Overhaul update
We again start with the boiler and the right hand lower firebox side. This has now had all the stay holes and rivet holes to the foundation ring drilled out.
On the other side, the replacement lower section is finished welded and is having the same holes drilled out by the magnetic drill.
The Fund’s Archive was able to provide the original drawings of the firebox, from which the positions of the various holes were determined.
Various bits of redundant metal await disposal in front of the boiler: lower section of front tubeplate, bottom of the front of the barrel and part of the outer backplate.
The inner backplate welding work is complete and the various holes are being re-drilled to the original sizes prior to reinstallation.
Also on site is the new smokebox wrapper, currently a plain cylinder without holes for the chimney, blastpipe, etc. It will not be fitted until the superheater header is installed on the new front tubeplate.
The top feed casting is currently in the machine shop having some defects corrected.
These include having some wasted areas built up with weld, then ground flat.
The work also includes machining the joint face to the clack box. The three stud holes per side were also worn and have been re-drilled and retapped the next size up. Stepped studs will be used here to preserve the size of holes in the clack box faces.
Old and new blastpipes, stands and blower rings in company at the shed. The old units have been claimed by a member of the SVR fitting staff for further use - as a plant holder!
Work on the frames continues, with a small list of jobs chalked on the cabside.
The return cranks have been trial fitted to both side driving wheels.
The Fund’s working party witnessed the pressing in of a big end brass to a connecting rod. The two items are seen here on a trolley for movement to the press.
The rod supported from the lifting crane with the big end in the press and new brass positioned over its eye.
Close up of the two before pressing began...
...and after it started.
This showed that the key and its keyway were not quite in line, corrected by means of a hammer and drift...
...following which the pressing in continued...
...until the brass was fully home and the press’s ram withdrawn.
Parts awaiting final coats of black paint prior to return to the engine include the fall plates to the tender and cab running steps...
...while in the paintshop, SVR’s Mick Flint applies gloss black to the boiler cladding sheets.