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

[Mercury Wells]

Yes please.

[von Corax]

I would certainly be interested.

[Will Howard]

Yes, indeed!

[James Harrison]

That's a resounding positive! 

Right, where shall I start? 

The 567 Project grew out of the Great Central Railway Rolling Stock Trust, which was founded back in the early 2000s to save and restore as many original vehicles of the Great Central Railway as practicable.  Based at Ruddington just outside Nottingham, it's the owner or custodian of nine railway carriages of the period 1880 to 1910. 

I first came across the Trust in about 2005 (I think) and have followed their work avidly since.  A few years ago they joined Facebook and started updating their website on a more regular basis, and around that time they also gave an address to send donations to- since when I've been donating a little every few months.  Back in May this year I received a very nice letter thanking me for my donations with a certificate saying I'm a member of the Trust!  So, having got my potential bias out the way, onward. 

The Trust actually has I think the third largest collection of pre-Grouping (pre-1923) railway carriages in the UK.  However, the two larger collections are gathered from more than one railway company.  So, we're rather unique in having a large collection of railway vehicles all from the same railway company. 

The nine carriages are:

#373 and #946- both six-wheeled carriages dating from the 1880s.  They are third class carriages, capable of transporting 50 people in 5 compartments.  #946 has been restored to museum quality, a process that took 16 years and was completed early in 2017.  It is now on public display at the Montsorrel Heritage Centre in Leicestershire.  #373 was in a very poor condition and at risk of collapse, so the bodywork has been carefully dismantled and flat-packed onto its chassis, suitably wrapped up against the elements and is awaiting restoration. 

I mentioned earlier that the intention is to be able to field complete trains; these two carriages ultimately would form the basis of a rake of four and six-wheeled carriages of 1870s and 1880s vintage, giving a typical Victorian passenger train.  In addition to the pair that the Trust possesses, there are several others in various states of repair around the country that could be gathered together.  There is another five-compartment all-third restored and operation in Buckinghamshire, a four-compartment composite luggage van restored and operational in West Yorkshire, a brake third at the Tanfield Railway in Tyne and Wear, an open saloon at the same location awaiting restoration, and a brake composite at the Chasewater Railway in Staffordshire (this last is literally 15 minutes down the road from my house- I'd be sorely tempted to get involved with its restoration, if an effort were to be made to complete it). 

Moving forward we then have #1663, #799 and what we think is #570.  These are larger bogie carriages dating from the early 1900s.  #1663 is a brake composite; it has accomodation for both first and third class passengers, as well as a guard.  It was rescued having been a grounded body for some considerable time, and has been mounted on a new chassis (from a London, Midland and Scottish Railway carriage).  It is now stored and awaiting its turn for restoration. 

#799 is an 8-compartment suburban carriage capable of seating 80 passengers; work began last year to convert it into a stores and archives vehicle.  The reason this is being done is several-fold.  Firstly; structurally it is largely complete but it has lost most of its cladding.  Obviously this means that the weather can get at it and start to rot the structural timbers.... which would make its eventual restoration a bigger job.  Secondly; we need premises where we can store our archive material, tools, on-going work, restoration materials etc etc etc.  I've mentioned previously how Ruddington is rather a large site and things are stored anywhere room can be found for them.  So the conversion to a stores van actually makes sense; everything we need is in one place, and cladding the carriage in metal to make it a secure weather-proof store preserves the original fabric of the vehicle for eventual restoration. 

#570 is a 5-compartment suburban carriage capable of seating 50, with a guards compartment.  Like #1669 it was recovered as a body only and has likewise also been mounted on a new chassis.  The body had been cut into three pieces in the 1950s, when it was withdrawn from service and sold for use in an orchard.... restoration is in the future for this one. 

These three carriages together will form an Edwardian suburban train. 

The remaining four carriages are #228, #664, #666 and #695.  These are huge, 64' long excursion carriages built in 1910 and nicknamed 'Barnums' after Barnum and Bailey's circus.  The nickname perhaps makes more sense when you consider that these carriages followed American design practice, being the first examples in the UK of the open saloon carriage that is standard today, and appearing in service soon after the circus had performed a UK tour. 

