A few pictures from Matt

As promised, a few pictures showing what has been going on over the last few weeks.  All of the pictures come from Matt Holloway.


Running repairs were required on Captain Baxter's Left side tank following a leak in service. The repair carried out by the Villa Gang consisted of welding a repair patch into the bottom of the tank and making it watertight.  The loco was returned to service in plenty of time to help launch the Elephant Van play coach at Horsted Keynes.

The extent of the patch on the bottom of the tank

Another view of the work

No.3 Captain Baxter at Horsted Keynes launching the play coach!



The task of removing all of the fitted bolts and rivets from the old frames has started. These are being replaced with blue painted temporary bolts to make sure everything is kept in alignment and to keep all the components together.  This will enable us to use the old frames as a reference when erecting the new frames.

The many useable frame components can easily be transferred between the old and new sets, but more importantly, we will use the old frames for reference when carrying out alignment checks on the new frames.  Once we are satisfied that the frame set up is good, the old frames will be "flat packed" and disposed of in the most cost effective manner.

The blue nuts and bolts temporarily holding the frame componentry together

the removed nuts and bolts can bee seen on the end of the packing.



The wheels have been given a coat of high build primer on the visible spoke and hub sections. this emphasises the low points showing through in green.  These areas will be filled with knifing putty followed by a few more coats of filler primer.  the surfaces will be rubbed down between coats and a final rub down will produce a fine smooth finish.  Following this a start will be made on the under coats and top coats before achieving the final finish.

Wheel sets showing the high build primer

Plenty of low spots here!

 

Another example of low spot detection!

And Finally - The great whistle hunt took Matt to Bristol where he espied the whistle in the picture below whilst on a visit to the SS Great Britain.  Originally fitted to the SS Great Eastern, we feel it may be just slightly too big for the P Class!
If you find your self in Bristol, Do visit the ship, it is a magnificent example of Victorian engineering and opulence!

The whistle from the SS Great Eastern

Thank you for your continued support and interest in the project, hopefully you will see the fruits of everyone’s labours in around 4 years or so.

To donate £10 text "FENC72 £10" to 70070

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Clive D. Emsley
Chairman - The Fenchurch Fund

Project Manager - PROJECT 27
A Sub-Committee of the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society
thefenchurchfund@gmail.com


www.bluebell-railway.co.uk