OVERHAUL 2015 - 2022
Notes from information supplied by Darrin Crone, Locomotive Engineer. Clicking on the images will display a larger
version. July to December 2021. 27 December 2021 The union link motion pins are undergoing cottering and their fit has been examined. The pins are just a little tight so they have been freed off with the left finished and cottered. The tightness, though not excessive is due to very small misalignments of the holes in the mating parts. Lapping of the lens rings in to the superheater header and the pipes continues. I thought this was going well until we found that the lens rings were not truly spherical. When ground they show a witness at three points. It appears that when machined they were held on three points so that when released they lost their spherical form. We are only talking thou's but it adds considerable time to the process. At first we started by hand but after a while we decided that we had to get some mechanical help. So we started to drive the lapping tool with an air wrench, but there are limitations to the speed at which the job can be done or the face of the lens ring or pipe can be damaged. Though time consuming we are very pleased with the end results with the superheater and pipe faces coming up very well. We first borrowed a tool from Crewe but we had a smaller more manageable air wrench of our own and we are now using that. The middle steel steam pipe was completed and has now been fitted. The left steel steam pipe is now complete from header to cylinder so this is ready to be fitted. Work has started on the right pipe. All faces on the header are lapped as are their lens rings. Between the frames all the primed and undercoated surfaces not finished at York have been painted to top coat. Outside the loco frames and wheels have been touched up where chaining on to road transport had broken the paint. Other painting done includes the floor in the tender corridor and the back of the tender vestibule door. The fall plate hinges had nearly worn through so new barrel sections were made and the old ones cut off. The new sections and existing hinge parts that are fastened to the engine were aligned with a long bar. Then the plate was put up and aligned, then tacked. The plate was then removed and the new hinge parts welded to the hinge part that is rivetted to the fall plate. Finally the welds were dressed to make the hinges look like the original forged hinges, then painted. The vacuum pipe run on to the right tender brake cylinder has been modified to clear the top of the right water valve. We had planned to just fit a shorter vacuum hose but these are not available so the steel pipe work was modified. The left injector rebuild has been completed and it has been refitted to the loco. The injector water valve operating linkage both sides has also been examined and the handles set in the right locations. We have loaned some ex-LNER air ministry joint flaring tools for the reshaping of the large copper pipes to the clackboxes. Unfortunately the borrowed set does not include a 1-3/4" former that we need for the A4. The loaned tools were cleaned up and we will make up our own former for the 1-3/4" pipe. An additional set of sealing plates have been made for the snifting valve. These will provide additional location for the snifting valve seal, essential to maintain the smokebox vacuum. These have been made to be a close fit on the valve body and to cover the joint in the ex-service plates. The operation of the drain cock Bowden cables are being worked on to set them up and to make their operation easer. The operation of the linkage is stiffer than it used to be. The operating rods that run through the drain cock side lugs are being examined for fouling as are the pin joints. The steel armoured conduit from the loco to the tender is hard wired to the loco and this has been installed, connecting to terminals in the TPWS/AWS enclosure. Our documentation for the wiring on the loco is being updated, a process began at York. Our volunteer Electrical Engineer is checking the drawing modifications and providing advise. In preparation for the hydraulic test the boiler has been examined by LNWRh and given a quick washout. There was a little scale to be seen, probably dislodged when moving the loco from the York Workshop. The plugs and doors previously removed were examined and refitted, again by LNWRh. The following day the boiler was filled. The three doors removed at foundation ring level require attention before steaming. The condition of the upper doors will be examined when removed after the hydraulic. The middle big end bearing has now been machined by one of our Engineering Team volunteers to final overall dimensions. The bearing will now be fitted in the rod and the bore skimmed to its final dimensions. In preparation for valve setting the middle trailing valve cover has been removed. The new piston valve cotters made have now been finished and taken to Crewe. The air and vacuum brake, and steam heat gauges, have been removed for calibration.
18 December 2021 The right injector overhaul has been completed after a detailed examination. It was found that a hole in the main body casting, blanked on the outside, coincided with the location of the combining cone seal. To ensure future reliable sealing the plug was removed, the hole cleaned out and the bottom of the hole filled so that the seal has something to seal against. This hole is not present in the left injector. The injector has now been reassembled and has been remounted on the loco. When the steam pipe was fitted to the RH injector it was found that the flange on the pipe was of different dimensions to the injector so that in some of the holes a full size bolt could not be fitted. An exhaust steam injector was originally fitted here so presumably that injector had a different mating flange. So it was decided to alter the existing pipe flange to suit the injector. The flange on the pipe was removed then machined to slot the holes just enough to allow a full set of full diameter bolts to fit. The flange was then fastened to the injector and the flange and steam pipe marked to align them. The pipe and flange were then re-soldered on the bench. The pipe has been refitted to the loco with a gasket, and bolted to the injector. The air pump lubricator overhaul has been completed and a new bracket for cab mounting the lubricator has been designed and fabricated. One of the lubricator pumps was without a non-return ball and this has been fitted. The bracket was fitted to the backhead and the lubricator mounted on the bracket. This has allowed the pipes previously ran in from the pump to the cab to be terminated at the lubricator. So far three of the four pipes are completed. The last new packing needed for the ejector has been obtained and it has been fitted, completing the ejector. Brass screws have been fitted to the boiler registration and fusible plug plates on the boiler door plate. Painting has continued between the frames and around the loco building up the coats on the frames and completing other areas not completed at York. The corridor floor of the tender has been painted with primer. The tender buckeye chains are now painted to top coat red. The air brake pedestal top cover has been stripped and filled, and painted to primer. Measurements have been taken of the pedestal sides for new material. The middle big end bearing was taken to an engineering works premises in Yorkshire for machining. This is being done at an industrial premises but on a machine operated free of charge by one of our Engineering Team volunteers. A great job was done on this stage of the machining. The bearing was then taken to Crewe for white metalling by LNWRh. The bearing is now ready for machining up to the point where it will require refitting in the rod and then final machining. Our volunteer machinist has agreed to machine the bearing up to fitting in the rod. This saves us considerable cost as well as having close control of the whole process. Bodywork continues with the area at the bottom of the drivers spectacle window receiving attention. This section was broken through when the cab was removed at this overhaul. This is a result of the cab below the window reducing to no thickness at the cab front band. The right side has more cab front material in this area. However, without removing the cab and starting this area again off the loco, there isn't much that can realistically be done about this now. So a new piece of cab front band was cut and rolled to shape and the existing cab band cut back to allow a new piece to be welded in with a longer weld with some in shear to reduce the chance of cracking. The new section also runs on to the ends of the vertical cab front. This gives greater clearance to open the window and will make the front of the cab more resistant to breaking. In addition, with the old band cut away a new section was welded to the cladding panel beneath it as there is very little to no overlap here. The whole section was then finished flat and filled, and the front spectacle window refitted. The lower hinge was almost worn though so has been rebuilt with weld and finished with its thickness restored. The last cosmetic bolt on the outer superheater covers has been removed and the tapped hole in the cladding repaired. The hole in the cover also required welding up and remade. The steel smokebox steam pipes have been NDT examined by an approved contractor and declared defect free. That left us to do the hydraulic testing. This has now also been done with the test witnessed by LNWRh. Our insurer has now been passed the NDT, welders and hydraulic test We then moved on to trial fitting the pipes. One pipe being fitted at a time then removed to give as much access as possible for the next. This went remarkably well with only the right pipe requiring heating to pull it in. It was a relief that the pipes were such a good fit after all the welding the pipes have seen. The pipes now require their sealing faces to be prepared for their lens ring seals. The middle pipe is being worked on first. At the face on the cylinder top the face is flat so this just needed to be cleaned and a new joint fitted. This was done, and after the lens face on the top of the cast iron pipe was lapped this pipe was fitted and the atomiser pipework refitted. The steel middle steam pipe has now been lapped both ends. At the mating superheater header the face was damaged and required considerable work. After sometime spent on this we could see that it would take a lot of time to remove a mark on the face that could, or probably would, make the joint leak. So to speed the job a air wrench was borrowed from the LNWRh boilershop and we started machine lapping. After a mornings work the mark had been removed but now requires some further work to improve the surface finish and to lap in the lens ring. On top of the smokebox the new additional snifter sealing plates are being fitted, to be a good fit on the valve body. These will provide a reliable clamp for the snifter smokebox seal. The safety valve blanking plates have been fitted in preparation for the boiler hydraulic. In preparation for mainline running the OTMR (blackbox recording unit) has been sent to approved contractors for overhaul. When the steam pipes are fitted the last copper pipes can be fitted in the smokebox and to the atomisers around the smokebox behind the the cladding. New pipe has been ordered and now delivered to make a new steam supply pipe for the atomisers outside of the smokebox. In the smokebox we will be reusing the old atomiser pipe as it is made of material considerably thicker than anything we can obtain today. Examining the smokebox atomiser supply pipe there did not appear to be much land on the back of the cone that is clamped by the nut. The nut is new and the hole for the cone required machining out to fit over the cone so it was decided to increase the land on the cone to that shown on the LNER drawing for cones and to finish the nut to suit. The cone had sufficient material to allow this. The nut was then fitted with a seal and fitted to the smokebox front tubeplate atomiser pipe to close this pipe for the boiler hydraulic. The last big piping job in the cab is to make hard the air ministry joints at the clackboxes. After examining the cones and where they fit and going over the possible permutations it was decided that we should make new cones. The clackboxes are new and accurately machined, the old ones were very old and the old cones are not a good fit in the new clackboxes. The flare on the pipes are also being closely examined and are being dressed as they show marks from use and previous fitting. The spacing shim for the left return crank bearing has been fitted and we now have the specified gap between crank and rod. This required material removing from the internal securing nut to correctly align the internal securing taper pin hole. The assembly has been refitted using a new large taper pin through the return crank and crank pin. The outside gudgeon pin nuts have been finally tightened and new cotters fitted. On the right side the washer under the nut required skimming to align the cotter slot in the pin with the nut. The right union link has also been cottered. The coach toilet tank has finally been delivered to the coach overhaulers and fitting is underway. The coach bogies have been reassembled and the wheelsets turned. The bearings and other examinations including wheelset ultrasonic tests have been completed. The coach is now back on its bogies and has been shunted out of the workshop for a couple of weeks to allow work on other coaches. The plan is then for our coach to be put back in the workshop for the final fitting of the pipework to and from the tank. While the coach was lifted the underframe and bogies were examined by our VAB (wk46) and they declared themselves happy with the work carried out so far.
