Engineering notes

By Tony Massau

The mounting pads on the firebox and boiler barrel have now all been machined to achieve a smooth flat surface finish and have subsequently been covered with grease and a protective blanking plate. The whole unit is expected to receive a coat of paint and then be sat on a wagon for a short period of time before being installed in the chassis of the loco. Work is in progress on producing the circular bands of crinoline for the boiler barrel cladding.

Various shims have been made for the slide bars and some fitted on the right-hand side of the loco ready for another check with the optical alignment equipment.

Machining of the slide bars for the valve crossheads is in progress as is the manufacture of large nuts for securing the valve heads onto the spindles.

The bushes for the coupling rods have been machined to the stage of being ready for casting white metal.