Having received the frames and stretchers during December 2020, we hoped to make a start on drilling holes on the first Tuesday of 2021, but Covid struck again and our first day was not until 30th March 2021. It had been decided that more rapid progress could be made by assembling the carrier frames first so the rear buffer beam was the first item to be drilled, followed by one of the carrier frames. At this stage it was realised that the already well used Mag Drill that we have was no longer accurate enough to reliably drill the holes in the required positions, after putting out an appeal a new drill was kindly donated which has speeded the job up considerably since the holes produced are now more quickly made in the required places. Once the first frame had been drilled several strategically placed holes were drilled in the other frame, then the two frames were held together with dowels and bolts to allow drilling through the other holes of the second frame. Whilst this was taking place all the the angles needed to join the stretchers to the frames were cleaned and primed. Holes were then drilled in the angles and stretchers to allow them to be bolted to the carrier frames. The first assembly to be bolted together was the stretcher assembly for the trailing bogie pivot which consists of two vertical plates, one horizontal plate which is fixed to the top pivot casting plus the various angles.
Alan Freebury
During this period we also arranged for various patterns to be made and castings produced from them for the trailing bogie. These included the pivot top and bottom parts, bogie side bearer angles and hornguides.
Alan Freebury
We have now reached a position where we are having several castings machined. These are not necessarily being machined in the order that they will be required, but are castings that were produced from patterns made for a previous project. The ones we already had are for the valve spindle glands and the regulator quadrant casting. The new castings were made from patterns recently produced for the piston rod glands and the regulator gland.
Alan Freebury
The patterns and castings we are currently having produced are being funded from monies held in our account, but in order to progress the acquisition of further parts we regularly offer the chance of sponsorship in order to maintain funds for further purchases.
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