Dick Brown at work burnishing part of the valve gear  


Fire hole door assembly awaiting fitting  


Shut off valve in place on the fire box (Pete Mason)  

More steady, if unspectacular, progress has taken place with the restoration over the past three months.

In the last progress report, the cab support plate was seen being offered up to the back of the loco.  Once in place, it was secured with clamps and reinforcing bars to try to reduce any distortion that would occur as a result of the welding (as welds cool, they shrink and distort the material). The welds that hold this plate are very heavy, and it took three passes over the joint to build up a sufficient thickness of material.  When the clamps, etc., were removed, there was very little distortion of the plate and we were very pleased with the quality of the work.  It now looks just like the original must have done when the loco was rebuilt.  The plate then received the usual painting treatment, up to gloss black, and we could then replace all the ancillary fittings including the brackets for the cab floor supports, injectors, and the turbo generator.

The boiler exterior has been fully cleaned and painted with heat resistant silver paint, and the smoke box has received similar treatment, but using black paint!  Out-shopping P&O with a silver smoke box would have the 'livery purists' up in arms!

All the boiler crinolines had previously been de-rusted and painted, and these were retrieved from storage for fitting back on the loco.  We were pleased to see that they all seemed to go back where they came from, which means that the cladding sheets stand a good chance of fitting properly.

The mounting face on the side of the smoke box for the brake ejector exhaust pipe has been cleaned up, and hours of skilled preparation work has produced a smooth face which should seal nicely when the pipe fitting is offered up.  Once in place, we'll be able to assess the alignment of the exhaust pipe that runs along the driver's side of the boiler.  It will also allow us to drill the mounting bracket for the brake ejector.

Most of the cladding sheets for the boiler have been retrieved from store, and we managed to find a small covered area where these could be painted.  The inside surfaces have received a final coat of black gloss, and for those sheets that will be inaccessible when the boiler is properly located, the outer face has been painted up to Brunswick Green.

After a lot of work, we have finished and fitted the shut off valve on the front of the fire box that controls the ancillary functions of the loco, such as steam heating, injectors, steam brake, turbo generator, etc.  If a steam leak occurs in the cab, the crew can locate this valve and safely shut off the steam supply. 

The faces for the main steam pipes on top of the cylinder castings have never received any attention since the loco left Barry scrap yard.  The faces were badly pitted by corrosion, and they need to be perfectly flat to make a steam-tight joint.  Remaking the joint has involved producing a special lapping tool to fit the pipe, then many hours of painstaking work with the tool and lapping paste to achieve the desired result. The pipe on the left hand cylinder now blues up perfectly with the new sealing ring for the end of the steam pipe and is complete. It took over seven weeks to get the first face good enough, but 'only' three weeks to do the second.  The inside cylinder remains to be done.

Work has continued with burnishing the valve gear, with the heavy protective grease removed from the coupling rods, and they have come up shining bright. On the right side a new SKF roller bearing has been fitted for the bearing at the end of the return crank.  It has an unusual leather gasket instead of rubber, and the aptly named Leather Gasket Company came up trumps!

We have done much work on the fire grate, which was found not to fit properly when we did the steam test at Chatham Steam. Further fettling and machining has taken place on the assembly to ensure that it will fit well and function properly when in place over the ash pans.

Another long-running project has finally come to a conclusion.  The original frame that holds the fire-hole doors was damaged, so we were grateful to our friends on the Bluebell Railway when they offered us the chance to buy a new casting, and we were even more grateful when they offered to machine it, too!  However, during the machining process we found out there was more than one design of frame, and the new one didn't quite match our Merchant Navy boiler.  Quite a bit of re-jigging has been needed to get the doors to fit the frame, and the frame to fit the loco.  Some of the back head cladding has had to be trimmed also, but all is now hopefully finished.

Finally, we have had an interesting find!  During the GWR175 Gala there was an auction of railwayana, amongst which was a smoke box door from a Bulleid Pacific. A collector had purchased the smokebox door from "Battle of Britain" Class number 34066 "Spitfire" from a scrap dealer, and it had lain in his garage for 45 years until now.  The smokebox door on P. & O. is on its last legs and this one is considerably better, though still in ex-loco condition.  The bid price we paid was far lower than the cost of a new door, so we have rescued another genuine Bulleid part and have made 35006 an even more interesting locomotive!