Mid Summer Update

A Major Step Forward

With the weather firmly on our side the restoration team, led by Matt, has made great progress towards achieving the goal of erecting the new frames by the end of the year!

 

With a few weekends and a couple of days holiday to spare Matt and Ben have all but completed the drilling of all the holes in the new frame plates! This is great news and a major step forward in the rebuilding of the loco.

Following on from the drilling, reaming and tapping of the holes in the frames, all of the horn slots must be machined square prior to the erection of the frames. Hopefully this will be carried out before the weather changes and working outside becomes untenable.

 

Also, at the July working day the team got together and took the plunge.  The disassembling of the remains of the old frames, turning it into a flat pack P tank! The pictures below show the process taking place.

We also welcomed Russ Hubner to the team who made himself most helpful drilling and shelling out broken stays in the front counterweight!  pictures of this process are also below.

 

The opportunity was also taken to have a good clear up of our little site and set-up a new area with better forklift access for assembling the new frames. This involved placing the wheels on their track panel where the old frames were to allow better access for working on the new frames.  You can get an impression of the changes from the aerial photo below.

Temporarily we have placed the cab in this area to help Clive Emsley and his team of Network Rail Employees who are giving their Charity works days assisting in the cleaning up and painting the cab and helping to preserve it from any further deterioration until the restoration of the cab is carried out.

 

Offsite the cylinder blocks, as well as all of the fitted bolts and studs, will soon be machined at Statfold Barn with an expected completion date set for the end of October. So hopefully by the "Giants of Steam" event we should have the new block back on site and ready to fit!

 

We are progressing well but we can only keep up the good work with regular donations from all you kind folk so if you feel you'd like to help us, be it a small or large donation, then please visit our online donate page below and help us see 27 run once again!

A birds-eye view of the July Working day with Russ busy shelling out and removing old stays in the front counterweight (Bottom left) and Ben and Sean removing the final few rivets in the old frames (top right) before dismantling. The new frames can be seen (now drilling has been completed) outside the villa.



The leading wheel set temporarily placed on the tramway outside Atlantic House, with Beachy Head's
boiler in the background

Matt gas cutting some of the final rivets holding the old frames together!

A close up of the operation to remove the final rivets

The re-build team busy working away at disassembling the old frames

Sean partakes of a quick cup of tea before the final push to remove the
last pieces of useful items from the frames

Matt making sure the lift will go correctly prior to lifting out the motion plate

The motion plate is removed without too much effort



Russ hard at work shelling out old broken studs from the front counterweight



Shelling out I hear you ask! This is the process of removing a snapped stud in a threaded hole.  It involves grinding the remains of the old stud flush with surface then drilling out the centre of the stud. The process is completed using a shelling tool to collapse the remains of the stud into the centre hole. This (hopefully) saves the threaded hole for future use following a clean up of the threads. 



The disassembly process begins with the removal of the frames from
the frame stands and placing on the ground



The frame stands are moved away and the frames are ready to be put down

And rest!
the frames are placed on the ground ready for the final stretcher and the temporary stays to be removed

 

With the last stretcher removed the chains are rejigged for the final phase, the splitting of the frames by removing the temporary stays



Finally the frames are dismantled the last piece being moved out of the way.



A close up of the marking out and scribing ready for the horn openings to be machined



Plenty of marking out on the frame plates ready for the machining of the horn openings

A close up showing the holes now drilled and some marked up for threads to be tapped

The original 1910 frames flat packed in the yard at Sheffield Park



The site now rearranged and tidied up.  The cab has been placed in the area ready for preservation work to be carried out to arrest  the deterioration of it.  This work is programmed to be carried out by a group of Network Rail staff during their charity engagement days.  The team will be led by Clive Emsley during the week following this weekends
"Steaming Through the Ages" event, and before the following weekends working day.  Hopefully it will look good following the process!



The rejigged are showing the "flat packed" frames, the wheels and other bits and pieces.

Our thanks go to Matt Holloway who not only is leading the project, had time to supply these fantastic pictures for the BlogSpot.

Sales and Information Stands

We are attending a few more events this year (so you have not missed your opportunity to buy one of our new tee shirts!)  These start with this weekends "Steaming Through The Ages"  We will be located at Sheffield Park on Platform 1 by our tanks (hopefully).

