No. 4709 will be a fitting tribute and lasting reminder of Churchward’s ideas and how they worked in practice

re‑assembled ready to receive the pony truck assembly when it has been refurbished. One of the larger items recovered for No. 4709 is the outside steam pipe cylinder block from No. 2861. Parting of the cylinder block from the extension frames proved quite a struggle, but the Llangollen team pulled it off, as well as the recovery of all other wanted parts, with complete success. Initial examination of the cylinder block suggests that it is a late casting, as it appears to have no liners fifitted. It has been trial‑fifitted on the extension frames, although before fifinal assembly it will be removed again and hydraulically tested to ensure that there are no internal leaks. It is testament to Swindon’s standardisation and precision engineering that the ‘28XX’ cylinder block has been mated to ‘Large Prairie’ extension frames, with initial indications showing that the alignment of the 11 securing bolts on each side is good. Having recovered three driving wheel sets from No. 4115, the project needed to cast a further pair of wheels for the fourth axle of the 2‑8‑0. Unfortunately, a pattern for a 5ft 8in wheel centre was not available, so one had to be made. This was brilliantly constructed by the staff at Caddick & Moss of Bristol, who were able to incorporate an interchangeable boss, allowing the casting of both our trailing wheels and driving wheels if required in the future. Both wheels were cast and machined in the spring of 2013, a milestone which featured in the third episode of the Hairy Bikers’ Restoration Road Trip ‑ shown on BBC2 on March 30 2014. In a striking comparison, by laying out the existing wheels next to one of its ‘2884’ 2‑8‑0 cousins ‑ Llangollen‑based No. 3802 ‑ the programme revealed just what a huge locomotive No. 4709 is going to be. In preparation for wheeling the chassis, all wheelsets were sent to the South Devon Railway to be overhauled to main line standards. We were most fortunate that Keith Pallett of CoMech Metrology became very enthusiastic about our project and sponsored the ultrasonic axle testing of all the wheelsets. These have all now passed inspection and have been accepted for main line use. Following extensive market research and price