21 November 2021 A shim was made and fitted to improve the alignment of the driver's sander lever and the fitting that guides the Bowden cable on to the lever pully. Work has started on the preparation of the boiler for hydraulic testing. The safety valve pads have been cleaned of all remaining gasket material. To reduce the risk of leakage past the regulator during the hydraulic, the valve is clamped shut. To get access the dome cover was removed and the valve was then removed, cleaned and was put back in on a light seal of silicon with the intention of keeping the hydraulic test water out of the superheater and ultimately the cylinders. The dome and copper gasket sealing faces have been cleaned and the dome refitted. The Safety valve pad blanking flanges have been prepared for fitting. One is tapped to take the test gauge. The hydraulic has been discussed with LNWRh boiler shop and we have agreed a procedure for sealing the boiler and the test. The LNWRh welder who will weld our remaining smokebox steam pipe was consulted just to make sure the weld preps were to his liking. The new stub was shown to him and he was happy with it so the pipe was put up with the new end flanges in the smokebox, assisted by Nigel Hoskinson. With the pipe and flanges in position the parts were tacked together, with the LNWRh welder coming in later to add his tacks. The pipe was then removed and taken to the Crewe boiler shop for final welding. This is now complete and we await third party NDT of the welds next week. The pipe is a tight fit with very little clearance against the sloping smokebox top. To get it out the cast iron stub pipe the steel sits on had to be loosed to give enough wiggle room for the steel pipe to be With the measurements of the dressed middle connecting rod big end completed by Richard Swales, the drawing of the bearing was updated. The drawing was then printed off and checked against the rod just to make sure that the drawing of such a critical and expensive component is correct. We are now ready to proceed to the machining of the bearing casting. The bearing casting has been retrieved from storage and it is planned that machining will begin next week. The DV2 isolation valve mounted between the frames is used to select if the loco is braked via the vacuum brake or air brake controls in the cab. The valve is operated from outside the loco and this was on the left of the loco, reaching through a hole in the frames. On the mainline this would require the next running line to be closed if it was needed to be operated. The isolation valve has been reversed at this overhaul so that the valve faces the right side of the loco, which is the safe side of the line. To operate the valve as it is now out of reach will require a tool or mechanism. This is now being looked in to. The air pump governor has also been repositioned this overhaul, to allow access to it from the "safe" side of the running line. New drains have been made for the governor, this completing the work required for its repositioning. The gauge frame drains have been removed they are slightly different curves. They will be carefully matched to balance the appearance of the backhead. The new section of large main air reservoir pipe with the new tee to the main res. gauge was made. The pipe to the gauge is now made and fitted. This repositions the take off for the main reservoir gauge so that it reads zero when the main reservoir isolation valve is closed. A new section of pipe to the air brake duplex gauge was required due to having to re-route the existing pipe with the installation of the new main reservoir gauge pipe. This has been made and installed. The pipe clipping for support below the floor has been improved and the cab floor support in front of the reverser stand has been refitted. The last major pipe in the cab, from the manifold to the steam sands valve has now been made and was trial installed a few times before being finally fitted. This is very thick wall pipe and has to have a very tight bend near the valve. A very good job has been done. This is the last major pipe to be fitted in the cab and is quite a milestone for the Piping Team. With the piping in the cab finished, apart from some final bracketry, the cab floor and cover for the air brake stand can be fitted. The old cover is damaged and it is planned to replace it and to improve the sealing under the floor to protect the air brake equipment. The brake ejector was mounted in the cab prior to leaving York but the short extension pipe that joins it the ejector exhaust pipe was not fitted. To do this involves removing the ejector from the boiler side bracket it is fastened to. While out of the cab the ejector, previously overhauled at York, was given another examination and clean out as it has stood for some time. The ejector with extension pipe was then refitted by Tony Bickerstaffe, Alan Pitt and Richard Swales. Not easy as it is heavy and awkward mounted just inside the driver's side window. With the ejector in position the trigger valve and fitting on the bottom of the ejector didn't line up with the reservoir pipe, then it was notice the trigger and fitting had been put on the ejector the wrong way round. The arrangement is now correct and the pipe joints made. The ejector exhaust pipe and air pump exhaust pipes that fit in the smokebox have been cleaned off ready for refitting by Nigel Hoskinson. To refit the ejector required the removal of the obsolete "ATC" valve and pipe assembly. This is now purely for cosmetic reasons being historically correct for our locomotive. The valve has been cleaned and polished and the handle has been painted red by Peter Brackstone as there are traces of old red paint on it. The air pump lubricator has been stripped, cleaned out and examined by Richard Swales and is now being reassembled. The painting around the front of the loco behind the nose streamlining continued by Malc Bateman is now up to undercoat. The lower cods mouth door being painted white inside to help with identifying its extent in the dark during disposal. The cab doors on loco and tender were a bit rough seeing little preparation before being painted at York so Alan Pitt has rubbed them back, to mostly bare steel and they are now painted to undercoat. Between the frames Peter Brackstone assisted by Alan Pitt are carrying on painting areas damaged by work, and bringing other areas up to top coat not finished at York. The studs on the bottom of the steam sands boxes that secure the sand delivery pipes are now split pinned. Fitting of the left spectacle window has continued by Paul Aston with the band at the front of the cab being ground to give the window frame clearance. The band will need some further cosmetic work. The window catch has been spaced to improve the securing of the window. New securing strips have been put on the footplate to locate the bottom edges of the trailing left and right cladding panels. In the past they have been located by a short stop mid way along their lengths. This has led to them bowing either side of the stop. Copying Mallard it has been decided to put small angles the length of the panels on the footplating. Under the front of the loco the middle drain cock link has been fitted by Andy Barwick. Andy has also been setting up the drain cock linkage as it seems unusually stiff when the lever is moved in one direction. This is still being looked at. The outside connecting rods are now fitted by Richard Swales, Nigel Hoskinson and Tony Bickerstaffe. The right return crank assembly was refitted by Tony Bickerstaffe who also fitted a new crank taper pin. The left will be refitted after the fitting of a bearing shim to get the required crank and crank rod separation. The shim has now been obtained and the new taper pin for this side has been cut to length and split ready for fitting. Off site the chimney cowling is being refurbished with the paint being removed by Phil Gillespie prior to receiving attention from a coppersmith.
