Time flies when you’re having fun, or so I’m told. Well, I must be revelling in it as the past few weeks have flown by and I missed doing a report last month. Back on track now (if you’ll excuse the pun)!
Descaling of the boiler is progressing well when we can find someone thin enough to squeeze in through the dome. It’s taken a few weeks to disconnect all the steam, water and lubrication pipes attached to the boiler and the firebox backhead. Some of these pipes were very long and required manoeuvring around to extract them. My friend Mike and I spent a day at Loughborough recently. We were undoing cab and pipe fittings and connections. There are lubrication pipes that run from the cab, through a small hole in the cab front, down the side of the boiler to the front of the engine. After disconnecting, we had to pull the pipe back through the cab which meant Mike walking back over the tender whilst supporting the pipe and then moving the pipe around to allow a 900 bend and connector nut to be manoeuvred through the small cab hole. We managed it without Mike falling off the tender!
All the pipework is being removed to facilitate the boiler lift. The final job remaining is to remove the handrails. These are attached to the boiler with pins but also to the cab. The cab connections on the right-hand side are proving still to be done. They are accessed from the running plate but it’s not a safe place for a couple of people to work. Working at height is Health and Safety risk we need to manage properly, so we shall have to wait until we can get the engine outside and build some staging alongside to enable the work to continue.
Work on descaling the inside of the boiler is still progressing. The Train Protection Warning System (TPWS) will be the last parts of the cab fittings to be removed. After this and the removal of the right-hand handrail, the middle section of boiler cladding will be removed to facilitate the slings for the boiler lift.
As previously reported, we have removed the brakegear from the tender. This is now being cleaned up and painted. We’re also now planning to get the tender lifted off the bogies. The bogies will be inspected, cleaned, and painted. We will also need to assess the condition of the tender tank.
Fund raising continues as you might imagine. Our sales stand has been out at Quorn at the start of the GCR operating season. Over the gala weekend we took nearly £600 in sales and donations. We have received many railway books and some general railwayana for sale. We intend to be at all the major events at the GCR this summer.
There are a few ways you can help us. We’ve welcomed a couple of new working volunteers to work on the engine at Loughborough and on the sales stand. If you haven’t already, you can :-
- join the Knights of the Round Table is main way of supporting the overhaul of Sir Lamiel https://www.sirlamiel.org.uk/index.php/supporting-the-quest/
- There is also the opportunity to make one off or regular monthly donations. Please follow the link above.
- Become a working volunteer. https://www.5305la.org.uk/Membership
- Any birthday’s coming up? You can purchase gifts and accessories from our website shop. https://shop.5305la.org.uk Please follow the link to see our current range. More items will be added to the shop in during the year.
Thanks for your support with Sir Lamiel.
Alan Berck-May
Chairman
5305 Locomotive Association