Our main focus will be on delivering the National Lottery Heritage Fund project with concentration on the boiler overhaul.

We started with a full non-destructive testing survey in January by British Engineering Services.

The "black spots" on the boiler barrel are where the paint had been cleaned off ready for the NDT probe.  Fortunately there were no major problems identified beyond the lower firebox plates being wasted - we already knew these would need to be replaced.

Work then got underway to remove the rivets holding the foundation ring in place - as there are over two hundred of these it is a major piece of work!  Then came grinding off the steel stay heads so that the old stays can be removed - again lots of them so quite an effort to make progress.

Critical to the site of the "cut line" for the side sheets is the extent of the throatplate replacement - we don't want all the joins to be opposite each other.  To identify the extent of the replacement throatplate we have cut two "windows" into the side sheets to allow close inspection of the inside of the throatplate itself.

The picture above shows the plate removed - and the extent of wastage on the steel stays.  Our boiler inspector will now be able to come to a judgement on the throatplate condition.  The plate that's been removed has been cleaned up as this will be used as a template for the new sheets - the curve is the important part to replicate.

Other Activity

Away from the boiler, our volunteers are making progress in other areas.  We launched a fund raising drive to purchase the new springs that will be required before re-wheeling can take place - this has proved successful and all the springs required are now in hand.  The spring hanger gear is being refurbished - this will require new hanger bolts as the originals were in very poor condition.  The machine shop has converted round bar into the complex shape required

One of the original bolts is alongside the new ones under construction - we have managed to recover the original nuts for reuse but will need to make the lock-nuts required.

The picture above shows the rest of the hanger components awaiting overhaul - new pins and bushes are required.

Some time ago we bought the castings for our buffers - these are the original tapered pattern.  These have now been machined  - seen below along with the regulator box that has had the surfaces skimmed ready for fitting to the new smoke box tube plate.