10 November 2021 The narrow Dexion racking from the York storage GUV has been put up in the Crewe workshop and was quickly populated with parts taken off the front of the loco, as well as the cab fall plate. Our scaffold towers were assembled and were checked off as suitable for use by LNWRh. A new steel cupboard has been provided for the workshop by one of our volunteers and is now used for our PPE and electrical extensions. Our electrical gear was sorted through and a couple of items, an extension lead and a splitter that were damaged were scrapped. Our electrical equipment was then checked against our electrical equipment list, and laid out for PAT testing. LNWRh contractors were quickly on the job and all tested satisfactorily so can now be used in the workshop. More van loads of equipment and parts have been brought over in hire vehicles and by one of the volunteer Engineering Team using his own. Some items have been put in the workshop, others in our new storage container. In the container the deep Dexion from the GUV has now been put up which helps increase our storage capacity, though a good section was quickly used up by some of our larger patterns. Some time will have to be spent in the container sorting and documenting, and we will need more racking. First though, we will have to install some lighting and provide power. The lighting we used at York has already been brought over to Crewe but needs installing. Away from York our remaining off site store has been sorted through to identify anything needed for ongoing work, continued storage or scrapping. Four of our frame stands/jacks are now being used to form trestles for the middle connecting rod which is being worked on. The middle connecting rod and strap have been carefully dressed to fit a circular steel gauge holding it all the way round. This should enable the new bearing to be machined round and to have a good fit in the rod removing or at least much reducing final fitting. The gauge will be sent with the bearing and drawing to contractors to ensure the machined bearing matches the gauge diameter. On the loco the smokebox streamlining has been dismantled to get access to the smokebox steam pipes. The chimney cowl, the plate in front of the chimney and the upper cod's mouth door have been removed. Work continued by removing the front side streamlining, smokebox door and smokebox front plate, chimney fabrication and the sealing plates around the cast iron cylinder stub steam pipes. The blastpipe casting was then removed and the cods mouth operating gear wrapped to protect the gearing during further work in the smokebox. As we are not allowed to operate the overhead crane we have had to ask LNWRh staff to assist, which they have, and been very obliging. With the front streamlining off the lower cods mouth floorplate was loosened and straightened up to allow all the floor bolting to fit. The bolting for the sides was prepped for fitting so that it is ready for reassembly when the streamlining is refitted. The ejector exhaust pipe stands on the pipe have been cleaned out and the stands cleaned off and lightly greased. These gave us trouble assembling at York and when dismantling at Crewe. The tender buckeye coupling release chain was cleaned off, mounted on the tender and given a coat of primer. The buckeye pin and chain have also been put on the tender. With the smokebox cladding off, the footplating behind has been cleaned off ready for painting. This not being done at York. The footplating and the plating in front of the smokebox are now being painted. The new flanges for the right steel smokebox steam pipe were collected from contractors after final machining, and taken to Crewe. A new lens ring was tried in the flanges and the fit is good. With the arrival of the flanges work can commence on fitting them to the old steam pipe. We were told it may be a week or more before work could start if done by LNWRh, who have welded the left and middle, so it was taken back and the flanges removed by us. As described by LNWRh the flanges had been bushed with one flange also having a ring inserted in its face. The flanges were cut and ground off, however one end was damaged in the process which was then cut off and a new stub was made. All the parts are now ready for putting back in position in the smokebox for tacking. At the other end of the loco the gravity sands lever is in position. It doesn't seem to line up with the cab side fitting that the Bowden cable comes through. It may have been like this historically. The alignment could not be improved significantly so one of our Engineering Team volunteers has taken the job on of sorting this out. It has been confirmed that the cables are the correct way round to operate the sands when the lever is pulled toward the driver. The fit of the cab front spectacle windows have been looked at and after some fettling they fit a lot better, though the left still needs some work. The side window runners and cab fit to the floorplate are also being examined. One of the scaffold towers was placed at the cab end to allow access to the top of the loco. This has allowed access to prepare the boiler for hydraulic test. The safety valve cab roof cover has been removed and the safety valve shrouds. The temporary covers put on for transport from York have been removed and the safety valve studs cleaned and regreased. The safety valve pads will need a good clean off as they have gasket material still adhering to them. While on the cab roof the access panel to the left end of the manifold has been taken off to allow access to the steam sands connection. The streamlined casing outer steam dome cover has been removed to access the steam dome, which will have to be removed to allow access to seal the regulator for the hydraulic test. In the cab the floor space around the pipework still dirty from our road trip, has been cleaned out. The two pipes up to the backhead duplex air gauge have been adjusted to avoid the mounting bolts on the floor board supports in front of the reverser stand. The bolting arrangement for the support has been altered to make the nuts captive, giving a little more room and allowing easier assembly. The piping team is now nearly up to full strength with our Piping Team Leader now attending Crewe. Ably assisted by his team they lost no time removing pipework to allow access to the modification of the main reservoir pipe to reposition the take off for the main reservoir gauge line. The tee has now been made in to the pipe. With the excitement of pipes flying around, the injectors were removed to begin their overhaul. The right is currently being examined. We have seen progress with the coach. The fabrication of the CET toilet tank has begun with estimated completion in the next couple of weeks. We visited the coach with our VAB as the bogie overhaul is now complete. The VAB is very happy with the work done and we had a good look round the bogies before they are refitted.
19 October 2021 With the LSL traction move from Crewe to York NRM to confirmed, we made our final preparations for our move from the NRM North Yard. To prepare for our loading we had previously sorted packing pieces for the coupled wheel axleboxes but the Cartazzi ones still needed to be finished. These were completed by welding on locating strips and adding locating screws. These were tried in and fitted well. The loco was oiled round, underkeeps checked and topped up and the loco generally checked over. The gland trimmings were removed as they are unnecessary for the move without connecting rods. To ensure we remained in gauge the chimney cover was taken off, and the tender corridor used to store bags of rags, the axlebox packers, jacks and some other tools. The coal space was used to carry some wood packing. Two class 37s arrived from LSL Crewe to haul us to the road loading point at Holgate. They arrived while paperwork was still being readied for getting us the necessary permissions to go on to the network. As usual the paperwork arrived just in the nick of time, but the last snag was that 60007 was not through piped so we had to assemble an air brake pipe from the leading 37 to the trailing. It wasn't too bad a job and didn't delay us leaving the Yard. We had previously discussed loco braking and offered to enable through piping but were told that it would not be necessary. To through pipe we used the hoses the NRM have used for similar moves in the past. I can't help thinking we were lucky they were still in the workshop as everything of use in there is making its way out of the door to be disposed of. The move went very smoothly with the LSL driver taking it very steady up to Skelton on the ECML before being taken back in to the old carriage works. The driver acting as guard/second driver had driven when our coach was previously from the NRM to Holgate. At Network Rail's Holgate Engineering Works we were immediately put on the traverser and taken to the south side of the main buildings. We were partially pushed off the traverser where the line is still straight so that the loco and tender main drawbar could be uncoupled. To do this the main pin through the loco dragbox was jacked out using a spacer machined to fit the jack and pin end. This was quickly done while the tender frame guard irons were taken off to ensure they didn't foul the rail when the tender is drawn up the loading ramp on to the truck. The loco and tender were left on the safety links and then propelled fully off the traverser. It was a pleasant sunny day so we had our sandwiches looking at the engine posed under the Holgate Works signs. The Network Rail employees were very welcoming and accommodating and even provided a professional photographer, who was taking photos to produce wall coverings for the refurbished offices on the Holgate site. There was then a couple of days wait for the road haulier. Issues with roads, bridges, roadworks and routes meant that initially loading was delayed until the weekend, however the NR site opening hours were restrictive so it was agreed that loading should be delayed until after the weekend. Loading was a lengthy process and took all day. Early on we had torrential rain while the packing pieces were put on top of the axleboxes. For this the engine was jacked under the trailing frames to allow them to be fitted. We then had a call to say the truck would be another hour or so, so we went back to our cabin at the NRM and dried out and had a cup of tea. We then went back to Holgate Works, and to allow the tender to come back far enough for the truck to get in we had to clear the rail flangeway, which had not been used for a long time. Combined with recent concreting of the area this looked like it may have been a real problem. But we used a heavy hammer and a pry bar and though hard work we soon cleared the flangeway. The tender was loaded quite quickly but the set up for the loco was much more extensive, with the ramp taking sometime to set up and the trailer levelled. Even though the ramp was very shallow it still meant that the leading bogie wheels were very close to the leading bogie splashers when the bogie started on the ramp. When the coupled wheels started on the ramp there was insufficient clearance against the brake blocks so they dragged and over came the pull on the truck winch. So the brakes were released by loosening the brake gear and the loading continued. Once all loaded up, the trucks had to leave to NR site but were not allowed on a part of the road route until a certain time, so they were parked outside the gates until the early hours of the next morning. The loco and tender arrived at Crewe late afternoon on the day they left York and unloading was carried out quite quickly compared to loading. The loco first then the tender. The next day a small group was quickly put together to take the last of our gear from the NRM workshop. Fortunately the NRM workshop technician had put it all near the loading doors so it was a quick job to get it all loaded. Meanwhile at Crewe loco and tender were shunted in to the workshop. The next day we travelled over to Crewe with our main workshop gear in a hire van. At Crewe we unloaded some in the workshop and the rest in our new storage container. The toolboxes and cabinets were put along side the engine and we started the process or sorting what is to be kept in the workshop, container or scrapped. The next week was our first full week at Crewe. We continued to sort our things including our electrical equipment for PAT testing. These have to be within date before we are permitted to use them. The cupboards have been reorganised to make our steel cupboard our COSHH store as required by LSL site rules. Some work has been started on the loco. It was moved during torrential rain so any water that got into the smokebox has been dried up. The oil boxes and underkeeps have also now been checked for water. The rain combined with the road journey covered the loco bottom end with road grime so this has been mostly cleaned off. The foundation ring washout plugs have been removed and a little water was found in the front corners. Trailing rags were put in to wick this out. To enable the final fitting of the steel steam pipes the front leading sections of streamlining have been removed. To do this the leading sections of handrailing were removed along with the atomiser/whistle isolating valve and the copper pipe that runs along the top of the left nameplate. The blanks for the pipe flanges have been collected from the profilers and the flanges and drawings have been taken to a CNC workshop for machining the spherical faces. There has been another load taken over to Crewe from our North Yorkshire storage site. This included our scaffolding and storage racking. We have negotiated the use of our scaffold but we will only be allowed to use it after checking by LSL inspector. The racking will be assembled both in the workshop and in the container. The same trip was used to take our connecting rods which are now in the workshop, and our unused copper pipe. Away from the loco in a home workshop the new valve cotters are being machined by a volunteer Engineering team member. Meanwhile the coach bogie overhaul has progressed. The bearings have been inspected and are suitable for further use, though there are presently supply issues with the correct grade of grease. The wheelsets have passed their ultrasonic inspection.
