Liveries carried by the P tanks

What shade of green is that?

It has often been said that the most important part of a locomotive's restoration is the colour it is painted in.  It is my firm belief that this is not the most important thing!

Having said that I would like to share the thoughts of the restoration team with you regarding the livery and how it is chosen, also when it needs to be decided.

The committee of the Fenchurch Fund and the Project 27 team set down and discussed the livery that we are to turn 27 out in.  Whilst this decision is not vital, it does need to be made at a fairly early stage in the restoration. The livery chosen must fall within the guidelines of the Historical Committee, the wishes of the Loco Director and other interested parties.  Whilst we have made our mind up which livery 27 should be turned out in we still need it rubber stamped before we go "public".

Why do we need to know what colour it will be painted so early? I hear you ask.  Well, as soon as paint is applied, there needs to be some idea of what the final colour (e.g. green, black, crimson lake etc... etc...). This will allow the correct shade of undercoat and primer to be applied first.  there are some colour differences with various parts of the loco depending on livery also, so the final livery will need to be known before these parts are painted.

As an example of liveries that 27 could carry, I have sorted out some pictures of P Tanks in various liveries.  Unfortunately, as far as I am aware there are no pictures of the Crimson Lake or Light Green experimental liveries which were applied in the early days, and the locos never left the paint shops in these liveries!

Still here is the first batch of pictures to be going on with!



27 Resplendent in SECR livery on Platform 2 at Sheffield Park on the 14th June 1965
(Photo: SECR Society/Peter Tangye)

 

SECR No.27 "Primrose in Bluebell Railway Black with yellow lining around 1962 at Sheffield Park
(Photo: The Fenchurch Fund Collection)

 

ROD No.27 in plain olive green as applied before 27 went to France in 1915 for 18 months war service
(Photo: Clive Emsley)



Southern No A27 at Dover Marine in Maunsell lined green livery in mid 1929
(Photo: by courtesy of Locofotos)



Whilst we cannot say for definite what livery the loco will be turned out in we are 99.9% certain that it will be a shade of green with black frames!

We will be continuing this topic as time goes by and as always we welcome any contributions to the livery debate!


Painting the frames

Jim has splashed it all over!

Jim Turtle has let me know that he spent last weekend at Sheffield Park with a paintbrush in hand.  He applied a coat of protective gloss paint to the frames to protect them from the worst of the forthcoming winter's weather. The paint has been applied to both the inside and outside of the frames.  I believe that the colour is not quite the right shade (possibly green instead of black) but if it does the job at a low cost so be it!

If the weather is good this coming weekend, he is aiming to spend some time painting the valance and foot steps on the Villa side of the loco so this should look presentable for the Giants of Steam Weekend in a couple of weeks time.

Unfortunately we have no pictures of the work from last weekend, so in the meantime here is another picture from our archives.

SECR No27 in platform 3/4 (now 4/5) at Horsted Keynes on the 31st July 1972 with Bluebell Platelayer Fred Carter talking to the crew. (courtesy of the JW Sutherland Collection)

We will be having a display stand outside the villa on Giants of Steam weekend, so please do come and see what we are up to.  Whilst it may not look much from the outside, there has been much going on to small parts and cleaning up the frames and other items.  We hope to have a small "before and after" display to show you what goes on away from the public gaze.
We will also be selling the usual items (plus a selection of pickled eggs and onions) during the day.

We hope to say hello to you when you come round to see us, and of course the Brighton Atlantic group.

Right Hand Horn Guide off!

It is good news that the right hand centre axle rear horn guide has been removed, and the last fitted bolt extracted.  This operation happened on Friday afternoon in a successful trip to the loco by Clive and Stuart.

The three pictures below show the process of removal of the last fitted bolt on the RH side of the loco.

This picture shows the last of the fitted bolts drilled out (Photo Clive Emsley)

The drilled out fited bolt was disc cut and then ground flush with the frames. 

This shows the fitted bolt ground down flush with the frames (Photo Clive Emsley)

Once the bolt had been ground flush with the frames, a set of drifts (with long handles) were used to remove the bolt.  The method for doing this consisted of the drifts being held in position by one operative whilst it was thwacked heavily with a rather large hammer by the second operative.  Hence the long handles!  The bolt was removed following three hard belts with the hammer, with some velocity I might add!

The last bolt removed from the RH sdie (Photo Clive Emsley)

With the last bolt removed, the holes were greased to protect them from the weather until the new bolts are ready to be fitted. The bolts, and horn guide, will be replaced as soon as possible following the welding of the repair.  The keeper plate will then be replaced to hold the frames square and free from any sag. Following this the crack on the left hand side of the loco will be treated in a very similar manner.

The Horn guide on the work bench inside the villa (photo: Clive Emsley)

The Keeper Plate on the work bench inside the villa (photo: Clive Emsley)

Some initial cleaning up of the first wheel set was also carried out prior to attacking it with an eleectric wire brush (at a later date) and applying paint. This was carried out using a scrapper, wire briush and a stiff hand brush.

The right trailing wheel having had the loose paint and accumulated dirt removed (photo: Clive Emsley)

Please keep popping back to this blogspot for further updates.  And we look forward to seeing you during Giants of Steam Weekend.