45163 Restoration Group

 

 

Archived news from 2020

 

December 2020

Malcolm and Tony with their setup on the radial drill for drilling some holes in a part
of the cab floor supports.

 

A fiddly little home project during the November lockdown, making new filters to go inside the
axlebox lubrication back pressure valves.

 

October 2020

With work on the boiler now starting we have been able to get inside and clear all the loose
scale that was laying in the bottom of the barrel following removal of the tubes.

 

A view taken through the firehole door showing Toby inside the barrel clearing accumulated
scale from the bottom of the barrel and throatplate.

 

Here you can see the scale that came off the tubes and filled up the water space
in the throatplate. Initial inspection has not thrown up any major problems the only
issue so far that can be seen in this photo is some broken palm stays that will
need replacing.

 

Lawrence, the first person inside the boiler since preservation following removal of the 'J pipe'
that allowed entry. Here Lawrence is adjusting the props holding the longitudinal stays
apart to try and make access easier.

 

In preparation for starting work on the boiler we erected a scaffold work platform to provide
safe access and egress into the boiler and to work on the inside of the dome to remove
the 'J pipe' to give us access.

 

We are starting to build up the top coats on the cylinder cladding to achieve the final finish
that we want for the whole engine ultimately.

 

With the left hand slide bars finished we have now been able to mount the slidebar oilbox.

 

A new blower valve has now been machined and is ready to mount on the backhead
when the time comes.

 

August 2020

New patterns completed for driving axlebox dust guards in the Severn Valley Railway
pattern shop ready to go to the foundry.

 

One of the delays to re-wheeling has been obtaining new underkeeps for the driving
axleboxes. Following a lengthy search we found one original underkeep, which along with a
drawing for the axlebox has enabled us to arrange the manufacture of a pattern. This shows
the pattern making good progress with one of the very skilled pattern makers, Andy
Williams, to whom we are very graetful, in the SVR pattern shop.

 

The first work being undertaken on the boiler for many years, since we removed the tubes.
The 'J pipe' needs to be removed so that we can gain full access inside the boiler and make
a proper assessment of the work that will be required to put it back into steam.

 

A new corner gusset bracket being welded up for use in construction of the new cab, the old
one it will be replacing is seen on the left.

 

Hand reaming one of the top slide bar bolt holes in preparation for making new bolts.

 

New smokebox door bar support brackets have just been rivetted into the smokebox door ring.

 

A new bracket for the damper control shafts, freshly rivetted together, this mounts to the bottom
of the rear dragbox. The original bracket that this will replace can be seen in the photo below.

 

A very corroded damper control support bracket from the bottom of the dragbox, the new one
to replace it can be seen in the photo above this one.

 

Following some weld repairs to the crossheads die penetrant has been used for crack
detection, we were pleased that no defects were found.

 

In preparation to send the crossheads away for pairing with new piston rods, white metalling
and machining some weld repairs were carried out followed by die penetrant testing for
cracks, none were found.

 

Whilst we need to continue to observe Covid-19 precautions our mess room has moved
alfresco for work weekends as our normal mess room would be too congested. A new picnic
table has been purchased to provide sufficient seating and luckily the weather has
been kind to us thus far.

 

The Colne Valley Railway recently had a shunt that cleared the line that connects to our
shed. The first time this view has been seen for some time. It also shows how the undergrowth
has encroached. Thus we have spent a few weekends clearing some of this before more rolling
stock comes back in. It was also a safe outside, socially distanced activity we could undertake.
See image below for the result after a couple of days.

 

The result after a couple of days clearing undergrowth, the embankment to the run round loop
can now be seen on the right. A bit more tidying up and weed killing required to make it look
respectable again. When rolling stock is put back we are expecting our new neighbour
to be 35010, Blue Star.

 

As part of our Covid safe activities we have been doing various maintenance tasks outside and
one has been to rub down and re-paint the external pedestrian doors. They still had their
original paint from when the shed was first built so it had lasted well but now desperately
needed doing before the winter. Here one end door is seen after two coats of wood primer,
now ready for undercoat before returning to gloss black again.

 

April 2020

During the Coronavirus lockdown work has not stopped on 45163 as smaller parts continue to be
made in home workshops. Here is the body for an axlebox lubrication back pressure valve.

 

Here are four bodies and valves finish machined with just the caps and some
internal parts to make now.

 

March 2020

During the weekend immediately prior to the lockdown we chose an outside task so we
could maintain our social distancing. The access road to our shed had accumulated
some serious potholes over the winter so these scraped out and filled in. Our
cars suspensions will ber very grateful when we can finally return to our regular work days.

 

John at it with a pick axe to break up some of the bigger lumps
before raking level and rolling in.

 

WIth the pipework finalised on the fireman's side cylinder we have been able to fit the lagging.

 

WIth the lagging on the cylinder cladding has been finally fitted and received a first coat
of black gloss.

 

Annealing one of the copper pipes for the steam chest drain. It is a bit of a torturous
shape to get out from behind the cladding and turn to align with the connection on the
steam chest drain pipe which has made the pipe bending something of a challenge.

 

After annealing bending the pipe around formers made to get the right bend radius.

 

February 2020

After a long search for either a pattern or original underkeep appropriate for our axlebox
arrangement we finally picked upi an example at the end of February, this has been
delivered straight to the pattern shop so that a pattern can be made and castings ordered.
These will be the last major parts required to enable us to proceed to getting 45163 back
on her wheels.

 

Along with the underkeep we obtained a pair of original axlebox dustshields so these went
to the pattern shop along with the underkeep to have patterns made and casting on order.

 

Now the slidebars are nearing completion Malcolm has started machining the new
oilboxes for the slidebars.

 

We took delivery of the fully machined ejector shut off valve this month so another boiler fitting
ticked off the list and ready for bolting on when the time comes.

 

As part of the slidebar fitting we are reaming the holes for the securing bolts and manufacturing
new bolts, here is the first one for the bottom slidebar on the driver's side.

 

With the cylinders now lagged and the pipework that fits behind the cladding completed the
cladding sheets have been finally and had the first coats of primer in preparation for the
gloss black top coats.

 

January 2020

New blower valve and handle castings being prepared to go away for machining.

 

The new ejector shut off valve casting on it's way to the machine shop for machining.

 

The steam manifold casting now completed after machining.