Latest News
February 2012
New Year, new gallery
2012 promises to be an interesting year for Southern Locomotives. Sir Keith Park should be in service on the Swanage Railway, and we will start work on our next project. Our Picasa galleries are very popular, notably those showing restoration work in progress at Herston. That may be due to the dashing good looks of our staff and volunteers, or maybe because our supporters like to follow the progress of the restorations coming together and see photos of components which hopefully remain hidden throughout their working life.
A 2012 section has been added to the Restoration Galleries menu to the left of each webpage. So far not many photos (for obvious reasons) but we'll keep adding them. Given the current work on Manston and coming overhaul of 257 Squadron expect many shots of the "enclosed" Bulleid Valve gear.
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Original Bulleid Pacifics have outside admission piston valves, and the valve action is powered by a rocking shaft in the inside (exhaust) space.
Manston's valve gear is currently under repair and the casing of the valve chest has been removed revealing the shaft with its outer bearing
removed, and the lever which drives the piston valve. |
Own your own Norman
Good news for modellers: In May this year Hornby will be releasing an OO gauge model of Norman in its current livery as running on the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. No more details at present, but it's shown in their 2012 Range Preview webpage (scroll to bottom).
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A photo from Hornby's website showing their forthcoming model of Norman. Photo: Hornby Hobbies Ltd. |
257 Squadron on video?
2012 will be the year in which the overhaul of 34072 257 Squadron gets moving, and we need to raise around £250,000 for this over the next two years. Inevitably we will rely on our loyal band of shareholders for much of this, however we hope to cast the net wider and attract new shareholders and donors.
To raise awareness we're planning a YouTube video to recount the history of the loco, its preservation service, and the scope of the overhaul. We have a collection of still photos, and can make new video of the loco in the workshop, however it would be great to include clips of it in BR Service, or at work in the 90's at Swanage, NYMR, SVR, etc. Finding film from BR days would be a near miracle, but there must be some 90's film or video out there. Can you help us? If so, please drop an email to the Webmaster Nick Thompson.
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34072 257 Squadron seen at Fratton shed, still with its high-sided tender on 7th July 1964. (c) M Garner |
New book reveals Sidmouth photo
It's on record that 21C110 Sidmouth was named in the town of Sidmouth on 27th June 1946. The report from the Sidmouth Herald names the great and good who were present on the occasion, and someone must have taken photos, but in those post-war days local papers didn't include illustrations. However an updated edition of a book by Colin G Maggs, 'The Branch Lines of Devon' includes a description of the Sidmouth branch and has a photo of the naming ceremony. We've reproduced the photo here, courtesy of Amberley Publishing Ltd. Those representing the railway included Mr E A W Turbett, Assistant Chief Mechanical Engineer, who must have worked with Mr Bulleid. Searches reveal that he was a leading member of the Eastleigh branch of the I.Mech.E. and participated in a committee set up by Mr Stanier to look into rolling stock design.
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It's Thursday 27th June 1946, and 21C110 Sidmouth has drawn up beyond the platform canopy at Sidmouth station for the naming ceremony. Only the 'OU' of the name is visible,
and it's hard to tell who's who, except for driver W E Dubbs, and the gentleman on the far left who is presumably Rev. E F Ball, the Vicar of Sidmouth. Photo by I. Broughton, Courtesy Amberley Publishing.
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Engine Record cards
SLL volunteer Mike Frackiewicz recently visited the P.R.O. where he scanned the loco record cards for four of our Bulleids, 34028/53/70/72, though not 34010 Sidmouth's, which were not there. These cards were used to record the specification of each loco and the repairs they received during their service life. Scans of each card have been added to the Picasa Gallery for the respective loco.
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The record card of 34053 Sir Keith Park. As a "modified" loco it received quite a lot of detailed modifications over the years.
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Fleet News
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With its boiler on the frames there's still a miriad of tasks to complete Sir Keith Park. At the January volunteer's session
the front of the boiler was finally bolted to the frames, the smokebox was bolted to the boiler, and lagging and cladding the boiler continued.
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Work continues on the repair of 34070 Manston's valve gear in Herston works. Three replacement Combination Levers and Union Links will be fitted. Originally these would have been forged, however these days such items are made by a Water Jet Cutter from a steel slab. This process involves using an extremely high pressure jet of water, often including abrasive particles. As usual Wikipedia tells you most of what you might wish to know about the process.
34028 Eddystone is in Swanage MPD receiving attention to two particularly hard-to-get-at boiler stays.
80104 is in service on the Swanage Railway. At present Swanage station is closed for track drainage work, and only limited services are operating between Corfe Castle and Norden.
Norman remains at Embsay.
December 2011
Manston in Herston
Recent visitors to Herston have been impressed by the sight of three Battle of Britain class locos in the works; Sir Keith Park and 257 Squadron have been joined by 34070 Manston for repairs to its valve gear. In October Manston damaged some links in its enclosed valve gear, and this has now been taken apart for repair. This work is being led by Graham Froud, the Swanage Railway engineer who ensures our locos are well cared for while in their hands. SLL is providing machine shop and procurement support to repair and remake the damaged components.
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Three Bulleids in Herston. In the foreground Manston, to the left Sir Keith Park, and at the back 257 Squadron. |
Ouch! A damaged Combination Lever from Manston's enclosed valve gear. |
Sir Keith Park
Work continues on Sir Keith Park following the installation of the boiler. The cab and much of the pipework and linkages around the smokebox had been removed to allow the boiler to be put in place; replacing those parts was generally straight-forward, though it all takes time.
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The petticoat (shown inverted) that fits under Sir Keith Park's chimney within the smokebox. The circumferential feed is the steam and air exhausted from the brake ejector. |
The main brake pipe was removed while the boiler was lifted on. It came off, so it ought to go back on...Geoff wrestles with the pipe while Tom, Ian and Ron look on. |
The ashpan now works correctly and the grate and its rocking mechanism have been reinstated. This was a difficult job as the patches inside the firebox resulted in the grate not fitting. The newly made vacuum brake ejector will be fitted shortly, with all associated pipework and clips fitted. The first of the boiler cladding has now been permanently fixed. After the Christmas break the first job will be to install the superheater header and the elements.
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Original Bulleids have a small inspection hatch beneath the smokebox door that gives access to the inside cylinder and valve. The fitters at Stewarts Lane must have been all too familiar with it. |
Mike Benwell gets to work in Sir Keith Park's smokebox, drilling about 80 5/8" holes for bolts which secure the smokebox to the front flange of the boiler. |
257 Squadron
While the focus remains on Sir Keith Park our thoughts are turning to our next major project, the overhaul of 34072 257 Squadron. Initial removal of cladding, etc, will be done by volunteers, as we expect our professional staff will be busy "shaking down" Sir Keith for some weeks. Several new volunteers have joined us recently including Mike Benwell whose father was a pilot in the squadron, flying night-fighter Hurricanes in early 1942. When Mike and his friend Roger presented themselves at Herston they asked, half-joking, whether we'd like them to sweep up, but before long they were inside Sir Keith's smokebox drilling 5/8" holes.
New recruits are truly welcome and are given real jobs to do, commensurate with their experience and skills. Pushing the broom won't figure high on the list of jobs.