Please come along and say hello, there may be an opportunity for a couple of tours to see the frames and working site though this is subject to confirmation.

Other events this year include:

• Burgess Hill Model Railway Exhibition 1st of September
• Shareholders Weekend - Sheffield Park - 8th & 9th September (to be confirmed)
• Worthing Model Railway Exhibition 22nd & 23rd September
• Giants of Steam - Sheffield Park - 13th and 14th October
• West Sussex N gauge Group Exhibition 3rd & 4th November

We look forward to seeing and talking to you at any of these events.

Please remember that the work can only continue with the donations, support and interest that is forthcoming from all of our supporters. 

 

If you would like to help us to continue this work with a donation, please go to our BT MyDonate page

 

 https://mydonate.bt.com/events/27

 

 or use the QR code below.

Thank you for your continued interest and support. 

I found something out at the weekend!

Whilst discussing the machining of the holes on the frames at the weekend with Matt, I learned something about the way the holes are being machined.  I understood that the holes were being machined with cutters and not drills in the normal sense, but hadn't quite appreciated the subtleties of the process.
The  hole is, as I have described before, centre punched which created a positive location for the tool.  This is best shown in the picture below.

The annular cutter used for machining the holes

 The point seen on the tool is on a moveable spring loaded centre, this locates in the centre punched mark and ensures a true location for the hole (so the triple checking of the hole positions pays off!). As the cutter produces the hole, a pellet is formed which is connected to the frame plate until the cutter breaks through.

The Annular cutter with some of the pellets produced

In the picture the centre punch marks can be seen on the pellets.  This maintains position as the process is carried out.

A closer view of the pellets.

The use of this type of cutter ensures the quality and verticality of the hole.  It is not unknown for a "conventional" twist drill to wander off centre or produce an oval hole, both of which would prove disastrous to the quality of the frames. When the holes have been machined, and we are ready to start the erection of the frames, the holes will be reamed to final size and the fitted bolts or rivets will be inserted.


A small group of volunteers will shortly be spending a week cleaning and applying protective paint to the cab structure, currently stored on the top of one of the containers at Sheffield Park.  This is to arrest any further deterioration and will help in the restoration at a later date.

The cab structure shortly to be worked on.

 

Another view of the cab showing missing rivets in the rear corner joint.

 

The front quarter of the cab.

The work to be carried out on the cab will be purely protective but will allow us to make important decisions when it comes to the final restoration of it.  As the work is done notes and pictures will be taken to assist matt and the team later.


Please remember that the work can only continue with the donations, support and interest that is forthcoming from all of our supporters. 

 

If you would like to help us to continue this work with a donation, please go to our BT MyDonate page

 

 https://mydonate.bt.com/events/27

 

 or use the QR code below.

Thank you for your continued interest and support. 

Bluebell Model Railway Weekend

We had a very good two days at the model weekend where we had a huge amount of interest in the loco and what we are up to.  As well as the usual sales stand, we had a display of some of the sphere of interest that the Little Loco Group has, together with a few of the slightly larger locos that live on the Bluebell.

The Little Locos and some slightly larger ones
Back row: 32636 (Fenchurch) in BR livery - 55 Stepney - 27 Primrose - 323 Bluebell - Pioneer II
Front row: H Class 1324 (to be renumbered 1263) - 473 (Birch Grove) - 30583 - 30096 - 30069 (to be renumbered 30064)



the 5 "core" little locos arrive at Horsted Park station (Fictitious!) 32636 has been replaced with 2636!

In addition to the display at Sheffield Park, the "build a layout in a day" stand at Horsted Keynes raffled the fruits of their labours and kindly donated the proceeds to Project 27.  A great vote of thanks must go to them.

A few more pictueres of the current works

Just a few more pictures from around the Villa of work that has been carried out recently including plenty of painting and hole drilling!

The first holes cut with the fitted pin and temporary bolt added.
Also note the other holes marked with the position and size of the holes to be cut.

A view of the frames from the rear again with fitted pins and temporary bolts in position.
There are also a few more holes drilled at the rear.

Part of the rear drag box assembly with temporary bolts holding the angles at the ends.

the two buffer beams and the rear drag box plate having been painted.
The buffer beam at the front has been turned ready to paint the second side.

Various angles and the buffer reinforcing plates having been painted.
These are being kept strictly in pairs to avoid confusion later!

