Great Central Railway No.567; a New-Build 1890s Railway Locomotive

[James Harrison]

Some very sad news, the Chairman of the GCR Rolling Stock Trust has passed away. Cruelly, this is just as the restoration of Barnum #228 was getting moving again after a 3-year hiatus.

I'd just like the record to show how welcome and appreciated he made me feel as a supporter, even though my monthly contribution is only a very modest sum.

[James Harrison]

Pleasant surprise; the March newsletter for 567 has arrived.  In March, for once.

Work is underway for procurement on bogie and trailing dragbox components, the bogie bolster might end up being a casting rather than fabrication because the tool we would have used to machine it has been sold off by the Railway. 

Work is progressing on machining of the bogie hornblocks (this was in progress in 2019 when the machine broke and then the ORR came visit and then plague struck).  It's been a drawn-out process (they sat around gathering dust and cobwebs for three years) but they're progressing well now. 

The locomotive frames are being drilled for the temporary bolts that will be required to hold the whole assembly rigid whilst being 'set' and hot rivetted.  Of course, we can't set and rivet the frame until the cylinder block is fitted and we can't fit the cylinder block until the valves have been denuded of rust and we can't do that without splitting the cylinder block into it's component castings.  Which it's pointless our doing because the tool needed to clean out the valve faces has been... drumroll... sold on.  So that's another job now needs to go out to an external contractor. 

For every step forward there's a step back, that's three or four things now that have been allowed to slip out of the grasp of the project (motion components from 'Corby' tank locomotives, in-house cylinder block work, in-house bogie work...)

[James Harrison]

And just like that, six months go by.

Big news for #567 is that, after several years of dithering and mythering, the spare valvegear that matches the cylinder block has finally been purchased and is formally the property of the project.  That is a bit of a surprise, I'd been given to believe a year or two ago that those spares had been sold on as part of a job lot with a pair of locomotives and therefore we'd have to make our own.

An order has been placed for the components of the rear dragbox, which when completed will be another major part of the frames in place, and work is continuing with machining the hornblocks for both the bogie and the driving wheels.

The AGM is scheduled for October 21st and I'm planning, as usual, to be in attendance.   

[James Harrison]

567 Supporters Day, 2023.

First order of business, after meeting around the loco frames, was a visit to our friends of the GCR Rolling Stock Trust who are now well on the way with the restoration of one of their Barnum carriages of 1910.  Over the last few years this has had its bogies and wheelsets comprehensively overhauled, work is now progressing with all the underframe plumbing (brakes, steam lines, battery boxes etc) and internal fit-out. 



The buffers have been restored and these will be refitted soon. 



The interior is currently in a fluid state, part restored, part storeroom and part workshop. Behind all the tools, stored materials and bits and pieces though you can see the internal teak paneling. 



More details have been reinstated in the bathroom closets at each end of the carriage. 



The carriage is two large saloons with a centre partition.  The centre partition has been reinstated complete with its sliding door. One of the original doors has also survived. 



A prototype seating unit has also been made up and installed. 

And so on to the locomotive AGM.  The key takeaways from this are;

- To accelerate construction, more locations are being used to make components.  Ruddington will, it is hoped, remain the principal operations base but other workshops are being utilised so that more work gets done, sooner.  This also ties in with Ruddington's general shift away from being a heavy engineering centre and more toward a location for final fitout and commissioning.

- The plan going forward is to concentrate on completing the loco frames, then move on to the bogie, the driving wheels and the motion. This would give us basically a complete bottom half of the locomotive.  The thought is that if we can progress to this point we are more likely to unlock grant funding and attract more supporters. 

- Completion date is obviously going to be subject to funding, however the project team currently believe completion between 2027 and 2030 to be achievable.   

[James Harrison]

I can talk about it now (I think). 

The locomotive drag box has been constructed - it was on display at the AGM however at that time the sponsor hadn't seen it.

[James Harrison]

Well, some exciting news.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/GCR567Loco/permalink/7047391055337746/?mibextid=c7yyfP

Work on the cylinder block is about to begin.

