This month, Nick Simpson, MPD Manager, gives us a progress report on a locomotive our passengers have not seen in traffic this season so far - No. 825 is about ready for service.

Last week saw the valve and piston exam completed, with a new valve head machined and fit, new valve and piston rings installed which were made in house over the winter and all the covers refitted.

The fitting teams attention now turns to fitting motion and at time of writing the coupling rods have been lifted on and end caps secured, the con rods are next which will adjoin the crosshead to the driving wheel set on both sides.

All these parts needed cleaning, inspection, crack testing and measuring before they could be refit to assess for wear and defects. This winter has also seen No. 825 receive attention to the rod bushes, some of which after re-white metalling could be used again but some required new bronze castings to be sourced from our local supplier William Lane Foundry. The engine is now also back on its tender, which is due its electrical connections reinstating next week. This work is all gearing up for the S15’s in steam insurance exam at the beginning of June, running in and then entering traffic for the summer period and beyond to our Annual Steam Gala.

In the back of the shed is No. 92134 having its first washout of the season.

In other running shed news we are taking on a series of improvements to the shed shop access area and the back of 5 road, where the old locomotive components are displayed.

This sees the snow plough moved for a concrete base which has been poured.

The pad is needed for a new buffer stop to be sited to upgrade what was there before. While we are on, new gates are being made inhouse which will replace the old removable fencing at the bottom of the shed shop steps.

We hope this will tidy the area up for visitors to the running shed viewing area and shed shop.

Nick Simpson, MPD Manager - Previous Entry