Helping to preserve the Bluebell Railway's smaller engines
With the start of the new year and the frames sheeted over, to protect them from the elements, the team has started to move forwards on two fronts…
To the casual observer maybe not much has changed but with over 400 holes previously drilled we have slowly been setting up the frames over the summer carefully aligning the various frame plates, reaming through and countersinking the various holes…
With a week’s annual leave booked some of the team spent the week making a start at riveting the frames! Both of the two frame stretchers have now been riveted home as well as the six running plate supports with the front two needing to be in place prior to the new cylinder block being fitted! Attention was then turned to making a start at fitting up the rear buffer beam and drag box…
It’s been a little while since our last engineering update but despite the weather we have slowly been moving forwards on many fronts! Work has focused on setting up the frames and getting them square ready for riveting! Also whilst the weather has been against us we have been busy making a start on re-furbishing various parts of the motion cleaning, inspecting & re-machining where necessary. Off site the cylinder block is progressing well…
With a few weekends of unusually mild weather and help from other loco department volunteers the team successfully finished preparing the frame plates and set about erecting the frames and taking initial steps to leveling them! The above picture shows the new frame plates being erected into position…
It’s been a few months since we’ve had any significant news on the restoration front to share with you, not to say we haven’t been busy but it has involved countless hours upon hours of grinding the various faces of the frames square! With this now completed, and various alignment reference marks spotted, the two frame plates have been split and we can hopefully accelerate now to finishing the prep work on the frames…
With the weather firmly on our side the team has made great progress towards achieving our goals of working towards erecting the new frames by the end of the year. With a few weekends and a couple of days holiday to spare Matt and Ben have all but completed the drilling of all the holes in the new frame plates. Following on from this the frames now need all of the horn slots machining square…
As a small group, we rely on fundraising to keep achieving our goal of seeing the Bluebell Railways smaller fleet of engines operational. So get on board with us today no matter how large or small the contribution.