[mb7b63]

The dedication and technical expertise involved in recreating such a historic piece of railway engineering is truly admirable. I'm especially intrigued by how parts from different eras are being repurposed. Keep up the great work; looking forward to the next update!

[James Harrison]

Update time. 

We'll start with the 567 Group. 

A few weeks there was a surprising (to me) announcement on the Group's Facebook page that the frames and bogie wheels have been moved from the Ruddington project base into temporary storage, pending onward relocation to a facility where the frames can be properly set up and riveted.  It sounds like an encouraging development - or at least has been portrayed that way by the project leadership.  I'm keeping an open mind on it until the special newsletter that was promised to Supporters alongside that announcement materialises. 

It doesn't seem - to me - to be a particularly good thing to be doing, moving parts here there and everywhere around the country.  It just invites a mishap during transportation.  Those frames might look strong but as a structural engineer will tell you, something built up of relatively thin steel plate is only as strong as its connection details.  I worry one poorly-executed move, especially now before they are permanently fixed and set, will reduce them to very expensive scrap metal.     

More positively, what has arrived is the latest copy of 'Mainline' with an update on the build more generally.  Some of the ancillary components to the frames have been completed - the boiler location plate, brake weigh shaft, vacuum cylinder supports and the drawbar tunnel all being mentioned. 

The dragbox - on display at the AGM back in October - has now been sent away for heat-stressing as preparation for final machining.  The dragbox (and the cylinder block) are both major components that will be required to set the frames, in fact you could think of the frames as basically being a very heavy-duty scaffold that those parts are supported within. 

The next priority in terms of new components is planned to be the 6'9" driving wheels, for which one very generous supporter is sponsoring the patterns.  I would be surprised if isn't then an appeal to donate to the driving wheel castings, similar to the 'sponsor a spoke' campaign that was organised for the bogie wheels a few years ago. 

The budget for the project has been reassessed considering inflation since 2015 and now stands at £600,000, of which £200,000 has been raised and £100,000 has been spent.

I've also received today an update from the Rolling Stock Trust with progress on their rake of three GCR 'Barnum' carriages. One carriage - #228 - is under active restoration at Ruddington and the other two - a second saloon carriage and a brake van - are stored on the same site. 

You may recall my last communication about this was that the running gear had been overhauled, the brakes and buffing gear still needed to be reinstated, and that work was progressing with the interior.  Well, it's gone on a little further but with having three carriages of the same type there are efficiencies and savings to be made if you get everything you need for all three at the same time. 

So a bit of a shopping list has been drawn up for glass, timber, fabric etc- basically all the stuff you need to build the interior of an Edwardian railway carriage.  Or, more accurately, three of them.  It's an eye-watering sum...

There is also talk that #228 might actually move from Ruddington and go somewhere else for this fit-out work, but if that happens the Trust is saying that they will bring the Barnum brake van - #695 - into the workshops and start on that. 

[James Harrison]

A special newsletter landed this evening. 

1) Driving wheel pattern is in manufacture and expected to be finished late July. 

2) A new fund is being set up to enable driving wheels, springs, crank axle and trailing axle to be manufactured without unduly draining the group's main resources - with a hoped completion date of December 2025. 

3) A new fund is also being set up for the boiler. 

[The Bullet]

Would you like to see updates about the Victorian/ Edwardian carriages that are being restored too? 

Of course.

[James Harrison]

Loco newsletter time;

- The AGM is booked for 19/10/24 at Quorn Station on the Great Central Railway.  Members of the general public welcome to the venue in the morning and afternoon to view parts of the loco, but the AGM itself is for supporters only.  Hope to see one or two of you there?

- The pattern for the driving wheels has been completed and an order has been placed for casting them.  Donations/ sponsorship is actively being sought for these components, if anybody wants to know how they can contribute I'll be happy to advise via private message.

- Work is progressing on constructing the bogie assembly and the intention is to have the part-finished item on display at the AGM.  The bogie has been the main thrust of the construction work.

- The cylinder block is being prepared to be split - as of the end of August the splitting operation was close at hand.  The nuts have been gas axed off the bolts and the studs have been persuaded to unlock.  Once the cylinder block is separated into its two halves, it's going to be put on a borer so that the corrosion in the valve chest can be removed. 

