding but the clock's ticking and the final machining will be time consuming, and it's not a lot of welding so it's gone to contractors with the side links.

Material for the new tender vestibule support packing plates has been received and they have been drilled and machined to size in a home workshop.

The gauge for sizing the middle big end strap and rod has been machined by a contractor.

Our existing boiler pressure gauges were an ex BRM gauge not in the best of health and a modern gauge, very inferior in construction, appearance and performance to a real loco pressure gauge. At the end of the last period in traffic we had to run with a loaned gauge so it was a priority to get some good reliable gauges for the loco, including a good spare. We purchased two new (to us) boiler pressure gauges during the overhaul. A BR(M) spotted in an antique shop and one from a fellow loco owner's collection of various auction and swap-meet finds. I was particularly interested in the latter as it had the same face as the gauges on 4468. All the historic gauges have damage to their faces as the paint does not adhere well after decades of use on the aluminium plate beneath. Wanting to get away from using the BR(M) pattern to an authentic LNER/BR(E) appearance it was decided to reface our gauges based on the LNER type, which 60007 may have been fitted when painted in the early BR livery. The new faces have been produced to our artwork and the gauges are now to be calibrated.

The new Cartazzi bronze bearing has been machined by contractors. The bearing has now been taken to the white-metallers with the ex-service RH bearing which will be re-metalled. At the same time the 2 trailing valve crossheads have also been delivered to the white-metallers. While there I collected the middle piston valve tail rod bearing they had previously white metalled and machined.

At the time of writing both the contractors machining the side links and the white-metallers still have staff on furlough and this has delayed their ability to take the jobs on and effects lead times.

The Cartazzi springs have been refurbished and are now in storage at the home of one of our volunteers.

The cast iron steam pipes were finished machined and have been collected from contractors in Darlington. They were transported to the workshop when our CME was allowed to go in before further tightening of access restrictions.

We are also working on the replacement of the Cartazzi spring hangers. The modified design, as carried by 60009 is to be reproduced for 60007. Drawings of the components have been completed and quotes for the parts are now coming in so orders will be placed soon.

The Cartazzi Spenser cast boxes were delivered during the lock-down to an industrial premises in Darlington that generously agreed to accept them as they were operating in a limited way at the time. The castings have now been collected from Darlington and were taken to York with the steam pipes.

Being confined to our homes for so long has had the benefit that we have been able to tackle paperwork. Our CME has done a lot of work on auditing our existing engineering policy and procedure paperwork by going through the current railway standards to make sure we have everything covered. This has also been useful in defining the roles of the engineering and operations activities for when the loco is back in traffic.

Our Team Leaders have been working on our procedures for safe working in the NRM workshop. A risk assessment was done for the visit to the workshop with the steam pipes, and a risk assessment has also been done for volunteers working for us off site who are required to interface with the outside world during the covid pandemic. Our risk assessments and covid guidance interpretation have been shared with the NRM.

A substantial amount of work has been done with our job documentation, with the "signing off" of a number of big jobs, some of them involving a lot of compilation, such as repairs to loco mainframes, coupled wheels and axlebox work, bogie, tender wheelset, bearing and suspension components. When you go back over these jobs you appreciate the scale of what we have achieved so far. Those involved are recorded in the jobs so their efforts do not go unrecorded.

The overhaul of our electrical systems continues with the completion of the cab lighting boxes. The AWS/TPWS bell that sounds when a clear signal is approached has been overhauled and so has the "sunflower" box. Both have been thoroughly cleaned out and worn or damaged parts exchanged with our stock of spares. All have been bench tested by our resident volunteer electrical engineer.

The water gauge bottom fitting, now made of corrosion resistant stainless steel has been completed and fitted to the bronze valve at the bottom of the gauge.

The new battery box fabrication has now been welded and is ready to fit in the tender.

The new tender battery enclosure. 31 May 2020
Photograph: Richard Hawkhead

Tender battery enclosure

The tender water gauge valve and new stainless steel adaptor. 8 June 2020
Photograph: Peter Slater

The tender water gauge valve

The AWS/TPWS sunflower unit used as a warning indicator and to acknowledge signals. 11 Jun 2020
Photograph: Mike Page

AWS/TPWS sunflower unit

The middle big end test bush made to high accuracy and will be used to ensure the middle big end bearing is held securely in the rod. 14 July 2020
Photograph: Dan Holmes

Middle big end test bush

One of the handbrake link side plates being machined with a radius where the section thickness changes. 15 July 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Handbrake link side plate

The handbrake side links and centre block trial assembled on dowel pins ready for final welding. 7 August 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Trial assembly

One of the new tender vestibule support rod packing pieces has been machined and is being drilled. 8 August 2020
Photograph: Darrin Cronw

Tender vestibule support rod

One of the new blast pipe caps being machined with the use of a rotary table. 10 August 2020
Photograph: Tony Bickerstaff

New blast pipe cap

Refurbished boiler pressure gauges. 2 September 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Boiler pressure gauges

The devil is in the detail, individually made smoke box studs with drawing and material purchase order detail. 5 September 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Smoke box studs

The re-metalled and machined middle piston valve tail rod bush. 5 September 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Piston valve tail rod bush

The new and ex-service blast pipe caps, with a 7¼" gauge version. 6 September 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

New and old blast pipe caps

4 August 2020

Although the NRM has now opened to the public to a limited extent, there is no sign yet of the Workshop re-opening and it has not been possible to do any work at the museum since the last update.
Just before the lock-down came into force, there was an effort to get smaller items out of the workshop and distributed amongst our volunteers and contractors, thus enabling at least some progress on the overhaul to continue.

