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| Newsletter - December 2003 The loss of access to the loco shed not only deprived us of a useful facility but also denied visitors the chance of a better look at some of the work going on in the workshops. We are therefore very pleased that the dangerous roof has now been removed, enabling us to work in the shed once more and also allowing us to open the workshop viewing gallery again. Hopefully this will also restore the flow of donations which has reduced while access to the workshops has been limited. Restoration of the shed roof will of course require a large amount of money in itself but this will be the subject of a separate appeal.
As reported in the last Newsletter, the E1, less its boiler, has been moved outside and the motion sheeted over to protect it from the worst of the weather. There has therefore been little work conducted on it over the last few months. However, since 30075 continues to progress rapidly, it will not be long before it is completed and attention can again be turned to the E1.
Work has continued at a very rapid rate on the boiler of 30075. Since the last report the side stays have been finished off and the crown stays have been completely replaced. The old crown stays were burnt out and the holes were reamed out to the next size for retapping. Below Steve Masters is running the stay tap down through the outer wrapper plate. The other picture shows the crown stays installed. In order to support the front of the firebox the first row of stays are different to all the others. Here the stays are not extended through the outer wrapper but are tightened onto a row of bridge supports which are held on the second row of stays and also press on the top edge of the tubeplate. This allows the tubeplate to expand upwards as the boiler heats up.
The tubeplate was inserted into the end of the boiler barrel using hydraulic jacks and lump hammers. The size was perfect. The rivet holes were drilled out all round and the plate held temporarily in place with bolts ready for the rivetting to be done. The pictures show the rivets being heated in the furnace before being rivetted - an extremely noisy process!
No news is good news with regard to the 56 which has continued to be a reliable performer and has not required any work other than routine maintenance in the last period.
705 failed in December with a holed main steam pipe. It is currently in the workshop awaiting fitting of the new steam pipe.
A local firm, RM Penny were contracted to take off the shed roof and render it safe to enter the shed once more. The roof was in too dangerous a state to enable work to be carried from inside so a cherry picker was used to remove the tiles, felt and timber from above. Lastly the worst of the corroded steel work was taken down. Until the shed was made safe, loco preparation had to continue outside.
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