Build Diary entries for January 2022

Here are the diary entries for this month. You can use the forward and backward links to see the next or previous months. Most photos taken before 2018 are small size. From 2018 onwards, most photos you see below will have a link to a full size image by clicking on the photo.

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Back after Xmas
10/01/2022
	The long Xmas break is finally over so it was back to work today for the Monday gang. We have one finished smoke deflector and a half finished one. We have procured some feather edge beading for the edge of the deflector. Here Keith and Alan are opening up the holes so that the beading can be spot welded to the plate from the rear. The beading has been bent to the right profile by CTL Seal. You can see that we have a slight crease where the extension has been welded onto the main plate. That is due to go to the pressing shop to get sorted before the beading is welded on.
Back after Xmas (2)
10/01/2022
	Before we were established at CTL Seal, the cab and the smokebox were on display at Quorn on the Great Central railway. We took the precaution of welding up the smokebox door to prevent any problems. The smokebox has now been moved inside the assembly shop so we took the opportunity to remove the weld and checkout the components. Here, we have trial fitted the protection plate that fits inside the smokebox front ring plate.There are a number of sacrificial protection plates within the lower areas of the smokebox - you can see another protection plate on the inside of the door.
Preparing for Riveting
18/01/2022
	In preparation for riveting the front end of the frames, Geoff and Mike dismantled the platework. CTL Seal need to fit the final packing plate between the front horizontal stretcher and the smokebox saddle and then we will be ready to start riveting. All of the buffer beam components will be hot riveted to the frames as shown on the original British railways drawings. We are currently working on the drawings to form all of the holes required in the smokebox.
CAD Model Updated
24/01/2022
	Keith has been updating the CAD model for Hengist; now you can see the smokebox wrapper and some of the front platework in position. You can see that we have adopted the large front central footstep instead of the 2 smaller footsteps originally fitted to the Clans. This modification was widely fitted to the Britannias and it will make easier when cleaning out the smokebox. The various holes in the smokebox have been formed and drawings will now be created to form the actual holes in our smokebox. The large oval hole is for the main steam pipe; the triangular shapes are pads that will be welded into the smokebox. The running plate support brackets are bolted to these. The hole that you don't normally see is the large space behind the chimney - the "detachable portion of wrapper". This is only normally removed at major boiler overhauls and allows access to the superheater header and multiple valve regulator. In BR days the plate would have been riveted in place.
Smoke Deflector Work
31/01/2022
	This is commonly known as a smoke deflector but on the British Railways drawing they are called a Plate for Preventing Down Draught. The right hand plate was complete but the left hand plate needed some work on it. First we needed to weld an extension plate on the bottom. The next job was to get hold of some feather edge beading of the right dimensions and then get it bent to shape. We now need to get the beading welded to the plate. At the moment, the beading is resting on the inside of the plate, it needs to be welded to the outside. The angle strips will be welded to the bottom of each plate. These then are bolted to the running board which runs alongside of the smokebox. To quote Wikipedia "Smoke deflectors became increasingly common on later steam locomotives because the velocity of smoke exiting the chimney had been reduced as the result of efficiency gains obtained by improved smokebox design". Without the deflectors, the steam exiting the chimney clings to the side of the boiler and can obstruct the driver's view.