Week One

The first job this week was giving up on the gazebo that we’d been using to store the boiler cladding sheets given we were fed up of the wind repeatedly blowing it over despite the ever-larger weighting down.  The old sales trailer was therefore bought down the field and pressed into service instead.

After that, it was more swapping around, rubbing down and painting cladding sheets – a task that seems never-ending.

We started making the anchor plate for the drop grate linkage which involved cutting a section of thick plate, drilling mounting holes 

and then machining threaded bosses to be welded to the backhead.  After welding them into place, they were given a coat of heat-resistant paint 

and the plate trial fitted.

It was then mainly ashpan work with the oil feed pipes to the axle that the pan sits over being fitted to one side to access the amount of clearance. 

The loco frames and motion were then  given a good clean down 

followed by oiling up before the loco was shunted into the yard.  The 36-ton steam crane was then used to drop the ashpan into the frames 

for more measuring and marking where it was fouling the oil pipes after which it was lifted out again for some more trimming back with the plasma cutter.  This was repeated a few times until we were happy that the ashpan was sitting in what will be its final position without it touching anything and with sufficient room for the oil lines.

Once satisfied, it was lifted out again and placed on trestles for the cut edges to be cleaned up next week.  The tunnel section that acts as a heat protector for the axle was also cut back to match the modified profile of the ashpan.

While all this was being undertaken, others were cutting up and shaping clock bodies as we need to increase stock ready for our sales stand at the Santa Specials next month.