Overhaul update

Progress reports near the engine to inform visitors. The simple typed sheet details major work done or underway.

The coloured chart shows work completed in green; ongoing in yellow and yet to begin in red. There are several green areas but few red ones, and three of these are part of the testing regime when the overhaul is complete.

An apparently minor outstanding job was the riveting of the left hand cabside, but now this is completed it has allowed further work to be done.

The biggest of these tasks was to fit the reverser. This is extremely heavy item and had been built up on the bench. With access for the fork lift truck very limited, the Fund’s working party dismantled it again, moved all parts individually on to the footplate, and reassembled it.

In the same area, the linkage between the cab and cylinders for the drain cocks was this day assembled throughout and tested.

As noted on the progress reports, the pony truck is now completed and ready to be fitted under the engine.

Also ready to be fitted are the slide bars, here shown nicely painted. This is not a simple job as aligning these by shimming is part of it. They won’t be fitted until the new valve liners have been fitted.

Also for the benefit of visitors, the chimney has reappeared next to the engine. The ejector exhaust ring has been cut to reveal its internal passages and the ends whitened. Obviously, a new one is to be cast, news which would have benefitted the Fund’s volunteers when they removed the chimney, taking great care not to damage the ring!