THE ROSTER
LOCOMOTIVES IN FOCUS
Taff Vale Railway No. 28:
Initial conservation work is being undertaken on the National Collection ‘O1’ class engine at the Gwili Railway, with mechanical components being restored and their condition assessed, including the eccentrics, slidebars, valves and spindles, cylinder drain cock mechanism, reversing gear and firebox doors. Inspection has confirmed that the tanks and bunker are life-expired and will need to be replaced; 3D diagrams for the new constructions are being produced with the aid of original ‘O1’ drawings obtained from the NRM archive. The search for these also unearthed some drawings for the ‘O2’ class, assisting the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway volunteers who maintain the preserved example of the latter design, No. 85.
813: After taking part in the Severn Valley Railway gala (see pages 22/23), the Port Talbot Railway 0-6-0ST was due to move to the Battlefield Line for that railway’s enthusiast event on October 13/14, running alongside visiting ‘4575’ 2-6-2T No. 5542, ‘64XX’ 0-6-0PT No. 6412 and resident Peckett 0-6-0ST Sir Gomer.
Following its next visit, to the Elsecar Heritage Railway’s ‘Home from the Front’ event in late October and early November (SR480), No. 813 will end the year at the Spa Valley Railway, where it is booked for 12 to 15 steaming days on the line’s ‘Santa Specials’ and other festive services throughout December and into early January. Hire bookings for the engine in 2019 are under negotiation.
3814: Peter Robinson’s ex-Barry ‘2884’ 2-8-0 has left the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s Grosmont yard for the first time in more than 30 years, as it was towed to Pickering’s New Bridge yard by Class 37 diesel No. 37264 on September 11. From there, it was collected by low-loader and delivered to the Llangollen Railway on September 26 for its restoration to be completed. It had first arrived at New Bridge from Dai Woodham’s scrapyard on July 22 1986.
4930: Hagley Hall’s frames have been shot blasted to remove corrosion and repainted at the Severn Valley Railway, and the brake hanger brackets refitted, while an order has been placed with Harco Engineering Ltd of Brierley Hill for the machining of the new cylinder castings, which is expected to be done by the end of the year.
The Collett 4-6-0’s boiler has been fully dismantled and assessed at Northern Steam Engineering, with repairs to the copper inner firebox completed and new platew ork ordered from South Devon Railway Engineering. SDRE has also quoted for work on the axle journals.
Work has recommenced on the tender frames, with the axle box horns being refitted, and all the brake gear has been overhauled except for the brake cylinder.
A new Collett tender tank has already been made (SR461).
It is hoped to have No. 4930 back in steam in 2020; donations towards the overhaul can be made by texting ‘HALL29’ and £amount to 70070. Funds are being raised by the Friends of Locomotive 4930 Hagley Hall, whose website is at www.4930hagleyhall.org.uk 5239: Dartmouth Steam Railway -based Churchward 2-8-0T ‘Goliath’, undergoing a contract overhaul at the East Somerset Railway, was re-wheeled on September 11. Steve Masters, the ESR’s chief mechanical engineer, said: “It is a key milestone in the project and I’m pleased to say that we are on schedule for the twoyear target [steaming in late 2019, for the DSR’s 2020 season].
“A lot of work has been completed on the frames. Having stripped them of all components, they were shot-blasted before replacing many of the rivets, the front drag box, the tank supports and repairing several cracks. The loose horn blocks were refitted with new fitted bolts before all the horn faces were ground true using our own designed and built grinder, which has given very good results.
“Andy Forster from the West Somerset Railway has provided his optical alignment gear, which has enabled us to take very accurate measurements and machine the axle boxes to the original tight Swindon tolerances, so we’re confident that the axles will end up in the right place! All axle boxes also had new crowns fitted, having been machined in-house.
“The next phase includes the renewal of a number of firebox crown stays, repair of the bunker and continuing the re-bushing of the valve gear.”
5643: The Furness Railway Trust’s ‘56XX’ 0-6-2T has returned to traffic at the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway after nearly a year out of action for a boiler re-tube. It underwent a test run on Friday September 21 and worked the following day’s service trains. 6984: Linkages for the damper controls on ex-Barry ‘Modified Hall’ Owsden Hall are being made at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway using spare parts from West Somerset Railway-based classmate No. 6960 Raveningham Hall as patterns. Owsden Hall is being restored with a hopper ashpan, but will retain the original fixed grate instead of being modified with a rocking grate.
All the vacuum brake and reservoir pipework is in place underneath the engine and the vacuum ejector is being reassembled.
7200: The contract to overhaul the boiler for the ex-Barry ‘72XX’ 2-8-2T has been awarded to Heritage Boiler Steam Services, which recently moved to Huyton in Liverpool and is also building the boilers for new ‘Patriot’
No. 5551 The Unknown Warrior and the Great Western Society’s ‘County’ 4-6-0 No. 1014 County of Glamorgan (the ‘kit of parts’ for the latter arrived at HBSS on September 12).
