Latest News
June 2010
Progress on Sir Keith Park
If we take a step back and compare the restoration status of Sir Keith Park to the same point in the restoration of Manston, Eddystone or 257 Squadron things are going pretty well. Having said that we still seem to have quite a mountain to climb. First, the good news; the new tender frames are nearly complete, and the new tender tank should be mounted on the frames during July; in fact they must be, as we need the floor space for another loco (see below). Similarly, work on the engine frames, springs, cylinders, brakes, valve gear, etc, is coming along nicely.
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Dave Mitchell removes the heads of stays around the bottom of the firebox which need to be replaced |
When its head has been removed the stay is ground flush. Ray Evans is under the boiler barrel, working on the firebox stays. |
Likewise, lots of work has been done to the boiler with no major snags but it's hard to estimate how much work remains to be done, except to say "a lot", and given currently available resources the likely completion is well beyond 2010. Dave Mitchell started work on the boiler at Herston early in 2010 and steady progress has been made. The tubes and rear tubeplate have been removed, sections of firebox have been cut out where necessary, and around 300 stays identified for replacement. The front tubeplate has been built up and straightened. The crinolines have been fitted (temporarily) and cladding is being made. While some of the work is highly skilled (that's Dave's domain), other tasks such as drilling out stays and re-tapping threads are just plain hard work. Cue SLL's team of steadfast volunteers!
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Some lower sections of the firebox have been cut out for replacement, revealing the boiler stays, many of which will need to be replaced. |
A section of the throat plate has been removed. Framed by the thermic syphons, Tim Cheeseman is drilling into a stay so that it can be flamed out, hopefully leaving the threaded holes ready for the new stay. |
Now is the time for all good men......
During the recent workshop session there were periods when seven people were working on the boiler simultaneously. Sometimes it got a bit too cosy for comfort, but it was impressive to see how much work could be achieved. However, no further volunteer session was scheduled until the end of September; we want to change that plan and mobilise volunteers during July and August so that we can keep up the pace of boiler work and maintain the overall schedule. Given everyone's holiday plans, etc, we are hoping that smaller groups of 2, 3, or 4 guys can arrange to work for a couple of days when it suits them. Simon Troy and Nick Thompson will coordinate this if necessary, or please make your own plans if you prefer.
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The complex copper pipework for the injectors is in place. |
Stand still for too long and Ron Bennett will paint you Buffer Beam red! |
Norman moving to Herston works
Norman moved from Sellindge to the Swanage Railway in April 2009, and the plan was for SR staff to complete the restoration in the shed during the winter months. For various reasons that didn't happen, but the SR wants to have Norman available to haul light trains at the end of the season. The plan is that Norman will move into the Herston works in July and be completed over the summer months. Obviously this doesn't help the completion of Sir Keith Park, though if we can keep working on its boiler then the overall schedule need not suffer too much.
May 2010
Progress on Sir Keith Park
Work on Sir Keith Park continues to make progress, as described in the Workshop report and shown in the photo galleries.
SLL on tour
When not hard at it in the workshop, fiddling with the website, adding photos to the galleries, or trying to keep on top of their day jobs, the SLL team have been out and about: |
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A group from SLL visited Germany over Easter to enjoy the Dampfspektakel celebrations which featured steam running throughout the Mosel region. Large pots of black and red paint will be delivered to Herston shortly so that all SLL locos can be suitably reliveried! |
SE&CR P Class tank loco 31178 has been restored and has re-entered service on the Bluebell Railway. At one stage this loco was owned by SLL, and several representatives went along to take part in the celebration on 1st May. The loco no longer bears the name Pioneer II mentioned in our March news. |
Website analytics
The SLL website has recently been hooked up to Google Analytics, and we now get weekly reports of access to the site. It doesn't actually say who looks at the site, or why, but there are lots of details, some useful, some more arcane. For example, around 87% of access is from the UK; no surprise there, but who are those users in Iran, Brunei and Brasil? A big hello to them! And thanks to the 32% of users who come directly to the site, i.e. we are listed in their "favorites". 28% find us from Google, and their searches generally include the words "southern" and "locomotive", which sounds about right. Around 38% come to us from links on related sites, such as the Swanage Railway, the Mid-Hants, the Severn Valley and several on-line railway forums. We have reciprocal links with many sites, which is what makes the world-wide-web go round.
