4150 Fund

By Pete Maddicks & Tony Howard

This month the progress has continued at a great pace. After the steam test, the boiler was cleaned down and painted. The crinolines were then refitted, all the lagging and cladding was then put on except the section by the safety valve, as the chains go around here to lift the boiler. On the last working day of the month, the boiler was put back in the frames ready for final assembly to begin. 

Saturday 13th saw the return of the funds annual evening special train. It was a great success, making a profit that will go towards the locos' overhaul. A big thank you to all of the people who worked so hard to make the train a success, especially Dave McFall who did the organising. 

It was the month of the winter steam gala, which was a great success. To me the star of the show was No. 11 (813). 

Monday 1st September.
On site today: Bob L, Charles L, Dave L, Dave Mc, Jacob L,  Peter D, Pete M, Steve T, and Tony H.
We did manage to do the boiler wash out, the First one in 60 years. You can imagine how much dirt and limescale came out. More work was done on the checker plates that fit to the cab floor. There is a shunt planned for Tuesday so the boiler can be removed from the wagon and Dunrobin's boiler put in its place. 

Wednesday 3rd. Sept
On site today: Monday 1st September.
Bob L, Charles L, Dave Mc, Peter D, Pete M, Steve T, and Tony H.
The shunt planned for Tuesday did not go ahead, so it was done today. With the boilers swapped round our boiler is now in the Boilershop and the rest of the painting continues. Once painted, the lubricating pipework that runs from the lubricator to the smokebox is fitted.  Then the crinolines that fit on the firebox. Then the lagging and finally the boiler cladding. This should keep us busy for a few weeks.

Thursday 4th Sept. 
On site today: Bob L and Pete M. 
Extra day again today. Removed the crinolines from the boiler barrel so the copper lubrication pipes could be fitted. Bob and I then started to paint the boiler. 

Monday 8th September. 
On site today: Bob L, Charles L, Dave L, Dave Mc, Peter D, Pete M, Si B, Steve T, and Tony H.
Some of the lubricating pipework was fitted from the smokebox to the firebox. It was found that one of the crinolines was fouling the pipework.  Dave and Steve modified the offending crinoline. Charles worked on the steel bars that support the brick arch in the firebox. The rest of us were either painting or fitting the crinolines to the firebox. The right-hand side was not fully fitted as the rest of the lubricating pipework has to be fitted under the crinolines to connect to the lubricator on the back of the boiler.

Wednesday 10th Sept. 
On site today: Dave L, Dave Mc, Peter D, Pete M, Steve T, and Tony H. 
First job today, find the crinoline that fits next to the firebox. This crinoline has to be removed when lifting the boiler in and out of the frames, as one of the large chains needs to be placed where this crinoline sits.
Once we had found it, it was placed in its correct position. The curved plate that the safety valve bonnet sits on was fitted. This was to double check we had the crinoline in the correct position. More of the lubricating pipework was now trial fitted. It was found the crinoline needed modifications as it was fouling the pipework, the same as the one the previous Monday. A start was made on installing the boiler lagging. Two of the cladding sheets were temporarily fitted.

Monday 15th Sept. 
On site today: Bob L, Charles L, Dave L, Dave Mc, Pete M, Steve T, and Tony H. 
Further work has been done on the lubricating pipework and another piece of crinoline needed to be modified also one of the cladding sheets on the firebox. Dave L and Steve undertook this work.
Work continues lagging the boiler barrel. By the end of the day most of the lagging had been done, and two sections had their cladding sheets fitted.

Wednesday 17th Sept. 
On site today: Bob L, Charles L, Dave Mc, Peter D, and Pete M.
More lagging and cladding was done. The only part of the boiler barrel we could not finish is the area just forward of the firebox, because the chains fit around this section to lift the boiler back into the frames. The firebox lagging was fitted along with the cladding. There is another area where we had to cut a section of lagging out, that is where the motion bracket sits. Four sections had been made to hold the lagging in place and were installed.

Saturday 20th Sept. 
On site today: Nathan L, Pete M,  Steve M, Simon B,  and Tony H. 
We prepared the water tanks ready for removal. This meant taking out every other holding down bolt, removing the front sand boxes operating mechanism and the cover from the reversing lever.

Monday 22nd Sept.  
On site today: Bob L, Charles L, Dave L, Dave Mc, Nathan L, Peter D, Steve T, and Tony H. 
Dave L and Steve modified boiler band No 3 so it fitted correctly over the stretcher plate. Bob painted more items. Tony fitted the plates that had been modified a few weeks ago to the back of the steps that lead to the footplate.  The injectors are fitted to these plates. Everyone was involved in fitting the cladding sheets.

Wednesday 24th Sept. 
On site today: Dave L, Dave Mc, and Tony H.
Dave L and Tony looked at the handrail that is fixed to the top of the boiler. This had to be removed to fit the cladding sheets, when it was re-fitted the taper pin would not fit through the boss. The pin was removed and found to be bent. After it was straightened and polished it fitted perfectly. Dave and Tony then cut some angle to fit on the cab floor. This angle will be drilled and countersunk on Saturday. The wooden cab floor was completely removed in readiness for the removal of the tanks next week.

Saturday 27 Sept. 
On site today: Charles L,  Dave Mc, Kevin S, Simon B, Steve M, and Tony H. 
Water tanks removed, and put at the far end of the shed. Angles drilled and countersunk for the cab floor. Lubricator moved from the fruit D into the machine shop. Copper pipework polished. Covers that fit either end of the smokebox saddle painted. Finally the loco shunted to the front of the Boilershop ready to be shunted inside on Monday for the boiler to be fitted.

Monday 29th Sept. 
On site today: Bob L, Charles L, Dave L, Dave Mc, Peter D Pete M, Steve T, and Tony H.
The boiler was lifted and the ashpan was fitted. Once all the nuts and special washers were fitted and securely tightened up, the whole assembly was lifted again and the loco was shunted into the Boilershop. The boiler was lowered into the frames. The smokebox was securely bolted down to the saddle. The loco could not be shunted back into the shed as no Signalman was available, hopefully the shunt can done later this week.