LMS Patriot Project Updates

The July Engineering Update has been posted on the project website today.

http://www.lms-patriot.org.uk/engineering/2014-08-12/engineering-update-july-2014

Kevin West
Engineer
LMS Patriot Project

 

Well I haven't updated this thread for quite a while (slaps wrist!)

So whats happened since the last update.

We attended the Great Dorset Steam fair and managed to raise a massive 9k over the 5 days!!

Our outside cylinders left Llangollen to be machined at Harco engineering. Below is an image of the motion girders which are being machined at the same location. We hope to have these back at Llangollen fully machined by early November and fitted to the locomotive before the SSS4 event. This is expected to be the first time people will get the opportunity to see a 3 cylindered original patriot.


The biggest piece of news over the last couple of months though has to be our Tender sponsorship. Which is a massive saving for the project in both money and time.
see http://www.lms-patriot.org.uk/news/...sorship-deal-announced-tender-unknown-warrior for more details.

Work continues at Crewe on the boiler. We are awaiting news on the second wheelset for work to then continue on the bogie.

Gavin

 

Great news Gav, well done everyone involved.

 

Excellent news, I was very impressed with the loco's presence at GDSF, brilliant to hear about the money raised.

 

Following the locomotives return to Llangollen on 11th July work started by our volunteer painting gang of David, Brian and Mike, to prepare for the trip to The Great Dorset Steam Fair at the end of August. The inside of the frames had been undercoated only prior to the trip to Warley, this now has been finished in black in the firebox area and vermillion for the rest.

Chassis painting in progress by David Hughes
The interior of the cab has also been finished, black to waist height and white above. Repairs to areas damaged in the moves and while work has been in progress have also been made good.

Interior of the cab has now been painted.
It had originally been planned to fit the inside cylinder before the trip to Dorset, but due to staffing at Llangollen being busy on other projects this work will now be done at the same time as the Outside Cylinders, Motion Brackets and Motion Girders are fitted.
The chassis will be lifted off the wheels for this work which will enable the painting gang complete access to the wheels. An amount of filling on the castings will be undertaken prior to painting.
Inside Cylinder Casting
The Inside Cylinder Casting has been painted and apart from the tapping of a few lubrication holes, for which we have recently obtained the correct taps, it is ready for fitting into the locomotive.
Outside Cylinder Castings
The castings for both Outside Cylinders were moved to Harco Engineering for machining following the Members Day in July. Machining has now started and it is expected to be completed by the end of October.

Outside Cylinder Machining in progress at Harco Engineering - photo Oakwood Visuals
Pistons, Valves and Motion
The Motion Girders are also at Harco Engineering for machining.
The Outside Motion Brackets have also received the first coat of black on the faces that are accessible. They require turning for the underside to be done.
Tyseley Locomotive Works will be supplying the valve heads and rods and pistons and rods. This is part of a bulk order that includes identical parts required for Jubilee class locomotives Bahamas, Koluhpur and Leander.
Bogie
Detailed discussions continue with Tyseley Locomotives Works. We now have the quotation and timescale for the assembly work.
A stumbling block has been the availability of the second wheelset and axle. The first wheelset we obtained from LMS 8F 2-8-0 48518, which was dismantled to provide parts for other locomotives, primarily the firebox for the GWR County Project. The second wheelset was due to come from an 8F currently in Turkey that is due to be returned to the UK for parts recovery for use on a number of locomotives. Despite numerous assurances over the last couple of years that the move was immanent no progress has been seen. We made the decision in early September that we can wait no longer and a new wheelset will be made. The 3D CAD for the wheelpan was completed and sent to the pattern makers. The first pattern was cut on 1st October, with the second pattern due to follow on. Casting is due in the next week. Quotations for the axle material and assembling the wheelpans to axles and fitting the tyres are in progress.

Wheel Pattern - photo Oakwood Visuals
Boiler
The order for the outer firebox Steel Flanged plates has been placed on Tyseley Locomotive Works.
Work is progressing at LNWR Crewe on forming the inner firebox flanged plates. The doorplate is finished with work in progress on the more complicated throatplate. Completion of the inner firebox is on schedule for February 2015.
Detail work on the new drawings required for the boiler continues.
Tender
During the summer the project was contacted by Rowlescourt Engineering, of Allfreton with the offer to work on the project. A meeting was held and the outcome was the most generous offer the completely re-build the tender for the cost of materials only. This will be a considerable saving to the project and we thank Rowlescourt for their most generous offer.
The tender chassis and associated parts were transferred from Llangollen to Rowlescourt’s works on 19th September. The chassis will be tackled first, with the completely new tank being built after the chassis has been finished. Extensive work is required to the front end of the chassis where the original steel has been wasted by the coal and water. A new front end will be constructed and grafted on to the existing frames. Brake gear will be refurbished as required.
The CAD work to enable this is in progress now.

tender chassis cad
The wheelsets, axleboxes and springing are still at Llangollen. The fitting of the running gear will be completed at a railway based works once the frame has been completed.
The design for the new tender tank has been progressing when time allows.

