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Overhaul update
Posted on October 18, 2020

The return to full time working by SVR staff was necessarily postponed when one member contracted the virus, meaning that half the work force had to self-isolate. This ended last week and work on the frames recommenced. As already reported, the driver’s side injector and associated pipework, looking like one of the more exotic instruments in a brass band, is fitted, with the fireman’s injector ready and waiting.
The cylinder mechanical lubricator has lain on the bench for many months after SVR volunteer, Charles, took the internals home to recondition them, a quick job, as he thought.
After a hundred hours of work, he brought them back today, including many newly made components, and began reassembly.
Some of the internal components, one for each outlet to the steam chests and cylinders.
A close up of one of the lubrication parts which deliver oil to the steam chest and cylinders.
More work on lubrication pipework. Note the return of the Left Hand top slidebar. Although the working faces had been ground true, the trailing end was still to the original size, so once the crosshead was machined to match the rest of the slide bar, it would not have been possible to enter it over the remaining now oversized section. Hence the need for machining.
A discussion between the present and future SMF Engineering Managers on the best way forward.
This had involved the steam pipe to the Atomiser. It comes off a valve part way up the smokebox to a valve operating the cylinder drain taps between the frames. The offending pipe was found and identified.
Much fun was had inverting the cab roof to allow the inside to be painted, ensuring that the spectacle plate was not damaged during the maneuver.
Work then began on removing the existing paint, which revealed the green primer applied in the 1980s. It must have been good stuff!
A casualty of the paint stripping was that the main line running identity panel disappeared. Attempts to remove it whole were unsuccessful as it proved very brittle, so only photographic evidence now remains.
Painting parts of the engine continued, and then moved on to the tender brake pull rod, shown in bare metal last posting.
Overhaul update
Posted on October 11, 2020

The “missing” Left hand upper slidebar has been sitting on the big milling machine in the shed for some time now (unknown to us). The work on it has been finished and it will soon be replaced by the Left hand lower slidebar for similar machining. Once both are complete and re-fitted to the loco the cross heads can be machined to fit them. The white “sheet” in the background is a tarpaulin covering the milling machine to keep off the rain that leaks in throught the shed roof.
Brian Humphries of the paid staff has fitted the Left hand injector during last week, seen here from the rear of the loco.
While the Right hand injector waits on a trolley for its turn to be fitted in place.
Finally the tender brake adjuster has been removed so it can be thoroughly cleaned ready for its first coat of primer which was applied yesterday afternoon.
Overhaul update
Posted on September 27, 2020

Due to the segregation of SVR full-time staff and volunteers to reduce the opportunity of the virus to cross from one to the other, volunteers have worked only on Sundays, so the Boiler shop has been locked. Today we were able to access it. Work has been going on to the rear of the firebox, with individual stay holes sized and marked accordingly. A start has been made on drilling the connecting flanges between inner and outer fireboxes around the fire hole with some temporary bolts fitted. The nuts and bolts surrounding the fire hole correctly set the distance apart of the two backplates.
The same area from inside. The nuts and bolts between the outer flanges have almost all been replaced by patch screws.
Further forward, the lower side sheet stay holes are sized and marked up for the new stays.
Outside the workshops, painting the cab roof in black undercoat continues, including the top section of the spectacle plate.
The first coat finished; a second will be applied before attention turns the inside faces.
The roof vent had already been dismantled and was in the first stage primer.
Still painting, the cylinder cladding sheets receive attention, on the inside as well as outside.
On the engine itself, work continues on the steam pipes to the sanders below the cab floor. Below the floorboards is a rather cramped well. Brackets to support the pipes are being fabricated and fitted, involving drilling the lower plate and tapping to accept setscrews. The hole is drilled here and the job of cutting the threads begun; the tap can just be made out to the left of the mag drill. Its purpose is to provide a down force to start the tap in the hole.
Once started, the mag drill is moved out of the way and the tap turned normally, although lack of space precludes the use of a normal tap wrench.
Below the driver’s side, three steam sanding pipes feed the sanders, the two to the right to each of the back sanders and that on the left to all four forward sanders. They will be joined by vertical runs from the sand / blower valve after the boiler is installed. The brackets for this side are in grey.
The pipe for the right hand back sander crosses the footplate below floor level and has a second bracket, seen here completed.
Overhaul update
Posted on September 20, 2020

