This weekend

Over the weekend coming (28th and 29th September) we will be having a display and sales stand at the Worthing Model Railway Club's annual exhibition. (http://www.worthingmrc.co.uk/exhibition)
We will be able to talk to you and (hopefully) answer your questions!  We will be having the usual range of products, with some special offers too!  We are likely to have some basic model railway items for sale too. We are now accepting payments by card for sales and donations when at exhibitions and railway events (as long as we can get a signal!).

If you, like us, want to see the loco working again in around 4 years time, your help is urgently needed.  We will need something like £100,000 for boiler work to make the dream happen.  It would be good to have your help.  If you would like to donate any amount ending in 27 it would be great.  Any amount from 27p to £31,027 would be great! Please do not donate more than you can afford though!


The best way to donate is via our Virgin Money Giving account where your donation can be gift aided.  This gives us an extra 25% donation at no additional cost to you. 


If you can help us, please make your donation on line at: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/27


We are a completely self funded group of Bluebell Railway Volunteers working hard to look after and promote the small locomotive fleet on the Bluebell Railway.


Thank you,
The Fenchurch Fund Fundraisers and Project 27 Fund Spenders!

Behind the Steam Weekend

Just a few pictures from the weekend!

Most of the riveting on the drag box has been carried out, just a few more to go!

Some of the domed rivet heads

Some of the flush rivet heads

Sister loco 178 having piloted 80151 from Horsted Keynes

178 at Horsted Keynes (Stephen Garrett)

Display Banner on the Sales Stand (Jonathan Pegg)

The sales stand on Platform 1 (Jonathan Pegg)

Display Boards (Jonathan Pegg)

Remember, all of this has been possible with the generosity of people like you that are interested in the project.
Without your support we cannot carry on at the same rate experienced so far.
Please donate anything you can afford if you would like to see our efforts and passion come to a successful end.
A donation of £27 would go a long way towards our aim.
(with gift aid that becomes £33.75)


If you can help us, please make your donation on line at: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/27

You can also give via standing order to the Bluebell Railway Trust (please contact us for a form) or regular payments via VirginMoneyGiving.

We are a completely self funded group of Bluebell Railway Volunteers working hard to look after and promote the small locomotive fleet on the Bluebell Railway.

Burgess Hill Model Railway Exhibition

Sales and Information stand event

A quick update on the sales and Information stand "road show" events coming up for the rest of the year.  It looks like a really busy September!


On the 7th of September we will be attending the annual Burgess Hill Model railway Exhibition at Burgess Hill Girls School in Keymer Road (RH15 0EG). The opening hours are from 10am until 5pm.
For further information please take a look at the web site for the event -  https://www.burgesshillmrc.org.uk/exhibitions where you will find a list of the exhibitors and traders.  Our loyal volunteers will be glad to meet you and chat with you regarding  the restoration of our historic loco. 


Other events we will be at (subject to weather and volunteer availability) will be:


September 14th/15th - Bluebell Railway "Behind the Scenes"- Platform 1 adjacent to the shop
September 28th/29th - Worthing Model Railway Club Exhibition Durrington High School
                                     For further information please visit http://www.worthingmrc.co.uk/exhibition
October 12th/13th - Bluebell Railway "Giants of Steam" weekend  - Platform 1 adjacent to the shop


There are a couple of working days coming up in September and October which will see further riveting taking place as well as a myriad of other jobs large and small.  We are going through a stage where a lot o0f hard work is going on, but to the casual observer, nothing much changes!  please be rest assured that work is progressing at a fairly rapid rate.  We are looking forward to seeing a rolling chassis in the not too distant future!


If you can help us, please make your donation on line at:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/27


We are a completely self funded group of Bluebell Railway Volunteers working hard to look after and promote the small locomotive fleet on the Bluebell Railway.


Thank you

Restoration Update August 2019

Mid Summer Update

 

To the casual observer, maybe not much has changed, but with over 400 holes previously drilled we have slowly been setting up the frames over the summer. 

We have been carefully aligning the various frame plates, reaming through and countersinking the appropriate holes. Over the course of 3 weekends or so started to rivet up the frames, mainly concentrating on the rear drag box.

As well as this work has continued, with much thanks to the bluebell’s workshop staff and machine shop Forman, fettling and finishing off the final machining of our cylinder block in house. Following splitting the block into the LH & RH halves and carrying out some further machining we will be ready to trial fit the block back into the frames! This will represent a great step forward towards the completion of the rolling chassis.

Ian Furgeson, one of our volunteer machinist’s has been busy machining our piston heads to size and re-bushing the spring hanger brackets in preparation for these being re-fitted in the appropriate places. 

 

Help us to keep up our progress and donate today by clicking the link below!

 

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/27

The Rear Buffer Beam with the initial rivets installed

The initial rivets in place for the rear buffer beam

Some of the many rivets installed for the building up of the rear dragbox

Riveting the rear frames and dragbox

Work continues on setting up the rear dragbox with rivets in place

Spring Hanger re-bushed awaiting refitment

Spring hanger brackets waiting re-fitment with the alignment tool shown

Re-machined piston heads

Re-machined piston head ring groves freshly machined by our volunteer machinist Ian Furguson

Alignment button hole drilled and machined ready for it's marking out button to be fitted.

Button installed

Installed button

One of 12 alignment buttons now permanently installed.

There are six of these on either side of the engine directly opposite each other, with their centres pop marked.  They are set on the horizontal ride height line equally spaced either side of the three axle centres. The buttons are used as our fixed datum points to measure from and set up the various components of the engine such as the cylinder block position.  They will also be used for finding the centres of the axle boxes for machining and fitting them, setting the centres of the coupling rods for machining and fitting, and the list goes on! In effect they are extremely important and are the datum points for building the engine accurately and enable it to run freely maintenance free for many years.