#228, #664 and #666 are of the same design, seating 64 passengers each in two saloons.  At least one of them has run in preservation, and their significance in UK railway history is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that #666 is on long-term loan from the National Railway Museum.

#228 is the Trust's current project.  Work so far has consisted of starting to rebuild the original teak interior.  It's a difficult material to get hold of; you can't get it new any more as the tree is on an endangered list so you have to rely on sourcing it second or third hand.  The teak being used on #228 originally came from warehouse doors! 

#695 is a Barnum brake; the sole survivor of the type and, like so much of the rest of the collection, unique. 

These four carriages will form a typical mainline train from the later days of the Great Central. 

All three sets would be ideal stock to run with #567; the Victorian and Edwardian rakes especially. 

Well, we've restored one carriage, going great guns on a second, and have secured the structural fabric of a third to prevent further decay.  Will we complete all nine?  It's been 17 years and there's an acknowledgement that we can't spend 16 years on each one, so time will tell.  Imagine though, in 2024 or 2025, being able to see sitting at Ruddington Fields station, a Great Central locomotive at the head of four or five Great Central carriages.  It's something that will be absolutely unique and it gives me immense pleasure being a very small part of it.   

[Mercury Wells]

Thank you Mr. Harrison.

[Banfili]

Yes, James, I would like to see the carriages - they are just as interesting int their own way.

[MWBailey]

I have a question I'd like to ask those of you kind enough to follow this thread. 

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

I have mentioned them briefly previously and the ultimate intention is to be able to field complete trains (note-plural!) of the period 1880(ish) to 1920(ish)- which is a vision the 567 project grew out of. 

The people restoring the carriages are holding a 'come and see' sort of event again this year (this year, it's timed to coincide with the 567 group AGM, so I'm rather looking forward to a day spent viewing progress on both loco and stock).     

Yes!

[James Harrison]

It is a little difficult to get photographs of the carriages as those under cover are quite hemmed in, but that said...

On my first visit, back in Ocotober 2016.  



Clerestory carriage #1663 and brake third #570.  These are the two carriages that have been fitted with new chassis; you can see that the chassis under #570 is a little too long.  

It is unfortunate that they have to be stored outside but there is only so much covered accomodation available.  To be completed in the hopefully not-too-distant future is a carriage shed capable of holding four vehicles; I understand the arrangement is that two of them will be GCR-RST stock and the other two will be GCRN service carriages.  

We have use of one road in the main workshops; this can accomodate one of the Barnums and a six-wheeler.  



Still back in 2016 when #946 was in the latter stages of restoration.  There was a tent erected over and around it to permit a high standard of finish to be be achieved-but this made photography even more difficult.  Shortly afterward (Spring 2017) she was brought out of the works and run around in the yard at Ruddington.  



(Image from the GCR-RST website)

Last Summer #946 was transported to Montsorrel and is now on display in the museum there.  

From quite recently, Barnum #228 in the works.  



Image courtesy GCR-RST again.  

Work at the moment is concentrated on the internals, but I notice that the structural framework is covered so (presumably) work will be starting at some point soon on the teak matchboarding below the windows.  Literally 20 minutes ago they posted on their Facebook page that work on the internal cladding is about complete and the next job will be building the internal bulkheads for the toilets and cloak closets.  

At the present we're debating what to do regarding carriage heating and ventilation.  They were steam heated for the entirety of their service lives, whilst the ventilation was tweaked between 1910 and the mid-1920s.  They started off with ventilation ducts above the windows, plus four of the windows were intended to open.  What was discovered however was a tendency for the windows to be left open in bad weather..... so pretty quickly the opening windows were secured closed and until 1923 ventilation was left entirely to the ducts above.  In the 1920s (in LNER days) several of the ducts were replaced with small opening windows... the debate is whether we return it to as-built condition, later GCR condition or LNER condition, and also what we provide regarding heating.  