The locomotive’s owning group, the 7200 Trust, is currently restoring some of the boiler’s internal components at its Buckinghamshire Railway Centre base; new water feed trays are being fabricated, while the super heater header has been machined and trial-fitted, and a replacement smokebox constructed. HBSS will also be carrying out some remedial work on the locomotive’s tanks. Both these and parts for the boiler will soon be sent north.
Work required on the boiler includes replacement of both barrel sections, the front tube plate, outer firebox sides and lower section of the firebox throat plate. Donations towards the trust’s £120,000 boiler appeal can be sent to 33 Douglas Road, Aylesbury, Bucks HP20 1ES or made via the
link at the group’s Facebook page, (see www.7200trust.org.uk).
W8: Following its last planned public appearance at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway’s ‘Island Steam Gala’ in August (SR483), ‘Terrier’ Freshwater has been moved into ‘Train Story’ at Havenstreet. It will be steamed once more to test its new injectors before its ‘ten-yearly’ overhaul commences. Said IoWSR Locomotive Foreman Andrew Summers: “We are looking at starting work in November or December, concentrating on the boiler work and leaving a complete overhaul until a later date. This should hopefully allow an early return to steam in late summer 2019, but as with all projects of this nature, unknown faults can be found on stripping, drastically extending the timescale.”
506: The Urie Locomotive Society’s LSWR ‘S15’ 4-6-0 had its boiler returned to the frames at the Mid-Hants Railway on September 25, although it will be removed again to undergo a hydraulic test.
The temporary fitting is to allow the society’s volunteers to construct a new ashpan, using the remains of the ashpan from ex-Barry classmate No. 499 as a pattern to replicate the complicated design, which is shaped around the rear driving axle, its axle boxes and a frame stretcher – and for which no drawings survive. A hopper ashpan had been suggested to ease disposal, but would be impossible to fit because of the low-pitched boiler on the original Urie ‘S15s’, and parts of the brake rigging being in the way.
ULS engineer Barry Stratton explains that with the boiler in the frames, the team will “fit the front section of the ashpan and then build it backwards” at the same time as making wooden templates to do the same job during the restoration of No. 499. Only then will the boiler’s hydraulic test take place, in order to maximise use of the engine’s ‘ten-yearly’ certificate.
The tender that will initially run with No. 506 and will later be paired with No. 499 – a new tank on an original chassis recovered from Eastleigh Works – has been lifted off its bogies for the running gear to be overhauled.
On No. 499, the centre stretcher has been riveted back into the frames, with the centre casting (the large stretcher between the cylinders) also bolted into place and to be riveted next, after which the cylinders can be refitted. 34105: A new centre cylinder casting has been ordered for ‘West Country’ Swanage at the Mid-Hants Railway, the original being cracked.
35005: The replacement backplate has been welded onto Canadian Pacific’s firebox at the Mid-Hants Railway, and the new tube plate and throat plate have also been welded together. At Eastleigh Works, the ‘Merchant Navy’s’ tender is having corroded sections of the inner frames and the cracked axle box horns replaced, while work continues on the lubrication pipework, and the cab window frames have been refitted. 13268: Work has restarted on the Stanier ‘Mogul’s’ boiler at the Severn Valley Railway now that the boiler of ‘4MT’ No. 75069 has left the workshop (SR484). The lower three-quarter section of No. 13268’s firebox backplate was found to be cracked and will be replaced with new plate work produced by South Devon Railway Engineering.
5428: LMS-liveried ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 ‘Eric Treacy’ returned to the national network on the evening of September 12, undertaking a test run on the Esk Valley line from Grosmont to Battersby and back. 1054: The Bahamas Locomotive Society is to return the LNWR ‘Coal Tank’ to its British Railways guise as No. 58926 for the last months of its current operational spell, which ends in 2021. The Webb 0-6-2T, based at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, currently carries pre-Grouping plain black, but did briefly run in both LMS and BR livery in 2012 soon after the completion of its lottery-funded overhaul. 71000: All the old washout plugs from Duke of Gloucester’s boiler have now been sold, but some of the new ones are still available to sponsor at £50 each, this appeal having raised £2,020 so far. All supporters receive a diagram showing where ‘their’ plug is fitted.
Thirteen feet of the 64ft-long Mk 2 support coach have been sponsored at £500 per foot, raising £6,000. This appeal aims to raise £32,000 for the overhaul of the coach, increasing to £40,000 with Gift Aid. Donations can be made in a lump sum or in ten monthly payments of £50, and supporters will have their names inscribed on a roll of honour in the coach, as well as being entered into a draw for a ride in the vehicle on a railtour.
Donations can be sent to Aurora House, Deltic Avenue, Rooksley, Milton Keynes MK13 8LW or made at www.theduke.uk.com
Plans are being drawn up for the unique Riddles ‘Pacific’ to work Vintage Trains’ executive Pullman trains when it emerges from its overhaul at Tyseley Locomotive Works during the second half of 2020.