Front end of ‘County’ 4-6-0 assembled
Replica Hawksworth 4-6-0 No. 1014 could steam in 2022 if £175,000 can be raised.
A‘County’ 4-6-0 has ‘shown its face’ for the first time in over 50 years, with the front end of No. 1014 County of Glamorgan assembled at Didcot.
The Great Western Society’s replica Hawksworth locomotive was unveiled especially for Steam Railway on August 13, with the smokebox and door in place (the latter sponsored by the magazine) and complete with the original double chimney from No. 1006 County of Cornwall, recovered when that engine was scrapped following withdrawal in September 1963.
It was posed alongside another GWS new-build engine, Churchward ‘Saint’ No. 2999 Lady of Legend, displaying the beginning and end of the GWR two-cylinder 4-6-0 timeline – the ‘Saints’ having been the company’s first such design, and the ‘Counties’ the last when introduced in 1945, effectively as a replacement for the ageing ‘Saints’.
It comes as the funds raised for the ‘County’ approach the millionpound mark, the actual figure as this issue went to press being approximately £960,000; and as the GWS launches a ‘final push’ appeal for £175,000 to complete No. 1014 by 2022. For more details, see the leaflet with this issue.
Goodman’s Metal Works of Nottingham, the firm that produced the smokebox and saddle, has also made the smokebox tubeplate; while the new safety valves have been ordered, and boiler contractor Heritage Boiler Steam Services expects to finish riveting the new boiler barrel to the firebox from former ‘Barry Ten’ LNER-built ‘8F’ No. 48518 during the autumn.
Ufone Engineering has finished machining the connecting rods, while the same job on the coupling rods was delayed by a machinery failure at the Boro Foundry, but is now progressing again.
New crossheads have been cast and are at the Great Central Railway, being machined and fitted to the piston rods, while new slidebars have been manufactured and work is progressing on the inside motion. The lubrication system will also be fitted during the autumn. Steel for the new tender tank is expected to be ordered soon, with the tender chassis already complete at Didcot.