Duke of Gloucester overhaul gathers pace

UNIQUE BR 8P 4-6-2 No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester‘s support crew working days have now fully resumed on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with self-imposed Covid precautions still in place. Much has been achieved, with more than 230 hours of voluntary work carried out at Tyseley Locomotive Works in March alone.

The Caprotti driveshafts have been overhauled with new universal joints where needed. Work will now commence on the reassembly of the Caprotti boxes and their refitting to the cylinders.

The tender has received plenty of attention, the brake gear having been reassembled with new bushes fitted where required. Inside has been thoroughly cleaned, which involved being inside the tender while using a pressure washer, and water filler points moved to near the rear of the tender to avoid water spills onto the axles and wheel bearings.

A new rear connection to the tender has been made to allow coupling to the Vintage Trains water carrier. Now that the driving wheels have been profiled and painted, the outer rims are being polished, with the rear set now being back in the chassis.

BRC8SLT Right: Duke of Gloucester support crew members polishing the outer rims of a wheelset. Left to right are: Kev Deacon, Dave Oliver, John Attrridge, and Mark Watts.

Dave Oliver. BRC8SLT Above: A start has been made on setting Duke of Gloucester’s Caprotti valve heights, which involves holding the valve closed and measuring against a gauge, then shimming to the correct height. The setting gauge was manufactured by the BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust’s engineering principal,