Week Four

This week, it was necessary to move 4253 so it could swap positions in the shed with Yank No 65 so all the Lobo had to be taken down before it was pulled outside.  This shot shows the majority of the crinoline bands in position round the boiler and their joining pieces.

After it was shunted back into the shed the entire Lobo platform round the firebox had to be built up again so that work could continue on the crinoline fabrication.  At the smokebox end, the brackets that support the cover plate over the superheater elements had their remaining mounting holes drilled 

after which the brackets themselves were heated and tweaked to get them parallel and in alignment.

With the support brackets in place, the cover was plasma cut from ¼” steel plate, 

the mounting holes marked and drilled after which it was trial fitted.

Other work included bending the new spark arrestor support rod 

and then cutting it to length, temporarily putting up some more of the backhead fittings so we can be sure the new pipe runs aren’t going to foul anything 

and machining the firebox top handrail knobs and making their fixing posts.

On the 541 tender tank front, the inspection hatch in the coal space had the blind mounting holes cleaned out and greased ready for final fitting,

the sides were given a rub down prior to the final coat of primer, 

the filler neck was bolted into position 

and then riveted

followed by final fitting of the water gauge assembly.  All that remains now is one or two remedial bits of work on beading joins and tiding up some of the countersunk rivet heads after which that job is completed.

Week Three

Very much a repeat performance week with work continuing on welding up sections of crinolines 

and then trial fitting them 

followed by making and fitting the joining pieces.        

More brackets for the smokebox have been made to shape 

and then, after much measuring from details on the drawings 

and the use of a spirit level, their position was marked, 

holes pilot drilled and then drilled out full size with the air drill.

The backhead cladding panels and joining plates are now being drilled and temporarily bolted together pending riveting.

The 541 tender tank is now firmly on the home straight with the water gauge and associated linkage having been made and trial fitted prior to dressing and painting.

We have also arranged for the new superheater elements to be transported down to us and here’s a shot of them where they are presently.

Finally, we held our 12^th AGM on Saturday afternoon which, as usual, was well attended.

Week Two

Tuesday started with drilling out to full size the holes in the smokebox to mount the superheater header support brackets 

after which the brackets were bolted in and the header bolted to the brackets.  

The crinoline team built another Lobo platform on the driver’s side of the loco to give safe access to that side of the firebox and then continued with making the horizontal strips that will join all the boiler bands together.

Friday saw all the joining pieces made, drilled and countersunk to connect the horizontal strips to the crinoline bands 

and the whole job is now coming together nicely.  

On the backhead, the regulator boss was fitted and then the new jockey valve mounting bracket was finished, the bolt holes drilled 

and then trail fitted together with the valve.  

This showed there was insufficient room to comfortably access one of the washout plugs so some modification was going to be required.  Therefore, on Sunday, (where we faced an initial temperature of -6.5 degrees and no working heater in the loco shed) the bracket was removed and ‘cut and shut’ to reduce its height.  As work will soon commence on making the backhead pipework we have started to refit various parts so that we can ensure the pipework runs aren’t going to foul anything.  This shot shows the firehole doors being fitted.

The next job in the smokebox was fitting the mounting brackets that will support the spark arrestor which involved establishing and marking the centre line of the smokebox along both sides and then measuring down from that and back from the tubeplate to give the exact position for the first of the holes to mount the bracket.  Once marked, a pilot hole was drilled 

followed by using the air drill to make the hole full size.  Other work involved continuing with the backhead cladding jigsaw where, for the upper part, all the separate sections have been cut and joining pieces also cut.  These will be permanently fixed to the rear of one section while the adjacent section will bolt to it.

Some more crinoline bands were rolled.

And the main steam pipe seats were cleaned up.

Finally, we’ve received the replacement brake ejector studs and the new main steam pipe ends.

Week One

The week started with building a Lobo frame round the firebox end of the boiler after which all the crinolines were reassembled back onto position.  

Once that was achieved, measuring and marking out commenced on the next stage which is the making and fitting of the horizontal joining bars.

When trial fitting the brake ejector to the backhead we were not too happy with the threads on the mounting studs so these have been removed and will be replaced.  Pending that, a couple of old studs were used so we could mount the brake ejector thus enabling us to start working out the pipework position.  

Likewise, the main steam manifold was fitted to the top of the backhead as there are many pipes that will terminate there.

At the other end of the boiler, the superheater header was hoisted onto the front running plate 

before being placed in the smokebox 

and then lifted, via a chain down through the chimney, into its approximate position supported on 3 x 2 timbers placed in the lower row of flue tubes.  Then further packing pieces were added until it was at the right height after which it was moved the correct distance from the tubeplate and centralised.

We could then mark the position of the holes in the retaining brackets at each end through onto the smokebox sides after which the header was lowered again, the centre of the scribed holes marked, centre punched and pilot drilled.

Work also continued on the jigsaw puzzle that is the backhead cladding with more sections being measured,

 marked and then cut out.

On the 541 tender, one of the final jobs is fitting the water gauge float and, after a trial fit, the stainless mounting rod was heated and bent to put a set in it.