News

November 08

South Devon Railway have made progress on the smoke-box.

September 08

We have a new virtual secondhand bookshop page. We receive welcome donations in the guise of good quality interesting railway books and DVDs to sell on to help raise funds.

We have taken delivery of, along with smokebox numberplate order, the large ejector exhaust elbow and its large nut. These items now require machining, then they will be ready to fit to the smokebox. You can compare the finished castings with the patterns on the smokebox page.

We have really smart quality black sweat shirts with embroidered British Railways 'Cycling Lion' emblem now in stock just £20 each including postage and packing, go to our shop for details on how to order yours. All the profits go towards the completion of the frames.

We have complete ready to fit blower elbow from Phil Oldfield. This fits on the smoke box below the large ejector and supplies steam to the blower ring. There is a picture of it on the smokebox page.

August 08

The project is going through a frustrating time with regards to the frames; we are still at the back of the queue with the final machining. We just have to be patient and wait a while longer.

To help speed up the work on the Axle Box Liners, the Chairman has been in touch with the experts with regards to the modern day grade of Manganese Steel. In the days of British Railways, the grade used was classified as BR126. A company in York can supply the correct grade of Manganese Steel for the liners, also for the rubbing plates on the locomotive frame's rear buffer beam; we are just awaiting final prices. All the Manganese Steel plates will be supplied cut to the correct required size, as this type of steel is of a very hard nature and also 'work hardens' (i.e. as a saw cuts into the metal, the metal actually becomes harder) so a mechanical saw blade will soon lose its teeth.

The steel backing plates and fitted bolts are also going to be ordered to complete this part of the frames.

Smoke Box - the workshops on the South Devon Railway are going through a total re-fit and so our smoke-box is on hold. As soon as we can a small working party will carry on with the drilling of the barrel and fitting of the ready made parts held in stock. We have supplied our own smoke box door number plate as the replica ones we have are too small, we supply them to the correct size as per Swindon drawing.

Foundry - the brake hanger brackets have been cast and heat treated and are ready for machining, the foundry director has a contact at a small engineering company that regularly does work for them, he will take a casting and drawing over for a quote to machine all 6 brackets. They can also arrange all the transport, saving the project time and money.

We are still awaiting the smoke box ejector elbow and the large nut, there is some delay on this order as the foundry have just come off their two weeks Summer holiday. Another order has been placed for other parts including a 77xxx smoke box door plate for a customer.

The Chairman has been having talks with the Directors of the foundry, to produce a price list for some of the main castings needed for the frames, by publishing these costs via our web site and adverts in the railway press we hope to attract financial support/sponsorship for these specific items.

Castings that are being quoted for are as follows: Bogie Centre Pivot, Combined Frame Stretcher & Brake Cylinder Support, Combined Frame Stretcher & Spring Bracket (small casting), Combined Frame Stretcher & Spring Bracket (large casting) and Combined Frame Stretcher & Spring Bracket & Brake Shaft Carrier.

These are large castings and have complex patterns to produce them.

On a helpful note, I would like to thank Steve Humby from the 75079 group for his help in supplying the drawing of the 10 1/2 in. steam brake cylinder as fitted to the 'Clans'. There are patterns available to produce the castings, we just have to contact the locomotive group that has them to see if we can use them or be supplied with the castings. One major headache cured.

Also we would like to wish the 'TORNADO' group the very best with the loco and if it comes over to EWS for running on a steam charter from Bristol, I shall give it the once over and look forward to meeting the support crew.

July 08

The brake hanger brackets are now ready for collection, require van hire to move, we will combine with moving remaining smokebox parts to SDR. The two 'Brake Shaft Bearings' SL/DE19648 (also suit classes 9,8,7,6 and 5) have now been ordered.

Brake hanger brackets have been cast and are now being heat treated, will be ready for collection soon.

June 08

Frames

There has been a delay on the machining of the horn guides due to waiting for suitable slot for our job to go onto the milling machine. The Manganese steel is being sourced/ordered to form the rubbing surface for the axle boxes.

The Manganese steel has to be ground flat before welding on to a steel back plate, and then the side pieces are also welded to the steel back plate, this whole assembly is then bolted on to the face of the horn guides. We need a total of 12 back plates, 12 Manganese face plates and 12 side pieces.

Smokebox

The go ahead to finish the smoke-box was given at a recent meeting with the engineering staff of the South Devon Railway, we are pleased that they are now in a position to do this work as we are confident that the end result will be superb. The project had looked into the possibility of having the barrel rolled in 'Core 10' - copper steel. This was the original steel spec that B.R. used for the smoke box barrels on all B.R. Standards. However the size of the barrel is 9ft - 2.1/8in  and it is virtually impossible to order a sheet of 'Core 10' to this size, so a high grade steel of comparable spec is being used which will have a minimum life of 30 years.

The smoke box door and ring will be finished first by having the door hinges drilled and riveted to the door. Also, the door will be drilled for fitting of the lamp iron and the shed and self cleaning plates. The brackets for fixing the number plate will be welded on and the company is supplying its own smoke box door number plate which is on order from the foundry. Finally the hand rail, door centring brackets, and inside door protector plates will be fitted.

The door and front ring will be drilled and riveted to the barrel, also to help keep the round shape of the barrel; we are having the rear smoke box ring machined, this joins the smoke box to the boiler barrel. If left unsupported, after a period of time the barrel will sag under its own weight and would be very difficult to return it to a round shape again.

The liner or sacrificial plate, which we have in store, can be fitted, this will also help to support the barrel.

All external brackets and fittings will be fitted. We are short of one casting the stuffing box for the whistle connection. This arrangement includes a stop valve as part of the steam supply to the whistle and to the lance cock. We hold in stock the regulator stuffing box casting, regulator access cover, chime whistle, whistle valve, lance cock, vacuum ejector and their respective brackets.

The vacuum ejector box was obtained some time ago and will need to have the spiders cleaned out and generally serviced. The two drain valves fitted to ejector elbow and ejector box are on order. The last piece to complete this assembly will be the swan necked ejector pipe.

It has also been decided to fit the B.R. type spark arrester system as per the drawing and parts are being ordered. This includes the smoke box arrester bars support bracket patterns and castings, comprised of two pairs of handed castings.

With regards to the Melesco multivalve regulator, we hold the drawings for the class 8 and the class 7 locomotives but can any one help with the drawing for the class 6 type? The class 6 only has 35 superheater elements where as the class 8/7 has 40 superheater elements. 

Finally we will need the steam pipe stuffing box patterns and castings, which will need machining and the steam pipes to complete. Inquiries have been made about having the steam pipes supplied, but the design includes a very tight bend where they come off the header; so far not one company approached is capable of handling such a bend without prohibitively expensive specially made tooling.

All running plate brackets, running plates, smoke deflectors and nameplates held in stock to be fitted and then when suitable to be placed on frames for display.

May 08

We have the bogie bearing pad brackets, require machining

We have the pin jointed cross stay brackets, require machining

The six brake hanger brackets castings have been ordered

The large ejector exhaust elbow casting has been ordered

A pair of brand new firehole doors have been purchased from Railway forgings and Castings

Intermediate boiler support pattern and casting on order

Copes Engineering are completing the final machining on the horn guides

Ian Riley has agreed to erect the frames in his workshop at Bury

We can supply replica B.R. Standard loco smokebox numberplates of your choice through our web shop

South Devon Railway Engineering to progress the smokebox

We have bought a pair of new front cylinder cover castings from Railway forgings and Castings

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