We've spent a lot of effort this quarter tidying up more of the loose ends, finishing off tasks that for one reason or another were never quite finished.  Perhaps we didn't have the right length of bolt to hand, or a part needed more work to finish it.  So it's been a period of 'consolidation', which means an awful lot of work has been done without much to show for it, but it's better to be doing this work now at our leisure, rather than desperately trying to fit all the tasks in with the loco needed in service, and thus risking a failure.

However, those who want to see 'big shiny bits' need look no further than the boiler which now has all its insulation fitted (including behind the back head, which footplate crews should appreciate!), and most of the cladding fitted as well.  The cladding sheets for the fire box were painted up to top coat and fitted first.  Although all the sheets had previously been fitted on the loco, those on top of the fire box now had to fit round the Combine Pipe where the clearances were very small indeed. 

We'd received many comments that the sheets would never go back in exactly the same places, but with time, patience and judicious use of luggage straps with tensioners, everything could be made to fit properly.

The Regulator Stuffing Box has now been fitted. This is the box that fits at the top of the back head and contains the mechanism to operate the regulator control rod where it passes into the boiler.  The control mechanism was assembled, including the driver's regulator handle, and aligned so there was no binding of the shaft where it feeds through the bearings on the boiler back head.  Where the shaft passes into the stuffing box, packing was fitted to make the shaft steam tight.  None of the mechanism inside the boiler can be lubricated, and at present operation of the regulator is as stiff as you might expect.  A combination of heat from the boiler and regular use will ease the mechanism in time, and meanwhile people have been trying their hand at opening and closing the regulator.

The Combine Pipe connects between the steam manifold in the cab and a control valve on the fire box shoulder, allowing steam to be cut off externally in the event of a serious steam leak on the footplate.  The pipe is a complex shape and was fabricated by Chatham Steam in one piece. It carries steam at full boiler pressure and has been hydraulically tested to prove the pipe and its flanges are up to the job.  The pipe was tested up to 400lbs.p.s.i. to give a considerable margin over normal working pressure, and it passed with flying colours, which was what we expected.  Some scaffolding and a chain hoist were used to lift this heavy piece into place on top of the fire box, and the steam manifold, a very heavy casting, was fitted up by the same means.

When we came to reassemble the fire hole doors on their frame, it was noticed that one of the doors didn't fit very well.  Closer examination revealed that one of the pivot pins was badly bent.  This has been machined back true, and a collar made to bring the pin back to correct size.  The door then fitted very well in the new frame.  The rear of the frame has been adjusted to get a better fit to the boiler, and the whole assembly has now been lifted up and bolted in position on the back head.

The very skilled and time consuming job of preparing all eight faces on the Injectors has been completed, with all the faces dressed and blued up to get them perfectly flat.  The water feed pipes have been similarly treated.  The Injectors were assembled as a pair on the ground, then hoisted into position on the loco for, hopefully, the last time.

Work has continued on the outstanding copper pipework around the cylinders. The last of the lubrication pipes have been completed and good progress made on assembling the drainage pipes.  These pipes drain condensate off the steam supply pipes to such equipment as the lubricators, vacuum exhaust pipe, and drain cock actuators.  The drain valves are held shut by steam pressure when the pipe is in use, then open when the pressure drops.  These pipes can often be seen dribbling when a loco is left standing for any length of time.

Although the boiler hasn't been used, we've recently had our first annual boiler inspection carried out.  Before the Inspector arrived, we decided to give the boiler a washout, just in case, and were amazed at the amount of muck and scale that came out.  We can only assume it was dislodged by the steam test at Detling.

The inspection was passed satisfactorily, which is what we expected, but it is good to know that the Inspector is happy with the way we are looking after the boiler before use.  His next visit should be to start the 'ten-year ticket' and there's plenty of work to do in the meantime!

Finally, it hasn't all been good news and forward progress; as you may have seen in the railway press Toddington was the target of metal thieves on July 18/19^th, and we were among the victims.  By far the most serious loss was the brake ejector, a very complicated casting which will take a lot of work to replace, and set us back in completing the project unless we can borrow an identical piece pending the casting and machining of a replacement.  We've had the generous offer of a brake ejector from the Mid-Hants Railway, but unfortunately it wasn't compatible with our model so the search goes on.