Latest News

Current news items are listed below. If the Acrobat icon is shown, then click on the icon to read the attachment. If an image is shown, you can click it for a full size image. You can find old news items in the News Archive.

Bogie Bolster Centre Pivot Arrives
11/02/2019
	here's a brand new, shiny bogie centre pivot sitting on the inspection bench in CTL Seal. The pivot is fastened to the bogie stretcher, fixed between the main frames and pointing downwards. This engages with the centre slide on the bogie. You can see that the main bearing surface has a shallow radius. This allows the bogie to rock slightly as it negotiates the track.
More small parts produced.
06/02/2019
	While work on the erection of the Main Frames gathers momentum we have not been idle in other areas, with several other small parts produced recently. Two of which are pictured here, the Tender Tank Cover Plate and its associated Joint Ring. All new metal items are treated with a corrosion inhibitor before being allocated space on the parts racks after being logged into the document database system.
Stretchers inspected by VAB
05/02/2019
	On 5 February the work on the cast steel stretchers was inspected by John Graham for Wayne Jones and Partners who are our Vehicle Acceptance Body. The stretchers passed the inspection and John has signed the documentation. You can see that CTL Seal have been welding more plates into the bedplate so that all components can be accurately aligned.
Getting the Foundations Right
28/01/2019
	Accuracy of frame alignment is critical to the locomotive's future reliability. CTL have now set up this foundation frame which has been levelled accurately. The rear cast steel frame stretcher has been positioned and you can see the individual plates which have been fitted to each of the spring hanger "feet" to ensure that the stretcher is level. In front of the stretcher, you can see the first of the four plates that will support the central stretcher. The middle stretcher has 2 small jobs that require finishing off in the machine shop. They have been very busy, hence the slow progress on our project which has to tke its place in the queue.
Axle Alignment
28/01/2019
	When the frame plates are put in position on the stretchers, a key alignment requirement is to ensure that the 3 driving axles are in aligned in a horizontal plane. The British Railways frame drawings provide 6 datum point holes, 2 each side of the driving axle centre line. When all 6 of these datum points are in line, the frames have been set up horizontally. Here Keith and Alan inspect the datum point markers which CTL Seal have started to make. The 3 datum point markers are the dark coloured material which Alan has his hand on. We're aren't sure what the 3 silver/yellow markers are for.
Cylinder Pattern Making
23/01/2019
	Tony Dance is our cylinder pattern maker. He's just finished the second half of the main motion cylinder pattern and the photo shows the pattern ready to be removed from the lathe. The pattern has to be made in 2 halves as it's too long to fit on Tony's lathe. The 2 halves of the pattern are joined together by a taper plug and socket joint. You can see the female joint in this photo. If you want to see the story, so far, of building the pattern then follow this link. The next stage in the process will be to make the pattern for the valve cylinder which is smaller in diameter than the motion cylinder.