Latest News

September 2017

New union links now complete, one is for 45163 and the other is for 45293.

 

Machining of the new coupling rods is progressing well with just the bores to finish off.

 

First slide bar machined and ready for fitting.

 

Expansion links all cleaned up and ready for going away for re-grinding, machining the
trunnions and new die blocks.

 

Test rig for testing the mechanical lubricator pumps can pump with sufficient pressure
following refurbishment before mounting in the casing.

 

June 2017

Rear cylinder cover and cylinder relief valve now also fitted to the right hand cylinder.

 

One of the jobs on the right hand cylinder cover was to reface the area where the relief valve
has to sit and make a steam tight joint as well as bush the stud holes where the original
threads had corroded badly.

 

Having mounted the left hand rear cylinder cover, which was new, we now turned our attention
to the right hand cover. This, being an original cover, required quite a bit of attention to the
relief valve mounting, the lubrication non-return valve thread and face as well as the bronze
blanking plug that had to be drilled out and re-threaded. Here the work is complete and the
cover now ready for mounting.

 

May 2017

The first cylinder cover now permanently fitted along with the cylinder relief valve. Starting the
machining of the new cylinder relief valve bodies was one of the last jobs that Peter Marchant
worked on before he had to give up through ill health.

 

Obituary

 

     

It is with great sadness that we have to report that one of our early stalwarts of the group, Peter Marchant, passed away a few days ago. Peter was one of our most enthusiastic volunteers and made a massive contribution over many years particulalry during the period when we were constructing our shed. The above photos show Peter on the site in Castle Hedingham when we were dismantling the old Coal Merchants shed prior to transportation to the Colne Valley railway for modifcation and re-building as our restoration workshop. The second photo was taken during one of the several 45163 Restoration Group works outings on the canals which seems to have been a shared interest of many of us. Unfortunately Peter was no longer able to take an active part following a stroke several years ago but still followed our progress with interest. We will never forget the contribution you made Peter and our thoughts are with your family at this difficult time.

 

Restoration Progress

Exhaust manifolds in place showing the top faces that were machined when the cylinders
were done where the blast pipe base mounts.

 

Exhaust manifolds now fitted to the cylinders inside the saddle.

 

New smokebox door now hung on its hinges and sealing fully to the door ring following some
adjustments to the hinges to make it sit right as evidenced by the heating marks at the
right hand end.

 

April 2017

This view shows one side roughed out complete with undersize holes to allowing clamping
to the machine bed for some of the operations.

 

This view shows the outline of the little end.

 

This rod which has been roughed out on the first side has had the finished outline of the
rod milled on the face. This shows the big end.

 

A close up view of the rod in the image below part way through the roughing out procedure.

 

Work has now started on machining the connecting rod forgings, this image shows one
on the CNC machine being roughed out.

 

One of the new blanking plates now fitted to the cylinders.

 

Two new blanking plates for the cylinders at various stages alongside one of the old ones where
one corner has broken off. Originally one of these plates for the right hand cylinder would have
had a pipe union in the middle to take a steam feed to the changeover valve on the exhaust
steam injector. As we are fitting two live steam injectors we do not need this fitting.

 

March 2017

After completion of the riveting we clamped the new door to the new smokebox for marking
out the positions for the hinges.

 

The set up for riveting the door centre casting with an inventive use of old angle blocks
to support the holder up.

 

We have an old cast iron machine block that we used to support the door with strategically
positioned angle brackets to brace the holder up against in various positions. This was
the set up for riveting the centre casting.

 

Centre of new smokebox door is now drilled and the centre casting has been bolted
in place. This is the final part on the door which is now ready for replacing all the screws
with rivets

 

A new lamp bracket has been made for the smokebox door and it is now bolted to the new
smokebox door ready for rivetting.

 

This shows the cutter and tensioning nut and spring washer all fitted on the mandrel. A spanner
is used on the large square to turn the cutter and the cut is applied by gradually tightening
the nut on the end of the mandrel.

 

This is the equipment for the re-facing, a mandrel is screwed into the boss over which a cutter
is placed to ensure the new face is flat and square to the hole.

 

This shows the boss on the opposite cylinder after re-facing.

 

The faces of the bosses where the lubrication non-return valves screw into the cylinders
are pitted and need re-facing to ensure steam tight joint when the non-return valves
are fitted. This is the boss in the centre of the photo before attention.

 

We are now fitting new studs in preparation for starting to mount components on the cylinders.

 

Reaming the very last hole for a fitted bolt. Even right at the end there was a last couple
of holes we could not access with an air drill to ream the holes by machine so they had to be
done by hand. The various bits of plate and angle are there to guide the reamer and ensure
it is kept square to the hole. We are now very pleased that the last fitted bolt is in and this job
is behind us, this now enables us to commence a number of jobs around this area allowing
some rapid progress to be made.

 

January 2017

Smokebox removed from the frames to rivet the smokebox and door ring liners into place.
Note the innovative use of one of our accomodation bogies upturned on the other one
to create a set of rollers for turning the smokebox to access the rivets on the underside.

 

The new smokebox door now almost completely marked out and drilled, just the centre to drill
out which has been left until last so we have a centre point reference for marking out the
position of all the other holes.