County project is driving forward thanks to four-wheeled appeals

THE Churchward County Trust has launched four separate fundraising appeals to help complete full assembly of the coupled and bogie wheelsets for the new-build 4-4-0 No. 3840 County of Montgomery project currently under construction at Tyseley Locomotive Works.

As reported last issue, the contract to assemble the two 6ft 8½in coupled driving wheelsets was awarded to Riley & Son (E) in September and includes machining the axles, tyres, and crank pins, as well as retyring the existing bogie wheelsets.

The decision to launch four smaller appeals rather than a single large one allows for supporters to target where they want their donations to go, and also aids the trust’s allocation of available funding. The first of these is the Inch For An Axle appeal that aims to cover the cost of the two 5ft 8¼in driving wheel axles through sponsoring by the inch. Each inch can be sponsored for £120.

The Driving Wheel Tyre Fund has been set up to help finance the cost and fitting of the four 6ft 8 1/2in tyres through individual donations of £500.

The Driving Crank Fund will finance the manufacture and fitting of the four crank pins, for which the fund is seeking donations of £300 each.

Finally, The Bogie Wheel Fund aims to raise the funding required to overhaul and retyre the two donated 3ft 2in wheelsets that will form part of the bogie assembly.

Each appeal is available for sponsoring in a lump sum or instalments.

Meanwhile, the CCT’s Forty 4-4-0s Club, set up to pay for the casting and machining of the four coupled wheelsets, has achieved 38 out of 40 backers, and so the trust is hoping to find supporters willing to fill the last two slots. Membership is set at £1000, payable in a lump sum or eight £125 instalments.

CCT chairman Gary Boyd-Hope said: “With the locomotive’s frames taking shape at Tyseley, we are now able to focus on the next phase of the build and get County of Montgomery to the rolling chassis stage. However, with steel prices rising all the time, it was imperative that we place the order now as we have already seen some price increases of up to 400% in recent months.“

➜ Further details of all these appeals are at churchwardcounty.org.uk, or write to: The Treasurer, Churchward County Trust Ltd, C/O 4 Green

End Barns, Ramsey Road, St Ives, Cambridgeshire PE27 5RH.