Join The Rivet Club!

The Little Loco Group supported by The Fenchurch Fund are launching"The Rivet Club" with the assistance of The Bluebell Railway Trust.

The Rivet Club

Help us to see this fine little engine run once again by joining our Rivet Club!

The Idea?

Hundreds of rivets go into the construction of an engine to make it whole, all playing their small part, and this inspired us and got us thinking! How could we raise the expected cost of £150,000 to see No 27 Primrose run again? Like each individual rivet that goes into the construction of an engine to make it whole if we where to break down this figure into a large number of individual monthly donations from a large number of regular donating members the task of raising the funds to restore No 27 Primrose would become a lot less daunting and a lot more achievable!

The Rivet Club!

Hence the Rivet Club was born! Set at £3 a month to join the club (Less then a Pint of Beer to coin a catch phrase of a famous new build!) each member would contribute £36 a year. Not much you might say but if we where able to sign up 1000 members then this would equate to £36,000 a year towards the £150,000 needed and help to raise the funds required over a 5 year period!

So could YOU help us?

You will soon  be able to join the Rivet Club and make a difference! at £3 a month you could help us see SECR loco No 27 return to steam within the next 5 years! Once signed up you’ll also receive a copy of our quarterly E-newsletter as a way of saying thank you as well as keeping you up to date with our current progress! More details will be posted here shortly.

Thank you in anticipation.

A few Cylinder pictures

Just a few snaps of the cylinders which have recently been taken off the milling machine following the final major machining activities on them. There are a few minor jobs to be done before we can think about installing them in the frames though!  There is also plenty of work to be done on the frames before reunification can be carried out.

The top of the cylinder block

The first picture shows the top of the bolted together cylinders with all of the major machining complete. 

Close up of the exhaust

This picture shows the machined face of the exhaust port.  the blast pipe will be attached to this when it is installed.

The front of the cylinder block

This shows the machining of the faces to take the cylinder covers and the temporary fitment of the valve chest cover. You can just make out the machining of the inside of the bore around the steam ports

Looking through the left cylinder bore

Looking through the left cylinder bore it is easy to see the surfaces and tapped holes. the red oxide cover is to the valve chest.  this has been temporarily place on the castings.

The underside of the castings

The underside of the cylinders showing the drain holes to allow condensation out of the cylinders as the loco moves off. Note also the legend "SECR P CLASS LH" and similar for the RH cast into the metal.

Fundraising Stand

We nave come top the end of this years programme of sales and information stands, apart from a couple of "mini stands" by the signal box on the 30th November and 7th of December.


We are always looking for new places to spread the word, so if you organise a model railway exhibition or other related event and are looking for stands to fill a space, please let us know.


Our first even in 2020 will be at the Wealden Railway Group annual exhibition on Saturday 7th March in Lancing Parish Hall.


Fundraising generally has been reasonably good this year, though we did miss three events for various reasons, including wind and rain at the Giants of Steam. This has meant we are slightly down on take from last year.  If you would like to help fill the gap between the figures, please go to our Virgin Money page shown below.


Remember, all of this has been possible with the generosity of people like you that are interested in the project.
Without your support we cannot carry on at the same rate experienced so far.
Please donate anything you can afford if you would like to see our efforts and passion come to a successful end.
A donation of £27 would go a long way towards our aim.
(with gift aid that becomes £33.75)


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

You can also give via standing order to the Bluebell Railway Trust (please contact us for a form) or regular payments via Virgin Money Giving.

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.