It's Hornblock Time Again....

After going slightly astray on its travels between Dudley and Aviemore we found the newly machined LH Driving Hornblock when an Inverness courier phoned Keith Holyland on 12th April and asked if this large pallet-load addressed to the Strathspey Railway Company was urgent.....!

Having got the necessary confirmation it arrived at Aviemore Shed a couple of hours later and there were the old and new hornblocks. So here we go again with a tale of lifting, marking, drilling (and reaming yet to come)....

Arrival at last...Keith Holyland admires the newly arrived hornblock package. Forklift driven by Nathan Lightowler.

With CR828 looking on with interest Dave Green steadies the newly machined hornblock and checks out the excellent finish achieved by Harco Engineering

Shunting by JCB.....Colin Vaughan and Dave Green get the old girl out of the shed in readiness for the first trial fit of the new hornblock. Absence of buffers and any loco brake makes this a somewhat delicate operation - but no problem - the scotches are safely in  position.

A study in wheels.....

Lifting the hornblock under the loco. Forklifts and pallets are wonderful inventions...

Using the pallet as a working platform Dave Green steadies the precisely-cut wooden block that gives the forklift enough height to lift the casting into the correct position..

After a bit of filing on the frame horns the hornblock lifted nicely into position and we clamped it against the frames to allow marking out of the initial four holes for the temporary bolts that would then allow all 22 holes to be marked out..

In the machine shop on the big radial arm drill the hornblock complete with four holes scribed into the marking paint waits on Nathan getting to work..

Nathan clamping the hornblock to the drilling machine table...

The scene a few hours later after refitting the hornblock to the loco with the four temporary bolts and marking out all the bolt holes. Nathan has generated a huge pile of swarf and the casting has its bolt holes...

With the loco back in the shed the hornblock is firmly jacked and bolted into position and all the bolt holes have been formed...next job is to commence reaming the holes truly circular and parallel. This is the view from inside the frames. Once we have reamed all of the holes the hornblock will be taken off again to allow the inner face to be skimmed to provide a true seating for the nuts. We also have to fit the new hornclip to the bottom of the hornblock and check the fit of the axlebox...

The view from outside the frames. Three of the four temporary bolts can be seen

A lovely picture of CR828 during her visit to the Severn Valley Railway a few years ago. She was seen by many people as the star attraction of the 2011 Autumn Gala (Notwithstanding the presence of "Tornado"). The perfect condition of the loco is a great credit to the Strathspey Railway Company "Minders" who stayed with her and made sure the loco was properly looked after and operated correctly. Picture by Mr David Wilcock.