Thursday 14 December 2017

A few pictures from last weekend

On-Going Work

Just a few pictures of work that has been carried out.  These pictures were taken by Clive Emsley on Saturday and Sunday of last weekend.
The rear drag box plate with some of the angles temporarily attached
Many of the angles have been bolted on to the rear drag box plate prior to final drilling and riveting.  Once the angles are riveted on the vertical face of the angle will be milled to create a flush face with the plate.  The reason for doing it this way is to produce a tight joint between the two pieces.

A close up of the interface between the angle and the plate
All of the angles have now been cut from the stock material supplied by Tata Steel and are stored in the Villa. 
Angles of various sizes in the Villa
These angles are for many uses on the new frames, hence the different sizes and lengths! They range from angles to hold the buffer beams onto the frames to simple location brackets for various bits.  They will soon disappear once we start to set the frames up, early next year if all goes to plan.
Various plates waiting for processing
There are a number of plates for various purposes in store. These were part of the order from Tata steel and will require a minimum of work to finish them.
Three Horn wedges leaning against the blast pipe casting
The above picture shows three of the horn wedges cleaned up the previous weekend together with the blast pipe castings we obtained as part of an order for all three P class locos at the Bluebell Railway.  These castings will be machined only when they are required for assembly onto the locomotive.

Working Days

There is one more working day planned for 2017, and that is this coming Saturday 16th December.  We hope to be able to bring pictures of the work carried out early next week. 
Further working days have been planned throughout next year, on roughly monthly intervals. However, please check here for dates.  The first few for next year are on January 20th, February 10th and March 24th, which coincides with the Bluebell Railway Diesel Gala.  I will put a full list here after Christmas.

Sales and Information Stands

Below is a list of dates and locations for our sales and information stands for the next year, this is subject to alteration and will only happen if we can get people to run the stands.


Sat 10th March - Wealden Railway Group Annual Exhibition - Lancing Parish Rooms
Sat 24th / Sun 25th March - Bluebell railway Diesel Gala - Sheffield Park
Sat 19th / Sun 20th May - Bluebell Railway Branch Line Weekend - Sheffield Park
Sat 23rd / Sun 24th June - Bluebell Railway Model Railway Weekend - Horsted Keynes*
Sat 11th / Sun 12th August - Bluebell Railway - Steaming through the ages - Sheffield Park
Sat 1st September - Burgess Hill Model Railway Club Exhibition - Burgess Hill School for Girls
Sat 8th / Sun 9th September - Bluebell Railway Shareholders Weekend - Sheffield Park+
Sat 22nd / Sun 23rd September - Worthing Model Railway Exhibition - Durrington High School
Sat 13th / Sun 14th October - Bluebell Railway Autumn Steam Gala - Sheffield Park
Sat 3rd / Sun 4th November - West Sussex N Gauge Group Exhibition - Angmering School
* Location to be confirmed
+Worksite open for inspection (subject to agreement)




At some of the Model Railway Exhibitions, and some that are not listed above, it is possible that we will be represented by our supporting Model Shop, Harrison-Brown Models http://harrisonbrownmodels.co.uk/ from who's web shop you can obtain a number of our items on line!

Appeal for Help

We are looking for a group of people to help to run the sales and information stands to enable us to cover as many as possible.  The only qualifications you will need are a good sense of humour, a willingness to stand on cold drafty and sometimes damp platforms and a keenness to see small locos working on the Bluebell Railway!




Full training will be given, and indeed we might even learn from you! in addition to the qualifications noted above you will need to be a paid up member of the Bluebell Railway and will be required to attend a short safety briefing given by the Bluebell Railway.




If you are in a position to help us, please email us at thefenchurchfund@gmail.com Thanks in anticipation.








Web Site (P27 page about to be updated): www.bluebell-railway.co.uk




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