Any Bluebell railway members interested in lending a hand can e-mail for more information or to let us know that you will be coming along.
We meet at 9am - 9.30am outside the loco works. You are welcome to attend whatever hours you can, as any help will be appreciated.
Keep an eye on this web page, or e-mail for details of future working dates. See you there.
Rob Faulkner, David Pratt & Stephen Lacey
Rob's photo shows the stays which would not come out any other way in the process of being drilled out.
More photos from the day are in Rob Faulkner's photo album.
Rob Faulkner's photos show the working party once again working on the P-Class boiler destined for 1178. Sunday also saw the team removing the first sections of the outer firebox, the bottom of both sides, after weeks of burning out rivets.
More photos from the day are in Rob Faulkner's photo album.
Rob Faulkner's photos show that the boiler is now sitting in the works, and the team have begun the job of removing rivets and stays from the firebox, so work can commence of replacing some of the platework.
Also a couple of the team have been working on cleaning up the boiler tubes from a few years worth of rust. They have also been adding a protective coat of paint to these, so that their hard work doesn't go to waste.
More photos from the day are in Rob Faulkner's photo album.
Rob Faulkner's photos illustrate the boiler destined for 1178, which received a washout. This boiler is actually the original boiler from 323 'Bluebell', when it arrived on the railway in 1960.
The throatplate was also cleaned up and given a protective coat of paint.
Phil is seen in the photo on the right, loosening the stud nuts on the boiler. It is hoped that, by the time of our next visit, the boiler should be in the works.
Below: Ian and new volunteer, Duncan, are seen below cleaning up the boiler tubes and adding a protective coat of paint.
More photos from the day are in Rob Faulkner's photo album.
Rob Faulkner has provided these two photos showing the start of work on the "third" P-class, the only one of the three not to have steamed in preservation.
The work undertaken included cleaning the top of the cylinder block, and some work on the side-tanks.
Before anyone asks, the livery in which the loco will be restored has yet to be decided, but in accord with usual Bluebell policy, those working on the project have the main say!
More of Rob Faulkner's photos taken that day are available here.
Note: the locomotive is now back in Bluebell ownership after some years in the custody of Southern Locomotives Limited, who had started to overhaul it for use on the Bluebell.
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Narrative edited by Richard Salmon