At last...the news we've been waiting for!! Ian Riley received the tender tyre forgings on January 23rd and is well underway with machining and fitting them. The plan is to uplift the completed wheelsets at Heywood on 13th February along with the wheels from 46512 and bring the whole lot home to Aviemore in a single load. This will save the Strathspey Railway Company around £600 in transport costs. This gives us a good chance of having CR 828 ready for the start of the 2017 running season.
In the meantime a few other mechanical jobs have been completed at Aviemore including fitting of the smokebox spark arrester and an inspection of the tender steam brake. John Greig has been busy preparing the loco front bufferbeam for final repainting and has also prepared the loco running plate for a new coat of black paint. The new crownplate castings for the tender axleboxes have been primed by Roddie McRae so we're building up a bit of a worklist for our expert painter Mr Murray Duncan who is with us for a couple of weeks in February...
A welcome sight..! A pile of tender tyre forgings of the correct size(!) undergoing machining at Ian Riley's works in Heywood, Lancashire |
On the vertical boring machine... |
Getting ready for heating and shrinking in place on the wheel centre.. |
Another tyre on the vertical borer at Heywood.. |
Brian Warrender getting to grips with the cover nuts on the tender brake cylinder.. |
The brake cylinder is in excellent condition. It shows very little wear and is fit for at least another half century of operation... |
The brake piston is also in excellent condition and needs no attention.. |
The brake cylinder cover has an interesting casting defect. It operates at atmospheric pressure and we are in agreement with the CR / LMS / BR that it remains fit for further service.. |
John Greig stands back from filling and rubbing down the front bufferbeam before applying a coat of primer. The brilliant winter sun makes it difficult to appreciate John's workmanship... |
The Alan French spark arrester clad with mesh and almost ready for installation.. |
Close-up of the spark arrester in position.. |
What we hope to see soon again at Boat of Garten Station.....a picture from Mrs Aileen Scott's Facebook Timehop.. |