Burgess Hill Model Railway Exhibition

Sales and Information stand event

A quick update on the sales and Information stand "road show" events coming up for the rest of the year.  It looks like a really busy September!


On the 7th of September we will be attending the annual Burgess Hill Model railway Exhibition at Burgess Hill Girls School in Keymer Road (RH15 0EG). The opening hours are from 10am until 5pm.
For further information please take a look at the web site for the event -  https://www.burgesshillmrc.org.uk/exhibitions where you will find a list of the exhibitors and traders.  Our loyal volunteers will be glad to meet you and chat with you regarding  the restoration of our historic loco. 


Other events we will be at (subject to weather and volunteer availability) will be:


September 14th/15th - Bluebell Railway "Behind the Scenes"- Platform 1 adjacent to the shop
September 28th/29th - Worthing Model Railway Club Exhibition Durrington High School
                                     For further information please visit http://www.worthingmrc.co.uk/exhibition
October 12th/13th - Bluebell Railway "Giants of Steam" weekend  - Platform 1 adjacent to the shop


There are a couple of working days coming up in September and October which will see further riveting taking place as well as a myriad of other jobs large and small.  We are going through a stage where a lot o0f hard work is going on, but to the casual observer, nothing much changes!  please be rest assured that work is progressing at a fairly rapid rate.  We are looking forward to seeing a rolling chassis in the not too distant future!


If you can help us, please make your donation on line at:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/27


We are a completely self funded group of Bluebell Railway Volunteers working hard to look after and promote the small locomotive fleet on the Bluebell Railway.


Thank you

Restoration Update August 2019

Mid Summer Update

 

To the casual observer, maybe not much has changed, but with over 400 holes previously drilled we have slowly been setting up the frames over the summer. 

We have been carefully aligning the various frame plates, reaming through and countersinking the appropriate holes. Over the course of 3 weekends or so started to rivet up the frames, mainly concentrating on the rear drag box.

As well as this work has continued, with much thanks to the bluebell’s workshop staff and machine shop Forman, fettling and finishing off the final machining of our cylinder block in house. Following splitting the block into the LH & RH halves and carrying out some further machining we will be ready to trial fit the block back into the frames! This will represent a great step forward towards the completion of the rolling chassis.

Ian Furgeson, one of our volunteer machinist’s has been busy machining our piston heads to size and re-bushing the spring hanger brackets in preparation for these being re-fitted in the appropriate places. 

 

Help us to keep up our progress and donate today by clicking the link below!

 

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/27

The Rear Buffer Beam with the initial rivets installed

The initial rivets in place for the rear buffer beam

Some of the many rivets installed for the building up of the rear dragbox

Riveting the rear frames and dragbox

Work continues on setting up the rear dragbox with rivets in place

Spring Hanger re-bushed awaiting refitment

Spring hanger brackets waiting re-fitment with the alignment tool shown

Re-machined piston heads

Re-machined piston head ring groves freshly machined by our volunteer machinist Ian Furguson

Alignment button hole drilled and machined ready for it's marking out button to be fitted.

Button installed

Installed button

One of 12 alignment buttons now permanently installed.

There are six of these on either side of the engine directly opposite each other, with their centres pop marked.  They are set on the horizontal ride height line equally spaced either side of the three axle centres. The buttons are used as our fixed datum points to measure from and set up the various components of the engine such as the cylinder block position.  They will also be used for finding the centres of the axle boxes for machining and fitting them, setting the centres of the coupling rods for machining and fitting, and the list goes on! In effect they are extremely important and are the datum points for building the engine accurately and enable it to run freely maintenance free for many years.

Meanwhile the rear draw hook locating plate has been riveted on

A close up to show the head of one of the countersunk rivets employed

Following the recent Network Rail Working Week followed up by some extra preparation, the sandboxes are almost ready to be re-fitted

The brake hangers being attended to following an initial gritblasting

We are proceeding quite nicely with the restoration and it is great to hear feedback from our supporters.  However for us to continue to maintain this level of work, we rely on the donations and purchases made to the fund.  We appreciate this and hope that we will continue to receive the level of funding we have enjoyed in the past.

If you could help us with any donation, large or small, we would be extremely grateful, every little helps as they say.

Please remember that we have a new donations platform for accepting your donations which will help us to complete the restoration of SECR Locomotive No.27.  This can be found at:

  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/27
And please gift aid your donation if you are able to

Please remember that our progress can only carry on with your help.  We are completely self-funded group.
Thank you for your continued support.