Concensus on the Facebook page at the moment is to reinstate the heating but the jury's still out on what to provide when it comes to the vents.  To provide neither would give us a carriage for use only on high days and holidays, a situation that I can't imagine the GCRN would be too happy about considering they'd be the ones having to give siding space to a vehicle that can only be used occasionally.  

 

Lastly, the interior of the Barnum (courtesy GCR-RST).  This is work as it stands literally right now!- the interior has been newly panelled out.  The iron strips are where the seats will eventually be fitted.  

[Banfili]

Looking exciting!

[Miranda.T]

It is really good to see time and resources going into this valuable work; bringing back into service carriages of such a vintage is a rare thing and I agree wholeheartedly it would be wonderful to see entire Victorian or Edwardian trains running.

Yours,
Miranda.

[James Harrison]

The latest issue of Mainline has arrived, bringing with it an update on 567 and the GCR-RST. 

The cut-off date for copy for the magazine is the first week in August, so the GCR-RST update doesn't really bring new information.

The update for 567 describes the delivery of the frames in early June, organising viewing days in July and August and then- very excitingly- talks about how the next step is to start erection of the locomotive.  Not just the frames- actually fitting smaller components to them, bolting and then rivetting together.  The cylinder block is a core element of this and there was mention of work commencing to split the cylinder block to clean the valves, but this is part of a wider works package around getting the loco largely complete to footplate level which is anticipated to last well into 2019.  You may remember I have shown a few times a photograph of the master for the valve spindle- one of the comparatively few castings required for the project- it has now been cast!   

The official announcement for the AGM was made over the weekend on the 567 Group's facebook page.  The hope at present is to have the frames partially erected- also there's an exciting announcement promised.  I wonder if it has anything to do with the write-up in Mainline that the next major component to be looked at is going to be the leading bogie? 

I guess we'll find out in a fortnight. 

[James Harrison]

September 2018 Open Day. 

I think, to save things getting hopelessly muddled, I'll split this into two posts. 

Last time I visited Ruddington was in early August, a month after delivery of the frames.  Work at that time was just barely beginning; the doubler plates had been fitted but it was still, at that time, a flat pack kit of parts. 

Well....



I mean, that's the money shot, isn't it?  Need I say more?

You may imagine the shrieks of joy uttered a few days ago when the itinary for the AGM landed in my emails, with a very small, pixellated picture of the frames going up.  It feels very real now.  These frames are 27 feet long and weigh 5 tonnes, so I think you'll struggle to come up with a statement of intent louder than that.  We're building a locomotive. 

Let me give you the tour; there's more to come yet. 



The doubler plates and the apertures for the cylinder block. 



Coming around to the front buffer beam and looking down the length of the locomotive, you will note that the side plates are slightly joggled.



Now this is a good one, it shows the cylinder block location and the motion stretcher.  I've discussed (a few years ago) the construction of the stretchers being done in-house at Ruddington, and now that they're fitted you can see what I mean by how small they are in comparison to the complete frame!

Right, between the motion stretcher and the cylinder block location are where the slidebars will fit.  You can see on the motion stretcher the holes that have been drilled to eventually permit the slidebars to be fitted.  Eight sets of holes for eight slidebars.  Between each pair of slidebars are the slide blocks.  These (I've described this before) run between the slidebars and dictate the direction of travel for the pistons.  Now that you can see where it will all fit, I hope my explanations of how it works will make sense!



And then coming further back, the mid-frame stretcher which sits between the coupled axles.  Ahead of this is the crank axle and behind my position is the rear coupled axle. 

From the motion stretcher back to the crank axle are the connecting rods and the actuation to the valves.  Despite the size of the frames, the motion and valvegear fits between them like the mechanism of a watch.  For example, the throw on the crank axle comes within 6mm of striking the mid-frame stretcher.  The rivets on the rear of the mid-frame stretcher will need to be counter-sunk.  If they aren't, the firebox won't fit.  It really is going to be that crammed down there... everything is going to be sitting against everything else in a cheek by jowl fashion. 

