Tender tank’s arrival marks major restoration milestone for NER J21
THE new tender tank being fabricated for NER J21 0-6-0 No.65033 under restoration by the Locomotive Conservation & Learning Trust has been delivered, ready for completion.
The tender tank was constructed by Northern Steam Engineering Ltd in Stockton-on-Tees and delivered to Locomotive Maintenance Services Ltd in Loughborough, where the 1889-built locomotive is being restored.
Trust chairman Toby Watkins said: “While doing the tender first may seem ‘cart before the horse’, building up the tender first frees up valuable workshop space for LMS to concentrate on the locomotive.
“Once painted up and shunted out into the yard, the focus can switch to building up the locomotive frames to achieve a rolling chassis by the end of the year.”
Prior to its arrival at LMS in January, the tender was shot-blasted to remove mill scale and then primed. Further work at Loughborough includes fitting dummy rivets, lockers and various other furniture before it is lifted onto the chassis in March.
Another key task is the installation of ‘baffles’ within the main bunker to avoid moisture building up and thus generating corrosion, as happened to the original tender.
The need for a new tender tank was expected by the trust following the extensive filling required to make it cosmetically acceptable for its appearance at the Stainmore 150 event at Kirkby Stephen East station in 2011.
Of welded construction, as part of the design brief, the tender will have dummy rivets fitted to mimic the Victorian engineering.
The three tender wheelsets have been refurbished by South Devon Engineering Ltd at Buckfastleigh and will join the new tender frames during final assembly in March. The driving wheels have similarly been refurbished by SDRE and have already been painted in the Thomas William Worsdell 1889 livery, awaiting the rolling chassis being constructed.