22 September 2021 With the loco in the Yard and only able to get on the pit one day a week, there has been limited opportunity to do work on the engine. Despite this attendances have been good and now out of the workshop the working has been a little more relaxed, for some anyway. In the yard the loco brightwork has to be kept on top off with cleaning off and re-oiling. Now in the daylight the bits missed by the paintbrush are more apparent so we have been going round the bottom end bringing everything up to top coat. It's mainly missed bolt heads and nuts that need the paint. The new leading securing strip for the rubber cover over the tender gangway escaped painting in the workshop. It has now been painted to top coat. Some of the studs in the new bottom plates on the tender spring hanger assemblies required drilling for split pins, this has now been done and the pins fitted. The review of the loco lubrication continued with new grease nipples being fitted and the loco oiled and greased. An adaptor was made for one of the trunnions of the trailing loco brake cylinder as a standard grease nipple does not have enough thread to engage in the threaded hole on the trunnion housing. The output pressure of the cylinder lubricator, that has to work against boiler pressure, has been checked with a pressure gauge. Each of the 6 pumps has been checked and the delivery pressures are satisfactory. The axlebox lubricator has been leaking down its spindle so a spacer was machined to increase the squeeze on the spindle gland. This was fitted and appears to have stopped the loss of oil. The clamping strips that hold the weather sheet under the trailing edge of the cab roof have been secured by adding some new bolts and die-nutting the old ones that can be reused. Between the engine and tender the intermediate coupling nut was given a further tighten and the cotter behind the nut fitted. This was torqued up during the last report but a move on and off the pit allowed it settle enough to get a bit more turn on the nut. The coupled axlebox horn gaps have been checked. This was done in the workshop when the wheelsets were fitted but now the loco has moved up and down the yard a few times it was worth checking again. All clearances will be adequate for our move to the road loading point. One work area that has continued pretty uninterrupted by our move from the workshop is piping; the vacuum hoses to the tender brake cylinders have been put in. One could do with a shorter hose so a supplier has been contacted. We have had shorter ones in the past but they are no longer in the suppliers catalogue, but its worth asking. A new pipe has been run in from the steam heat pipe near the relief valve to the backhead gauge. The two air system pipes to the backhead duplex gauge have been fitted. A new pipe is being made for the steam sands valve supply from the manifold. The old one was badly twisted near the valve and cant be recovered. Pipe brackets and clamps under the loco have been checked for security and the large injector unions under the cab were tightened. The fabric pipe insulation on the outside and under the loco has been wire tied. If the lagging is damaged it will stop the unwrapping of the lagging. The permanent valve spindle taper cotters have been surface ground to thickness. The "VAB" visited while the loco was on the pit and passed the loco as fit to move over the network to the road loading site. He was very complementary about the finish of the loco. The height of the loco, checked previously in the workshop was checked again in the yard using a laser measuring device. It showed the tender to be high so it was lowered. The loco was checked to be in gauge. During a shunt by NRM staff in the yard, 60007 struck another vehicle resulting to some damage to the back right corner of the tender. The flange at footplate level was bent and split from the tank and the platework was scored in 2 locations. The scoring was prepped and filled and has since been painted. The bent plate was straightened and where broken away from the tank was welded back on. The weld was dressed and filled and has since been repainted. There is now little or no trace of the damage. Axle box packing pieces have been designed to prevent over-loading the springs during loading on and off road transport. The coupled packers were deburred, tried in and are ready for use. Those for the Cartazzi are yet to be deburred and require drilling. Also for the move, the outside connecting rods have been removed. They were oiled and sealed up, and have now been taken off site with the middle connecting rod for storage prior to following us to Crewe. The little end felts were put back in their oil filled containers. The wooden spacers that fit over the big end crank pin in place of the con rod were machined to fit over our new crankpins as they have a larger diameter than the old worn ones. The middle crank pin and gudgeon pin were covered in denso tape, a greased bandage to protect them during the move to Crewe. Wooden packing pieces have been fitted to the slidebars to prevent any movement at the piston crossheads. The overhead electrification warning signs and the blocks to the tender steps to prevent anybody climbing them whilst under the wires, have been fitted. In the workshop we have removed just about everything SNG except the toolboxes and paint. The storage van has also now been nearly emptied of SNG stuff though there's a coupled of things left in there for now. The racking from the storage van has also been removed, planned for our new container at Crewe. Away from York the steam pipes are being welded. During welding it was found that when welding new pipe into the old flanges that they had been bushed and the bushes moved. This only happened to the right pipe, the others are not affected. It was decided to make new flanges for this pipe based on the original LNER drawings. The profiled blanks for the flanges are now on order. Unfortunately we will have now lost the correct orientation of the flanges on the pipe so they will have to be re-tacked in the smokebox. The locking plates for the cylinder relief valves have been fitted. The termination in the TPWS enclosure has continued using new nuts and locking washers as required.
6 September 2021 The cab was fitted during the last report but work continued on the securing of the cab and the bolting on to the cab sides of the brackets from the drop grate and reverser stand. The removable centre section of cab roof was fitted using new bolting. Under the cab centre section are the safety valve seats. These are surrounded by sleeves, and these were fitted. Plastic sheet has been put over the safety valve seats to prevent rain from entering the boiler while outside and during transport to Crewe. Finally the safety valve cover was fitted. The cab roof was then cleaned and left looking slightly oily and matches well the final finish of the engine. There are a number of fit issues around the cab which are yet to be sorted. In front of the drivers spectacle window the strip that covers the joint with the cladding was split. The strip has now been repaired by welding after carefully matching it to the curve of the cladding. There is previous welded in material here so it suggests it's been a problem area in the past. The spectacle window was the fitted but it just doesn't close fully. I remember at Grosmont this window breaking after it was opened and it had to be closed again. We will have to look at this again. The right spectacle window was fitted and again doesn't want to close fully. The side windows and windshields have been fitted. They don't want to slide so the runners were packed out with washers as a temporary measure. The runners are worn and will be replaced to give adequate clearance for the side windows. The cab doors have seen work with them being stripped or rubbed down depending upon their condition and the time available. The right cab roof gauge bracket was stripped then painted. It has now been fitted. The underside of the cab fall plate has also been cleaned and painted. It was fitted before the loco was moved out of the workshop. The cladding blisters that fit over the inspection doors have been fitted. A few had to have their holes opened up to clear the door clamping nuts as the relative positions of the cladding and boiler has changed a little. All blisters are now fitted. The cladding dome cover was painted inside and filled outside to hide the numerous dents and marks. It has been refitted. Cladding dome cover, superheater outer covers and blisters need screws shorter than we have in stock. It has been difficult to obtain the lengths we want as suppliers don't stock so much Whitworth these days and they are having supply issues, so there's been a lot of screws being cut down for the cladding refitting. With the cab in place the cylinder drain cock operating lever was fitted by the volunteer who overhauled the lever bracket and pulley assembly. New Bowden cable clamps have been made to improve the grip on the wires. The old clamps have a pronounced conical form to the clamp on one side perhaps suggesting there was once a conical part on the cable that jammed in? The cab side bracket that the lever catches on was modified to include a slotted hole to allow the catch point to be adjusted. The operating link for the middle valves has been temporarily left off as there is no middle connecting rod fitted so no movement of the middle piston. A bracket connects the left side cab to the reverser stand, this has been fitted. This also provides support to the front of the floor in this area. The cab side mounted water handles were refitted but it was found we were missing a pin at one of the left side universal joints, so a new pin was made and fitted. The old pin then being found a few days later by our CME on his travels around the engine cottering. Steady progress has been made around the loco split pinning and tightening nuts and bolts. The last tweaks to the vertical hornstay bolts have been made and the few remaining ones that were not pinned are now pinned. Amongst other items attended to are the pinning of the leading brake lever links, bogie under keeps and bogie spring hangers. Also under the engine the leading vacuum cylinder piston rod