In the cold northern wastes of County Durham the mechanical lubricator drive linkage has been serviced. All the joints on this mechanism, which takes the drive from the right trailing crank pin via a return crank, to the arms of the two Wakefield mechanical lubricators, are fitted with ball bearings. Eight in total, of various sizes, two of them were found to have suffered from water contamination and wear. These have been replaced and a total of ten new, stepped washers manufactured to ensure that each bearing is correctly clamped in the mechanism links. The self-aligning bearing fitted to the return crank was in good condition but, as a precaution, the leather seals that protect it were replaced with new.

Amongst the dark satanic mills of West Yorkshire using a courier to do the pick-up and delivery, the new knuckle pins were sent off for induction hardening whilst our volunteer kept safe and cosy in his workshop. On return the surfaces of the journals were in good condition and no significant distortion had taken place, so no further machine work was needed, just a polish. This allowed the bronze bushes that the pins run in to be sized and machined and they are now ready to be fitted into the coupling rods.

In the tranquillity of North Yorkshire the Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) bell that rings when the locomotive approaches a green signal has been cleaned, electrically tested, adjusted and finally painted. A second bell unit has been given the same treatment to act as a spare. The TPWS sunflower unit has also been cleaned, tested and painted. The LED spotlight units that illuminate the cab gauges after dark have been stripped, rewired and reassembled.

Meanwhile down South in sunny Lincolnshire, attention has been given to the tender water gauge. This gauge, which normally lives on the front of the tender just behind the driver, was dismantled some time ago by the junior volunteers, and was found to need a new adapter between the valve at its base and the vertical pipe with the holes that indicate the level of water in the tank (whilst soaking the unwary fireman's trousers). A new adapter has now been made and has been fitted to the valve. This time stainless steel has been used so corrosion should not be an issue in the future.

In the agricultural hinterland of York fabrication of the new battery box has continued. The box is arranged to give good access to the batteries for the TPWS and OTMR systems and has a recessed section where the isolator switch, voltmeter and charging point will be located out of harm's way.

In the suburbs of York work has been continuing on machining pins and bushes for the engine brake gear.

Some of our contractors continued to work through the lock-down, which allowed further progress to be made. The left hand steel Cartazzi wedge has been re-profiled to remove the effects of wear so that it sits correctly on its re-machined bronze wedge.
The valve guides are bolted to the valve cover castings and it was noted that one of the bolt seatings on the left rear cover was badly worn, causing the bolt to bend as it was tightened. The face was built up with weld and, just before the lockdown came into effect, the cover was taken to a contractor for machining. =
The valve cover is now finished and the machining of the LH Cartazzi brass casting which was placed with the same contractor has also been completed..

The next stage for the bearing will involve another contractor to apply the white metal and carry out a final machining operation.
Both the Cartazzi and the tender axle springs are fitted with rubber shock-absorbing blocks at the bottom of the spring hangers, and these rubber blocks are contained in cast iron spring boxes.
When the Cartazzi springs were dismantled it was found that one of these boxes had cracked. We managed to borrow a pattern and order a replacement casting, plus a couple of spares, since both cartazzi and tender are a common part. These have now been cast and await fettling and painting.

Part way through this period the contractor to which the Cartazzi springs had previously been sent came out of hibernation and the springs have now been repaired..

As the restrictions were lifted, other companies are starting to become active again. This has allowed us to get profile cut platework for the new safety links between engine and tender and the new tender hand brake linkage. These blank plates were distributed to the engineering team members with the appropriate equipment to machine them.

This lifting of the lock-down has also allowed a small raiding party to be arranged to make a brief visit to the NRM workshop and allowed us to collect the valve cover and Cartazzi bearing mentioned above, and swap them for two more machining jobs; the LH coupling rod and a large lump of metal destined to become a test bush for checking the fit of the middle big end bearing.

Whilst we were at the NRM we checked over the locomotive and tender to make sure that all was well and collected a few more bits and pieces that we have farmed out to some of our engineering team as more homework.

Although we do not know when we will be able to start working parties again at the NRM, in preparation, we are looking at the new working arrangements and procedures that will be required to keep our volunteers safe from the dreaded bug.

Lubricator drive crank components
Photograph: SNGLT Engineering Team

Lubricator drive crank

Lubricator drive crank
Photograph: SNGLT Engineering Team

Lubricator drive crank

TPWS bell
Photograph: SNGLT Engineering Team

TPWS bell

TPWS sunflower unit
Photograph: SNGLT Engineering Team

TPWS sunflower unit

TLED spotlight unit
Photograph: SNGLT Engineering Team

LED spotlight unit

New TPWS and OTMR battery box
Photograph: SNGLT Engineering Team

TPWS and OTMR battery box

Cartazzi bearing casting
Photograph: SNGLT Engineering Team

Cartazzi bearing casting

Cartazzi bearing casting after machining
Photograph: SNGLT Engineering Team

Cartazzi bearing casting

5 April 2020

During the period of this report no work has been carried out in the York workshop. It had been hoped to have access to the loco for retrieving more parts for work away from York but that is not now possible due to the increased travel restrictions. However, some work has continued.

Somewhere in Yorkshire an Engineering Team volunteer has been working on the knuckle pins. The keyways and cotter slots are now machined in, and they are ready for heat treatment. Before leaving York measurements were taken of the rods so that work on the bushes could continue using the component drawings showing the BR specified tolerances.

The new bolts for the new valve guide, started at York have now been finished offsite by an Engineering Team volunteer. The bolts and nuts are to pre-war sizes and the ex-service nuts certainly looks old.

The lubricator drive linkage is being worked on by another Engineering Team volunteer.

We need new side links and pins for the tender to locomotive coupling. We can get material of suitable mechanical properties and after taking advice from our steel suppliers and heat treatment specialists we are now ready to place the order.

