Most of February saw very little progress on our loco since its arrival in the shed at Hayes Knoll but we have finally managed to do some work in March.
One of the jobs was to remove all 4 sandboxes for refurbishment which includes getting the mechanism working again. All 4 were not so easy to remove as there was some very stubborn nuts and bolts to un-do.. we eventually freed off all of them thanks to some heat and persuasion.
Pictured bellow are all 4 lined up together.
You can clearly see from the pictures bellow that other bits and pieces have also been done including the removing of pipe work. You can see where the sandboxes were which will give us the chance to properly work on the running boards! We expect to reuse the majority of the running boards currently on the loco as there is plenty of meat left in the metal.
One of the tasks that was completed in February was the removal of the steam brake cylinder. Sam and Ben worked hard to free off and remove the steam brake cylinder which was then sent away for a good cleaning up (Thanks to Adam from the steam department for this!) The cylinder was then returned nice and clean ready for wheel brushing and painting.
Sam took the time to measure the bore of the cylinder to make sure it was all within acceptable limits - it seems there is no huge issues here and we are just weighing up our options on what to do next.
You can see the cylinder is already painted in this shot and the loco in the background in its new temporary potition on the pit.
That is it for now! We have the boiler lift booked for very soon which we are very excited about but in the meantime we plan to make a start on the removal of the valve gear and various other tasks around the railway.
Stay tuned for further updates - in the meantime maybe consider donating towards the restoration which will help us complete the loco sooner!
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