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.

Regulator Steady Bracket
02/12/2019
	Small parts today. This is the Steady Bracket for Regulator Front Rod - work in progress. The bracket sits vertically bolted to another bracket fitted on the boiler - the bottom end is nearest the camera. The curved part now needs welding to the long part to result in a Y bracket. The bracket is one of those small items that's difficult to spot on photos. It's fitted about half way along the front regulator rod between the dome and the left hand feed water pipe.
Deburring Holes
25/11/2019
	It's a steady old job fitting fitted bolts to the frame plates. First we make a light chamfer on the bolt head side of the hole in the plates and then deburr the edges of the hole prior to hammering in the bolts. Here Keith and Alan are using a deburring tool to clean up one of the many holes.
More Bogie Components
25/11/2019
	Just back from the suppliers are the 2 wear plates that sit between the bogie centre slide and the central bogie stretcher casting. The eight larger bolts (one missing in photo) are used to fasten the V plates that sit fore and aft of the centre slide and retain it in place while allowing it to move side to side. They go through the wear plate in the 4 holes nearest the camera. You can see that a small hole has been drilled at an angle through the head of the bolt. Once the bolt has been tightened down, the hole will be drilled through into the stretcher. A pin will then be inserted through the bolt head and into the stretcher (as per the BR drawing) to prevent the bolt from turning. The 4 smaller bolts secure the wear plate to the stretcher and go through the outer holes on the wear plate.
Bogie Frame Stays
18/11/2019
	Bogie parts continue to arrive into stock. These are the 2 bogie stays that fit at the extreme front and rear of the bogie frame. The stays were manufactured some time ago but have now recently returned from machining. We have been told that the bogie stretcher, centre slide and axle box guide castings will be delivered from the foundry in early February 2020. We are now creating the machining drawings so that they can go straight into the machining shop at CTL Seal.
Remembrance Day
11/11/2019
	On 11 November, Chris and Mike from the Monday Gang pay their respects
Frame Plate Drilling gets Under Way
11/11/2019
	We've spent a lot of time over the last few weeks measuring and checking the frames - "measure twice, cut once"! In particular we've thoroughly checked the hornguides to make sure we have sufficient material to machine. Today we agreed with CTL Seal that the alignment was good and that drilling and bolting of the frame plates could start. Here Pete from the CTL Seal has got stuck in. A magnetic base drill is firmly clamped to the frame plates - a strop runs up to an overhead crane to help move the drill about. First, we drill out to the correct size. Then the hole is reamed out; finally a small chamfer is applied to the hole with a countersink to ensure that the bolt head sits firmly on the frame plate. The intention at this time is to install sufficient bolts to lock the alignment prior to hornguide machining. Most bolts will be fitted after machining