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 Stretcher Progress
28/01/2020
	The casting of our bogie stretcher is progressing well. It has now passed Ultrasonic and Magnetic Particle Inspection Testing and is now in final inspection. MPI is a non-destructive testing (NDT) process for detecting surface and shallow subsurface discontinuities in ferromagnetic materials. (UT) is a non-destructive test method that utilizes sound waves to detect cracks and defects in parts and materials. We are expecting the casting to arrive at CTL Seal in early February and an order has already been raised for it's machining.
Cab Roof Ventilators
20/01/2020
	As Ashley has finished painting the cab roof ventilators, we tought that we would but them in place to at least stop some of the rain coming in. They are pretty heavy and needed some wrestling into place. The sharp eyed amongst you will note that ordinary nuts and bolts have been used to secure parts on the edge of the opening. These will need to be replaced by flush fasteners
Small Parts
13/01/2020
	A small parts update. The 8 angle section strips are the sandpipe stays. Hengist has a forward direction sander on each of the 6 driving wheels. In addition, the centre driving wheel has a rear direction sander. These stays are bolted to the sides of the spring hanger "feet". Adjustable slots still need to be drilled to take the sandpipe carrier. A locking plate with a serrated edge also needs to be welded to the stays - this and the slots allows the vertical position of the sandpipe carrier to be adjusted. The bracket at the top of the page is to secure the vacuum train pipe to the top of one of the stretchers. This supports the pipe going from the driver's brake valve to the front buffer beam where it crosses from the left side of the frames to the right hand side. The part with the semi circular hole needs to be welded into the U bracket as a support.
Front Tender Steps
13/01/2020
	The "commode" handles (yes - that's what they are called on the BR drawing) have been welded onto the front tender steps. No time was wasted by Ashley as immediately after the steps went onto the shelves and this photo taken, a coat of primer was applied to the handles and the weld areas. We still need to apply the "dimples" to the step plates. In BR days the dimples were made by pressing through from the underneath with a sharp pointed tool. We will do the job with a blob of weld.
More Machining Drawings
07/01/2020
	New Year Greetings from the the Clan Project team to our readers. The machining drawings for the bogie castings are now complete with the production of the machining drawing for the bogie stretcher casting. We have a delivery date of early February for the casting to arrive at CTL Seal from the foundry. This week, the engineering team will be visiting the National Railway Museum in York. Some of our British Railways drawing reproductions are poor quality so we are going to view the originals. A particular challenge is the Pipe & Rod arrangement drawing which is not easy to decipher!