That looks a large hole for an axle.... well, that's the hole the horn guides fit into.  The horn guides are huge, 3cwt castings shaped roughly like horseshoes.  They fit around the frames at where the axles pass through, and within them is an axle guide that can move up and down, providing a sort of suspension. 

Four hornguides, sponsored by four people at £1000 a piece.  Delivery from the foundry is expected in the next six weeks or so.  Another big(ish) component souced. 

Today truly did just keep on giving.  Not only did we have the basis of a locomotive to walk around and gawp at, we'd been promised a surprise.  The last update in Mainline had stated that there was a degree of support for building the bogie as the next sub-project.  Well....



Suddenly, miraculously, we have bogie sideplates.  Dressed, drilled and essentially ready to fit.  Once we have the rest of the bogie components, of course. 

Lastly....

Usually the AGM and Supporters Day takes place in late Autumn or early Winter, when the clocks have been changed and the nights are drawing in and (to be honest) by the time close of business comes around at 3PM all you want to do is get home before it gets dark.  It's 60 miles from my house to Ruddington, mostly along dual carriageways and motorways, and I'm not the most confident driver in the world.  Nor do I have the most reliable car.... so usually it's something of a race betwee myself and nature to get home, or close to it, before the night sets in. 

This year though it's taken place at the end of Summer, so there was time and light enough for a ride down to Loughborough and back on the Great Central (Nottingham).  It's a 90-minute, 20-mile round trip.  A short distance outside Ruddington Fields station....



... No.567's tender.  We need to design and build a new tank but everything below footplate level can be reconditioned and restored.

So, what next?

The intention for the coming year is to work on the bogie and the cylinders, valvegear and motion.  It's going to be a lot of work but the hope is that by the end of 2019 we'll have the engine part of the locomotive done. 

[James Harrison]

Part 2 of the update!

Part of the day's proceedings was the opportunity to tour Barnum #228, currently restoration by the GCR-RST. 



The workshop is quite cramped so it was difficult to get any meaningful photographs of the exterior. 



But inside we had a little more luck.  These are some of the ventilators, sitting over the windows.  Most of them are closed up with wire mesh or timber louvres, in some cases both. 



One or two of them were open though. 



Huge iron or steel stanchions secure the bodywork to the chassis.  Eventually, the seating will also secure to these stanchions.   



Pretty much the entire interior has been re-clad in teak. 



One nice little detail is this timber moulding at roof level. 

I would say that one thing you notice with this carriage is the amount of headroom.  It feels enormous, compared with a modern railway carriage.  I don't know if there will be a ceiling fitted at some point.  Also, loaded up with 30 or so people inside, you could feel the suspension working; the carriage positively bounced as people walked around inside.  There is no doubt to my mind that this is a carriage that wants to come back to life.  The GCR-RST reckon that she;ll be back in traffic in around two years' time. 

[Banfili]

Wow! All looking grand and positive, James!

[James Harrison]

It is, rather.  We're still hoping for a completion date circa 2024.  We've started work on the bogie, we're progressing work on the motion and valvegear, we've got the tools we need to split and clean up the cylinder block... now that the frames are here we've got the impetus to crack on with gathering together, finishing and fitting quite a lot of the lower half of the locomotive.  I think 2024 is achievable. 

[Miranda.T]

Looking very impressive. Right, date's in the diary - 2024 for a trip on a 21st century Edwardian train  .

Yours,
Miranda.

[James Harrison]

The quarterly newsletter has landed; as you might expect not really much to report, considering it comes hot on the heels of the AGM and Supporter's Day. 

There are one or two interesting bits though...

The crank axle, we're going to progress the design and analysis for it.  We've previously done quick design sketches and analysis, now we're going to get it done and signed off professionally.  We need to be able to prove that every piece of the locomotive is, as best as we can make it, absolutely safe.  Now, much of it of course we can just tell the examiners, 'see the original 1890s works drawing' followed by 'the original engines worked into the 1940s without problems', but when it comes to things like crank axles arguments like 'this is how it was done back in the day' don't really fly.  With good reason; you really, really don't want the crank axle to fail. So they have to be designed and made to modern standards.  When I went to view the frames back in August, it was mentioned in conversation that the crank axle is the one part of the project that keeps people awake at night wondering how to get it designed, manufactured, tested and approved.  The boiler- pah!  That's just a small pressure vessel, nothing controversial going on there. 

