Centenary Special

It doesn't happen very often, but some weeks this blog pretty much writes itself... or to be rather more accurate kind people send me photos and explanatory text which can pretty much be cut and pasted straight into the blog with minimal editorial oversight from myself.  This is one of those weeks.

Your humble blogger had an eye on one or two items at an auction yesterday, all of which went for far more than I was prepared to pay, so all in all a bit of a waste of time.  Consequently I didn't make it to Toddington until after lunch time.  I was greeted by tales of how much difficulty that Mark, Luke & Harry were experiencing fitting the brick arch into Dinmore Manor.  When I went to find them, it transpired that the difficulties had been much exaggerated and they had the situation well under control.  

Harry (L) & Luke, first bricks in place (Photo courtesy of Mark Harding)

Getting the hang of it now (Photo courtesy of Mark Harding)

Job done, fit for service again (Photo courtesy of Mark Harding)

I noted that by the end of the day that Dinmore Manor had been reunited with its tender.

Dinmore Manor, back in one piece again

3850's pony truck had arrived back from shot blasting, the usual suspects were busy applying primer, then undercoat:

3850's pony truck getting some TLC

Evidence of damage by a previous owner to some parts of the pony truck have come to light which will require a little light welding to restore it to its former glory.

Tim & Roger continued removing salvageable items from 2874's cab

Kenneth continued removing rust & general grot from under 3850's tender...

...and I wire brushed and primed a few brackets from under 3850's tender.

.No photos, however I am assured that a brave team entered the water space on 35006's tender with a view to cleaning out any rust and other grot that had accumulated.  I believe that the plan is to weld sacrificial anodes into all of the tenders to minimise the the build up of rust inside them.

 Just because little has been said on these pages regarding 76077, doesn't mean to say that nothing has been happening. Andy kindly sent the following report regarding the various recent work parties that have taken place:

"Saturday 27th October

Graham Gould, Mick Hobbs, Chris Morris and Richard Winstanley completed the de-rusting and painting of the part painted boiler. Thanks to all for their help. Our class 45 diesel springs were swapped for a set of round pattern LMS type buffers for the front of the locomotive. Thanks go to CMDG for making this happen. Andrew Meredith, Chris Hinton, John Pedley and Chris Irving worked on clearing the old container of all parts some were taken to Loughborough ready for reassembly of the pony truck.

Buffer cleaning (photo courtesy of Andy Meredith)

Wednesday 31st Oct

John Pedley and Richard Winstanley, worked with other department members to free off the rusted brake components. Many thanks to those that helped out. 


Saturday 10th November

Graham Gould, Mick Hobbs, Richard Winstanley, Adrian Showell and Ben Evason, Andrew Meredith, Chris Hinton, John Pedley and Chris Morris all turned up to help. Plan for the day was to wash out the locomotive boiler to remove the dirt built up in the water space. Ben and Adrian worked on this and then started removing the old wooden roof with help from Andy Meredith, from the container ready for it to be scrapped. As you can see from the photo it’s not much use for keeping the weather out. It’s also amazing that considering the weight of parts that were on the roof it did not totally collapse. Mick Hobbs and Graham Gould helped clear the old container and then did an excellent job cleaning up the newly acquired buffers. John Pedley stripped all the usable components from the ash pan assembly before it was scrapped. There was not much salvageable except for the linkages for hopper ash pan and damper door hinges.

The dilapidated container (photo courtesy of Andy Meredith)

Wednesday 14th November  

Richard Winstanley worked with Neil Cooper and other dept members to remove the spring capture plates from the rear of the buffers so we can examine the condition of the springs etc. John Pedley stripped down the previously salvaged components from the ash pan ready for reuse. Thanks to the unknown department members for their help.  

The mortal remains of the ash pan (photo courtesy of Andy Meredith)

Company News

For those that don’t know a new company Toddington Standard Locomotive Ltd has been set up to oversee the restoration of 76077. Chris Hinton has signed over the locomotive to the new company and the directors are busy arranging share application leaflets etc ready for an official company launch early in 2019. Behind the scenes the wheel sets have been sent to SDR for refurbishment and have been returned to Loughborough ready for axle box work next year. While at SDR it was discovered that the quartering of the crank pins was significantly out, requiring the crank pins to be re-machined to compensate for this. Possibly they have been like that since the loco was out shopped from Horwich works. Hopefully the loco will be a smooth runner now and reduce the wear in the coupling rod bearings to a minimum. Work is also progressing with the manufacture of new spring hanger brackets to enable the weights on the driving wheel springs to be easily adjusted, something that the GWSR fitting staff will be glad to hear about. With assistance from Andrew Marshall the design of the new tender is being worked on with various different options available to us.

Main work on the locomotive's frames are due to start in 2019 with an aim to re-wheel the loco early in 2020.

Manufacture of missing fittings has started with work on the atomisers and carriage warming valve."

And finally, this report was received from Chris regarding the GWSR's marking of the centenary of Armistice Day:

"This was the railway's contribution to a day at CRC to mark the Centenary of the Armistice in 1918. The day started with a short formal service held at Toddington Station with the Gloucestershire Regiment dressed in WWI uniform together with members of the GWSR attending to show our respect to all those Railway Men and Women who have lost their lives whilst serving their Country. The Reverend David Hall (GWSR Volunteer) directed the service which included other members of the Railway forming a Colour Party comprised of Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, Col. Mike Bennett OBE, DL and Senior Inspector Warrant Officer Chris Sparks MBE (RAF); with the Flag borne by our own Alex Hayes, steam Department member.

The last Post, Reveille and supporting music was provided by Cheltenham Silver Training Band.

Our Loco 2807, was on duty with a specially sourced giant Poppy and has strong links to the past, as it was part of the Jellicoe Specials hauling coal from South Wales to the Grand Fleet in Scapa Flow. The Loco crew was Ian Butler Diver, Jim Clarke Fireman and Sam Perry the cleaner.

Once the train arrived at CRC Station, being filmed by ITV, the "Glosters"marched from the train to join other Services mustered ready for a formal Act of Remembrance in the Racecourse Parade Ring."

2807 & poppy, (photo courtesy of Chris Blake)

Gloucestershire Regiment in WWI uniform (photo courtesy of Chris Blake)

2807 arriving at Toddington (photo courtesy of Chris Blake)

Departing Toddington (photo courtesy of Chris Blake)

Parade (photo courtesy of Chris Blake)