The new left Cartazzi bronze bearing is being machined and is nearing completion. Drawings of the finished metalled left, and the details of the refurbishment of the right, have been completed ready to go to contractors as soon as they return to work.

The Cartazzi suspension arrangement on 60009 allows easier changing of springs when in traffic as they have a nut on top and bottom of their hangers. We have a head on the top of our bolt which means if a spring has to be removed the whole assembly has to be moved out from the loco until the bolts clear the footplating above and can be lifted out, releasing the spring. It was decided that we should examine the possibility of converting our arrangement to 60009's. We need new hanger bolts anyway so there will be no significant cost involved.

No BR/LNER drawing has been found to show the 60009 arrangement though it has certainly proved reliable in service over many years. 60009's arrangement has now been measured and drawn up as a proposed modification. British Standards for Whitworth fasteners have been checked against the arrangement on 60009 and they show that the threads, nuts and cotters are to standards, so it looks like a proper job.

In an earlier report I covered the need for a couple of new Cartazzi Spring boxes. I was pondering if we could fabricate some as an easy option, or go for castings as originally specified. I approached a contact who must have cast these before, and they have been good to us in the past. After a chat I found that they are also considering the same modification to their Cartazzi arrangement, so I agreed to send them our drawing in exchange for the loan. The alternative arrangement will be subject to a 3D model stress analysis.

To get the unit cost of the castings down we need as many cast as possible, so I had an ask round other LNER loco owners. Coincidentally, one had just placed a large order for these boxes and asked if I wanted ours adding. You couldn't make it up, all at the same time as we are looking at the alternative Cartazzi arrangement, and casting the same components!

So, as a comparison, I got a quote from a foundry for my order plus a couple for another LNER loco, and this turned out to be cheaper. I was fortunate that I managed to get a quote from the foundry as many engineering companies are not communicating at the moment. However, the order is now placed.

The lower vestibule support wedges have been machined. One of the larger wedges couldn't be cleaned up all along its length as when a repair patch detached there was too much wear beneath. The finished dimensions of the machined wedges, without the historical repairs puts them very close to the middle of their adjustment slots, suspiciously close to where I would presume they started their lives. When drawn up the finished assembly can be made up with additional 5/8" flat packing pieces. I wonder if these have been lost historically and the other parts welded to make up for the omitted packers. The packers have now been drawn and added to the list of plates we need profiling, unfortunately our plate suppliers are furloughed and I have been unable to place an order.

The inability to place orders and the lack of response to requests for quotes has really reduced the amount of productive work we have been able to do on the loco. But, the enforced office time has been useful in catching up on documentation and filing all the little things that seem to fall between jobs. A number of job scopes have also been amended to rationalise the number of separate jobs, and I've been working on integrating individual component work records in to the main job record. The plan being to scrap the individual component work record system, which has not been widely used.

The new valve guide bolts have the hex head machined on an Elliott milling machine, indexed with a Fritz Werner dividing head. 27 March 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Machining bolt heads

The new valve guide bolts have their overall lengths marked off on a flat surface with a vernier height gauge. 29 March 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Marking off length

As the bolt heads won't pass through the headstock of the Colchester Student lathe, the ends have to be supported in a three point steady then machined to length. 29 March 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

The bolt heads

The completed bolts with pin holes drilled, next to the old bolts. 30 March 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

The completed bolts

One of the knuckle pins on a Bridgeport milling machine having the cotter machined. 30 March 2020
Photograph: Tony Bickerstaff

One of the knuckle pins

The keyway slot of the left knuckle pin is machined by indexing round by 90 degrees with a substantial rotary table. 30 March 2020
Photograph: Tony Bickerstaff

The keyway slot

23 March 2020
 

Quotations have been received for the overhaul of the Cartazzi springs and they have now been delivered by one of our Engineering Team volunteers to our chosen contractors. As we were short of two Cartazzi rubber spring bottom plates we have used two of our spares, manufactured when new plates were needed for the tender, as they are identical. They needed studs making for the lock that stops the nut on the bottom of the hanger moving, and this has been done.

We were short of 2 Cartazzi Spenser boxes as they were loaned to 60009. One was returned and another is still on their loco. The returned example is cracked. I had considered repairing it so to locate the end of the crack and see if repair was feasible it was di-pen examined. It was found to be cracked in a number of locations and was found to be beyond recovery. I have now agreed the loan of a pattern and will get some cast new.

The completed return cranks were also examined around the welded and machined square holes to add them to the register of tested parts.

The new Cartazzi brass has now been delivered to a contractor for machining with our drawing. The casting had to be carefully checked to ensure we could get what we wanted out of it. We need a bearing longer that that originally fitted as our journals are worn longer.

The right side streamlining on the tender has been trimmed back to align with the piece that goes over the top of the front plate. Under this, along the tender front is a small section of roof. It had corroded through along the edge where it's fastened to the tender. The little roof is an original fitting with a beaded edge so it was repaired rather than replaced, by welding in a new section of plate. The securing holes were also welded up so that it could be drilled to suit the new top flange on the tender front. It is now in place.

The new tender battery box is taking shape. It is being fabricated by an Engineering Team volunteer and this work is now continuing off site.

The tender coal door frame has been partially riveted in place. Completion was stopped by the shutdown at the NRM. Riveting takes quite a bit of setting up and just about everybody on site gets involved, but it's good fun.

The tender floor drain pipe after repair has now been refitted.

The tender coal door catch was repaired by welding a new spindle on it and it has been machined by one of our juniors in his home workshop under the supervision of his granddad.