[James Harrison]

I came home today to a big envelope.... the yearly newsletter of the GCR-RST. 

Because it only comes out yearly means that much of it is a precis of news already announced either on the website or via facebook. 

In brief though;

- Restored 6-wheeler #946 was sent to Edinburgh and Sheffield over the Remembrance Day Weekend. 

It went to Edinburgh as it has been dedicated as a memorial to the Quintinshill disaster of 1915; a troop train composed largely of Great Central 6-wheel carriages to this design was involved in an horrendous collision whilst conveying a battalion of the Royal Scots en route to Gallipoli, the force of the crash reducing the train to a third of its original length before fire broke out and consumed the wreckage.  Because the roll call was consumed in the blaze it's not exactly known how many were on the train, but barely 50 survived.

Then it was sent on to Sheffield to take part in a memorial service outside the site of the long-demolished Sheffield Victoria station, where the Great Central erected its war memorial (dedicated in a ceremony led by Field Marshal Haig in 1920).  The station is gone but the war memorial has been restored and survives in-situ. 

Work on the Barnum is proceeding; the internal timber cladding is largely complete and attention is now turning to the internal partitions, seat carcasses and cloak rooms.  At some point the body will need to be lifted off of the bogies to fit new stiffening plates.  There is an ongoing discussion regarding heating and ventilation to the carriage, whether to opt for electric batteries for heating, lighting and some degree of mechanical ventilation, whether to choose a diesel-electric system with a small generator slung beneath the frames, or even whether to reinstate the steam heating that would have been originally provided. 

Oh- and the next project?  The Barnum brake carriage is next in line. 

[James Harrison]

The last newsletter of 2018 landed in the inbox today. 

We're now in the process of adding flesh and muscle to the bare bones frames that were delivered in the Summer. 

The frames as shown back in September consisted of the sideplates, the mid-frame and motion stretchers, and the front bufferbeam.  We are now contemplating fitting the trailing headstock- basically, the bufferbeam between the locomotive and the tender, fabricating the trailing dragbox (the large heavy lump that the locomotive-tender coupling is anchored into) and assembly of the valances and footsteps.  This last would basically give us the beginnings of the locomotive footplate and running plates.  All of this would be fitted up, initally, with slaves bolts to allow for fine adjustments prior to final hot rivetting. 

Before any of this can be proceeded with though (at least, proceeded with in any meaningful sense), the cylinder block needs to be made ready for installation.  There is a fair bit of work involved with this, the mountings need to be profiled and machined to fit in our frames, and the valve faces need to be cleaned and profiled.  This means the block needs to be dismantled- it is two huge castings bolted together- and once it has been split into two it then needs to be lifted up on a boring machine to actually profile the faces. 

Moving back along the engine from the cylinders, the slide bars and blocks are partly machined.  They have now been returned to us from the subcontractors and have been stored away for when we next work on them.  They've been finished to a point but are still too long (and need milling down to length), then a step needs to be milled into their front ends, where they will bolt to the cylinders, and then they need to be drilled for the fixing bolts and the lubrication pots. 

The process at the moment is to try to finish the parts we have to hand and to commence work, or place orders, for others.  Thus we are currently placing enquiries with suppliers for the big end straps (which will secure the connecting rods to the crank axle) and the coupling rods (the visible outside rods connecting the driving wheels).

One of the hornblock guides for the driving wheels has been delivered and is now being prepared for marking up and machining.  When this first casting has been machined, the other three will be called up to Ruddington. 

The other big news in September of course was the delivery of the sideplates for the bogie; progress is being made now towards creating the patterns for casting the hornblock guides for this.  There is a very large casting between the bogie sideframes which secures it to the locomotive frames via a large iron or steel pin and invitations are currently being made to suppliers to quote for creating a pattern for and casting it.  We're also debating how to manufacture  the support brackets for the springs. 