The first coat of undercoat on part of the cab roof.
The new fireman’s seat made by our expert wood worker volunteer temporarily fitted in place to check that all is well.
The underside of the same seat in its raised position - the bolt will be spring loaded to the retracted position to prevent the it from catching on the door mounting or the top of the box.
This seat automatically stays in the upright postion so does not need a bolt to holt it in place. The surplus thread on the bolts will be cut off when the seat is permanently fitted in place.
The driver’s side seat also in position temporarily.
Finally a small but necessary item (also made and fitted by our expert woodworker). This steam pipe to the Right hand trailing sander passes through a hole in the lower front of the cab and to prevent rubbing or chafing this wooden “washer” was created.
Overhaul update
Posted on August 30, 2020

Last time we reported that all slide bars were now in place. Well, the left hand lower one has been removed again for reasons unknown: the volunteers and full-time staff are in on different days making communication difficult. We assume that the alignment requires a little adjustment and it was taken off to allow this, but its location in the workshop was never found.
All sand and steam pipes are now fitted. We had left off that to the front of the left hand intermediate wheel to allow easier access to between the frames, but the number of such excursions has reduced, so this set of sanding gear fitted.
The previous Sunday had seen the Fund’s other working party continue with the cab roof. This is being taken back to bare metal and the first primer coats applied.
Inside the roof are various fittings such as pockets for the driver’s documents, etc. These have been taken off. The main line number plate will follow.
Back on the engine, the new fireman’s seat has been prepared by one of the Fund’s members. The Fund has many tales of these engines in BR service and this seat was always the thing firemen complained about. It isn’t particularly comfortable, but the fact that they had time to discover this is an indication of the engines’ abilities!
Overhaul update
Posted on August 16, 2020

The working parties are now once again a weekly occurrence, but meet on Sundays only until social distancing rules allow otherwise. These photos were taken over a three week period starting on 2 August 2020.

SVR staff are present Mondays to Saturdays with volunteers on Sundays; keeping them apart limits any possibility of spreading the infection. It does though limit communications between the two parties, but having a black cab side sheet allows chalked instructions to be carried forwards.
Work by SVR staff has resumed (they had been transferred to preparation of the running fleet for service operations), and this includes fitting and aligning the left hand top slidebar. In turn, this has allowed all measurements to be made preparatory to machining the crossheads, a job soon to be started.
The removed cylinder cladding as reported last time has allowed the painting to begin, to both inner and outer surfaces, first in grey primer ...
...then in black undercoat.
The cab roof has been moved down to outside the paint shop, where work on stripping the old paint and removing surface rust has started.
A week later, parts of it were in primer. The roof vent has also been dismantled to be fully cleaned and painted without leaving hidden, covered areas untouched.
Much work has been done on the trailing sandpipes. Both sides’ pipes through which the sand will run were made up by SVR staff, and the SMF have tackled the steam pipes. New ones have been made up with male and female ends fitted by silver soldering them to the copper pipes, which were then annealed prior to bending to shape.
They were then led into the cab area, necessitating a large hole being formed in the cab plate work. The mag drill was used to cut this.
Following this, the pipe, made in short sections coupled together, was fed into the cab. Note the supporting bracket.
Below the cab floor, the pipes from each side are extended below floor level. Eventually, a third pipe will be provided for the lead sanders, and all three will have extension pieces leading vertically up the firebox backplate to the sand / blower valve.
The assembly on the right side, with both sand and steam pipes in place.
Likewise on the left. These views are before the painters were turned loose on them!
Overhaul update
Posted on July 26, 2020

The 26th July 2020 marked the Fund’s working party’s first visit to Bridgnorth since the beginning of the lock down. After a four month break, the priority was to see where things were up to and devise a plan for future weekly visits, but for the time being, these will be on Sundays rather than Thursdays.

