Engineering notes

By Tony Massau

The main task recently has been the trial fit of the reversing shaft. Some careful scraping of the whitemetalled bearings has taken place as the shaft was a little tight to move once the bearing caps were tightened down. The shaft movement has now been eased. The shaft will have to be removed again for fitting the arms on each end which will involve shrinking the shaft ends in liquid nitrogen.

A little more work has been done on the rocking grate mechanism. The backhead of the outer firebox has been drilled for stays.

Neil Taylor Joins The Trust

By Chris Proudfoot

We are delighted to tell you that Neil Taylor has been appointed as a Trustee and Director of the 82045 SLT. Many of you will know that Neil worked for the Severn Valley Railway as Head of Engineering Services until he took retirement in early 2021. During his tenure, he managed to transform the Bridgnorth operation and is in large measure responsible for the excellent working relationship that now exists between the Trust and the SVR.

He is the ideal person to help take 82045 onwards into the future: he is still a young chap (at least by our standards!), and those of you who have met him will know that he is a thoroughly likeable person and great to work with. Welcome to the Trust, Neil, it's great to have you with us.

Annual General Meeting

Please make a note in your diary for Saturday 2nd April at 2.00 p.m. We are hopeful that we might actually manage to hold a proper AGM this year, and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.

Usual venue: the upstairs Lecture Theatre at Kidderminster Railway Museum. This will be the first since 2019, so please continue to keep everything crossed that it goes ahead. There is a lot to tell you, I promise.

Meeting with SVR Management

We had a meeting at Kidderminster on January 27th with MD Helen Smith and other elements of the management of the Severn Valley Railway. It was a valuable preliminary discussion to precede an eventual locomotive agreement between the SVR and the Trust. Neil Taylor is to pursue the timeline to completion with Duncan Ballard and Martin White from the SVR Locomotive Department, and we discussed the significance of the Future Fund, now shaping up nicely as a ring-fenced source of financial support for the engine's well-being.

It is clear that the SVR at last realise what a fantastic attraction the new loco is going to be - at least until the novelty wears off - and I look forward to working with Lesley Carr to try and ensure that its entry into service is marketed as effectively as possible. In this connection, if you have any bright ideas I'd like to hear from you.

Ivan Whitehouse

Our friend and colleague Ivan Whitehouse passed away suddenly earlier this month, aged 79. A former BR fireman at Bushbury, Ivan was a member of the SVR from the early days, and for many years worked as a volunteer with the Bridgnorth P-Way Department.

Ivan was a skilled photographer, and was responsible for recording for posterity some of the Trust's red-letter days, such as the two Eardington specials we ran with 1450 and, more recently, 'Waterloo Sunset', the special train hauled by 'Taw Valley' in memory of Paul Anderson, also a former BR fireman (at Nine Elms). In addition, he kept me well supplied with a constant stream of images of the 82XXX tanks in BR service, many of which have been featured in our monthly updates.

Poignantly, there are a lot more to come - goodness knows where he dug them all up - so his name will continue to appear regularly and he won't be forgotten. For ten years, and right up to his unexpected passing, Ivan cared devotedly for his wife, who suffers from dementia. There's no justice, is there?

Rest in peace, old lad, and thanks for everything.