The Restoration Story begins, but to start you have to take everything apart!

Boiler lifted out of the frames - easier to say than do as 50 years of rust and corrosion was holding it in. The boiler was then placed on stands to allow full access to start restoration process. This image is actually of a later lift when we had to move the boiler so that building work could start at Toddington on a new welfare block for the volunteers – you will see that the boiler has now been preserved with a coating of anti-corrosive paint.
Old Cab removed – this is essential to allow the boiler to be lifted from the frames.

Smoke box removed – badly corroded and not re-usable, but the chimney was salvaged.
Old boiler tubes removed, these cannot be reused and must be removed to allow full internal inspection of the boiler, the tube plate that these are fixed to at the front of the boiler is scrap and was cut away to make tube removal easier. Wheelsets swapped – replaced with a historically accurate set from another locomotive.
Remains of Ashpan removed - the image shows the ashes from the last fire from 1963 still in evidence - the bricks in the pile were part of the "brick arch" from the firebox - the large hammer is one of the "precision tools" that was needed to remove the ashpan.
Brake rigging dismantled – all parts catalogued, cleaned and given coat of anti-corrosive - all of these items had to come off before the loco could be lifted off its wheels.