protective gaiters have been put on. The large split pin for the retention of the bogie pivot nut has been refitted. The substantial ejector exhaust pipe that runs from the drivers side cab to the smokebox was stripped and was painted to undercoat ready for fitting. The very front corner streamlining and chimney cowl were fitted. On the left there was initially an alignment issue but that was sorted and it now lines up well. Then the cods mouth door was put on and the 34A shed plate fitted to the lower door. The doors were then closed but the fit was not very good. The lower door fouled on the left streamlining. When examined the lower door has had pieces welded to its edges, no doubt to improve fit in the past so the edge of one of these welded on sections was carefully ground back to clear the streamlining and give a consistent gap. The lower door then fitted well. The cod's mouth upper door was fettled and now fits well against the side streamlining and lower door. While working in front of the smokebox the operating gear was greased. The large ash guard fabrication below the smokebox door was fitted after painting. A wooden weather cover has been made for the chimney to stop the rain getting in. The remaining domed head screws were put in to the front streamlining replacing the odd standard hex head, and the remaining holes in the lower corner plates that are removed for jacking the front bufferbeam have had new screws put in. With the front end streamline cladding in place the ejector exhaust pipe was fitted. It is secured to stands on the crinoline that come through the cladding with taper pins. The ex-service pins were cleaned up and used to secure the pipe in place, it didn't go up without a fight bit with a bit of persuasion it gave up and it was pinned up. Some of the ex-service pins were a bit rough and these have been replaced with new. The whistle operating cable runs along the back of the ejector exhaust pipe and has now been connected to the backhead whistle operating shaft. While fitting the ejector exhaust pipe and hanging on to the boiler handrails it was found that the trailing section of right handrail could rotate slightly so it has been drilled though and fitted with a taper pin through the handrail and a knob. The outer superheater covers have now been fitted. There is much damage and cutting away of the smokebox cladding under these covers, maybe done to access the superheater during repairs in service. This resulted in many of the bolt heads on the covers being cosmetic. The cladding has now been repaired and all the bolt heads on the covers are real, except for 1 as I stripped the thread while trying to tap out a welded up hole. Still it's a big improvement. On the streamlining joint between the smokebox and the boiler cladding the boiler band has been adjusted to cover the joint and was pulled down then bolted. The bottom roll fillet pieces have been fitted being welded on to the footplate beading, as the others along the casing sides. Their upper ends are bolted with one of the boiler band side bolts. The new cladding section bottom rolls either side of the boiler where they meet the smokebox had to be pulled in as the radii of the bottom roll on the smokebox cladding is smaller than specified. Meanwhile the Painting Team were following prime painting the new bare cladding panels. A lot of work has gone in to filling and rubbing down the cladding. Meanwhile those not keen working up a ladder have been going round the outside bottom end and painting the remaining unpainted items such as fasteners and touching up generally. The smokebox handrail knobs were stripped and the threaded ends reconditioned. They are quite a mix. One has an integral threaded section others have been tapped out for studs of different thread sizes. They are steel except one which is bronze, that would look nice polished. The leading sections of handrail were stripped then prime painted ready for fitting. The left handrail was fitted after those involved tried to fit the right on the left side. Much mickey-taking ensured but when the handrails are on the ground it it does look like the left fits the right! The throatplate cladding has been trimmed and finished with a joining strip at the front corners. To protect the end of the lagging temporary corner pieces have been put on. The bottom of the boiler below footplate is to be left exposed at the request of our insurers for the steam test. In preparation for our move the washout plugs have been refitted. They were removed to air the boiler while in the workshop. With the cladding, cab, nose cladding, all the handrails and ejector exhaust on, the loco was painted up to black top coat. The main painters being our volunteer Painting Team. We were helped by our painting contractor who was responsible for putting the black on the tender and last coat to some sections of the boiler working along side our volunteers. After painting, the pipe from the whistle valve across the top of the left nameplate was put on. The closing plates were also cleaned and put on. Painting work has continued under the engine on parts yet to have adequate number of top coats. Not all paint has gone on, some has been removed, from the cab vertical handrails. As they are stainless steel they don't take paint well and were lumpy being overpainted many times, or where hands run the paint quickly wears off, so for now they look better stripped. The remainder of the grate has been refitted and the drop grate wound up to the normal raised position. The hopper door has been secured with its pin. Strangely the pin, which has been tried in previously fouled the frames and wouldn't fully go in, almost suggesting the ashpan has moved up. The pin has had a flat ground on it and it now goes in. The pin has been locked in place by a bolt for the move over Network Rail. In anticipation of fitting the outside connecting, the little end felts for all 3 connecting rods were made, with the outside felts being put in oil to soak before fitting in the rods. The outside connecting rods have been put up. The motion has had its final taper pins fitted, except for the large return crank taper pins. As these will be removed again when we take the connecting rods off for the trip over the network, so it was decided to keep the new ones for final fitting of the return cranks prior to steaming. The motion taper pins were machined to size to suit 60007 by contractors then polished before fitting by one of our volunteers. New lubrication trimmings have been put in all round, though some plug trimmings were judged to be fit for further use so these have been left. New corks have also been fitted. The loco was then oiled and drip trays put around the loco. The loco was oiled a couple of times so as to check all was feeding and to flush through. The mechanical lubricators have been filled and operated to prime their oil delivery pipework. The pipework and unions were checked during this operation. The odd union was given a further tighten but overall very little trouble was experienced. The leading left and right crankpins have been split pinned in their recessed crankpin caps. The new Cartazzi oiling pads were put in to soak then fitted. The cotters in the new Cartazzi hanger upper ends were finally fitted. The cotters were trimmed to length and split. The Cartazzi spring safety brackets have been refitted and cottered. The Cartazzi oil boxes were fastened on to existing studs with self locking nuts. The studs were not quite long enough really for these nuts, so standard nuts and washers have been fitted and split pins fitted as the original arrangement. After the Cartazzi reassembly was complete the drop grate reach rod that goes in front of the right Cartazzi spring was refitted. The nuts on either end of the drop grate shaft have been pinned, the left nut being new. The right Cartazzi dust guard was cracked so has been weld repaired, dressed, painted and refitted. The damper handle, cross-shaft and reach rod pins have been cottered. To raise the height of the trailing end of the loco the loading of the Cartazzi wheelset had to be increased so the rear of the loco was first jacked. Taking the load off the springs makes them easier to compress. While jacked and the load taken off the trailing coupled wheels the axlebox packing was removed that was put in when there was no Cartazzi to share the weight. Later further loading to the Cartazzi was added and the loading on the coupled wheels evened out. The height of the loco has been measured from rail height and compared to the general arrangement drawing and the springs further adjusted to level and match the loco to the drawing. The new electrical conduit run from under the cab floor to the AWS indicator (sunflower) has been made and installed. This better replicates the original installation and replaces long runs of flexible conduit that was failing. There is now only a short length between the end of the hard conduit and the indictor enclosure where it is less prone to damage. The AWS bell mounted on the cab roof above the driver head has been fitted and connected to the TPWS/AWS wiring using new flexible conduit. The AWS horn assembly was refitted above the drivers position on the cab roof after refurbishment of the mounting plate. The GSMR radio installation on the tender has been completed with the unit switched on and tested prior to a visit from Network Rail to update the main GSMR unit in the tender vestibule enclosure. The loco brake block castings were de-burred and then put up. On the tender, the scoop handle restored at Grosmont in 2015 was remounted on the tender front. A neat socket has been fabricated and fastened to the floor for the bottom of the handle shaft to locate in. I believe the scoop handle was removed in the 1980s and was retrieved from outside the back of the Grosmont container. The retaining hook for the tender coal door was put up. When the coal is low the door can be secured in the open position by this hook. The rubber cover over the top of the tender vestibule and the securing strips have been completed and fitted. The vestibule door was refitted but it wasn't a good fit, catching when trying to close it. I suppose it's not surprising considering the amount of new material put in to the back of