On the back of the tender leading dragbox we are replacing the rather random collection of spacers and plates on the intermediate coupling. The parts give pre-compression to the intermediate coupling spring. New plates have been bought and they will be held up by pins to the dragbox, rather than resting on the coupling. This will reduce wear on the shank of the coupling and enable easier removal of the coupling. The plates have now been drilled through and matching holes drilled in the dragbox.

New bushes have been made for the tender dragbox safety link pin holes. The left side ones have now been fitted.

At the back of the tender the lower vestibule support brackets were ready to be fitted until the wedges that adjust the clearance on the support bars were tried in. It was found impossible to get anything like the clearances we need so it was decided to build up the wedges with weld, as had clearly been done in the past. They were then ground near to shape and tried in to see what further work was required. When tried in, measurements were taken and the wedges taken off site for machining. During machining it was found that they had previously been plated over as the plates detached during machining. There are some jobs on the engine that frustratingly seem to open one can of worms after another.

At the top of the gangway the upper support brackets require repair while the upper support spring cover has been repaired and is now painted to gloss top coat and is ready for fitting. The outer Catrazzi frames have also painted and the finish is superb. The inner Cartazzi frames have also been painted to top coat.

Returning to the tender, the new gangway floorplate is now in place.

The piping team has now finished the water filler pipe and the air supply pipe that follows it up to the tender top to the large oil separator. The LH reservoir tank and the smaller tank near it are now in place with the drain pipe from the larger tank. This pipe has been changed to heavy duty steel pipe from copper. Though harder to work with it will be harder wearing in traffic, the old copper pipe showing much damage when removed.

The large injector pipe flanges have now all been refaced. These were found to be very worn, to the point where you wonder how they got to the shape they did. The faces have all been filed flat, checking them against a flat surface.

The new blowdown valve has been temporarily fitted to the firebox throat plate and the routing of the blowdown linkage, exhaust pipe and the steam supply pipe to the air pump is being planned.

Further progress has been made with the boiler cladding by a couple of Engineering Team volunteers, who have done a great job sticking with this. The firebox backhead corners have been put up and the large triangular piece that goes across the top of the firebox and lines up with the cab front. We have 60009 on site so we've looked at their cab cladding and it is much more complete than ours. Where their1s is almost fully boxed in we do have various gaps and cutouts where the insulation can be seen. We are considering if we should cover these areas.

The cladding sections immediately in front of the backhead corners, down the sides of the firebox, were corroded to nothing along their lower edges. These were cut off and new sections welded in.

Work has also progressed on the streamlined casing towards the front right of the boiler. This has required extensive weld repair and are now being tried in place. It has taken quite a bit of fitting and tweaking and I'm still to decide if this method of repair is worth pursuing. It might be time to renew larger sections.

With the new valve guide reamed through a start has been made on the machining of the securing fitted bolts. This job will now continue off site.

The steam chest valve covers have now been trail fitted and their fit against the valve liners checked. The projections that provide an additional stop to the movement of the liners have been rebuilt with weld and finished to size.

During the measurement of the valve guide assemblies one of the bolt seat faces on one of the covers was found to be damaged and meant that the nut on the securing bolt would contact on an edge and not sit flat. This face was rebuilt with weld and is now off site to be machined by a contractor, as none of us at home have a machine big enough.

The distances between the exhaust ports have been measured and these dimensions will be used to set the spacing between the piston valve heads.

All the gudgeon pins have now been fitted after returning from having their journal surfaces ground. The last one, RH, being fitted into its crosshead with a new key.

The lower cod's mouth door is hinged to a section of footplate which was riveted in the last report. It has now been painted and fitted in place.

In the smokebox corroded studs are being removed in preparation for the fitting of the cast iron steam pipes and chimney casting. New studs have now been fitted to the leading chimney flange. Two of the three cast iron steam pipes machined at contractors are finished.

The reverser reach rod has now been installed. It is in two halves and joined by fitted bolts. The old bolts were a good fit so have been reused. It is secured by new hardened and fitted pins at either end to the reverser stand crank and the weigh shaft lifting arm. The nuts on the end of the weigh shaft have been fitted and reamed for taper pins. The lifting arms are pinned to the radius rod die blocks and these have been fitted. After installation the reverser handle was turned and all works very smoothly.

The direction of the loco for the OTMR recording system is detected by an electrical switch contacting a plate of the back of the reverser reach rod. The bracket that mounts the switch was cleaned up and tapped and the switch fitted. Its operation has also been checked.

The GSMR radio aerial has been tried in place, on the tender top where new plate has been installed. A new foam sealing gasket for the base has been made.

Off site, the ex-service AWS bell which was found to be functioning but had internal damage. This has now been repaired using recovered parts and a spare unit has also been refurbished.

The leading coupling rod bearing oiling rings have now been fitted after being machined by an Engineering Team volunteer. They pressed on very well and lined up very well with the faces of the bearings. Not an easy thing to achieve when the recesses they fit in to are conical and worn from original dimensions.

The knuckle pins have now been lapped in to the trailing c oupling rods and the fit is very good. This has not been an easy job. The pins have to be a good fit in two conical holes and the cones do not geometrically coincide. The pins now require some final machining before hardening of the journal surfaces. This work is continuing off site.

Work continues on the renewal of the loco brake bushes and pins with the bushes now completed.

The steam heat valves have been rebuilt with a number of new components as sorting one fault has lead to finding another on this job. They are now ready for testing, again.

