Boiler
It’s been a while since we bid goodbye to 4561’s boiler and waved it off on its journey to Rileys. Riley’s then had to complete a full assessment of the boiler and come up with a proposal for the refurbishment, with input from BES and the WSR engineering department.
On 26 January, Trustee Jeff Price reported “4561 boiler is in bits at Riley’s awaiting copper firebox crack detection by BES and the manufacture of a new coned barrel section before the work moved on to the next stage of boiler throat plate rectification plus the repair program for the copper box. The old cone section has been condemned“
Meanwhile, back in Somerset work continues on other parts of the loco.
Side Tanks
A decision has been made to fabricate new tanks for the loco to provide water capacity as originally designed . The first image below shows the steel frame and brackets on loco 4561 where the tanks sit. There should be a single row of holes 9 inches apart on the outside angle iron to which the base of the tank is bolted.
As shown by the second and third images, volunteers have had made a thin steel template of the tank bottom plate. A new CAD drawing was produced using the original GWR Swindon drawings, from which the template was laser cut. The template is to the correct size and shape, has the cut outs for the wheel splashers and has the correct locations of the fixing holes.
Connection Rods
As you can see from the images below, the inside faces of the rods are extremely rusted and pitted and we are trying to clean these up as best we can although they are not normally in view. The first two images show the inside of one of the rods before the work started.
Apart from a better appearance, removal of the pitting reduces stress concentration areas in the rod which should much reduce the chance of any cracks appearing. A smooth surface also allows for more reliable non-destructive testing of the rods.
The third image in the block below shows one inside edge having been cleaned up.
The work is still ongoing.
The first two images below show the recessed inside of the rod being cleaned up, and the final image shows the face at the end of the rod having been cleaned up. The counter bore where the bearing flange sits is very pitted and this will need machining.
