Latest News

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Bogie Centre Slide Progress
03/03/2021
	The centre slide has moved onto the Juaristi machining station so that the oil lubrication grooves can be formed. The centre slide is upside down on the machine. The 2 holes from the pipe connection boss have been drilled through.Now the machine will form the X shaped oil lubrication grooves. If you look closely at the right hand edge of the flange being machined, you will see that it has an angled edge. This faces onto a "V Strip" plate with a similar angled edge which is firmly bolted to the bogie central stretcher. Thus, the centre slide is restrained from moving vertically (by the angled edge) but is free to move sideways while being restrained by the coil wound side control springs.
Pony Truck Radial Arm Model
03/03/2021
	With the manufacture of components for the front bogie proceeding well, our design team are starting to look at the pony truck or trailing truck - the "2" of a 4-6-2 Pacific locomotive. The original 10 Clan locomotives had a leaf sprung suspension system. The Lot 242 Clans were scheduled to receive the coil sprung design which is fitted to 71000 - Duke of Gloucester. This is reported to give a much better ride. The main frame of the truck consists of a fabricated main frame bolted to a cast radial arm. In order to help prospective casting suppliers understand our requirements, we have had this 3D model printed. The right hand side is the pivot and the left hand side is bolted to the fabricated truck frame. The model is sitting on a sheet of A4 paper to give an indication of the size. The 3D printed models is from FIRMA Engineering Ltd (Structural Analysis & Design engineers); their web site can be found at www.firma-engineering.com.
Bogie Cannon Box Progress
22/02/2021
	The Bogie Cannon Axle Box castings are now through post casting heat treatment at South Lincs Foundry and are going through the final stages of Non Destructive testing to prove that the castings are without flaws. We hope to have them delivered to Sheffield in a couple of weeks.
Bogie Centre Slide
15/02/2021
	The bogie centre slide is now on the machining station at CTL Seal. The central hole engages with the circular pivot fitted to the bogie pivot stretcher in the main frames. The job on this machine is to bore out the central hole, ready for the fitting of a cast iron bush. The centre slide can move sideways while being constrained by powerful side control springs. This helps the locomotive make the transition from straight to curved track. The circular bosses are for the lubrication system where oil is used for the sliding surfaces.