Bluebell Railway Atlantic Group
Latest progress
- Sponsor a component
- Sponsor a component
First we have a project update from Fred Bailey, and then an update on the project finances from David Jones.
Received from the foundry (Maybery Reliance) a month back were a large number of castings mostly from Roy Stirling's patterns.
The first photo above shows the smaller parts. On the left are the new mudhole doors for the boiler. Behind them are the 4 axlebox crowns with the wire eroded teeth to hold the whitemetal linings, done by Epal Ltd of Storrington (see later for details). Just to the right of the oval mudhole doors are the regulator main valve and to its right again the pilot or first valve. Behind the regulator main valve is the whistle valve body. To the right of the first valve are two half round pieces of iron that are part of the clutch on the reversing shaft. Behind them is the blast-pipe cap and a tapered "washer" roughly square that straightens up the blastpipe. Behind that again is the bottom portion of the cab reverser scale. On the very right hand side are the crosshead slippers.
The second photo above shows some larger parts; in the front is the 'J' pipe (on top of which is bolted the regulator body up in the dome of the boiler). Behind this is the set of eight eccentric halves - one set "assembled".
The photo on the right shows the regulator body casting.
The first photo below provides a closer view of the axlebox crown. The next shows the crown with the "scrap" part on the inside - the "cut" is produced by passing an electric current between the workpiece which is submerged in an electrolyte and a .010" diameter brass wire that runs continuously off of a large reel through the part being cut. We did not have machinery available to produce this form on site. We hope to use the same process to produce the expansion links as one can obtain excellent accuracy by doing the final operation after hardening.
The next photo, on the left, is our version of the "Hulburd's continuous metallic seal", CNC machined, again by Epal Ltd.
In the first week of February we received the last cylinder and the both of the liners, so hope within the next few weeks to finally assemble the cylinders and valve chests to the frames. There is of course a lot of trial fits and checks however before the final fitting.
The cab reverser has now been trial assembled and after quite a few head scratching moments works on air. Now we have to make the sheet steel cover and the cut-off scale assembly.
The first photo below shows the two main cylinder liners just as received, still on the forklift truck. These are quite weighty items to handle without damaging that great external finish.
Next we see our first trial setup to work out a practical method for their assembly into the cylinders. These liners are not a press fit but are made a few 'thou smaller than the bore and are retained by a modern anaerobic adhesive; a method that has been used in the past very successfully at the Bluebell Railway.
More components also arrived that week: on the right we see the lifting arms and reversing arm as received from the water-jet cutters. These are to be used as part of the fabricated weigh shaft assembly. Again forgings are now not available as a sensible option.
The photo below shows that by the middle of February the seal retainers had been welded to the cylinders. These retainers protrude through the apertures in the main frames and the seal is made against the faces of the valve assembly.
In the last couple of weeks the cylinders have been fitted with their liners. The photo on the left shows the second of the cylinder liners, having been cleaned, degreased and coated with a high-temperature resistant Loctite, on its way into the cylinder. The bottom half of the cylinder bore was also coated with Loctite prior to this assembly.
The next photo shows the liner nearly there... the blurring of photo being due to the movement of the liner (and nervousness of photographer!). The final photo shows the first of the two liners which had been fitted the previous week. The green line of excess Loctite in the end chamfer and in the steam port can be seen. The Loctite hardens once air is excluded and should retain and seal the liners in the cylinders themselves.
Atlantic Finances
With the delivery of the many new castings, plus liners and other machined parts, we are now facing major expenditure in the reconstruction of 'Beachy Head'. Items such as the fabricated cylinders, Hulburds seals, regulator J pipe and valve castings, eccentrics, crowns for the main wheelset axleboxes, machining the valve chest liners and further work on the main wheel crankpins have severely depleted the existing funds. Last year expenditure amounted to about £115,000, including £47,000 of labour costs, and will continue throughout 2012 as bills amounting to over £24,000 have to be paid for the Stephenson valve gear parts, water-jet cutting more of the reverser links and wire eroding the bronze bearing crowns and liners, as seen in the above engineering report.Funding will therefore be a big challenge this year, so anyone who can assist, such as in sponsoring some of the larger items that appear on the Sponsorship List, will go a long way to making sure that progress does not slow down at this critical time where the completion of No.32424 is within sight. Our sales stand will be operating over two weekends planned for June 23/24 and the July 7/8 Model Show, and this should help with the income from secondhand books and railway artefacts.
David Jones
Progress continues well, with a lot of small (and not so small) parts coming together. First we have some more photos above showing the cab reverser handle, on which Fred Bailey has worked both in his workshop at home and in Atlantic House. The photo on the left is an "exploded" view of the parts which make up the reverser handle, seen complete on the right.
On the right we see the bogie stretcher and pin being assembled on 11 January.
Below we see the four valve liners on 8 January - note the the stepped diameters on the outside.
The third photo below shows one of the valve liners in position in steam chest, prior to the final pressing in, on 11 January. The ring of studs holds the reaction plate, and an enerpac hydraulic jack is between the reaction plate and the plate on the end of the valve liner. The bore of the valve chest into which the liner is to be pressed is also bored with 4 steps - each of which has to be the correct size to provide the required interference between the liner and the bore. Although the liner is about 11" long, by having these steps the total length of press fit comes down to about 1 3/4". This part of our design is copied from later practice on BR standard locos, amongst others.
The fourth photo below shows the first liner in its final position.
