County of Glamorgan with boiler in place for first time
AN appeal for £130,000 to complete the final work on new Hawksworth County 4-6-0 No. 1014 County of Glamorgan has been launched.
The 1014 County of Glamorgan Project engineering team lifted the boiler into place in the workshop at Didcot Railway Centre on September 26. It was the first time that a class member has been fitted with its boiler since 1964/1965.
While lacking its cab and other important features, the outline was unmistakeable and is a precursor to the finished locomotive which is intended in steam by 2024.
With the Hawksworth tender currently nearing completion, the project team expects to show No. 1014 both to supporters and the wider public at Didcot during the spring of 2023. Having now established that the boiler will fit, tasks facing the engineering team will include the measurements for the new ashpan, fully securing the smokebox to the rest of the boiler, fitting the inside and outside motion and setting up the front end.
Once this work is completed, the boiler will return to Heritage Boiler Steam Services Ltd, where it will be completed by the Liverpool firm, which will fit the front tubeplate, the tubes and the superheater header and undertake an unofficial hydraulic test to ensure that there are no issues. The boiler will then return to Didcot, where final assembly will take place.
About £130,000 is needed to complete the locomotive. Anyone who would like to help is invited to telephone 01235 817200, visit www.county1014.org, or contact treasurer and chief fundraiser Richard Croucher at: The County
Project, Great Western Society, Didcot Railway Centre, Didcot, Oxon OX11 7NJ.