the tender. The door then received further attention and it now closes. The left tender water handle has been fitted to its new shaft, but it was found the square on its lower end for the water valve wouldn't fit through the hole in the tender floor plate, so this was opened up and the assembly fitted. Around the water valve and water gauge holes in the tender floor, guards have been made to reduce the amount of rubbish that gets under the floor by this route. The nut at the bottom of the handbrake shaft has been pinned. This stops the handbrake shaft being unscrewed out of the handbrake nut. Also under the tender has seen checking of pins, nuts and bolts and has received further painting. After a thorough greasing of the pins the intermediate coupling assembly was put up on the tender. This includes the safety (side) links and their pins, and the new main intermediate drawbar and its pin. The bottom retaining cotters were also split. The new shovelling plate fabrication was painted to top coat and fitted. The tender corridor canopy was also painted and then fitted, at the moment with standard hex head screws but they will be replaced by countersunk for when the rubber weather sheet is fitted. It was a useful exercise as the tender plate here is all new and it confirmed that the canopy fits. The scoop handle and bottom of the coal space have been painted to top coat. Under the cab floor the air brake train pipe signal line to the OTMR sensor box has been connected up. The Brake Application Unit under the drivers floor has also been remounted and the pipework connections around it made for the last time. Pipework to backhead gauges from around the drivers position and to the air brake M8 valve have made good progress. The OTMR enclosure has now had its cables ran in after the enclosure was fitted to the cab side. The TPWS enclosure under the drivers seat has also been fitted and cables terminated. The speedo installation has been completed with the fitting of the lead from the transmitter unit to the indicator up on the cab roof. The indictor is also fitted and the original cable clamps all put in. Sealing up around the cable and conduit runs below the footplating has been completed. With the OTMR and TPWS enclosures refitted the cab seats were refitted. The pipe to the steam chest pressure gauge has been fitted. A new steam sands pipe from the operating valve on the reverser column to the manifold has also been fitted. The gauge frame drain pipes have been fitted. A number of pipes have been refitted around the cab, so much so that the tangle next to the engine cab almost disappeared overnight. Pipes put on include steam supply to the ejector, vacuum reservoir/chamber and train pipe to the cab roof gauge, with the gauge also being fitted. A new pipe was made for the middle piston rod gland and a plate to support it, the old pipe being damaged beyond further use. A new pipe will be required for the vacuum clutch pipe at the reverser stand and the ends have been recovered from the old pipe. The ends have been machined out for the new pipe. A new gland oil bracket was made for the middle leading piston valve gland, based on the outside ones made this overhaul. The buffer beam mounted steam heat and vacuum hoses have been fitted. This involved making a new chain that the hoses are tied back with. The new one copied an existing "vintage" chain very well. The steam heat safety valve (pepper pot) was stripped and overhauled. It was also pressure tested on air to determine its opening pressure. This was satisfactory. The gauge glasses have been refitted. The steam heat pipe in the cab has been lagged. The steam pipe from the cab to the air pump has been connected up under the Cartazzi with a reconditioned flange and new gasket material. The lagging under the floor on this pipe was completed and also the ashpan sluice pipework including the hose connections were fitted. The cab floor centre and under the fireman's seat was then fitted, just minutes before the loco was moved out of the workshop for the last time. New flooring will be fitted later from wood we have already purchased. New shrouds have been made and fitted for the air pump air inlet valves to reduce the chance of damaging contaminants being drawn in to the pump. We've made a start in the removal of our parts, materials and kit from the workshop. Thus headed up by one of our volunteers who is also providing storage off site, free of charge. In preparation for the move out in to the yard the loco brightwork was oiled or greased. The ends of the drain cock pipes were also aligned and the bolting on the end clamps reversed. The loco was moved out of the workshop on the evening of Wednesday 25/8/21. Probably the last loco to receive a heavy general in York North. First the tender was taken out then the loco put up against the tender in the yard. Then the safety link pins and main pin were put in the loco. A couple of days after the loco was put on the pit and the nut on the main intermediate coupling assembly was tightened up with everybody available pulling at once to get the torque needed. After being left for a further couple of days the nut was tightened again and cottered. Whilst on the pit further greasing has been done and a couple of grease nipples fitted where they were missed. Once out in the yard the loco was given another dose of spring loading with the Cartazzi springs loaded after the rear of the frames were jacked. The old floor from under the driver's seat was refitted. Whilst in the yard the tender numbers and tender lettering were put on by our painting contractor after we measured the positioning on 4468. The period under review ended with a team photo taken in front of the loco by our official photographer. A great day out and the end of an era.
17 August 2021 The tender corridor sides and roof are now painted to white gloss. This has allowed the GSMR trunking to be fitted. The trunking connects the cab mounted radio unit with the GSMR rack in the tender vestibule. The GSMR radio aerial has also been fitted to the tender top and its connecting cables ran in to the rack. With the GSMR complete we are now looking at the conduit run on the inside of the tender front from the battery box and in the loco cab to the AWS sunflower. On top of the vestibule there is a rubber cover over the top of the gangway. A new strip to hold on the rubber has been made using the old as a pattern. The cover is now fitted with only a few holes remaining to be drilled to secure the ends. The tender bufferbeam has now been painted to red. The inside of the tender coal space has been painted up to black top coat after the last undercoat was applied to the upper insides. The tender handbrake screw shaft has been refitted. Unfortunately it was found to foul the coal gate. Remember the coal gate used to sag and its hinge was refurbished which levelled it resulting in it rising toward the hand brake handle. So the plain locking ring under the handle bracket was machined to provide clearance and the catch adjusted. The tender handbrake link and nut, into which the hand brake shaft screws, have been fitted. The safety bar that runs between the tender frames and under the tender brake shaft has been fitted. The tender brakeblocks and their pins were set out next to the tender then fitted. The brake gear has been adjusted to correctly operate from the handbrake. With the handbrake on a total of five blocks are on the wheels, not bad at all for a Gresley eight wheeled tender. New gaiters have been fitted to the tender vacuum cylinders. These protect the cylinder piston rods. Cottering of the tender brake gear has been carried out and the pins split. On the front of the tender the old right water valve handle has been fitted to the new shaft. A very good fit has been achieved. The water handle and shaft have been refitted to the tender front and the operation of the valve checked. The tender water level gauge had been previously fitted but did not operate easily and fouled the floor plate it went through. The plate was eased and the valve realigned to allow the gauge upper bracket to be fastened to the tender side correctly. The valve now operates satisfactorily. The leading left tender brake beam cotter, and the last on the tender was made and fitted. The main intermediate coupling has been hand finished and is now painted. Meanwhile the coupling pins have also been painted. The full intermediate coupling assembly is now ready for refitting. The machined upper left Cartazzi wedges have had their oilways recut. The upper wedge oilways drilled through the block have also been cleared of all dirt and swarf. New dust shields that fit in the back of the axleboxes were made to a drawing produced by us to the LNER dimensions, in rubber instead of the original linoleum. These were missing from our axleboxes. The scraping of the left brass crown has been completed and the correct float has been provided by scraping the ends. With this the Cartazzi was ready for reassembly. The Cartazzi wheelset has now been refitted. The tender and loco were pinched forward on to the wheeldrop and the wheelset assembled in the bottom of the pit. The axleboxes supported to prevent them tipping and falling from the journals. The wheelset was then raised into position. As now usual with these major Engineering Team operations the wheelset went in with no trouble. While over the wheeldrop, waiting for the axlebox assembly, the Cartazzi springs were positioned for fitting when we returned the engine off the wheeldrop. While the engine was pinched it was stopped to measure the clearance between the return cranks and the return crank rod. This dimension is specified on drawings and in the BR standing orders for A4. The measurements have been compared to those taken in a trial fit on the marking out table. We do not comply with the minimum specified dimension in one case so the assembly will require adjustment. The Cartazzi springs have been put up. The new hangers put in and retaining brackets fitted. The springs were partially loaded but the loco will need jacking to complete the loading more easily and to remove the trailing coupled axlebox packings put in when the Cartazzi was out. Various other Cartazzi components like the oil boxes have been fitted. Dust