| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
| Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
Chassis
The crossheads have been painted and prepared for fitting, along with the vacuum pump mounting frame.
The remaining parts of the cylinder cladding have been examined and investigations started into re-fitting and manufacture of missing parts. Unfortunately we do not have drawings for these parts and need to locate some.
The cylinder cover for the left hand cylinder turns out to be incorrect. We will need to locate one or have one made.
Work has started on the cab floor.
The motion retaining nuts are progressing and a tool is being made to fit them.
Boiler
The mountings that support the boiler in the frame have been prepared for fitting.
The steam pipes are being investigated. We have some parts, but others are missing and will have to be manufactured. At the same time the steam pipe cladding is being investigated.
The runners for the firehole doors have been fitted. This needed to be done to allow the cladding to be trial fitted.
Nearly all of the backhead cladding plates have been made.
Tender
The water valve controls are being made and fitted.
The pipework for the water feed to the loco is progressing.
Siphon
Dimensions for the repair to the corner were checked.
Some loose paint was removed ready for re-painting.
The inside of the siphon is being tidied to improve the working environment and to assist in location of tools and parts.
The weather is causing problems with the restoration effort. It seems to rain every restoration day, and we are forced to spend time erecting shelters to work in. We've even had snow. But the work carried on!
Chassis
Using devices which have been made by the group, the alignment of cylinders and slidebars was checked. Both sides were found to be in alignment.
The plating at the front of the loco is almost completely bolted down. This included a discovery that one of the plates uses bolts in tapped holes, and so the nuts for adjacent plates can be reached via this hole, then this plate fitted last. Just one small plate left to complete.
The cylinder front cover has been fitted to the right hand side cylinder.
Boiler
A few more stay holes were reamed and tapped, and stays fitted. Some of the holes at the front of the firebox below the boiler barrel have been drilled out.
Five more backhead cladding plates have been completed.
The C.N.C. lathe was checked again to try to establish the cause of the fault with it. One or two small problems were found but it is not thought that these are the cause of the main problem.
Tender
The new strip of metal is now welded onto the dome.
Chassis
On the motion, it appears that some of the cylinder gland components need replacing. An inventory is being prepared.
The majority of the plating at the front of the loco below the smokebox has been bolted down.
Boiler
A start has been made on the backhead cladding.
The CNC lathe is being looked at again to see if it can be made to work.
Tender
The water valves have received some more attention. Some parts need to be made before they can be completed, along with some of the pipework.
The new strip of metal for the dome is being welded into place.
Siphon
The work on the siphon has reached such a stage that we have been able to move back from the temporary entrance to the 'proper' entrance. And the last of the re-furbished doors from the 'west' side has been re-fitted.
On the 1 to 8 September we held our first ever Restoration Week. This was deemed successful and we plan more for next year.
Chassis
The plating below the front of the boiler has been worked on. This is mainly a case of bolting down the plating in the correct positions.
Preparation work has started ready for fitting the pistons and crossheads.
Boiler
The pilot holes in the stays at the front of the boiler have been completed.
Twenty more stay holes have been cleaned out, reamed and tapped, and new stays fitted.
Tender
Work started on welding the new strip of metal onto the dome. It's very tricky and is going to take some time. The dome has also been painted to protect it from further deterioration.
Siphon
The painting continues. The door 'furniture' (bolts, handles, stops, etc.) is being re-fitted.
Chassis
One of the retaining nuts for the coupling rods has been completed. These are very tricky to make as they have a tapered pin through them. And we need eight of them!
Boiler
More stay holes in the firebox sides were reamed and tapped and stays were fitted. Meanwhile pilot holes have been drilled through most of the old stays at the front of the firebox.
Tender
The tender water valves have been fitted and some of the remaining parts located to get them 'plumbed in'. The coal chute won't be fitted until this is complete because it restricts access to the valves.
The tender dome has received some attention. The dome fits above the inlet from the water trough scoop and disperses the inflow of water. The dome had some corrosion holes in it and it was decided to remove the bottom 3 inches. A ring will be made up which will be welded on to the bottom of the dome to replace the piece that was removed.
Siphon
The scraping, rubbing down and re-painting is progressing.
Chassis
The big news on the chassis is the return of the crossheads and pistons from Colin Dinsdale. These are very chunky pieces of metal, especially when they have to be moved and manoeuvred by man power alone! The return of these parts is very significant as it allows progress on the locomotive motion.
Boiler
Some loose stays in oversized holes were moved to other holes where they fit perfectly.
More holes were prepared ready for stay fitting. The new stays haven't arrived from the manufacturer but when they do there's plenty of holes just waiting for them!
A start has also been made on the stays at the front of the firebox underneath the boiler barrel.
Tender
Metal has been cut to form the coal chute and more top panels.
