There has been loads of work going on over the winter!

During a visit to Sheffield Park on Saturday, I took a series of pictures illustrating the progress made during the cold and dark months since my last report.  To the "untrained eye" there would appear to be not too much difference between the before and after scenes.  However to get to that stage many hours of work have been carried out.  For example the levelling and squaring of the frames has taken place, which doesn't sound much work, but it took three solid weekends working up to 8 hours a day to get it right. This is just to the temporary bolting stage!  Once the riveting commences, there will be a need for constant monitoring and checking before and after each riveting operation!

The pair of rear cylinder covers thoroughly cleaned and painted (all pictures Clive Emsley)

The pair of front cylinder covers thoroughly cleaned and painted

The front valve chest cover 



Pair of expansion links cleaned and burnished to within an inch of their lives!

Various pieces of linkage having been thoroughly cleaned and painted

More linkages, valve spindles and slide bars having been dealt with

The Front and Rear buffer beams being prepared for erection onto the frames

The new frame plates bolted up with the original stretchers and the first part of the new rear drag box

The new rear dragbox plate bolted into position

The original stretchers and motion bracket bolted into place

And finally!

Jim has painted up a new board to accompany the bright red money box!

Projected work for next year

During the coming year we are hoping to produce a rolling chassis.  This will involve sourcing springs, re-metaling and machining the axle boxes and machining various components.  We will also be aiming to add the running plate and valance to the chassis.  Other items will be added to the loco as the year progresses also.

The work will be reliant on available funding, the more we can raise the more work we can do.

I am sure you would like to see the loco working as much as we do, and to help us to reach the stage of a working locomotive, we need all the help we can get!  Please donate as much as you can afford, no matter how small, it all makes a difference.  Or if you have items that you would like to donate for our sales stands or items suitable for auction (model railways or  railwayana, we would be pleased to receive them.

To donate on line, please go to our BT MyDonate page:

 https://mydonate.bt.com/events/27

or use the QR code below.

PLEASE NOTE

The BT My Donate page will be removed by BT on the 30th June.  However, we will have another donations page up and running by that time! 

If you would like to make a regular donation, please ask for a Standing Order form by email to the address below, please also use this address for enquiries and offers of physical help.


thefenchurchfund@gmail.com

The Project is entirely self funded and relies on your donations and sales stand purchases

for the work to continue

Thank you for your continued support of the Fenchurch Fund and The Small Loco Group (Known together as PROJECT 27)  It is much appreciated.