Progress November 2023

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 vacuum pipework with more bits being removed

and then individually tested on the bench.

On one of these, an iffy section of pipe was discovered so it was cut out and a replacement section welded in but, by Friday, some 80% of all the vacuum pipework was back in place. On Sunday it was back to making up the remaining sections of pipework and bracketry, drilling out joining sleeves.

brazing on flanges

and then cleaning up the joining surfaces. The following shot shows a flange joint being polished and a sleeve in position on the other end.

Other work included machining a drain plug boss to be welded onto the new vacuum tank

and the completion of fitting the tapered retaining pins to the side rod crankpin nuts.

Week Three

We began the week by testing the entire vacuum system and started with taking the tank out which, although

fine when fitted back in 2015, has suffered while the loco was outdoors and now had a number of leaks. We tried to repair it but found we were chasing holes so made the decision to have a new one made. Accordingly, the main flange had the rivets removed so we could take it off and reuse on the new tank: a job that took far longer than it should as it fought us all the way.

After that we decided to test each section individually and found that one of the pipes that had received repair patches some time in the distant past was also leaking so that in turn was removed, the bad section cut out and a replacement length cut and weld prepped.

This was welded to one end of the pipe and both parts offered up to the loco again, the new section cut to length, the flanges at each end bolted up to fix everything in the correct position and the remaining ends tack welded together.

It was then taken down again to be fully welded on the bench, dressed back and repainted. The vacuum retaining valve was also removed, stripped, checked over

and then refitted.

On Sunday the remaining parts were tested with no further problems and we made a start on bending some of the additional pipework that’s needed.

The side rod crank pin nuts had holes marked and drilled for the taper retaining pins

after which a start was made on running a taper reamer run through them, cutting threads

and then screwing the pins into position.

At Liverpool, the front and rear sides of the foundation ring have now been fully riveted.

Week Two

Apogees for no update this week.

Week One

Given how wet it’s been this week we were mainly restricted to working indoors so recommenced work on the boiler crinolines and cladding straps. All the material was bought inside and a start made on cleaning up and painting the sections that we’ve already rolled.

The main activity though has been on the pipework front with the rear axle box oil lines being connected up again and, as the following shot shows, the more pipework we fit under the loco, the harder it becomes to get in there and do the job.

We have annealed numerous lengths of copper pipe, machined joining collars and then silver soldered them onto the pipe ends.

On top of that, many retaining brackets had to be made followed by drilling and tapping holes in the frames to attach them to.

On Sunday, we made a number of flanges which involved cutting the basic shape from bits of left over steel plate

finishing off the shape with a grinder followed by marking and drilling holes for the pipe itself and the fixing bolts.

Once finished they were then welded to the lengths of pipe

and then gaskets had to be cut from rubber sheet. Once all the vacuum pipework is finished and assembled we’ll need to test the system so have set up a temporary gauge to facilitate this.