Standard boiler appeal launched
£150k needed to help Toddington-based ‘4MT’ steam.
TODDINGTON Standard Locomotive Ltd (TSLL), the owner of BR ‘4MT’ No. 76077 has launched an appeal to raise the estimated £150,000 cost to overhaul the 2-6-0’s boiler.
While the engine is at Locomotive Maintenance Services’ (LMS) Loughborough workshops, the boiler, No. 1052 built at Darlington in 1952, is currently at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway’s Toddington depot. Following a professional boiler inspection, a tender document, detailing the work required, is being sent to selected boiler workshops.
The boiler is generally in good condition, having been overhauled at Eastleigh in 1964 with the engine being withdrawn just three years later, both the parallel front section of the boiler barrel and the front tubeplate will be replaced.
Other work required includes the repair of some corrosion pitting at the bottom of the tapered barrel section; new studs for the dome cover; cutting out and replacing corroded platework at the front corners of the firebox throat plate; building up wasted metal on the backhead; refinishing the pads and fit new studs for manifold, backhead fittings and other boiler mountings; replacing rivets and patch screws within the copper firebox, and renewing Monel stays and stay nuts as necessary; replacing crown stay nuts and repairing copper stay heads; replacing foundation ring rivets and obtaining and fitting the 156 smoke tubes and 24 flue tubes.
TSLL has set December 2026, the locomotive’s 70th birthday, as a target for seeing the locomotive steamed for the first time since 1967.
“We are on target to meet that date despite delays during Covid-19,” said Andrew Meredith, TSLL’s engineering director. “However, in order to meet our deadline it is vital that we raise the necessary money for the boiler overhaul as quickly as we can, so that we can press on with the overhaul without interruption due to lack of funds.”
The boiler overhaul project has got off to a good start with almost £18,000 banked by mid-February.
Visit standard76077.com for details of how you can help.