In the last month we've had 7,188 Page Views by 1,211 unique visitors. 56% of users visited the site more than once. Users generally land on the front page and head for "Latest News". From there many go to "Sir Keith Park/Restoration" and "Sidmouth/Restoration" (a page which has been updated this month due to its popularity) and to the Shareholder Scheme page. Most users look at several pages when they visit, which hopefully means they have found a site which interests them.
The photos galleries are counted separately; in the past month there have been 14,276 photo-viewings. The top photo remains that of Sir Keith Park at Barry, though by far the most popular collections are those of recent restoration work.
Thank you to all our visitors; we'll do our best to keep things updated and interesting. If you have any comments or suggestions please get in touch.
March 2010
Progress on Sir Keith Park
As has been reported here and elsewhere, work on Sir Keith Park made good progress thoughout 2009. This has continued into 2010, and each week it's looking more like a locomotive. However the boiler arrived back in Herston in December 2009 after the rear tube sheet had been removed because our boilersmith, Dave Mitchell, preferred to undertake the work at Herston.
Dave is now hard at work, but such work is highly skilled, sometimes noisy, and doesn't lend itself to large teams, even if such skills were available. When we did the sums it became clear that to complete the restoration by October 2010 was a remote possibility which assumed no delays and no unexpected problems.
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The centre big end for Sir Keith Park is being machined on the horizontal borer at Herston. This is cast as one piece, then split into two halves so that it can be fitted on to the crank, to which it is then bored to fit. |
Work continues on the repairs to the boiler of Sir Keith Park. Dave Mitchell is seen inside the boiler, cutting away old stays at the firebox end. Note the two vertical thermic syphons. |
It also dawned on us that although it would have been nice to be part of the Battle of Britain 70th Anniversary celebrations, albeit some weeks after the anniversary as those we wished to invite were already committed to other events, the loco would then have remained largely unused over the winter, earning no revenue while its pristine paintwork gradually dulled. So the target is now to have the boiler back on the loco, and steamed by very early in 2011, and for the loco to re-enter service at Easter.
While this timescale seems technically achievable it still won't happen without your continued support. We need more money in the form of share subscriptions, and we need volunteers, old and new, to help us complete the myriad of remaining tasks before the loco can steam again. We are still able to offer a fine art print of Sir Keith Park (or 257 Squadron if you prefer) with each new share subscription, so please keep those application forms rolling in. Southern Locomotives Limited share offer.
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Richard Green's fine art print of Sir Keith Park is still available with new share subscriptions. |
34070 Manston on photo charter duty
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1960's or 2010? Mike Esau's monochrome photo of 34070 on a photo charter at Corfe Castle (11th March 2010) recreates the feel of the early 60's. |
With plenty of steam during a sunny moment Ian Silvester's photo has a more contemporary look, capturing the scene perfectly. |
31178 re-enters service |
When the locos were modified |
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P class tank 31178 was sold back to the Bluebell Railway some years ago, however we are very happy to record that it returned to service recently. It's been restored in SE&CR livery, and bears the name Pioneer II, Congratulations to all of those people who've worked on the loco and contributed to its restoration over the years. Photo: Paul Gildersleve. |
When Bulleid pacifics were modified in the late 50's and early 60's the chain driven valve gear was replaced by conventional Walschaerts. For the inside cylinder this required an additional eccentric drive off of the centre axle, which is between the crank and the right-hand frame. When it comes to remounting the spring for the adjacent wheel the eccentric (upper right in this picture) this change makes life extra interesting, as the pin which locates the spring is longer than the gap between the eccentric and the spring, through which it has to fit. |
Sidmouth in Sidmouth
Our final unrestored Bulleid pacific, 34010 Sidmouth, doesn't often receive much attention in the News section, for the good reason that right now it's not being worked on. However your Webmaster, Nick Thompson, is a Sidmouth resident, and there are quite a number of shareholders living in the Devon town too. To bring these voices together a meeting was held in Sidmouth on 16th March at which Nick told the story of Sidmouth's life in service, and the work done since it went to Barry back in 1966. Around 80 people met at the War Memorial Club for a very enjoyable evening which raised interest in Southern Locomotives and in Sidmouth's restoration. The raffle also raised a tidy sum which has been donated to the cause, and several share forms have been submitted within days of the meeting.
