So, what have we been doing over the last few weeks?
There has been much cleaning and painting of small parts in the "warmth" of the Villa workshop at Sheffield Park being carried out by Matt, Jim and Stuart to varying degrees. Some work has been carried out to replace some damaged felt on the roof of the villa, some of which has been damaged by the weather.
The wheels have been returned from the South Devon Railway where the tyres and journals have been turned. Whilst they were there, the wheels and axles were ultrasonically tested and found to be in a good internal condition.
We are still waiting for the final approval of the drawings before we order the cylinders for 27 and 178. Hopefully these can be ordered soon in the new year.
The cracks on each of the plate frames has been re-inspected and a trial weld carried out on right hand crack, where a piece was welded in to hopefully make the frames good. Unfortunately for some unknown reason as the welding was being carried out cracks were appearing ahead of the operation. We are not sure if it was the wrong type of rod the different grades of steel or another reason, but it appears that this will make it difficult to produce a really good repair that will last for another 100 years. Investigations are taking place to see the best way to proceed. There is a real possibility that we will need a pair of plate frames to be manufactured for the loco.
We are currently discussing the way forward from a number of standpoints. If we do need to manufacture new plate frames there are a number of advantages and some disadvantages. We need to bottom out all of the "pro's and con's" before we make a final decision, but once this has been made you will hear it here first!
We hope to bring some really good news shortly so please keep popping back.
We have four model railway exhibitions "pencilled in" for our display next year, all fairly local!
- The Wealden Railways Group Exhibition in Steyning on the 22nd of April;
- The Bluebell Modellers Weekend in the summer;
- Worthing Model Railway Club Exhibition in September;
- The Sussex N Gauge Group on the first weekend in November.
Clive D. Emsley
Chairman - The Fenchurch Fund
Project Manager - PROJECT 27
A Sub-Committee of the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society
www.bluebell-railway.co.uk
http://wainrightsfinestsecr27.blogspot.co.uk/
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