The Valance ends bolted to the angles that will attach them to the loco running plate.

The work carried out by the team is first class and they are hopeful that later this year we ought to be in a position to erect the frames which will be a truly visible and historic step forward in the restoration of the loco.  However to continue the work the continued support from the myriad of followers of the project is vital.


Thank you for your support and interest in the project, we look forward to repaying your support by having the loco in steam in a few years.  



Please remember that the work can only continue with the donations, support and interest that is forthcoming from all of our supporters. 

 

If you would like to help us to continue this work with a donation, please go to our BT MyDonate page

 

 https://mydonate.bt.com/events/27

 

 or use the QR code below.

Exciting news from the engineering team!

Holes cut in the frames

At last Saturdays working day, Matt, Ben and the crew started on the drilling and reaming of the frame plates.  the following pictures illustrate this and other works that were carried out on Saturday.  The first pictures show the drilling operations and these are followed by a few pictures of other tasks that were carried out.

Matt at the point of no return

 Matt was entrusted, following many hours of marking and checking, with the "honour" of drilling the first hole in the frames! The frames are accurately positioned on top of each other so as to be assured that the holes match on both sides. If there are any mistakes it is all on Matt's shoulders!  There is an air of great confidence in the work that Matt and the team have been doing.

The cutter passing through the frame plates for the first time

 The cutters used are somewhat different to the type of drill you may use at home.  They are cutters which have cutting edges up the helix as well as on the lead edge, they look somewhat like a milling tool.

Break through!

 The first hole has been cut!  Time now for a cup of tea and then crack on with more!


 Ben reaming out the first hole 

Following the cutting of the first hole, it was reamed out using a bridge reamer to finished size ready to have a precision machined pin inserted. This will lock the two plates together. 

The reamer passing through the cut hole

 

The hole finished to final size

 The hole was protected with fluid prior to the fitting of the machined pin.

The pin inserted

 At the front of the frames all the centre marks have been circled in chalk and the hole sizes marked to assist in the avoidance of holes being drilled in the wrong place or the wrong size.  It is also possible to see the locating pin and a temporary bolt fitted to hole the two plates firmly together.

Towards the middle of the frames a further pin and bolt were added

 

Holes at the rear of the frames

All of the holes at the rear of the frames have been drilled and are ready and waiting for the drag box assembly to be added!

Other works carried out

There was also plenty of parts painted in "bonda primer" prior to assembly. These parts are all vital in the assembly of the new frames




Larger items in the Villa main workshop



Sean has been busy with the needle gun and degreaser prior to giving the front and rear buffer beams a coat of Bonda Primer

Angles and buffer reinforcing plates in the paint shop

 Sean has also carried out a similar process on some of the numerous angles and spacer plates in preparation for the assembly of the new frames.


The work carried out by the team is first class and they are hopeful that later this year we ought to be in a position to erect the frames which will be a truly visible and historic step forward in the restoration of the loco.  However to continue the work the continued support from the myriad of followers of the project is vital.


Thank you for your support and interest in the project, we look forward to repaying your support by having the loco in steam in a few years.  



Please remember that the work can only continue with the donations, support and interest that is forthcoming from all of our supporters. 

 

If you would like to help us to continue this work with a donation, please go to our BT MyDonate page

 

 https://mydonate.bt.com/events/27

 

 or use the QR code below.

Sales stand at the Model Railway Weekend

Don't forget to visit us in the Birch Grove Suite at Sheffield Park at the weekend.  We have plenty of the usual things including war service badges, preserves and other bits and pieces.  The new tee shirt will be launched and we also have half a dozen footplate brushes and some small screwdriver sets for sale .  Even if you just want to look at the display of model P class and terrier locos (Plus a B4 and possibly H class!) please do come and find us and have a chat, we will be pleased to see you.


It is hoped that at some point later in the year we will be able to show you the physical progress on the loco first hand, but at the moment, due to the works in the engine shed, this is, unfortunately, not possible.


Looking forward to speaking to you at the weekend.


Please remember that the work can only continue with the donations, support and interest that is forthcoming from all of our supporters. 

 

If you would like to help us to continue this work with a donation, please go to our BT MyDonate page

 

 https://mydonate.bt.com/events/27

 

 or use the QR code below.