Welcome to the March update.
I apologise for the lack of reports. My only excuse is that I have been in the Alpes skiing. Sadly came back injured which has impacted on me getting to Loughborough.
Work continues on the cleaning and preparing the inside of the frames for painting. Why is this taking so long? You may well ask. If the inside of the frames were plain steel plate it would be very quick and easy. Unfortunately, the frames have stretchers to keep the frames square and to add strength to support the wheels and boiler. Add to this pipe runs for steam fittings, vacuum pipework, conduit for the TPWS (Train Protection Warning System) electrical systems as well as Horn blocks for the axleboxes and the axles, it becomes quite difficult to get to places let alone start to clean the accumulated oil and muck. Hopefully you’ll get a bit of feel for this from the pictures. One thing you may notice in the pictures is a large round valve hanging down with some white writing. This is the oil separator for the exhaust steam injector I have mentioned in previous reports. This is the first item that has been fitted back to the frames.
As you can also see from the pictures, we now have the driving wheels in undercoat black following a significant amount of needle gunning. The pony truck wheels will receive similar treatment shortly.
Work continues on the tender bogie frames. The axle box work is continuing in the machine shop. The front tender bogie wheels have been sent to Tyseley for tyre turning and journal polishing. We expect them back in early May. Once received back, the front bogie will be reassembled and returned to beneath the tender. The tender will then be lifted again to release the rear bogie. We expect that the rear bogie wheels and axles boxes will require the same treatment as the front bogie.
As part of the overhaul, the boiler will require ultrasonic testing. This is schedule for later in April and will include magnetic particle inspection on the outer throat plate.
Work can continue at a much quicker pace if we had more people working on the locomotive. We are working most weekends and also most Thursdays and Fridays. If you would like to get involved in the overhaul and join us on a working weekend, please contact us at comms@5305la.org.uk
Thank you for your support for the overhaul of Sir Lamiel.
Alan Berck-May
Chairman