Overall, the pace of work is really starting to pick up and we can see coming up relatively soon a big fundraising push to get us to the next major project milestone- a wheeled chassis. 

[The Inventor]

I love this.
Going to follow it quite eagerly.

[James Harrison]

All things being equal- by which I mean, unless there's suddenly 16' of snow or the car breaks down or anything untoward in that regard- I'll be going to Nottingham this coming weekend.  It's the AGM of the rolling stock trust, hopefully I'll be able to report back on progress on their current project and- who knows?- maybe 567 will have had a bit more work done on it?

[James Harrison]

Home from the Rolling Stock Trust AGM. 

- 567's frames were on display.  There's no visible further progress on the locomotive but as we know work is continuing in the background on various smaller components.  Considering before anything else can be done the frames need to be set up square and true, unbolted, the cylinder block fitted and the frames riveted together, and considering the cylinder block isn't ready for fitting yet, this is to be expected.  It will be later this year when, or if, there's another sudden leap forward. 

The main event today of course is progress on the carriages being restored.  No photos from me I'm afraid but there was an interesting presentation of progress over 2018. 

This time last year we had one 6-wheel carriage newly restored and moved to a museum at Nunckley Hill, Leicestershire.  We were starting to look at Barnum no.228 and we had just converted carriage no.799 to a stores and archive van. 

Over the course of 2018 then; stores, spares, materials, workbenches were all moved out of no.228 into no.799.  This allowed work to start in earnest on no.228.  The body was jacked up off of the frames and the buffers, battery boxes, dynamo and all the 'undergubbins' removed for restoration or replacement.  The body was then dropped back down onto the frames and the floor taken up, which permitted access to the frame members for restoration and painting.  It was found that the body had in places sprung off away from the frames, so the body was gently eased back into shape.  The floor was reinstated and then the internal teak panelling was rebuilt.  Toilets, luggage racks, door runners, buffer shanks and footsteps have been sourced or fabricated.  The internal partition between the pair of passenger saloons has been rebuilt.  New lighting has been installed.  Through 2018 at least 1550 hours of hard work have gone into restoring no.228.   

I had the happy opportunity to talk with a few Trustees of the group and one or two of the restoration team. 

The hope is in a few weeks that part of the floor will be coming out for fitting of a new metal bearing sheet which is a bit of a milestone in getting no.228 back on the rails.  At some point this year the carriage will be lifted off its bogies, which will be sent away for restoration.  Whilst it is jacked up thus the hope is to be able to start looking at reinstating the various 'undergubbins'- that is, steam pipes, brake lines, battery boxes, dynamo and so on and so forth. 

The original carriages were dual braked; fitted with both vacuum brakes and Westinghouse air brakes.  At some point the Westinghouse equipment was removed and realistically there's no reason to rebuild the Westinghouse brake system as it's no longer used.  Steam locos are almost universally vacuum braked, some are fitted with air brakes for mainline running but they are incompatible with Westinghouse brakes.... the idea at the moment is to install vacuum brakes and build dummy Westinghouse equipment so it looks right. 

Currently no.228 is a shell- a constantly improving shell but a shell regardless.  When it comes to rebuilding the seating we really are starting from scratch, the whole lot is gone.  The problem with this is that due to fire regulations we can't rebuild the seats exactly as they were, due to the relative lack of documentary evidence we don't know what colour/ pattern the fabric should have, we really are starting from a blank sheet.  We have found a few drawings and a few colour postcards and working from these we've roughed out what we should build, and built a 1/4 scale model of it.  The problem then becomes one of fire regulations and suchlike, so the seating will eventually look like the original but be rather different in actual construction. 

There's been an ongoing discussion, the last few months, regarding ventilation, heating and lighting, whether to go for an original as-built installation or something more up-to-date.  Nothing has been mentioned or decided about that yet, in discussion with one of the restoration team they said they are going for an as-built appearance with discreet vents above the windows.  There is photographic evidence that when built at least some of the Barnums had opening windows, but no.228 shows no physical evidence that this was ever fitted.  Maybe it was something trialed on one or two vehicles that didn't prove to be successful. 