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For display at the meeting in Sidmouth Richard Green drafted a profile drawing of 34010 Sidmouth as it is expected to appear when eventually restored. This print is not currently available. |
February 2010
New fine art print of 34072 257 Squadron
Richard Green has created a brand new fine art print of unmodified Battle of Britain class 34072 257 Squadron, and 50 copies of this are being made available to new purchasers of our shares. This loco was originally restored by Southern Locomotives in the late 80's, and ran for 12 years until it was taken out of service in 2002 requiring a major overhaul, including work to the firebox. Planning of this overhaul will start during 2010 with a view to serious work starting when Sir Keith Park is back in steam. In addition to boiler repairs much of the outer casing must be replaced and the cost will run into six figures, however the work required is not on the same scale as a Barry wreck such as Sir Keith Park. If things go to schedule - and if the funds can be raised - the work could be started in 2011 with a view to it re-entering service in 2012. Details of the offer can be found here: Southern Locomotives Limited share offer.
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Richard Green's new print of 257 Squadron shows it in as restored condition with cut-down 5,500 gallon, 9-feet wide tender and modified ash-pan. |
Work continues on Sir Keith Park
Work continues on the restoration of Sir Keith Park. New cylinder and valve liners were fitted before Christmas, permitting replacement of the valve covers and the motion to be started. In parallel the brake gear is being reinstalled. The new tender frame has been turned right way up and mounted on its wheels. The boiler was returned from Williton and major work is underway; the front tube-plate is being restored, a new rear tubeplate is waiting to be fitted, not to mention a complete set of new tubes and many other vital tasks.
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Preparing the main bearing surfaces of a steam loco is a highly skilled job. The white metal surface is prepared with a hand scraper tool. |
Ron Neal works on one of Sir Keith Park's slidebars at the Herston works, January 2010. |
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Sir Keith Park's boiler is being repaired at Herston. Dave Mitchell builds up weld on the front tube plate and dressed the surface with a grinder. |
Sir Keith Park takes shape; most of the running boards are now in place. |
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The coupling rods are now fitted to Sir Keith Park |
Howard Merrion, a regular SLL volunteer, is seen here working on a brake component for the new tender. |
Sir Keith Park - can you help us fill in the gaps?
What happened to Sir Keith Park when it left Barry - please can you help us? As the completion of Sir Keith Park gets closer we would like to fill in the story of its rescue from Barry and eventual restoration, but there are many gaps.
We know that it was purchased in 1981 and moved to Hull Dairycoates, but who then owned it, what work was carried out, and are there any photos from that stage?
Subsequently it was at Crewe, but who was the new owner, what was the plan, and are there any photos?
Then it moved to Thingley Junction, near Chippenham. Once again, who owned it and what work was undertaken?
We know it was then sold to Jeremy Hosking and moved to Williton, but dates and photos would be good.
We'd really appreciate your help filling in the details of the story, particularly if you can also send a photo.
Please email nicksidmouth@gmail.com
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January 2010
Eddystone features in Best of British
34028 Eddystone is the subject of a two page article in the January edition of Best of British magazine. The article was written by Christopher Nicholson whose main interest is lighthouses. He notes that Eddystone is the only example of a loco named after a lighthouse. The article features photos of Eddystone at the West Somerset Steam gala in 2009 and another from our collection.