The streamlined casing shows corrosion along the sides and bottom edges. New steel is welded in on 3 March 2020.
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Casing shows corrosion

Four Cartazzi Spenser spring bottom plates are required we are using two old and two new. 4 March 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Cartazzi spring bottom plates

The lower cod's mouth door assembly being fitted after riveting and painting on 5 March 2020.
Photograph: Peter Brackstone

Lower cod's mouth assembly

To work on the boiler safely we have had to invest in access equipment. It is all checked weekly following a controlled procedure. 5 March 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Access equipment

The battery box is being fabricated. 5 March 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

The battery box

The tender coal door catch after refurbishment. 8 March 2020
Photograph: Darin Crone

Tender coal door catch

The back corner cladding pieces have been repaired, fitted and painted in undercoat. 11 March 2020
Photograph: Peter Brackstone

Back corner cladding piece

The tender gangway floorplate is in place. 12 March 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Tender gangway floorplate

The new Cartazzi bronze bearing casting, now being machined. 12 March 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Cartazzi bearing casting

The projections from the back of the valve chest covers have to be the correct length to located against the valve liners. 14 March 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Back of the valve chest cover

One of the coupling rod oiling rings having it's oil retaining holes de-burred on 16 March 2020.
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Coupling rod oiling ring

The last cast iron steam pipe to be machined at contractors. The position of the datum for the holes to be drilled in the flange is being discussed. 17 March 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

The last cast iron steam pipe

The wedges for the lower tender vestibule support brackets being skimmed to restore their shape on 17 March 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Tender support brackets

The left knuckle pin is fitted to the coupling rod. 19 March 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

The left knuckle pin

The right leading oiling ring is pressed onto the bearing that projects through the rod and into a recess in the rods. 20 March 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Right leading oiling ring

The coal door frame has been partially riveted. The rivets being ground flush. The original small section of roof over the corridor is refurbished and fitted. 20 March 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

The coal door frame

22 March 2020

COVID-19 Statement: As of 20th March all work on the overhaul of 60007 at the National Railway Museum was stopped after a controlled cessation over the previous couple of days. Work at York will only re-start when it is judged safe to do so based on UK Government guidance. SNGLT encourages all our members, friends and supporters to please follow Government and NHS health advice during the present emergency.

2 March 2020

It was hoped that the steam heat valve spindle mentioned in the last report was recoverable but upon closer inspection it was found to be cracked so a new spindle has now been made. The new valve has seen a little lapping in but there's more to do.

The boiler and ashpan position has changed a little from when last fitted. This has had the knock on effect that the ashpan sprinkler bulkhead fittings have moved and the right hand one is now too close to the frames to get a nut on. The ashpan has now been modified to allow the fitting to move, however a new way of securing the fittings will now have to be found.

The belly cladding bands were lifted inside the crinoline and secured in place with new screws. Meanwhile the outer straps were being painted. Fitting the inner straps allowed the belly cladding sheets to be fitted. A very awkward job. Most of the existing sheeting, though looking a bit rough is serviceable and is hidden from view, so this was refitted. We hit a problem with getting the sheets under the crinoline. There seemed no way of getting them in as they are bigger than the pitch of the crinoline uprights and it was impossible to get them in under the loco. So one of the uprights was cut and this gave us a window where the sheets could be put through then slid along the ides of the boiler. When all the sheets were in, the upright was welded back together. The upright was cut along an existing weld so perhaps this method had been used before.

When the belly sheets were in they were pop riveted along the bottom seam and the outer bands secured to the crinolines at the top and pulled together with long threaded studs on the bottom. The cladding around the throat plate presents quite a challenge because of the shape of the boiler and the difficult access due to the location of the air pump. Further work is required here. It was found that the securing of the cladding would be aided by the addition of a further band not originally fitted here. So new material was obtained and a new belly band fabricated and fitted. This has all been a long tough job carried out by our volunteers.

Meanwhile work has progressed on the main cladding panels. They have all been cleaned down and given a coat of primer. The panels were assessed for condition and sections marked up that are wasted and require cutting out and replacement. New steel has been obtained, as a flat sheet and a piece rolled to the radius of the lower roll in the cladding where it meets the footplate. To explore the practicality of repairing the panels, one was repaired with a new flat section where it had wasted to lace along its edge where under a cladding band, and along the edge where on the footplate. Putting in sections will change the stiffness in that area and it is to be seen if the panel will roll correctly when fitted to the loco.

The backhead cladding was rubbed down and painted. Various openings in the back head valves were covered to keep contaminants out. The backhead has now been painted to top coat. Completing the painting allowed the reverser to be refitted.

The dressing of the coupling rod bush keyways has been completed which has allowed the pressing in of the crankpin bearings. All bearings pressed in satisfactorily. When the bearings were pressed the close up on the bore of the bearings was measured and the side projection was measured to compare to our drawings. The leading oiling rings are now being made to the dimensions of the bushes to give a flush face across the crankpin wheel face.

Before the fitting of the bearings all the oiler felt pads were put in to soak in oil, and all of the oil reservoirs in the rods cleaned out. After fitting the bearings were wrapped in a thick cling film.

Work progresses on the knuckle pins with lapping the right hand pin in to the rod. As this pin was quite a way under the outer surface of the rod it has had to be re-machined to reduce the taper diameters so that the full hole in the rod will be lapped.

The new valve guide has now been fitted to the valve chest cover. Some difficulty was experienced doing this as the holes through the cover were not square to the surface so when reaming through, the reamer was wanting to change direction when it passed from the guide in to the cover. Eventually the job was done and new fitted bolts are now being made.

The other valve guides and covers have been inspected. They've all seen plenty of duty but most will soldier on for a while yet, however one one was unacceptably worn out of position. This was recoverable and was machined to improve its alignment. Now that we have the dimensions of the valve guides we can move on to getting the crossheads whitemetalled and machined to size. The leading crossheads also require re-bushing and this is progressing.

The valve chest covers have lugs that contact the end of the valve liners. This is to prevent the liners from moving if the interference fit of the liners is overcome. To ensure contact the covers are tried in place and if there is a gap the end of the lug is built up with weld and filed to give the correct length of lug. This is now being done.