By Kevin West.


This is our latest news from the engineering team. Gavin

 

Anotheer cracking update from the team, it is great to see such great progress being made. I had wondered about the much talked about spares 8F coming up from Turkey that was supposed (IIRC) to give its boiler to a Black Five restoration group as well, its a shame if it won't come up even if it is just for spares.

 

Does this mean that the new Patriot will have 17" cylinders and a 225 psi boiler like the jubilees?

 

Posts relating to the Turkish 8Fs have been spun off into it's own thread here.

https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/turkish-8fs.358288/

 

A circular car sticker would be ideal...... might have to get one done!

 

I'd have one, and pay a fiver ! (should be some good profit in it) all helps.
Just received the 'Warrior' , basically confirming your posts on here, but with some nice other snippets as well, its a good read.

 

Well no sooner than we inform you of the decision for a new axle and the first wheel is cast!

Less than a month from making the decision to manufacture a new wheelset for the locomotives bogie, rather than wait any longer for the possibility of a set from an 8F in Turkey, the first Wheel Centre has been cast.

The 3D CAD data was supplied to Premier Patterns by the project's CAD Designer, Kevin West and the pattern cut in a polyurethene foam.

The second Wheel Centre is due to be cast in the next couple of weeks.

 

Please excuse, but just a quick "bump" in readiness for tomorrow.

Our steam "ambassador" for Remembrance is coming together and making anew an established railway tradition. A fitting memorial in steel and steam.

Into Battle

"Through joy and blindness he shall know
Not caring much to know, that still
Nor lead nor steel shall reach him, so
That it be not the Destined Will.

The thundering line of battle stands,
And in the air death moans and sings;
But Day shall clasp him with strong hands,
And Night shall fold him in soft wings."
Julian Grenfell 1914

 

So who out of our members is attending our AGM at Crewe Heritage centre this coming saturday? A visit to LNWR to see progress on our boiler will be done between 11am and 2pm with our team on hand to speak to members about progress and our plans for the future. Our AGM then starts a 2pm. I hope to see many of you there. Gavin.

 

Nope. Just turn up and we will be doing tours with groups as and when people turn up.

 

Well its been a good while since I last updated the page so here is the info from December. January's update is also about to come out so I'll post that as and when it does!

Locomotive Frame Assembly


The Unknown Warrior’s frost covered nameplate catches the sun outside Llangollen shed. 3rd December 2014

Photo – Kevin West

Before we get into the detail of this progress update I must apologies for the delay since the last report. In no way is this due to lack of items to report, in fact there is much progress over the last 10 weeks. Time has therefore been devoted to supporting the ongoing work instead of compiling the report.

Work on the painting of the locomotive frames and Driving Wheels continued through November by our volunteer painting gang. In addition they have also painted the frames of an industrial locomotive under overhaul at Llangollen works.



Painting continues on the Driving Wheels.

Photo – Kevin West

On 3rd December the locomotive was lifted off its Driving Wheels in preparation for the next stage of assembly work on the chassis. The Smokebox had been removed prior to the lift. The Frame Assembly was set up on stands and leveled. Work then commenced on preparation for fitting the cylinders.



45551 being lifted off its wheels outside Llangollen shed. 3rd December 2014

Photo – Kevin West

The Driving Wheels were placed onto a well wagon and work has continued on filling, rubbing down and painting by our volunteer gang.



Filling, rubbing down & painting continues on the Driving Wheels.

Photos – Kevin West

The Inside Cylinder has been temporarily flitted and lined up to the Driving Axle centre. As the Inside Cylinder has to be removed to machine the Outside Cylinder fixing holes, dowels have been fitted to enable correct alignment to be obtained once it is replaced.

The Outside Cylinders were delivered to Llangollen just before Christmas, but one returned to Harco Engineering for a small amount of additional work, straight away. This has now returned to Llangollen.

The left Outside Cylinder has been mounted on the frames and lined up, temporarily bolted in position and doweled for alignment.



Left hand Outside Cylinder in position on frames.

Photo – Kevin West

Both outside Motion Brackets have also been temporarily mounted and aligned. The right side Cylinder is due to be mounted and aligned next week.



Left hand Motion Bracket being positioned on the frames by Arwell and Chris from Llangollen Engineering. Andrew Kennedy films progress in the background.