guards for the inside of the Cartazzi wedges were made and fitted from the rubber sheet material bought for the tender gangway top cover. The Cartazzi outer hornstays are washered out with a number of washers so solid spacers have now been made to suit the hornstays and to ensure the end cotter pins are contacted. The Cartazzi horn castings are now painted to undercoat. Under the loco, with the Cartazzi wheelset back in the damper reach rod was put back up, and the pipes that run under the axle reconnected. The last, the middle, piston crosshead locking cotter has been made and fitted. The last cotters and end washers have been made for the loco brake beams and fitted. The loco is now ready for its brake blocks to be fitted. At the upper end of the leading and intermediate loco brake hangers, plates ensure the hanger pins do not work out. These plates are secured with nuts then cottered. The arrangement has now been completed and cottered. With the fitting of the cylinder covers, and their cosmetic outer covers, the loco bogie splashers have been refitted. The cylinder leading and trailing fairings have been painted on the inside and the right footplate angle painted to black gloss. More of the streamlined low domed screws required to secure the fairings were cleaned and die nutted ready for fitting. The fairings have now been fitted. New nuts have been made for the studs that secure the fairings at the cylinder casting ends and the slidebar bracket. These studs were refitted at this overhaul and the finished result looks really good, as well as being authentic. Work has continued on the loco cladding with the final sections fitted and boiler bands put on and secured. Some of the holes in the crinoline have been redrilled historically and overlap so impossible to clean up with a tap and have little thread in them. When redrilled to miss the old holes it was found that the original spacing for the side screws hasn't been accurately adhered to so that luckily when done so this time new full holes were possible. Note to next overhauler - weld them all up and start again! Most of the cosmetic fillet pieces that cover the joins of the bottom roll of the cladding have been fitted. They are bolted at the top with one of the boiler band side bolts and are welded to the beading on the footplating that the cladding slots under. Only the leading set remain to be done after the leading boiler band and smokebox cladding is fitted. The boiler cladding access doors have been refitted. It was necessary to ease some of the door openings in the new cladding but all doors are now fitted. The cladding is secured by bolts around the doors and this is completed. The door mechanisms are showing their age and will need some work in the future but this can now wait until after the loco is steamed. The boiler handrails from cab end to front of the boiler are now fitted and secured. They are captive at the very trailing handrail knob and secured along the boiler side with a taper pin through a hand rail knob. The holes needed remaking and new taper pins are fitted. The backhead cladding at the shoulders has now been fully secured and where it goes over the top of the boiler around the safety valves. The insulation has been cut away where the safety valve pads are. With the cab fitting immanent the operating wheel and shaft for the manifold shut off valve was cleaned and painted. This goes across the top of the backhead and is hung on the cab roof. The centre section of the cab roof is removable and has angles across its front. These have now been painted and are ready for refitting. New steel pipe has been put in taking the train steam heat from the copper pipe in the cab to under the floor. Its rerouting was necessary to clear the damper handle and the other pipework all routed through a single hole in the floor to the right of the fire hole. The vacuum pipe to the vacuum clutch valve on the reverser stand has been fitted. New annealed copper washers have been put in the joints between the ejector and train pipe and reservoir pipe. The air brake reservoir pipe to the backhead gauge has been refitted, along with the air brake application unit located under the driver's position. The lubrication pipes to the reverser shaft bearings removed to aid the fitting of the new fitted bolt and stud described in the last report have been refitted. On the subject of lubrication the oil boxes have been measured and feeds counted for new trimmings. Our first batch have now been made. The connecting rod little end lubrication felts have been made. The outside big end felts have been put in oil to soak prior to fitting of the outside connecting rods. A start has been made on polishing and preparing the new motion taper pins before fitting. The old bogie stretcher cover plate was cut in to parts and repaired by welding where it was previously cracked and cut to form a vee shape that followed the profile of the stretcher. The cover is now fitted level across its top on supporting plates previously welded in to the bogie stretcher. Cutting in to sections allows easy removal for access to the bogie stretcher lubrication pipes. The bogie lubrication pipes have been fitted and a new bracket has been made to secure the pipe run. In the smokebox the tacking the right steam pipe in situ has been completed and has been taken by a contractor for finishing. It will meet us at Crewe. Finishing the last steam pipe has allowed the assembly of the front of the loco. The plate between the frames in front of the smokebox was finally fitted. A screw put in the plate's lifting tapped hole to protect it. Also the access plate for the 2:1 lever pin was re-secured with counter sunk screws in to holes that we have welded nuts on the back, an improvement on the old arrangement of separate nuts that were difficult to access. The ash deflector plate under the smokebox front has been cleaned off and painted. In the smokebox, the atomiser and whistle steam supply stub pipe and and blower stub pipe, both secured to the boiler front plate were fastened in place with new copper gaskets. A special tool being made to access the securing nuts through the superheater elements. A thin ply cover was made to cover the blast pipe holes in the saddle and the blastpipe casting was temporarily bolted down. It will have to be removed later for fitting the steel steam pipes. The top of the casting was capped off with a couple of pieces of wood. The smokebox front plate and chimney fabrication have been fitted. As these will have to come off at Crewe they are secured with a reduced number of bolts. The sealing plates around the stub cylinder top iron steam pipes that pass through the smokebox side have been temporarily fitted. The superheater header access covers on the smokebox have been refitted, again with a reduced number of fasteners pending removal at Crewe. The cod's mouth operating gear has been refitted after its thorough rebuild. The very edge of the right outside frame was chamfered which improves the fit of the gear. The front streamlining support brackets, fastened to the smokebox front plate, were then fitted to tie the gear up on to, until the upper door is fitted. Some of the lubrication pipes that run through footplate holes with the cods mouth gear had to be disconnected, these have now been refitted. The cod's month gear was painted up to undercoat in situ prior to fitting the streamlining in front of the smokebox. The support brackets that guide the cod's mouth operating key have been fixed in place on the outside valve covers. The cod's mouth gear has been greased and the leadscrew covers have been put on. Its operation has been checked with the upper door on and operation is satisfactory. The left streamlining on the smokebox was trail fitted and seemed to go on OK, so it was fitted with its nameplate. The left and right smokebox sections complete with nameplates are now fitted. The left was previously welded down by a tab on the smokebox top. This has now been rewelded. Its position has been checked and it's OK as the plate and brackets in front of the chimney that connect the cladding either side of the smokebox fit. The fasteners for these parts have been retrieved from store and cleaned up and many are reusable. With the smokebox cladding sections on, the leading boiler band can then be fitted. This is now done, though the bottom fillet pieces remain to be fitted. The boiler band side fastening bolts and screws have been put in and the corresponding fasteners for the smokebox cladding. With the smokebox cladding on the vacuum ejector exhaust pipe can be refitted. This is a substantial item running from the cab to the smokebox along the left side of the boiler. It has been stripped of damaged paint and painted to primer. The smokebox door has been fitted. The leading sections of streamlining, have also now been fitted, though there is a misalignment on the left that needs to be investigated. The cab has now been fitted by a large team necessary for the job. Fitting is not yet complete though the bottom edge bolting is in. There are some issues with the front edge where it overlaps the boiler cladding and the backward slope of the cab evident in photographs from its last period in service will be looked at. With the cab on, the bracket that supports the gravity sands lever, that connects the cab side to the reverser stand is refitted as is the drop grate bracket. The cab seats have been brought in from store and are ready to refit. The OTMR enclosure in the cab mounted on its substantial bracket, previously the AWS battery box(?), has been refitted including the conduit runs to the sensor enclosure. Under the cab centre roof section, not yet refitted the safety valves are surrounded by enclosures, these have been retrieved from store and cleaned and painted ready for refitting. The cab spectacle window frames have been cleaned and polished prior to refitting. The speedo indicator and its connecting lead have been retrieved from store and cleaned. There has been a promising development with the CET tank for the coach. An alternative supplier was identified and they were sent dimensioned drawings. Then our existing contractor suddenly found capacity to produce the tank. Hopefully this will see some real progress on the coach.