The Cartazzi springs loaned to 60103 have been returned to York along with some of the components loaned when 60009 failed with a broken Cartazzi hanger. The ex-service Cartazzi springs and the returned springs were cleaned off by our Junior Volunteers, and quotes are now being sought for their refurbishment.

The steel Cartazzi wedges were put up on the marking out table for assessment. The recently machined bronze wedges were tried on and the right side assembly sits well enough for reassembly, but the left will require machining of the steel side. This is now with a contractor for machining, as all our capable volunteers are on other tasks. Both of the steel wedge sections should be manganese steel lined but like the trailing loco horns, they are lined with mild steel and shows considerable wear.

New Cartazzi Spenser springs have been assembled.

The new steel for the tender battery box has now been received and the main box shell has now been fabricated.

Meanwhile the Boilermaking Team has been working on the fitting of the new material to make up the streamlining along the right side of the tender and over the front bulkhead. The new steel arriving with the battery box flat pack..

The front tender weight has now been secured with new bolting.

The safety link holes in the tender leading dragbox have been cleaned out. Some of the holes were bushed and they have now been cut out. The other bushes came out with the pins during the stripping of the tender. New bushes will now be made.

Work continues on the manufacture and fitting of the new bushes for the loco brake gear.

The main injector pipework has been annealed and Pipe Fitting Team has been working round the air ministry joint cones to check their fit in the pipe ends. The existing pipe cones are also being examined for fit, and so far so good. The next step is to look at the fit in to the new clackboxes.

The bronze injector pipes that end in flanges that go against the injectors were examined and have been found to be very worn. They are now being repaired to get them back to flat.

Elsewhere most of the Pipe Fitting Teams efforts have been directed at the installation of the new pipe runs on the top of the tender. The right hand water filler flange has had to be moved to the rear to allow the large air supply pipe to come up the same drain duct as the water filler pipe. The air supply pipe comes from the air pump to the reservoir tanks on the tender top. To make the arrangement as compact as possible, flanges were altered from standard and welded on to the pipework, removing the need for additional fittings. The air tanks have also trial fitted to ensure no pipe run clashes.

Also up on the tender top the water filler lid hinge and catch have been bushed and fitted with new pins. A patched wasted section of the lid was also cut out and new steel let in.

The main boiler cladding after a preliminary clean. It is made up of original sections, patches and newer material. 11 February 2020
Photograph: Peter Brackstone

Main boiler cladding

More of the main boiler cladding showing the condition of some of the sections. 11 February 2020
Photograph: Peter Brackstone

Main boiler cladding

We had a visit from twp Chelsea Pensioners on 12 February 2020.
Photograph: Tony Oldfield

Chelsea Pensioners

The Cartazzi overhaul is well under way. The bronze slide have been skimmed to return them to the correct shape. Both are marked as being from 4464 Bittern, the Left previously marked as being on V2 4788 (60817). 12 February 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

The Cartazzi overhaul

The trailing crossheads have been machined to remove all their whitemetal and to true them up. The crosshead on the milling machine located on the valve spindle socket. 12 February 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

The trailing crossheads

The loco now carries a complex electrical system. Here some of the wiring is reinstalled after new conduit was run in below the cab floor. 13 February 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Electrical system

One of the coupling rod bushes about to be pressed in on 20 February 2020.
Photograph: Richard Swales

Coupling rod bush

One of the coupling rod bushes being pressed in, aligned by a close fitting key. 20 February 2020
Photograph: Trevor Camp / SNGLT

Coupling rod bush

The old valve guide that was unacceptably out of position is machined to correct its alignment. 21 February 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

The old valve guide

The reverser column is refitted now the backhead cladding is in place and painted. 27 February 2020
Photograph: Peter Brackstpone

The reverser column

Not mentioned in the report but there's plenty of activity on more minor components. Here the cover for the tender gangway top spring is being painted before fitting. 27 February 2020
Photograph: Peter Brackstpone

Tender gangway cover

New tender streamlining steel in position on 27 February 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

New tender streamlining

10 February 2020

The tender lower vestibule support brackets have had the top sections welded back in very accurately by K D Flavells. They have been tried on the tender bufferbeam and fit fine so are now being painted before final fitting.

Insulating the boiler has continued with the firebox and backhead now covered.

The crinolines have been cleaned down and were moved and placed in order in front of the loco. They have now been painted by the painting team. Some repair work has been necessary with cracks and loose joints welded up. They have been painted to blue top coat gloss to use up old stock not now suitable for painting the outside of the locomotive. All three sections of crinoline were then lifted and fitted to the loco.

While the crinolines were being fitted the painting team moved on to the belly straps that are fastened on to the crinolines and pass under the bottom of the boiler. As soon as they had a day or so to dry these were also put in. The belly cladding is now being worked on with most of it reusable. The straps that secure the belly cladding are being prepared for fitting and the securing studs have been cleaned and checked.

With the insulation and crinolines in place the first large sections of backhead cladding were fitted. The cladding is being prepared for painting in-situ.

At the front of the tender, work has been done on the cab floor upstands with the original material being cleaned up. It is planned to reuse some of it.

There's a water tap on the front of the tank which fills a bucket located in a hole in the floor. Under the bucket is a drain pipe. The pipe is fastened to the tender floor with a flange. The new floor plate has now been drilled to take the flange and a new securing bracket made for the lower end of the pipe. The pipe needed some repair work and is now at painting.

New steel for the battery box and the tender streamlining has been specified and an order placed for its supply.

New bolting has been received for the tender balance weight that makes up some of the tender cab floor structure.

