LMS Patriot Project Updates

HBSS have just posted these updated images of progress on the boiler. Looking great!

 

Good to see the boiler coming along (very) nicely! Once the rectification work at West Shed is complete, we should have a very worthy machine. Really looking forward to next year!

Richard.

 

Sorry Ralph, not thinking straight (full of cold!)

The boiler doesn't require rectification. I meant that it's great to see the boiler coming along nicely, and once the "bottom half" has been rectified at West Shed, we should have a worthy machine... Once my head's not full of goop I may be able to think straight!

Richard.

 

I nipped Into the west shed to collect some sales stock and took these pics while i was there. The quality looks fantastic!

 

Interesting to note that the bit that has 'built by HBSS' marked on it was actually built by LNWR...!

 

As the two guys who started HBSS were working on the boiler as LNWR staff, along with a number of others, Andy Tranter for one, I think we can give them a break

 

Thank you. From the photo, the machining on the inside face of the wheel boss doesn't look that great and there is a suggestion of pitting on the journal, but perhaps that is an optical illusion.

 

Boiler looking great, and even better that it is built in this country.

I think however LNWR deserve a bit more credit. I believe the barrel, front tubeplate, and smokebox were made at Crewe along with the copper firebox , backplate and tubeplate, the barrel and firebox wrapper were bent by Barnshaws, the Steel firebox backplate and throatplate were made by Tyseley. So really this is a collective achievement by several key companies in the heritage engineering industry, and no one company can claim to have built it in its entirety...?

 

The barrel was pretty much finished by LNWR. I think that was the irony being observed. In a lot of ways, LNWR (or their suppliers) did the hard bits of this job - HSBS inheritited the job as a kit of parts at the "just add rivets and stays" stage. Lot of man hours in that, but the difficult bits of a boiler tend to be the press work and initial setting up and laying out aspects of the job.

 

Indeed although I wouldn't class Barnshaws as being in "the heritage engineering industry" being more of a mainstream engineering outfit and very useful for bending all sorts of stuff (I used them often in the day job, and you couldn't get further from heritage if you tried).


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Lovely to see some nice tasty bits of freshly painted metal! The paint finish does indeed look superb!

Richard.

 

It is and always was common practice to sub contract things out. Even the likes of (BR) Crewe was not immune to doing this, sub contracting fireboxes and other components to the likes of North British. At the end of the day, HBSS will (hopefully) finish the boiler and it will probably carry their makers plate. Does it really matter if that plate doesn't make reference to parts being made elsewhere?

 

Completely off topic, but from Frank Webb's days Crewe tried to make everything in-house, but copper firebox plate was an exception and bought in trimmed to size. This was because they were paying by weight, and it was cheaper doing it that way than buying in full-sized plate and trimming it themselves.

 

One difficulty with contracting out is maintaining quality control, particularly where the contractor is working remotely from the project base (and therefore requiring periodic inspection visits from the client). That's made more difficult where multiple parties are involved, for example where Contractor A makes parts that are assembled by Contractor B, to quality standards set by Inspector C and on behalf of Client D.

By no means impossible, but clearly requiring a degree of management expertise on behalf of the client. One assumes that by now it is a necessity that the project is well aware needs careful managing.

Tom

 

But that is the norm in the big wide world. Very few firms make everything they need these days.