Throughout the restoration we are fairly hamstrung by a lack of documentary evidence to guide us.  The GCR's archive was sadly largely lost when Marylebone goods yard was bombed in the blitz.  We are largely working from period photographs and what drawings still survive but that can only get you so far- see comments above regarding the droplight windows, and of course 1910s photographs are black and white.   

So, overall, a year spent on no.228 and it's going great guns.  The aspiration is to have it completed and running again in two years' time.  Do you want to get involved?

[James Harrison]

Good news from the GCR-RST.  We've had a few bequests and donations which means that Barnum #228 can be lifted off its bogies, which will be sent away for restoration.  This is a big, and expensive, job, but once it is done we will, hopefully, be able to run the carriage secure in the knowledge that its running gear is as good as new.  Work progresses with reinstating the internal saloon partitions.  There are four of these which separate the carriage into two saloons, two cloak rooms and two toilets.  There is precious little in the way of original drawings or reference material to guide us in the reconstruction of the carriage but the more that we rebuild the more the new work informs our next step.  The internal doors for instance; we knew they were of the sliding type but it was only after the partitions were built and partially clad that we could work out how they actually hang.  We're currently trying to work out how large the water tanks over the WCs should be. 

[James Harrison]

"Psst.  Hey, guv'nor. Wanna buy a bolt?"

It's that time of the quarter again.  Now sit back, because this is a good one.

Bogie side plates

These were on display in rough form in September.  They have since been put on the milling machine at Ruddington and the first stage of milling out the locations for the hornblocks has been undertaken.  Volunteers working on the bogie will be finishing this milling and machining work- which includes marking out and drilling holes for the bolts and rivets that will hold it all together- then grinding and linishing the side plates and priming them. 

Driving wheel hornblocks 

You may recall that these were sponsored, at £1000 a piece, by four very generous supporters.  The first was delivered to Ruddington late last year and in January/ February it was primed and then proof-machined.  This involved milling and machining the casting, not to finished dimensions but to check quality and rough dimensioning of the hornblock was correct.  We also needed to check there were no inclusions or blow-holes in the casting; basically to make sure as far as practical it is solid metal.  It passed these checks with flying colours and the remaining three hornblocks have now been delivered. 

Valve spindle guide

The casting for this has now arrived (I have shown photographs of the master a few times over the last few years) and is now being machined. 

Vacuum brake cylinders

An order for the brake cylinders is about to be placed.  Can you believe, in a country that thinks it can go it alone and s*d the rest of the world, that nobody here makes them at all?  We're having to order them from India. 

Design Progress

All of this work of course relies on drawings and checks and whatnot.  We are debating whether the bogie centre frame should be cast or fabricated.  It is now possible to create, very cheaply, poly-plastic masters that then melt when molten metal is introduced.  This contrasts with the traditional method of somebody laboriously creating a wooden master.  We have designed two options- a cast frame or fabricated- and we also need to decide what grade of iron or steel we're going to use.  Work has also been progressing with designing the drawgear and buffers.  The original buffer springs are no longer manufactured so we need to source a replacement.  Several components were signed off in late February, mainly relating to the trailing headstock (at the rear of the locomotive frames) and the framework to support the running plate. 

Tools

We might be buying another lathe to allow us to turn our own bolts and pins....

"So, do you wanna buy a bolt?"

A list of components has been drawn up and sent out of parts we're ready to order, manufacture or use for sponsorship. 

Rear dragbox fabrication - 1 off at £2,000 (pass)
Connecting rod big end strap - 2 off at £1250 each (pass)
Bogie hornblock casting - 8 off at £150 each (might save up for a few months?)
Bogie frame stretcher - 2 off at £100 each (and I was planning to buy that loco kit....)
Bogie hornstay - 4 off at £120 each (a few months saving...)
Bogie hornblock bolts and nuts - 36 off at £30 each (put me down for, err, one....)

[Banfili]

Surprisingly inexpensive, given what all the bits and pieces are made of. Thirty quid of today's money amounts to how much in the 1890s?