The low level tender filler pipe with a shut off valve has been refitted. This required the internal pipe that runs through the tender water space to be resealed against the inside of the tank and the large external isolation valve refitted.

The pipe fitting team has hydraulically tested the three tender top air tanks. All passed successfully. Our insurer has now also examined the tanks and has passed them OK for further use. They have now been painted and are ready to be refitted to the tender. The smaller of the air tanks was sat on wood which disintegrated when removed, so new steel brackets have been fabricated. These copy the way that the larger tanks are retained.

The installation of the tanks has been reviewed as the pipe runs have to change as they have been rerouted through the tender. The pipe fitting team is examining the best layout so using as much of the reusable old copper pipe as possible and accommodating the new pipe runs.

Meanwhile the injector pipework has been cleaned and annealed. The air ministry joint components are also being examined for reuse.

The painting of the tender top around the water filler where the air tanks are located has been completed.

The middle cylinder trailing atomiser oil feed fitting has been fitted with a new specially made copper washer.

The cast iron steam pipes are now with contractors for machining.

The fitting of the keys to the rods and bushes for the coupling rods and outside big ends is now completed. All the oiler felt pads are also now made.

Work continues on the knuckle pins. Both have been made to give best fit in their rods. One has now been lapped in and work on the second is well advanced. This has required a lot of work taking out deformation from the holes in the rods.

Work continues on fitting the new valve guide. It has been drilled through and one of the holes has been reamed and a fitted bolt roughed out to locate the valve guide for reaming the second hole.

The other valve guides and valve chest covers are being trial assembled and examined.

The valve spindles were put up on the marking out table and checked for straightness. All check out straight.

Two of the valve cross heads have had their old whitemetal melted off to allow machining after they were built up with weld. To machine them accurately the bore for the valve rod is used as a datum. This has required a jig to be made.

The OTMR sensors have now been collected from their second visit to the calibration lab. This time the calibrations make sense. The results have been sent to the VAB and the previous service sensors are suitable for future use.

The new Cartazzi brass is on order with the pattern sent to the foundry.

The machined Cartazzi bronze wedges have been tried on their mating steel faces. Unfortunately the fit is not good. One of the steel sections has now been put up on the marking out table and is being examined closely and our options considered.

The cylinder relief valves have now all been successfully hydraulically pressure tested.

The saga of the buffer mounted steam heat valves drags on. They have been lapped in and were again pressure tested. One leaked quite badly so was taken apart to find that the back venting valve had not located correctly when reassembled after overhaul and had damaged the valve. The old valve has now been replaced by a new part. The spindle also shows damage but this may be recoverable.

Work continues on the loco brake gear with the replacement of the steel brake bushes.

The air brake tanks have been hydraulically tested and passed by the insurance company 21 January 2020.
Photograph: Darrin Crone

The air brake tanks

The crinolines are prepared for fitting on 23 January 2020.
Photograph: Richard Swales

The crinolines prepared

Insulating the boiler. The insulation is retained with chicken wire. 23 January 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Insulating the boiler

Two of the gudgeon pins after return from the grinders. 23 January 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Two of the gudgeon pins

All the coupling rod and outside big end bushes have now had keys made and fitted, and the oiling felts fitted. 23 January 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Rod and big end bushes

The knuckle pins that join the coupling rods together have tapers machined to provide best fit in the rods. 23 January 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

The knuckle pins

The valve guides are mounted on the valve covers and are examined for their condition. 28 January 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

The valve guides

One of the valve guides has been replaced by a new casting. It is being fitted to its valve cover on 28 January 2020.
Photograph: Richard Swales

New casting

All the cylinder relief valves have now been successfully tested at their set blow off pressure. A lot of work has gone in to recovering some of these valves. 28 January 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

The cylinder relief valves

All the crinoline sections, in order of fitting are in front of the loco being prepared. 28 January 2020
Photograph: Trevor Camp / SNGLT

All the crinoline sections

The key ways in the rods show wear so these are dressed. The new keys fitted to the bushes locate in here. 30 January 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

The key ways in the rods

The backhead cladding is fitted. It can be seen where the numerous large sections were previously cut out for repairs. These have been welded in place. 5 February 2020
Photograph: Peter Brackstpone

The backhead cladding

25 January 2020

The pipework around the atomisers is progressing with the steam supply pipes being trial fitted, but we will need the front end casing to be fitted so that the pipe above the name plate can be fitted. Some of the ends are poor and will have to be remade.

The tender top air receivers are being prepared for hydraulic testing. The space in the tender where the tanks will be fitted is being painted ready for them to be refitted.

The expansion link trunnion bearings and housings have been fitted, followed by the expansion link sides The radius rods and expansion link centres and die blocks have also now been fitted. The conjugated gear, equal lever and 2:1 leavers, and the links between the leading valve crossheads and the levers have now been bushed with a mixture of bronze and steel bushes. The bushes have been reamed to fit the new hardened pins.

The fitting of the new valve guide is being progressed. The valve cover was put up on the marking out table and as the guide has to be accurately set up parallel to the valve cover centre and at a specified distance to accommodate the valve crosshead. Drilling bushes have been made so that pilot holes for the bolt holes can be accurately positioned in the guide for the eventual reaming through for new fitted bolts.

The keys for the coupling rod bushes and the outside big end bushes are being fitted. Some of the keys have been machined to suit their locations due to the wear in the rods. The keyways in the rods show wear so time has been spent dressing the keyways.

New felt oiler pads for the bushes are also being made, following the BR instructions.

The Smiths Speedo has been refurbished and is now being painted. The calibration results for the OTMR pressure sensors were tabulated and the r esults examined. An anomaly was noticed and when investigated an error in the calibration was found, so the sensors were returned to the calibration lab. They have been re-calibrated and new certificates produced.

