Week 1 The primary job on 4253 this week was the fitting of the elephants ears sections of cladding on the front corners od the firebox. After some measuring, the first trimming cuts were made and, after a bit of offering up and more trimming, the upper section on the fireman’s side fitted very well. Next it was the lower section … Read More
Final Week Main task this week was removing the tanks from 4253 so we can get on with making the ‘elephant’s ears’ cladding between the boiler barrel and the front of the firebox. After most of the backhead fittings, pipework and cladding had been removed, the loco was pulled out into the yard, the cab was lifted off, followed by the … Read More
Week Four On Tuesday, 5164’s bunker work included welding a thin strip to the top of the centre baffle as it was sitting slightly lower then the two side baffles. The coal hole door slides were also bolted into place in preparation for riveting and all the rivets put in last week received a clean up to remove any traces … Read More
Week Four This week, yet more clever shaped cladding bits were cut out and bent and more cones for the washout plug areas were made. The driver’s side corner pieces have now all been made to below floor level so the end of this job is now in sight. We also trial fitted a few bits we’d made some years back … Read More
Final Week This week, Tuesday involved manning the sales stand at the Santa Specials, Friday was Boxing Day, so only Sunday was an on-the-tools day and, although we only had four people for that, it was a productive day. We started off by constructing a building bench for 5164’s bunker so we could work on setting out the floor panel, lifted … Read More
Final Week With the Santa Specials trains starting this weekend, the trailer was loaded up with all the Sales Stand gear and moved up to Tenterden where our new gazebo was erected, the raised floor installed and all the tables, wiring etc. set up ready for the weekend. Typically, it rained for most of Saturday which always adversely affects how … Read More
Week Four The long job of fabricating all the joining pieces between the shoulders of the firebox and backhead cladding continued this week with more bits being measured, cut, bent, screwed and welded together. The new oil lubrication pipe cover that fits on the smokebox side was trial fitted to mark the holes that need cutting out to allow the … Read More
Week Four This week started with taking apart the old ducket from 5164’s bunker which involved a lot of drilling, cutting, rivet removal and hammering before it surrendered. We then offered it up to the new platework and it’s a decent fit that will just require a little trimming and fettling before we can integrate it. Next job was fitting the … Read More