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.

Sand Boxes
26/05/2026
	We want to do a leak test on the sand boxes. The boxes need to contain dry sand so we do not water getting in the boxes or the filler pipes. One of today's jobs has been to drill and tap the holes for the oval inspection doors. In the photo, the sandbox is on its side, the 2 outlets for the sand traps are to the right. When the flange for the inspection door was welded in place, the flange bent slightly. Diamond Engineering gave the flanges a machine skim to ensure we have a flat face. Mike has been using the Asquith Radial drill to drill the holes for the inspection door fasteners. On the bottom of the sandbox, you can see the blanking plates that have been made up. Once we can seal all of the openings we will attach the sand pipe fillers and then fill the assembly with water. Hopefully, we will have no leaks!
BSP taps donation
18/05/2026
	Dennis Crossland, who volunteers at Wortley Top Forge came to our recent Open Day and got into conversation with Mike, one of the Monday Gang team. Mike commented that we are always looking out for tools. Dennis brought in a set of BSW taps (for creating the threads in holes); this week he brought in a set of BSP taps. These will be very useful for pipework fittings. Thanks very much to Dennis for these donations.
Reverser Components
18/05/2026
	Over the years, the project has slowly collected a number of components for the driver's reverser control. This controls the locomotive valve gear. One end of the travel is full forward gear and the the other end is full reverse gear. As the locomotive speeds up, the driver will steadily reduce the cut off (the point in the piston stroke where the steam supply is cut off) making more efficient use of the steam. The driver's handwheel is on the left - this now requires machining. The drive passes through the 2 housings on the left and then is turned through 90 degrees by the bevel gear wheels. The shaft, top tight, is connected to an 18 foot long transmission tube mounted on the left hand side of the locomotive. the worm gear and worm wheel are connected to the indicator drum, bottom, right, which will show the driver what position the valve gear is in.