Cheltenham Blog 44
School – Almost the End of Term…
We now find ourselves doing things like receiving a coal delivery, putting
water in the boiler, collecting the nameplates,and fixing a date for the lorry
to take the engine to York, so we must be getting near the end. The engine is
taking shape, and many extra hours have gone in recently to ensure that we meet
our target of appearing at “Railfest” in York on the 2nd of June.
Knights Rail have recently allowed us to work on Saturdays, and this has really
helped progress since we get people who are unable to make it during the
week.
The boiler cladding is now all fitted. This has enabled the lubrication pipes
to be run down the outsides, and also for the clacks, handrails, blower and
boiler bands to go on. In the smokebox the petticoat pipe is fitted, along with
the blower ring, concrete floor, and steam pipes. One steam pipe had to be cut
and re-welded to get it to fit the engine. The fit of the blower rod collar on
the square blower valve shaft was awful, so we chopped it off and Simon turned
up a new one.
The “Cosmetics Dept.” have been busy, and now the cladding has been flatted,
filled , spot-primed, undercoated, and now has a 50/50 undercoat and gloss mix.
The smokebox has been taken back to bare metal, and been primed and
undercoated.
The valve gear is all up, the last items being the three die-blocks which had
been bored-out at Ropley.
The right hand valve was found to be upside-down, and as it was turned a
valve ring popped out into the steam space. Dave managed to get the valve out
without breaking the ring, and by fitting some more plastic sheet between the
valve head and the ring, he managed to stick the ring in place and refit the
valve. Unfortunately the running plate front section had to come off along with
the valve cover, which meant this issue cost us probably 3 hours in all,
something we could do without.
The cab roof is on, and all the cab fittings are complete. Dave Pallett and
John Aplin have put many hours in sorting out and fitting the copper lubrication
pipework all over the engine.
The engine and tender have been coupled. The new water bags have arrived, and
the staff at Ropley made us a new elbow and nut, since the engine was missing a
complete bag assembly when we got her.
Unfortunately the short rear firebars will not arrive in time for the steam
test, so we are again going to borrow the grate from our friends at Eastleigh
Railway Preservation Society (ERPS) from their S15 loco no.828.
The brake rigging is all up, and the brakes have been adjusted. “Beardy
Weirdy” made this possible by taking a couple of brake hangers away and making
some new bushes.
Look out for the next Blog; it should be worth reading…
Southern Steam - Nine Elms MPD. Courtesy SouthernRailwayFilms
"Cheltenham" appears at 1.10 to about 1.40 in this clip from 1966/7
Nine Elms Shed was demolished in 1967.
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