Fund raising at the Vintage Transport Weekend

Fun at the Vintage Transport Weekend

Roy Miles arriving on his steam roller (nearly in SECR livery) on Friday afternoon Photo: Clive Emsley

We did little on the loco this weekend, but we did have an excellent weekend in the sunshine at Horsted Keynes helping to marshal the cars at the steam fair (we also provided bacon butties for the stewards!). in return for our assistance The Fenchurch Fund was permitted to have a sales and information stand on the show ground to raise the profile (and some money) for Project 27.

A great amount of interest was shown in the project and this also translated into sales and donations, especially on the Saturday.  We managed to sell a large amount of jams, marmalade and chutney, along with some tee shirts and badges.  A donation of books and maps was made to us on Friday followed by more books on Saturday, many of which we sold, thus not having to find storage for them!

The heading picture shows Roy Miles and Oliver Warburton arriving on Roy's Aveling and Porter Steam Roller "Monarch" which he drove from Edenbridge to the show on Friday afternoon.  Roy was a well respected senior driver on the Bluebell until he recently retired.  He has an intimate knowledge of No.27 having driven and worked on it many times over the years.  As you can see the roller is in an approximation of thye SECR livery tat No.27 carried in service at the Bluebell until 1974.

There will not be any progress reports over the next couple of weeks or so as I will be away from the railway on a world tour of the British Isles!  I hope to see how it is done on the  Strathspey Railway, the Bowes Railway and at Beamish on the way back, and possibly Shildon, but we will have to see on that one!

Pictures of the workshop cladding and other items

New cladding on H.S. Wainwright House

New "temporary" cladding on the outside of H.S. Wainwright House Photo: Clive Emsley

Some remedial cladding has been carried out on the outside of our small, but useful timber built workshop at Sheffield Park. This is partly in response to recent problems, and partly due to the condition of the exterior cladding of the building.



Another view of the cladding with the front splashers from loco 27 on the bench Photo: Clive Emsley

Brake Rigging

Brake cross members Photo: Clive Emsley

The picture above shows the three brake rigging cross members which were cleaned up and painted by the lads last weekend.  These are clearly labelled as to where they came from when they were taken off the loco, so they can be easily replaced later.  These items will be stored away until it is the right time to complete the repainting back to top coat.

One of the identification tags on part of the brake gear Photo: Clive Emsley

4 of the brake hangers and the brake shaft waiting to be cleaned and painted
(not sure about the shoe, but I don't think it came from a conductor!) Photo: Clive Emsley

The above picture is a sort of "before" picture showing other parts of the brake gear before  any major cleaning has taken place. These items will be treated in a similar manner to the cross members shown above.

Frames

A number of cracks have been discovered on the frames following removal of many layers of paint and crud.  These individually would no cause too much distress, however, when these are all put together with the major waisting at the rear of the frames and some very minor waisting at the front there will need to be further investigations carried out.


A crack adjacent to the centre axle on the LH side of the loco, marked up with the loco departments usual sense of humour! Photo: Clive Emsley

An old welded repair to a crack adjacent to the axle on the RH side of the loco. This will need to be ground out, tested and re- repaired to make it reusable. Photo: Clive Emsley