26 July 2021 With the platework complete on the tender, painting has advanced well. The inside of the vestibule is now painted to top coat, which will allow the vestibule door to be fitted. In the coal space the last of the unpainted surface under the left streamlining was wire brushed and painted to primer. Primer has also been applied all round the coal space. The back of the tender front plate has now been painted to undercoat and the front of the coal space division plate. A lot of hard work has been put into the corridor with a lot of the prep and priming. The left side where the GSMR trunking runs is now to top coat so that the GSMR refitting is not delayed. The rest is now in undercoat. The tender front has now been painted to top coat. The corridor connection face plate has also been painted black. Up on the water filler lid the material thickness around the hinge has been built up with weld where it has wasted. The lid hinge has been fitted with a new pin. The area around the water filler has been cleaned out and given an all over coat of black gloss.. Under the front of the tender the installation of the water feed valves has been completed after space was found to provide clearance against the air and brake pipes that crowd the area. The water supply to the valves is piped from the sump. On the bottom of the sump is a banking plate and cap through which the sump can be drained. The plate was refitted and the cap retrieved from store and fitted. With the water valves in place a start has been made on making new water handle shafts. The bottom of the shafts have boxes that fit over squares on the top of the valves. Square section material was used to give the square shape to the box, and the sides made up of 2 angles. The squares were welded to the ends of the shafts after preps were machined. The shafts were fitted on to the valves and the handles are now being fitted to the tops of the shafts. This requires the circular shaft tops to be made square to tightly locate in the existing handles. One handle is shorter than the other to miss the water scoop gear. The handbrake bracket has now been refitted to the tender front. The new handbrake shaft was tried in and the hole in the new floorplate trimmed to provide plenty of clearance. The handbrake shaft is prevented from lifting by a locking ring fitted under the handbrake bracket. This is secured by a taper pin. The hole in the new shaft needed to be remade and this has now been done. A suitable taper pin is fitted and the handbrake is ready for reassembly. The main intermediate coupling bar received during the last report has been dimensionally checked OK and is now receiving hand finishing to blend machined radii and to remove machining marks. In preparation for the fitting of the intermediate draw gear the inside of the tender leading dragbox has been painted around where new bushes were put in for the side link pins. The main intermediate drawbar bolt that passes through the tender leading dragbox and is pinned to the main intermediate drawbar has been refitted. There is a large rubber spring fitted to the bolt and its spring rate tested and the spring is compressed in the assembly to provide the correct pre-load. A special washer was skimmed to size to provide the preload. At the back of the tender the packing pieces to constrain the side movement of the gangway has been set. Special attention has been paid to this to ensure that the lower support rods are constrained so that there is no chance of them contacting internal pipework. On the top of the gangway a new rubber cover has been cut and will be secured with steel strips bolted through the rubber. A couple of new retaining strips have been made and are painted ready for refitting. Some of the vestibule holes to take the strip on this side of the rubber are already drilled. Work is on going. The assembly of the GSMR rack in the tender vestibule has been completed using new fasteners to the correct original spec, except we have now used stainless steel. The GSMR trunking that runs along the corridor has been refurbished and painted to top coat and is ready for installation. As the tender front is now painted to top coat the GSMR radio enclosure has been refitted and radio unit fitted. Also on the tender front the electrical supply conduit up the front of the tender to the battery box has been fitted. Work continues on the boiler cladding with the 4 panels over the firebox now fitted. One of the panels had the spine holes running off the edge of the cladding plate so a new strip was welded on to provide an equal flange distance. The panel backs were painted to top coat before fitting to give maximum protection against corrosion. The insulation has been cut back around the boiler washout and inspection doors so that the cladding "top hats" can fit close to the outer wrapper. Before the boiler bands are finally fitted they have been loosened and the cladding panel edges below painted to top coat. The inside of the streamlined cladding access doors have been painted to top coat ready for refitting. The outer dome cover has been needle gunned after the Painting Team leader over-ruled the Locomotive Engineer who thought only a rub down was necessary. The cover was tried on the cladding and its orientation determined. The securing holes have been tapped out. The middle piston has been fitted with its rings and refitted. The rings were gapped and during the process a stray weld was found on the cylinder liner, which it must have got during the overhaul, perhaps when the bogie stretcher overhaul was done. The weld was carefully removed, the rings were then fitted to the piston and the piston put in. The piston gland assembly was fitted after gapping the packings. Finally the cylinder cover was fitted. The middle piston rod has been put in its crosshead and the large cotter fitted. The middle piston rod has been put in its crosshead and the large cotter fitted. All the piston travel limits were checked, called the bump stops. The slidebars and crossheads are marked showing where the bump stops were found in the past and reassuringly they match well what we have found this time. When the left was initially done this wasn't the case. The very end of the crosshead just contacted the run out on the slidebar. The crosshead whitemetal was chamfered and now it matches the bump with clearance on the slidebar. The middle leading valve cover has been put on and the valve crosshead fitted and linked up to the Gresley gear. The trailing valve cover and tail rod cover were fitted. The tailrod cover has a clack on its oil feed, which was inspected and lapped, then fitted. Some easing of the Gresley gear pin holes was done. The pins are now all finally fitted and cottered and grease nipples fitted. When the loco was modified during the second world war to increase the valve travel the slots through which the 2:1 and 1:1 levers pass through the frames were lengthened by flame cutting. As we have now very carefully levelled and aligned the gear the 2:1 lever comes very close to a lump in the cut out. This has now been removed to prevent any possibility of the gear contacting the edge of the cut-out. The outside valve guides and glands have had their lubrication pipework installed. Special taper pins for the valve gear have been ordered. Initially the gear would have accepted standard pins but after repeated cleaning of the holes of wear, standard pins won't fit and specials are required. With a very slight taper a small increase in the diameter of the hole makes a big difference to where the pin fits, and it must project each end of the hole. The spherical ball bearings in the return crank rods have been fitted. One is a new bearing, the other being ex-service and suitable for further use. It was found that in the right bearing fit was very tight. Upon measurement the housing was found to be out of round so was carefully dressed until the bearing entered satisfactorily and the bearing rotated easily. Interestingly this was the location of the bearing found to be damaged at this overhaul. The return cranks were fitted to the rods and have now been fitted to the loco. They will require removal when the connecting rods are refitted, but will be examined as they rotate when the loco is pushed on to the wheeldrop in the coming weeks to ensure there is the specified clearances between crank and rod. The bogie stretcher has a cover plate which no longer fits due to the new plates welded on to the bogie stretcher. The existing cover is now being cut and refitted to the stretcher in 3 parts. The original arrangement of single piece cover was not satisfactory as it prevented access to the oil pipes going to the bogie in service and was difficult to remove due to pipework and the drain cock linkage that runs closely over the top. The Piping Team have also been working in the cab. The large vacuum train pipe from the ejector (drivers handle) to under the cab floor is now refitted using a new cone for the air ministry joint, made by an Engineering Team volunteer. The Piping Team Leader identified that a plate passes over the vac. T.P. and that it is attached to the reverser stand. The plate has previously been painted and is ready for fitting and the stand had two loose bolts to take the plate. The bolt holes in the stand are reamed 3/4" and are amongst a set of fitted bolts designed to rigidly fix the upper and lower section of the stand. Drawings confirm this. The loose bolts were 5/8, one square headed other hex, ie looked to be what was available last time the assembly was put together. So it was decided to put the assembly back to as originally fitted as far as possible, and as confirmed by the 2002 overhaul photo record. As the stand is now assembled it is only possible to fit one as a bolt, the other as a fitted stud, nutted either end. These are now in place. It may not now be as easy to fit this plate but the assembly will be correct. On the other side of the cab the steam heat pipe that runs from the manifold has been re-routed to take the new steel section that comes through the floor away from the damper operating handle. This required heating and reshaping the pipe as it previously weaved its way round the steam supply pipe to the air pump. The new steam heat pipe below the cab has been shaped and left overlong for now to meet the copper pipe in the cab. The cylinder release valves are now all fitted and their locking plates fitted. The middle leading valve needed a special spanner making to tighten it. A couple of the plates needed some work to fit properly, one plate needed welding up and reshaping. With the cylinder release valves and locking plates fitted the cosmetic covers to the outside cylinders were refitted after fitting insulation in to the cylinder covers. Before refitting, the inside of the cosmetic covers were painted. The leading bogie splashers have been refitted. The cylinder drain cock linkage is now fitted with the remaining pins cross drilled and fitted with cotters. The Cartazzi horn grinding is complete. The Cartazzi axlebox spring bearers and the axleboxes have been tried in and their fit is good. The axleboxes have now been removed and the bronze wedges fitted to their tops. The upper spring bearers have had their oilways thoroughly cleaned out ready for refitting. The left Cartazzi bearing scraping has been resumed. The left spring bearer steel wedges were re-machined to true up and remove wear. This removed some of the oil ways and these are being recut. The ashpan sprinkler pipe has been fastened in place being connected to the ashpan water supply bulkhead fittings. Small brackets were made to stand the pipe off the ashpan and these have now been welded to the pipe and ashpan. The rear grate support bar had a bit of rock in it and there was a danger that in traffic it could be shaken out of one of the end supports, so the centre support has been ground back and now the bar locates well. The trailing section of the grate has been put in. Work continues on the washers and locking cotters for the loco brake table ends. All the cotters are made and the right side assembly is completed. Painting of the inside of the cab has been completed. This has allowed the window runners to be refitted. The removable centre roof section has also been painted inside to top coat and is ready for refitting. In the smokebox the last tacks to the right steel steam pipe have been applied. The middle and left being ready for welding as they have been for weeks now. We have been unable to progress the smokebox as we have been waiting for the welder to be available to come to York do the final pipe welding. With work still required on the pipes in situ we are unable to fit anything in the smokebox that will hinder access to the pipes. Though the piping team have managed to put in the atomised lubrication pipe to the middle cylinder. The two stub pipes that come from the boiler front tubeplate in the smokebox are now ready to fit, once the steam pipes are removed. The atomiser/whistle supply has now been received from the welders, after they lost it so that was delayed a week! Both pipes have been hydraulically tested and the welded pipe has had independent testing of the weld. Enough is enough so when I collected the stub pipe I told the welders they had lost the job for the steam pipes. Within a couple of weeks another welder was found and he was on site and has taken the left and middle pipes away for final welding and they will be refitted once we get to Crewe. The new welder is due at York again next week to finish and take the right pipe away. In preparation for the arrival of the "new-new" welder, and as the geometry of the steam pipes is now fixed, the smokebox front plate was removed, which will stay off until the chimney casting is put in. Special mention should be made of the hard work put in to this job by our volunteer who has produced three complex steel steam pipes. Feedback from our current welder on the quality of the work we have done was very positive. The only thing the welder required us to do is to make a short piece of straight pipe to go in the superheater header flange on the right pipe to close up a root gap. As work on the steam pipes is coming to an end the smokebox was cleaned out. In preparation for the fitting of the blastpipe casting two thin ply covers have been made for the top of the saddle casting to prevent anything falling into the steam chest, while allowing the blastpipe to be bolted in place for the move to Crewe. On the blastpipe casting the fabrication of the lower spark arrestor tray has been completed. This means the blastpipe casting is available for fitting. In further preparation for front end reassembly and the refitting of the cod's mouth gear, the outer operating shaft supports were retrieved from store, cleaned and prime painted.
Copyright © The Sir Nigel Gresley Locomotive Trust Ltd |
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