Week Four As well as the usual three working days this week, four of us travelled up to Leeds on Monday for the funeral of our old friend and colleague Dick Weeks. RIP Dick, you will be missed. Work on Gervase is progressing with the roof section bought in out of the rain so it could be cleaned, the flaking old … Read More
Week Four This week, it was necessary to move 4253 so it could swap positions in the shed with Yank No 65 so all the Lobo had to be taken down before it was pulled outside. This shot shows the majority of the crinoline bands in position round the boiler and their joining pieces. After it was shunted back into the … Read More
Final Week of the Year! Tuesday, Christmas Eve, was all hands on the Tombola and Sales Stand for the last day of the Santa Specials which was well worth while as we raised just under £1,000 to replenish the coffers. One lucky lad won a Hornby Santa’s Express train set. On Friday, the team were putting the finishing touches to the … Read More
Week Four This week has involved yet more of the same for the 4253 boiler crinoline team with sections of flat bar getting shaped, welded together, drilled and, where necessary, the holes countersunk which, on long curved lengths is not that easy. However, more and more of the sections have now been successfully fabricated and trial fitted. Also, a batch … Read More
Week Four Tuesday started off with dressing back the previous Sundays’ welds on the side panels of the 541 tender tank and then getting the rear top panel turned over and carried inside for cleaning. The crinoline team were hard at work trial fitting the firebox bands while others were fitting the flanges for the blower and brake ejector exhaust … Read More
Final Week On Tuesday, there were many people working on the 541 tender tank with grinders to grind back the countersunk rivets retaining the door closing plates and the lamp brackets and steps on the back panel and to dress the welds between the front and rear side panels. Meanwhile, work continued on the ‘toilet seat’ part of the crinoline … Read More
Week Four During this week, a fair amount of progress has been made on constructing the crinolines for 4253’s boiler which is a hugely time-consuming task with numerous parts having to be cut, shaped, bent, welded and drilled. Band numbers 1 and 2 (starting at the smokebox end) are pretty well finished and trial fitted along with the top longitudinal … Read More
Week Three On Tuesday, we continued with the drilling of the smokebox where, given the rarity of a very sunny day, the temperatureinside it reached 42º before the guys called it a day. The cleaning up of both the superheater header and the cylinder block saddle was completed after which they received a coat of heat-resistant paint. A blanking plate was … Read More