The first new items discovered were the new glands where the main steam pipes emerge from the smokebox, which must be air tight. This photo shows the pipes with the old glands still on; the shiny replacements to the lower right.
We reported last time that new cylinder cladding sheets were being fabricated and that the right side one was trial fitted. It was still on the engine, so the working party removed it; next week will see it begin the painting process.
An unexpected job appeared on the brake system: some of the hangers were tight to move, so the decision was made to remove the offending hanger pins for a quick skim in the lathe. The final one was the left hand leading, and as can be seen, this is in very close proximity to and partly masked by the back cylinder cover. This pin required some persuasion from a lump hammer but eventually came out. The hanger bush is seen through the hole, the hanger having swiveled forwards.
Following its spin on the lathe, the pin proved even more stubborn when trying to return it to its home. Josh tries to line up the three bushes (one each side of the bracket, one in the hanger) by eye prior to another abortive attempt.
Success was finally achieved by removing the pins in the brake pull rods and the taking off brake block itself, but victory was achieved. The pin is home and the split pin inserted (note: but not opened), then the rest of the linkage reassembled.
As previously reported, work continued on the boiler for a few weeks after lock down began, so we went to have a look. The lower firebox sides have now been riveted to the new lower throatplate and backplates, another step forward.
The inner firebox sides have had their stay holes reamed out and the hole size written next to it...
...and further back have had the stays inserted.
The last report mentioned that the nuts and bolts securing the inner backplate to the crown and sides were being replaced by patch screws, and this work has progressed.
The view vertically downwards towards the crown with the backplate to the right, and patch screws in course of being fitted. Note the boilersmith’s tools, including a large spanner (bottom) and reamer (right).
So what do patch screws look like? This is a close up on the fire side. The square heads will eventually be removed.
Overhaul update
Posted on May 11, 2020

The inner door plate bolted in position in preparation for patch screwing. You can so see that work has progressed round the fire hole door.
Boiler Smith Phil Davison looking out through the fire hole door. You can also see that drilling has progressed.
The doorplate in position and if you look closely you will see copper patch screws on the Left hand side. These patch screws were turned in the Boiler shop CNC booth last week.
Overhaul update
Posted on March 19, 2020

Work has begun on refitting cladding pieces to the cylinders. The main sheet for the right side was found to contain areas of corrosion so a new replacement was made, seen here trial fitted with all mounting bolts in place. The corresponding item for the left cylinder is seen left, and the old right hand one just visible extreme right.
The cladding pieces for the valve chest are complex and there are four examples of each piece. A job undertaken by the Fund working party was to find all the pieces, identify their location and, not least, figure out how they could be persuaded to go into their correct places. The outside side piece was easy enough as shown, but above it is a horizontal section, its holes not yet lined up with the bolts below, and a larger piece in front. It was found that fitting this requires the removal of running plate support bracket, which was done at one location to prove the point.
Various other pieces of the three-dimensional jigsaw. The half-moon section Upper left covers the outside of the rear of the back cylinder cover.
The ashpan is still in the main workshop and work continues on the linkages for the hopper doors and dampers.
The mounting holes to the firebox foundation ring have been cut.
The inner firebox backplate is now in its rightful place, although not yet properly fastened in; work is proceeding in that direction. The temporary fastenings can be seen at the top of the photo.
The firehole, with the two layers of inner and outer firebox apparent.
Most of the permanent fastenings are the stays between inner and outer backplates. Those in the inner are, of course, still there and the holes in the outer have started to be drilled, starting as small holes and building up to full size.
Close up of the backplate with many holes drilled and others marked out.
Overhaul update
Posted on February 20, 2020

New brake blocks have been fitted to the middle and trailing axle brake hangers on both sides of the loco. This is a close-up of the Right hand side trailing brake block.
A more general view of the Right hand side showing both (somewhat rusty) brake blocks in situ.
Further work carried by the paid staff is on display here with the Right hand side slide bars temporarily bolted in position ready for final optical alignment and fixing.
This is one of the shims for the Right hand slide bars being machined on one of the company’s milling machines. This will go between the relevant slide bar and the big cast bracket (just visible to the left of the previous picture) that supports the rear ends of the slide bars.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the shed is the smokebox door showing the handrail after removal.
A recent arrival in the shed is the new lid casting for one of the mechanical lubricators whose existing one is cracked. This will be machined in due course and the four little slightly tapered cylindrical bits (part of the casting process) will be removed.
The Right hand side slide bars all fitted.
Angle grinding the running plate.
Drilling holes in the new running plate for fitting.
Another view of angle grinding work.
Drilling the holes in the running plate for fitting.
The completed work on the Left hand side running plate.

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