Final Week This week started with removing the fireman’s side connecting rod so we could then remove the front coupling rod which had been rubbing the paint on the driving axle wheel. The paintwork was restored and, while it was off, some marks were polished out of the con rod. Other work included silver soldering some pipework for the GWR Railcar, … Read More
Week Four Approaching the end of the year and the overriding activity this week has been the preparation for and manning of the sales stand for the Santa Specials on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There was much frantic ordering and making of various stock items that had sold out or were about to and the inevitable bouts of sickness meant some … Read More
Week Four First job this week was to cut off the mounting brackets from the deceased vacuum tank so they could be cleaned up and reused on the new tank. The second was to take the trailer containing the gazebo and tables etc up to Tenterden for the Santa Specials next weekend. After that it was back to testing all the … Read More
Final Week This week, Charwelton’s cab repaint is coming down the home straight and the various other Charwelton parts we’ve painted have been finished and moved out to make room for the metalwork for 4253’s crinolines that we need to start next. Many odd jobs were carried out on 4253 with the gudgeon pins trial fitted to the crossheads, painting of the … Read More
Week Four On Tuesday, the last of the spherical bearings was fettled and fitted which meant we could finally fit all the rods to 4253. It took most of the day, moving the loco backwards and forwards, to line everything satisfactorily and jack/hoist each rod until it could be slid into position on the crank pins and the fork ends engaged. … Read More
Week Four During the week we’ve progressed work on 4253’s front running plates with sections painted and then fitted, together with the hand rails and lamp brackets. The rods had all the old restrictors removed from the oil pots which turned into almost a day’s work on its own given they were corroded solidly into place and had no intention … Read More