WEEK FOUR

This week, we started with accurately positioning 4253’s chimney so the fixing holes could be drilled through into the smokebox.  The chimney has to sit directly vertically above the blast pipe, hence the making of the two ‘spiders’ previously.  These ‘spiders’ have a machined boss at their centres through which passes a closely fitting steel rod.  One is placed a few inches above the chimney’s entrance while the second is placed a few inches below the exit 

and the rod is then passed down through both bosses until it sits on a blanking plate fitted over the blast pipe with the exact centre point marked on it.  The chimney is then moved until the end of the rod meets that centre point.

Once achieved, the first fixing hole was drilled 

and a nut and bolt used to anchor the chimney.  After rechecking the position of the rod, the remaining holes were drilled and bolted one after the other so the chimney is now firmly in position.  It just remains to source the proper dome headed bolts so it looks right as well.

Alongside this, the cladding team finished trimming the last sheets and got them all in position 

followed by the trial fit of the thick, top sheet that covers the firebox.

The next step is to cut out part of the front panel on the new cab so that it fits around the firebox and, to start the process, the main steam manifold was removed from the backhead and stored away

and the construction of a  plywood template to fit the profile of the smokebox was started.

Once correct, this will be transferred to the cab panel, marked and cut out.

Work on the 5164 bunker has continued with the on-going repairs to the rear ducket section and its beading.  The corner section of beading that was considered too wasted for re-use has been cut out, a replacement bit shaped and welded into position and then dressed back

Other wasted areas were built up with weld and, again, dressed back to finish the job. 

The final bits to be reused from the old bunker were the rear corner pieces of the inside bottom angle and, to retrieve them, the entire corner sections were cut out with the plasma cutter 

after which we could comfortably get at the retaining rivet heads to grind them back and then knock out the rivets.

The angle sections were then cleaned up and the ends weld prepped.

We now need to get a length of new angle and weld straight sections to these corner pieces to form the back and sides of the inner support.

Week Three

This week, 4253’s backhead cladding has finally been completed.  The final, bottom sections were trial fitted, 

trimmed as necessary 

and then bolted up to finish the job.

Getting this right has taken many, many hours and our thanks go to Mac and his various helpers for achieving such a great job. 

The boiler cladding team are perhaps having a harder time given that the sections they are dealing with are very much larger and take a lot of manhandling to lift on and off the boiler barrel for each step of getting it all to fit.

The sheets that go round the safety valve boss were measured, marked out and then cut 

whilst other sheets had their lengths trimmed to fit the crinoline bands.

Our next job is to drill the holes to affix the chimney to the smokebox and, to ensure the vertical alignment with the blast pipe is correct, we have fabricated ‘spiders’ to centralise a vertical rod between the two

and bolted the top to the blast pipe.

On the 5164 bunker front, a section of beading around the ducket has been cut out due to severe corrosion, some holes welded up and dressed back 

and then a new, replacement section made.  To achieve the correct curvature one end of a length of strip was welded on and this was then heated, bent to shape and tack welded at intervals

With that completed, the next job was to weld up and dress back some of the oversized holes so these can be redrilled correctly.

Week Two

This week’s work on 4253 started with drilling the smokebox sides to fit the covers round the main steam pipes.  First the covers were clamped into place and then all the holes marked through with a full-size drill to get the positioning right.  

This was followed by drilling a small pilot hole 

so that we could then drill the holes full size from inside the smokebox where we could position our new mag drill that attaches to flat or curved surfaces – a great bit of kit.

Further back on the boiler, the cladding team were continuing their work with cutting more holes to allow access to washout plugs 

and marking sheets for cutting to fit with the ‘toilet seat’ that goes round the safety valve boss.

More of the backhead cladding panels were offered up, trimmed where necessary 

and then bolted into place.  This part of the job is now almost complete.

Work on the 5164 bunker involved drilling a great many holes on the curves of the rear panel which, unfortunately, all had to be done by hand as we couldn’t get a mag drill in there.

Given the number of holes, most of the team took a turn at the task.

The lower coal floor panel had the final fixing strip bits welded into place and dressed back

after which the panel was refitted so we can drill through the final rivet holes.  The fireman’s side corner piece was clamped into place and all the holes at the rear drilled after which it was taken down again for cleaning and de-burring.  The upper coal floor had the rear corners trimmed and was then put back in so we can replace the corner piece and make the joining strip that will be used to rivet them together.

Repair work started on the original ducket section which we are reusing and the first job was to weld up the wasted sections along the beading line and then grind it back flush.

We then offered up the new curved intermediate panel to the rear panel and found it wasn’t fitting in the gap for it.  Taking it down and comparing it to the curve profile of the ducket revealed it to be noticeably different giving rise to a degree of merriment at the thought of yet more work to make it all fit properly.

A job for another day!

Week One

This week saw the 5164 bunker floor panel side strips that were drilled last week cleaned, de-burred 

and given a coat of primer, 

some more unwanted holes were welded up and dressed back and new ones drilled in a slightly different position.

Also, the upper baffle had the rivet holes all reamed to size

and some more sections of the upper coal floor side strip were cut to size and prepped ready for welding in.

A lot of progress has been made in the 4253 cladding with the front sheets being measured and marked for the wash-out plug holes 

which were then cut out using a hole cutter.

Both front sheets were then put up and marked for the final trimming so they end at the centre line of the second crinoline band, they were then taken down, cut and dressed and then replaced.  The next pair are more difficult as the barrel starts to taper outwards from this point so the sheets are cone shaped and made oversize.  This involved getting them up and down a number of times 

for measuring and marking of cut lines at the front and then at the back before they were trimmed

to, once again, end on the centre line of the third crinoline band.  It took most of the day but, by the end, we’d successfully completed the first two sections of the barrel.

More sections of the backhead cladding have also been trial fitted after minor fettling were necessary

and bosses were welded to the backhead to provide fixing points for the lower cladding sheets in due course.

The main steam pipes that exit the smokebox were centralised so we could position and mark the holes that will retain the fixing plates 

and then the fireman’s side had the holes drilled using our new mag drill that will clamp to curved surfaces.

This took quite some time as we kept interrupting the guys doing it to come and lend a hand with getting the cladding sheets on and off the boiler.