4253 Locomotive Company Limited

3 days ago

This week we just continued as normal for 3 days working on the projects 4253,5164 and Gervase.Tuesday, first job of the day was moving the side sheets for 5164 new bunker from our storage facility (the field) into the boiler house for trial fitting in line with our saving money policy the digger was not used but 3 manpower worked well.Next job saw the 4253 bunker rolling team in action moving the old bunker from 5164 from the rails which it sits upon into a position to roll in on to its front to allow access to its bottom, simple request you would think.When it was turned it was put back on the rails to allow us to continue working removing bits for reuse on the new build the bits we have removed so far were cleaned and primed including the steps, front beadings and the ducket.The new angles that came with the build your own bunker kit were cut to length and a lot more rivets were ground down and knocked out of the back panels to allow the release of the bent angles we need.While this was all going on the crinoline team were hard at work dressing the welds done on Sunday on the firebox cladding sheets.Friday. The team continued with the rivet bashing and the first of the bent angles fell off into the water space to everyone’s relief it was promptly removed and set upon to remove the rest of the rivets then cleaned and painted and it is in very good condition and reusable.Then then the second one had rivets ground off and we started to remove them we then had to cut the horizontal strip to allow its removal after it came crashing down and removed for inspection it is fine to use again cleaned and painted , we now need to get the centre one out but that needs major surgery to remove it from the baffle it’s been welded to.Some materials arrived for the bunker they were cleaned then primed to stop it rusting and better for marking out.Work on the crinoline’s was somewhat curtailed as some the scaffold boards we were using have gone back to the owner but other bits were done keeping it moving forward. Lots of just jobs were done as well today.Sunday, we continued removing bits from the old bunker of 5164 for reuse on the on the new build as well we ground the rivets under the floor plate and then drilled holes through then for us to blow out as they are being very stubborn to remove.We made a template of all the fixing holes under the floor plate to make sure it will all fit and bolt down correctly to the frames when its rebuilt.The last 2 steps were cut off to allow the phantom welders massive weld to be removed so they can be reused and welded back on the new bunker.In the boiler room the back head sheet was being made ready for riveting together as well the new bunker being worked on trying things for the correct fit.We brought the back sheet in and had a trial fit it went up well we then found a few anomaly’s that will need to be sorted out.Thanks to everyone who came and assisted this week with all the work on the projects . ... See MoreSee Less

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4253 Locomotive Company

1 week ago

We keep going on our projects for the customary 3 days again this week.Tuesday the main focus was putting up the first of the 2 biggest cladding sheets on the barrel of 4253 boiler the first job was moving the sheet from our boiler house into the main shed.When the sheet arrived, we worked out the easiest way of getting it in position this involved a shackle fitted to the sheet and rope over the top of the boiler and a lot of pulling and pushing.The sheet went up very well indeed so most of the helpers went off to do other things and leave the crinoline team to the marking out.We then had to take it down again after marking out. The new loco shed over Gervase had filled up with water and needed to be emptied. (see pic)The work continued on our new project 5164 bunker build we cleaned down the breather pipe and then repainted it in primer as this is one of the reuseable bits more rivets were ground down including the coal door runners ready for removal.As there was no digger driver available, we wrote JCB on the back of one of the team’s overalls gave him a rope and let him pull the new plate work onto pallets for checking it’s all here.Wednesday the 4253-team had a day out at Margate to have a look at 4270 for reference preposes a very interesting day was had by all. Thanks Frank and Dan on the tour of the exhibits.Friday. The teams first job to put up the sheet we had put up Tuesday and had then taken down back up again life can be so interesting when you are fitting boiler cladding.Then work started on removing rivets from the brackets on the ducket to get years of rust out between the two surfaces, then clean them up and repaint also more rivets were ground off so we can get more bits for reuse off the bunker.With the human JCB we moved the new platework around including getting the floor plate inside of the boiler shop where the new bunker will be built.The crinoline team were getting the template ready for the elephant’s ears (front of the firebox) for its trip to the makers in Norfolk.Sunday. The team were working on 4253 and 5164 work on removing bits to reuse on the new build. The steps on the bunker side were cut out by plasma cutter due to the phantom welder and his pigeon who put so much weld on them so we could put them in a vice to remove them from the plate.The ducket was inspected and we decided we would cut the bottom fixing section off and replace as it was too far gone to save, yet again the phantom had been at work so cutting the strip off took quite some effort to remove.We also laid out the floor section on girders and removed the slight bend it had on the front section. We also checked the component parts and found some slight discrepancies with a couple of things which we will sort out.On 4253 the last 2 bottom sheets were welded on the firebox cladding sheets they are ready for dressing and final trimming next week work continued on making the holding bands for the cladding sheets.We have found that Meccano is still alive and well as we started to lay out some of the new bunker bits to see if the holes are in the right place (see pics)Thanks to all who came and worked this week keeping things moving forward . ... See MoreSee Less

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LOCOMOTIVE COMPANY LIMITED

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