One of the water valves is now complete.
Siphon
There's been more work on the doors.
Work has started on one of the corner posts. Unfortunately the bottom foot or so has been found to be rotten and will have to be replaced.
Boiler
The total of fitted stays now stands at 142.
More holes have been reamed and tapped in preparation for further stays to be fitted once they have been made.
Tender
The angle to support the coal chute is now ready and the coal chute can be cut and welded in.
The last of the main stays, which stretch from one side of the tender to the other and hold the opposite sides of the tender in place, has been welded in. The internals are now completed except for two small stays which fit either side of the coal chute.
More work has been done to the water valves, in particular the springs.
Siphon
One side of the siphon is nearing completion. The entrance has been moved from door set 2 to door set 1. So door 1 has restored doors and is now the temporary entrance, door 2 is blocked while the doors are re-built by Carriage & Wagon, door 3 is restored but closed, and door 4 is awaiting priming.
The door furniture is being examined to see if any needs replacing before it is re-fitted.
And ...
The compressed air supply from the compressor inside the siphon to the panel attached to the outside of the siphon is now complete.
Boiler
A boiler inspector has been giving our stay work the once over. Apart from a few stays that were too loose, he said that the vast majority were fine. This is good news because if he had indicated that there were problems it would have been 'back to the drawing board'. The few loose stays will be replaced with slightly oversized stays which will be a tighter fit.
The inspector briefly examined the firebox and pointed out some old stays that will definitely need replacing. He also confirmed that the foundation ring will need to be removed after enough stays have been fitted to support the inner firebox.
More old stays have been removed, holes tapped, and new stays fitted.
Siphon
The siphon has had a general tidy up inside.
Some door fittings have been refurbished.
And ...
The huge pile of scrap metal has been taken away and converted into cash for the project. Thanks to all those who have donated. Please keep it coming.
Chassis
A bar was cut to the required lengths for retaining nut mandrels.
Boiler
An undersize stay has been fitted to the right hand side of the boiler. This will allow progress on removing old stays from that side of the boiler.
More stays were fitted.
The total of stays fitted now stands at 124.
Tender
A replacement voltage control knob for the welding machine was obtained, but the wiring was not identical to the old one. Once this was resolved, and other bits of wiring completed, welding recommenced.
A piece of angle was cut and welded into the bottom of the coal chute.
There was further work on the water valve.
Siphon
More preparation and painting of siphon doors and body panels.
Chassis
The first of the coupling rod retaining nuts has been finished. The nuts are approximately 9" in diameter, and have a tapered hole for a retaining pin, which has to line up exactly with a hole in the screw thread. Making these has taxed the brains for some while and required considerable engineering skills.
Boiler
More holes have been drilled, reamed and tapped and stays fitted.
Tender
The voltage control knob on the new welder failed.
The smaller machine was used to attach a bracket for the second water feed.
Siphon
The next pair of doors was removed for refurbishing, the temporary doors were moved to fill the space and the newly refurbished pair of doors fitted.
A sizeable part of the siphon side panelling has been painted.
Chassis
No. 2807 has been on the move - just a few yards along its bit of track and back again. But this was enough to prove that the bearings are sound and that the motion and linkages were secure, despite some of the securing nuts not having been fitted. All went well and No. 2807 moved easily and quietly. Our thanks to G.W.R. Loco Department for their help.
Boiler
A batch of 50 stays have been produced for us, using our monel rods, by an engineering company.
A record 21 stays were fitted in one day.
Tender
The new welder has been refurbished and placed in a modified cabinet. Some new long leads have been made and these allow work inside the tender without having to move the (very heavy!) welding machine.
After some practice with the new machine welding of the coal chute will begin again next month.
Siphon
The new Wednesday restoration team working day has started up and is concentrating on tidying up the outside of the Siphon. The G.W.R. Carriage and Wagon Department are working their way around refurbishing the Siphon doors, and the Wednesday group are re-fitting, sanding, priming, undercoating and then top coating them, along with the remainder of the external panels.
Particularly bad weather in January slowed progress again.
Detailed plans are being worked on for the remaining restoration tasks.
Boiler
Problems with the CNC lathe have slowed progress considerably. An engineer has been called in but was unable to correct the fault. It is possible that the electronics in the lathe have been effected by damp and this will be investigated next.
Some old stays were removed from the firebox sides. This has not been possible for a while due to fears that the number of stays removed would make the structure unstable, but because of the number of new stays that have been fitted removal of old stays has re-commenced.
Tender
The brackets for the water valves are being worked on.
Particularly wet and windy weather for the restoration team working day on the last day of January meant that the electric welding equipment could not be used. So there was some preparation for work at the next restoration team working day.
And ...
The mountain of scrap metal which we collect for re-cycling was sorted. This is a useful source of funds for the project.