Below are seen the steel crosshead castings, received from the foundry at the end of last year. The patterns for these were seen in the September 2011 update. The mottled appearance of the surface is due to rain drops falling on the castings whilst they were being unwrapped! Finally we see the patterns and core boxes made for the regulator valve, which are now with the foundry.
The first set of photos shows Fred Bailey's work on the reverser. On the right we see the handles; the top one has a sprung detent inside the handle so that it stays engaged with or disengaged from the catch plate behind it.Below we see the cab reverser wound full forward, and then in full reverse position. The vertical arm is seen in reverse gear position; the smaller vertical arm does the same job but for the drain cocks.
Below is a photo of two of the valve head castings; there are 8 in all to suit the semi-plug valves.The final photo shows the patterns and core boxes for the crossheads, the latest of many intricate patterns made for casting components for the project.
The first photo, from Fred Bailey, shows the valve chest in the frames with the smokebox saddle in position, for its first trial fitting after coming from the Kearns borer in the main works.The next photo shows the reaming of the holes that take the bolts that hold the valve chest in position, the unit having previously been aligned to the centre of the driving axle. All this drilling is again done using the mag-based drill. Note the machined surface of the valve chest against which the seals will bear.
The next three photos show progress with the reverser mechanism. That on the right shows the completion of the first stage of machining the reverser handle.
Below we see the drilling of the oiling hole in the reverser index plate - all done in house on the Dufor mill.
The spherical turning attachment was specially made by the team, and is seen being used to form the handles for the cab reverser.
The reverser handle is now nearing completion and a photo or two of the finished assembly should follow shortly.
The cylinder and valve liners are nearing completion at our sub-contractor's works in Birmingham, while progress is also being made in Atlantic House on the final adjustments to the axleboxes as well as with the cylinder pressure relief valves.
This photo shows the bodies part machined for the front (long) and rear (short) cylinder relief valves.
These last two photos show the first of the axleboxes, with the manganese steel liners welded on and the oil tray in position.
The next project open days are June 25-26, with Atlantic House at Sheffield Park open for viewing between 10am and 5pm. On the Sunday the session restricted to project supporters, friends and subscribers, with special guest Richard Gibbon, will be between 1.15 and 3.30pm (ceremony at 2.30), followed by an auction, the principal attraction of which is an original painting by G.F.Watts of an LMS Garrett locomotive (reserve £150 - commission bids accepted). For further information contact David Jones.Richard Gibbon does Coast to Coast Walk to help the Atlantic project.
On June 11-12 Richard is doing the first 65 miles of his Coast to Coast walk, from St.Bees to Shap, with sponsorship going to our project. Will you help us by sponsoring him per mile or for the complete journey? Please e-mail your pledge to David Jones/Atlantic Project.Another progress report follows, with thanks to Fred Bailey for most of the photos and the descriptions.
On the right is a photo taken by Neville Watts at the South Devon Railway of one of our driving wheelsets. They await the drilling, boring and quartering of the crankpin holes and final turning of the tyres. The driving wheelsets should be entering their works very shortly. Once this work has been done, they return to Riley's in Lancashire for the crankpin fitting before delivery back to us. If you ignore the tyres coming from South Africa, the wheelsets will probably have done more miles up and down the country before being fitted to the engine than they will in the frst five years of service on the Bluebell!
The next photo shows some work in progress, the fabricated smoke-box saddle, which is sitting up on its end. The general view shows the two connecting rods and the final main axlebox, at long last received from the machine shop in the Midlands.
The final two are more detailed views of the small end and big end on the connecting rods. The stripes on the side of the small end are remnants of the packing from between the two rods. All in all they look like a nice job, probably a bit better finished than we expected. We still have to fettle them up before they are ready for fitting to the engine.The component sponsorship list has been updated with some more parts now available for sponsorship.
Sponsor a component: Updated list now available.
A short report, again illustrated by Fred Bailey's photos, showing deliveries of some rather useful bits for the loco.On the right and below we see the newly arrived coupling rods, which have been machined, and three of the four main axleboxes, which are now with us (the fourth to follow shortly).
Also finished, but not photographed is the main body for the reverser and the four sand boxes. Patterns are completed for the valve heads, cylinder relief valves (2 types), the drain cocks and the brake blocks.
The lever for the reverser in the cab is complete, and in order to be able to assemble these, we have one cab side and all the relevant parts to make up the stand, in stock awaiting riveting.
The final two photos show that, now the sealing arrangements for the steam chest to cylinder have been finalised, the holes though the frames have been cut to suit, and that the rear cylinder covers have now arrived.We hope this gives all of our supporters enough encouragement to realise that we are still moving forward as fast as we are able. Should anyone wish to provide further fiancial assistance, it will be most welcome, since continued progress is reliant on a continuous income!
A fund raising appeal for the cash required to complete the project was launched in 2000, and a combination of gifts made via the Bluebell Railway Trust, and standing orders set up to provide a steady income to the project have now made over a third of the total available. Whilst this has provided funding for the present work, more is going to be needed to complete the project, and the best way in which you can help is by setting up a small, regular, standing order to the Bluebell Railway Trust under Gift Aid, since this enables the Trust to reclaim the basic rate tax you have paid, and (if you are a higher rate tax-payer) enables you to reclaim some tax as well.
A combined Donation, GiftAid and Standing Order form is available as a pdf document.
For further details contact David Jones.
A donation is made to this project when you buy Historical Transport Film videos from Beulah.
Photos © Fred Bailey and Neville Watts.
