Overhauls, restorations and running notes

GWR & CONSTITUENTS

4253 A new connecting rod and coupling rod have been produced by Somers Forge for the ‘42XX’ 2-8-0T under restoration at the Kent & East Sussex Railway. Its owning group, the 4253 Locomotive Company, is also constructing new tanks for its next Barry restoration project, ‘56XX’ 0-6-2T No. 5668.

Heritage Boiler Steam Services, which is carrying out the contract overhaul of No. 4253’s boiler, has completed welding work on the firebox backhead and started replacing the side sheets of the firebox wrapper. An appeal to sponsor the firebox stays can be found at www.4253.co.uk

5539 Hugh Shipton’s ‘4575’ 2-6-2T has a virtually complete ‘rolling chassis’ at the Barry Tourist Railway, where it is undergoing a contract restoration. Its pony and trailing trucks are in place, along with lubrication pipework, and the cylinder covers are being refitted.

Another ex-Barry scrapyard engine, ‘56XX’ 0-6-2T No. 6686, is resident at the BTR, and its wheelsets were recently sent to the South Devon Railway, where the tyres for one wheelset were turned. However, the rest were found to be too worn and required replacing, so the wheelsets were returned to Barry. “We’ve hit a bit of an impasse with it,” said BTR managing director John Buxton, “but we are concentrating on 5539 anyway.”

SR & CONSTITUENTS

563 A fundraising initiative dubbed the ‘T3NDER CLUB’ has been launched to raise £50,000 to overhaul the tender for the LSWR ‘T3’ 4-4-0. The Swanage Railway Trust’s 563 Locomotive Group is seeking 100 supporters to donate £500 each, with incentives including a seat on the locomotive’s first train when it returns to service.

The plan is for volunteers to carry out the overhaul of the tender in the Swanage Railway’s workshops, with the required work including the replacement of the tank floor and wrought iron brake components, and minor repairs to the front end of the frames around the dragbox. The former National Collection locomotive is meanwhile undergoing a contract overhaul at the Flour Mill, in the Forest of Dean.

For details of how to donate, visit www.563locomotivegroup. co.uk

Part of ‘West Country’ Sidmouth – the front bogie – is to enter traffic some time before restoration of the ex-Barry scrapyard locomotive is complete. Its owning group, Southern Locomotives Ltd, is overhauling it with a view to placing it under one of its operational Bulleid ‘Pacifics’, ‘Battle of Britain’ No. 34072

257 Squadron, so that loose rivets in the latter engine’s bogie can be repaired. 257 Squadron’s bogie will be used on Sidmouth, whose frames are expected to enter Herston Works in late summer when restoration will start in earnest.

LMS & CONSTITUENTS

5025 A return to steam for the oldest surviving ‘Black Five’, at the Strathspey Railway, was edging closer as this issue went to press. Its boiler had passed its final in-frames hydraulic test on March 18, starting its ‘ten-year’ ticket, and the Stanier 4-6-0 was expected to move under its own steam during May – the first time it has run since 1993.

LNER & CONSTITUENTS

63601 Just over 20 years after it was first returned to steam in preservation, thanks to the donations of Steam Railway readers, a second overhaul of the National Collection ‘O4’ 2-8-0 is well under way at the Great Central Railway. In the picture (top), the frames are off the wheels inside Loughborough shed, and prior to the latest lockdown, work had commenced to remove the firebox stays from the boiler.

65033 The replacement firebox backhead for the North Eastern Railway ‘J21’ 0-6-0 has been delivered to the locomotive’s restoration base, Locomotive Maintenance Services of Loughborough. Its new firebox foundation ring has also been machined and trial-fitted to the firebox.

LMS are also assembling the ‘J21’s’ new tender frames, in preparation for the expected return of their wheelsets from South Devon Railway Engineering at the end of May, after which the tender chassis can be reassembled.

BR STANDARD

71000 Reassembly of Duke of Gloucester’s crank axle has commenced at South Devon Railway Engineering. The first picture (1) shows the crank web being heated up, expanding it so that the new stub axles can be pressed in, while the second (2) shows the reassembly process beginning.