Photo – Kevin West

Lining up these parts is done using a laser projected line to show the horizontal centre line through the driving axle centre. The centre line of the Cylinders is shown by a length of thin wire set up to pass through the cylinder bore and axle centre. This can be seen in the follow couple of pictures.



The Cylinder centre wire set up to check Cylinder and Motion Bracket alignment. The red laser projected horizontal axle centre can also be seen.



Arwell checks the slide bar gap in the Motion Bracket is correctly spaced from the motion centre line.

Photos – Kevin West

The three Hind Cylinder Covers have been machined and delivered to Llangollen. The six Slidebars should arrive in the next few days, which will allow the whole Cylinder, Slidebar, Motion Bracket assembly to be set up and checked. All the cylinder mounting holes will then be reamed to final size and the fitted bolts machined to permanently fit the Cylinders to the Frame Assembly.

Towards the rear of the Frame Assembly, the Boiler Expansion Brackets have been riveted in place and painted.



The boiler expansion bracket is position on the Frame Assy

Photo – Kevin West

Orders have been placed for the patterns and castings for the Front Cylinder Covers and both Front and Hind Valve Covers. Patterns and castings for the Pistons will follow shortly.

Existing design work is concentrating on the remaining Valve Gear parts required. A recent visit to the National Railway Museum Search Engine resulted in finding a further 36 Jubilee class drawings that were not listed in the museum’s lists. Some of these will be useful to the Patriot build where we have no original drawings.



Patriot Project Chief Engineer discusses progress with Arwell & Chris from Llangollen Engineering.

Photo – Oakwood Visuals





Pistons, Valves and Motion
Machining of the Motion Girders is underway at Harco Engineering. These will be fitted on arrival at Llangollen. Final fitting of the Cylinders etc is expected to take 3-4 weeks.



The Hind Cylinder Cover after machining.

Photo Kevin West

The valve heads have been cast as part of a bulk order that include identical parts for Jubilee class locomotives Bahamas, Koluhpur and Leander. They are at Tyseley Locomotive Works for machining. Tyseley will also be supplying the Pistons and Piston Rods, drawings for these have been completed and a pattern for the Piston casting is about to be ordered.

Manufacture of the Coupling Rod Bushes and Brasses is expected to start soon.

Bogie
Detailed discussions continue with Tyseley Locomotives Works regarding assembly of the Bogie.

The Frame Plates have returned to Tyseley after drilling and machining.

The Frame End Stays and Spring Stays, machined by Harco Engineering are now at Tyseley.

The two new wheel centre castings for the second axle await machining. That short statement does not cover the amount of work undertaken on the new axle assembly without any actual action taking place! Since the Driving Wheels were assembled 18 months ago a new regulatory standard has been introduced.

South Devon Engineering, who assembled our Driving Wheels are not at present certified to the new requirement for assembling wheelsets, although the certification is expected to be in place by the time we require our set assembled. For our wheelset we do not have the original drawings for the parts used on the ex 8F set we already own. We do have the wheel centre drawing for the replacement wheels fitted to Jubilee and Re-built Patriot class locomotives. This drawing was used to create the new parts we have had cast. For the axle we do not have the correct drawing, but during the NRM search we found 2 drawings of similar axles. These will be used as technical backup for a new drawing to prove the correct engineering interfaces.

As part of the new requirements we were initially informed that machining of Axle and Wheel Centre would have to be done by an approved supplier, which would have added considerably to both the timescales and costs. Thankfully, we have now been informed that only final machining of the areas where the Wheel Centre is pressed onto the Axle needs to be done by an approved supplier, so we can get the rest done by one of our contractors. We expect that South Devon Engineering will do this final machining prior to pressing the Wheels onto the Axle.

Boiler
Work continues on the forming blocks for the outer firebox Steel Flanged plates at Tyseley Locomotive Works.

At LNWR Crewe, forming the Inner Firebox flanged Throatplate is finished. Drilling of the tube holes is required to finish. Work on joining the Firebox Sidesheets and Crown to complete the Firebox Wrapper is about to start. The Wrapper, Doorplate and Throatplate can then be assembled to complete the Inner Firebox. This is on schedule for the end of February 2015.





The Inner Firebox Throatplate after forming at LNWR Heritage January 2015

Photo – Gavin Shell

Detail work on the new drawings required for the boiler continues.

Tender
Work on the refurbishment on the Tender Frames continues at Rowlescourt Engineering.

The design for the new tender tank has been progressing when time allows.

 

And another picture hot off the press is this one! for us is a massive achievement. To have all 3 Cylinders fitted onto the frames for the first time. if you wish to join us in one of the fastest moving projects out there at the moment please visit www.lms-patriot.org.uk and join as a member/donor or make a one off donation. We need your support to hit our target of having her in steam in 2017 and on the mainline in 2018!