WORK TO RECOMMENCE ON LMS ‘PATRIOT’ AT WEST SHED IN JULY
Work on ‘Patriot’ No. 5551
The Unknown Warrior will recommence at the Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust’s West Shed, Swanwick Junction, on July 1.
The LMS-Patriot Project has signed a contract with the PRCLT for the latter to complete the bottom end of the Fowler ‘5XP’ 4-6-0 to main line standard, with the locomotive dismantled for assessment and some rectification work done prior to the lockdown.
Plans are now being made to move various components, including the centre driving wheelset, bogie wheels, motion, valve castings and reverser back to the West Shed. The driving wheelset and bogie wheels went to Riley & Son (E) Ltd for new crankpins and tyres respectively, while the motion and reverser are at Statfold Engineering.
Heritage Boiler Steam Services in Liverpool, which is constructing the boiler, is fitting its cladding, while Leaky Finders in Devon expects to complete the tender frames around the end of June.
Funding has been agreed for the PRCLT’s work on the engine for three months. The LMS-Patriot Project stated: “Our donations are holding up reasonably well in the current emergency, but our sales income has been affected for obvious reasons and our summer Members’ Day has been cancelled.
“We will continue to work with the PRCLT to plan their workload sensibly in line with actual income.”