The blanks for the knuckle pins that join the coupling rods together are now at York. No time was wasted in starting their machining and fitting with the left pin well on the way. It is a good machined fit in its rod and is now being blued on to the tapers in the rod.

The gudgeon pins have now been ground on their journal surfaces to return them to round and true. The finished diameters are now known so the little end bushes can be machined. The bushes have been preliminary machined. Before the pins could go for grinding the middle pin had to have a centre made to fill the oiling hole in its end. This was done and the centres in the other pins were cleaned out. All were mounted between centres and ovality and eccentricity measured so that the amount of grinding required would be known. Fortunately none of the grinding would take any of the pins below scrapping size.

The backhead cladding has been tried up on the new and reconditioned studs fitted in to the boiler. A number of backhead components had to be removed to allow fitting. While doing this it was noticed that the regulator cross shaft was not sitting correctly on the fireman's side bracket. The bracket has now been moved to contact the bottom of the shaft. To do this the stuffing box cover had to be removed to allow the shaft to be move sideways to uncover the bracket securing nuts. The bracket is now correctly positioned but the stuffing box seal will have to be remade.

The backhead cladding has had various sections cut out in the past. These sections are now being welded back in place. Some patches of new material have also been inserted and a very smart job has been done.

With the backhead cladding tried on and with a method of getting it to fit without requiring access to the cab floor, the pipework under the floor can be refitted. This is now well under way.

The boiler insulation has been delivered to York and has been fitted to most of the boiler barrel, using our new scaffold towers.

With the insulation going on, the crinolines have been moved clear so that they can be worked on. The firebox crinoline was tried on so that a couple of brackets on the footplate could be re-positioned. To gain a bit more clearance between these brackets and the boiler, bushes were made and welded on the back of the brackets and tapped through for the securing screws. The brackets have now been welded in place. The firebox crinoline has now been painted in primer after it was weld repaired. The other two crinoline sections have been cleaned down and wire brushed by the 007 Gang of junior engineering trainees, ready for repair and painting.

The damper linkage set up is being finalised. Due to the extra components such as the air pump and air pipes the positioning of the damper linkage has to be different from the original arrangement.

The cylinder relief valves are now being tested for their blow off pressure against our calibrated pressure gauge. They require adjustment which is achieved by the machining of a spacer which adjusts the compression on the internal spring. Three of the six valves have been tested successfully and witnessed.

The overhaul of the Cartazzi continues. A lot of time has been spent on cleaning the axleboxes and other components. The rubber springs on the ends of the spring hangers are life expired and new ones will be made. The rubber and stainless steel plates are now at York for assembly, with the steel being blasted.

The bronze Cartazzi wedges, or inclined planes, have been machined by one of our volunteer Engineering Team to restore the correct profiles.

The trailing Cartazzi horn liners were very worn with the right side worn through. They have now been removed. They were originally manganese steel which is expensive and difficult to work, so a cost effective solution to the re-lining of the horns is being investigated.

The Cartazzi wheelset was tested before Christmas and was found to be free from defects so it was cleaned down and has now been painted to gloss top coat. The journal ends have been carefully dressed to restore their end radii.

One of the Cartazzi brasses was found to be cracked and will require replacement. Quotes for a new casting have now been received and an order will be placed.

One of the Cartazzi hornsays was found to be cracked. This is currently being weld repaired off site.

New spindle sealing copper washers have been fitted to the buffer beam steam heat valves. These will now be pressure tested.

The loco brake gear pins and bushes are being worked through. A number of bushes have now been renewed, with more to do, and material is now at York for the manufacture of new pins.

Over the Christmas break the tender coal gate hinges were machined and the full assembly put back on the tender. The hinges are bolted in place but were previously welded, probably due to the poor condition of the threads in the hinges, so they have been welded in place again. With the coal gate now level the hook catch is too low. The catch had been drilled to drop the hook, so the hook was put back in to its original hole and everything is spot on. The catch is has also been re-welded in place.

The tender corridor end has now been welded on to the tender front plate. A new section of steel has been put in to bridge the transition from the original front plate top flange and the new section. Before the last section of corridor roof is welded, bridge pieces have been welded across the corridor roof. This will help to prevent the tender side being pulled in by the contracting weld material.

The equal lever of the Gresley conjugated gear has new bushes and is shown on the machine after being bored out on 1st January 2020.
Photograph: Richard Swales

The equal lever

The Cartazzi "wedges" have been skimmed by one of our volunteers to restore the correct geometry. 9 January 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

The Cartazzi "wedges"

The trailing Cartazzi horn liners are worn beyond further use. Here the right side one is being carefully removed. 9 January 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Cartazzi horn liner

The keyways in the coupling and connecting rods are being carefully dressed to remove wear and to ensure security of the key when the bushes are pressed in. 9 January 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

Coupling keyways

The new steam pipe castings have been delivered and await transporting to contractors for machining. 9 January 2020
Photograph: Richard Swales

New steam pipe castings

The middle gudgeon pin before grinding has to be fitted with a plug drilled with a centre hole so that the pin can be rotated about its cemntre accurately. The plug is fitted at the large end. 9 January 2020
Photograph: Darrin Crone

Middle gudgeon pin

The boiler lagging is now being fitted.
Photograph: Ken Woods

The boiler lagging

The tender filler space is being painted ready to accept the air tanks. Here shown in undercoat.
Photograph: Peter Brackstone

Tender filler space

The new valve guide casting is carefully positioned on the valve chest cover before being drilled for its securing bolts.
Photograph: Richard Swales

New valve guide casting

The crinoline that supports the streamline casing is being repaired and painted before fitting.
Photograph: Richard Swales

The crinoline
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