- The next step the Group want to take is the construction of the driving wheelsets.  This comprises the trailing axle, which is a 'normal' straight axle, and the crank axle.  To do this we need the axles themselves, the wheel castings and the steel tyres. 

- Whilst fundraising has improved last year, we still need to be ramping it up three to five-fold to get the loco running in a reasonable time frame (three-fold would see it finished in 7 years, five-fold in 4). 


 

[James Harrison]

Last year's AGM saw the unveiling of the rear dragbox; a large piece of the locomotive.  This year's AGM also saw the unveiling of a large piece; this time the leading bogie, test-erected with the hornblocks screwed into place and mostly machined. 







With a detail of the machining required on the hornblocks for lubrication runs. 

This year the AGM was at a new venue - Quorn and Woodhouse Station on the Great Central Railway. 



With the presentations and unveilings being punctuated by running trains. 



Such as this juxtaposition, with a Class 37 shunting in Quorn yard whilst a Standard 2 runs in with a passenger train.  Having only been to the GCR on gala days, I was pleasantly surprised to find two large steam locos and a diesel multiple unit running, making for a relatively intensive 'off-peak' frequency. 

Anyhow - the key takeaways from the AGM.

1. We now have three locations where we can do work - whilst Ruddington remains a base for small components, there are two workshops we have access to in South Yorkshire with more heavy-duty machinery where we can undertake larger operations more easily.  This is in addition to a location in Warwickshire where we can store components such as the frames.

2. The Group is in discussion with a facility in Sheffield for further workshop space where we can erect and set the frames.  Said workshop is also home to two other newbuild projects which gives rise to a natural combined consortium of engineering expertise.  A sort of newbuild support group, if you will. 

3. Further even to that, the Group is discussing with the Great Central Railway the possibility of the tender being taken to Loughborough (just down the road from Ruddington) to start work on the overhaul of the frames.  The tender tank itself of course being completely shot and beyond restoration, a new tank will need to be fabricated but not right now. 

4. The cylinder block has been split at last, half of it is on the borer as we speak with the valve chest being cleaned up and re-machined. 

5. The driving wheel pattern has been taken to our chosen foundry, a test wheel has been cast but there were issues with it - the casting I mean, not the pattern - the foundry has identified how those issues can be resolved and, all being well, we'll have our driving wheels cast by the new year. 

6. Six possible areas of progress identified for 2025 - A. Carry on with the bogie build (complete the front and rear spacers, create a pattern and casting for the centre boss, build the equalising beams and springs, cast the axle boxes, set and erect the frames, etc).  B. Complete the driving wheelsets (machine the driving wheel castings, fit the tyres, manufacture the trailing and crank axles, build up the wheelsets and fit the weights).  C. Continue with the motion and valvegear (continue manufacturing and sourcing components).  D. Set and erect the frames.  E. Overhaul the tender frames.  F. Design the boiler and progress certification of same. 

7. With the boiler design being a long-lead item, let alone the actual manufacturing of it, the Group are talking about getting that moving sooner rather than later.  We were told we're looking at a process that's measured in years for getting a boiler designed and that design approved.

8. The money bit.  We have, roughly, £90,000 available for construction.  We've raised, over the last 13 years, just over £200,000.  Due to inflation the projected cost of the build has increased from £250,000 (in 2014) to about £635,000 today (in 2024).  Fundamentally we're now at a point where we can say that the rate of progress is dictated by the rate of fundraising.  If someone were to approach the Group tomorrow and say 'here's a blank cheque', we could have the thing done in three to four years.  The Trustees of the Group, for themselves, want the locomotive finished by 2030.  So, we have a bit of a challenge on our hands to raise the remaining £400,000 (at least) between now and 2030.  Can it be done?  We're optimistic.  The project is gaining attention as it progresses - there's a two-page article about it in the latest issue of Steam Railway - and naturally as it becomes more likely to see completion and there's more metal to show then more donations will come in.   

[James Harrison]

The jolly fat man came early this year.



The first of the driving wheels has been cast and has passed non-destructive testing.  There's another to be cast, then some alterations to be made to the pattern, then two more to be poured.