Meanwhile the rear draw hook locating plate has been riveted on

A close up to show the head of one of the countersunk rivets employed

Following the recent Network Rail Working Week followed up by some extra preparation, the sandboxes are almost ready to be re-fitted

The brake hangers being attended to following an initial gritblasting

We are proceeding quite nicely with the restoration and it is great to hear feedback from our supporters.  However for us to continue to maintain this level of work, we rely on the donations and purchases made to the fund.  We appreciate this and hope that we will continue to receive the level of funding we have enjoyed in the past.

If you could help us with any donation, large or small, we would be extremely grateful, every little helps as they say.

Please remember that we have a new donations platform for accepting your donations which will help us to complete the restoration of SECR Locomotive No.27.  This can be found at:

  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/27
And please gift aid your donation if you are able to

Please remember that our progress can only carry on with your help.  We are completely self-funded group.
Thank you for your continued support.

Network Rail Volunteer Week

Annual Volunteer week

Once again this year we organised a week of Volunteering for Network Rail Employees.  This year the week ran from the 1st to the 5th July.  Over the course of the week we welcomed 23 volunteers over the 5 days.  We needed to expand our tasks this year as there is not too much unsupervised work to be done at the moment on 27.  However, we did complete some cleaning and painting on the loco.


The front balance weight having been cleaned and given a coat of bonder primer

the right hand small balance weight having been cleaned and painted

the left hand small front balance weight having been cleaned and painted

One of the pair of front sand boxes having been cleaned back to bare metal before painting

In addition to these pieces that will be returned to the locomotive, a few pieces were cleaned and painted so they can be used as patterns for new pieces to be manufactured.


We also spent some time cleaning Loco 672 Fenchurch in readiness for fitters attention and to make it look a little better.  There was a gang on two days who not only gave the paintwork a glint, but also spent time under the loco with scrapers to remove years of congealed oil and dust.  this will help when the loco is moved into the workshop prior to overhaul.

Part of the cleaning gang in the early stages of cleaning

The state of the wheel backs and springs before cleaning

The connecting rods and brake rigging before painting

The rods and rigging following a coat of paint

We also spent a little time rubbing down and re-varnishing the wooden tops to the tanks which protrude into the cab on the Adams Radial Tank 30583 (488).  This was done to help enhance the splendid livery applied a couple of months ago.  It was intended that 5 coats of varnish would be applied, but time ran out!

The first board with half the first coat of varnish applied

The board with 3 coats of varnish applied returned to the cab

Steve and Sherena painting a small weight

Roxanne getting handy with a wire brush!







Then gang on Wednesday having a well earned tea break

The Thursday gang pose in the sunshine!

NEW DONATIONS PLATFORM

We now have a new platform for accepting your donations which will help us to complete the restoration of SECR Locomotive No.27.  This can be found at:  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/27


Please remember that our progress can only carry on with your help.  We are completely self-funded group.


Thank you for your continued support.

A few pictures of the progress

Thank You

Thanks to all our loyal supporters who came to the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society who attended the AGM, and spent or donated with Project 27.  The figure taken on the night was up on last year and will go a little way to replenishing the coffers following the manufacture of the new cylinders and frames.

Progress Pictures

Piston Rods

The two piston rods at the front with other items in the primer painting area

The tapered ends which locate in the crossheads

this shows that the two rods are of different diameter, we know not why.

The rods will be metal sprayed and resized by turning/grinding to the correct profile before they are reassembled with the pistons and installed into the cylinder block.

Crossheads

Then crossheads on the bench having been stripped down and cleaned

Crossheads on the bench. Note the pre 1974 trimmings that were still in the oil pots!

The crossheads awaiting dimension checking to make sure the wear is not excessive.

The crossheads have been stripped down to enable a thorough clean and wear check to be carried out. Once the checks have been carried out it they will be reassembled and got ready for refitting to the piston rod/piston assembly.

Piston Covers

The rear cylinder covers

The front cylinder covers

The front and rear cylinder covers have been thoroughly cleaned and checked to make sure they are fit for further use.  they have then been given a coat of bonder primer to preserve them whilst waiting to be returned to the loco once the cylinders have been installed between the frames.

The Frames

The rear buffer beam attached using blue temporary bolts ready for hole reaming and riveting

Additionally the front of the drag box has similarly been temporarily bolted in

The forge ready for the next riveting session!

The frames continue to be built up from the flat pack kit of parts!  note on the middle picture the list of rivet sizes  and marks as to which rivets go where.  This riveting will be taking place in the very near future.

Funding

All of the work we carry out on the locomotive is supported by The Fenchurch Fund and carried out by the Little Loco Group.  As the Loco Director's budget is taken up, rightly, with the locomotives that pull our trains, every penny we spend on the locomotive has to de funded by ourselves, resulting in many sales stands and donation opportunities throughout the year.  If you would like to help us restore No.27 and continue our work on other small locos, please donate as much as you are able.

 If you are able to help, please donate only as much as you can afford.

To donate on line, please go to our BT MyDonate page:

https://mydonate.bt.com/events/27

or use the QR code below.

PLEASE NOTE

The BT My Donate page will be removed by BT on the 30th June.  However, we are working closely with the Bluebell Railway Trust who are currently setting up a new donations page. Details will be posted as soon as we have them. 

If you would like to make a regular donation, please ask for a Standing Order form by email to the address below.

Please also use this address for enquiries and offers of physical help.thefenchurchfund@gmail.com

This Project is entirely self funded and relies on your donations and sales stand purchases for the work to continue