82045 The way ahead?

The 'Peak' arrangement is present on the DR 99.73-76 & 99.77-79 classes of 2-10-2T on 750mm gauge. Did Ashford Drawing Office consciously copy the DR, or is this parallel evolution (when designing the SR 10201 - 3)?
Pat

 

Thanks, that's interesting. There is a short section in Langridge (Vol 2 p71-72) on the bogie design when he visited Ashford. The design was apparently prepared by a Mr Bollen.

 

June update. http://www.82045.org.uk/news/82045_news-jun21.html

 

Nice, hopefully on becoming a 2-6-2 some more interest from the mags will occur. Of course, the completed boiler will no doubt lead to that but it will useful to have some rather sooner than that point!

 

July update. http://www.82045.org.uk/news/82045_news-jly21.html

 

That boiler shop looks quite professional. I'm very glad to see that that capability now exists for the heritage loco world.

I guess we've lost a foundry or two in the UK recently (although there's at least one left that can do large castings for locos), and tyres have to come from South Africa (not great, but at least it's there.) What's the biggest missing piece of loco construction infrastructure now?

Noel

 

Although apprenticeship schemes like those on the SVR are producing skilled staff, the future supply of skilled volunteers must be one of real concern. As a country we no longer train or produce the large number of skilled workshop people or fitters that we did 50 years ago. That situation appears unlikely to change in the near future.

Without the wonderful volunteer skills that have been available in 82045s construction, costs would have probably increased by up to 30%. AND regular quality control would have been difficult if not impossible.

 

Thanks, gios, you're exactly right there: I can't tell one end of a spanner from the other, alas, and my only worthwhile contribution has been raising the money for 82045. We seem to have hit a winning formula by and large, so fingers crossed that everything proceeds to plan, up to, and beyond, the engine's entry into service. My job won't end there, as I would like to continue to manage the Future Fund for as long as I'm able so that 82045 remains as independent as possible for as long as possible. We've been very fortunate to have such skilled chaps, and I'm astonished at the generosity of our supporters. We have a duty to them to ensure that the faith they place in us is justified. Hope that doesn't sound pious!

 

August update (delayed due to holidays as mentioned in July's update).

http://www.82045.org.uk/news/82045_news-aug21.html

 

Ah, I wondered why it was delayed. The only problem with usually being punctual enough to set one's watch (well, calendar, in the circumstances) by, is that a few days late raises worries.

Glad to see they are proceeding well.

 

To follow on from that, an often overlooked problem is that the supply of talented amateurs is also drying up, those who perhaps did other jobs for a living but nevertheless had an interest in engineering, woodwork or whatever. In the past they could learn at least some of the skills by attending a local authority evening class, but how many of those are there now: I would like to learn CAD but there's no opportunity to do so where I live (Wiltshire). where the availability of evening classes is woeful/ I used to go to a model engineering class butr the workshops were closed down and the equipment sold off. I is still possible to learn on the job with a helpful colleague or member of staff at a railway but most are do understaff that the average new recruit will be handed a wirebrush and a paintbrush and left to get on with it. Investment in improving the abilities of the volunteer workforce should be a well worthwhile exercise.

 

You may be pleasantly surprised at the CAD beginner content on Youtube. There is a lot! You can pick up the basics of CAD in a day and some packages are now running on the cloud so you don't even need an expensive engineering laptop/desktop to run the software.

 

Thanks Mike. We're quite neurotic about getting the updates out by each month end, but please don't look at the section on the history of the project, which is urgently in need of attention. Apart from that, 82045 is in excellent shape I'm glad to report.

 

My admiration to you for a nicely-presented site. I shouldn't worry too much about the history. As long as you have an overview of the project for the new visitor, and a regular update for the neurot^h^h^h^h^hinterested reader, you'll catch most people.

I the frames and wheels last time I was at the SVR, looking forward it to completing in time.

 

Cheers Mike. Next step is fitting the pony trucks under the engine. It was hoped that this would happen this month: this hasn't proved possible, though I can tell you that it's scheduled for October. It will be a two-part operation, consisting firstly of moving the pony truck assemblies from our site to the engine yard; then, on a subsequent occasion, placing 82045 over the wheeldrop to finish the job .

 

I always look forward to reading the monthly updates, and I'm very grateful that you keep us so well informed, as I'm sure are others on here from the number of 'likes' every time a new one appears. You would be very welcome to post the link on here when an update goes live - I tend to do it if I find it but I'll freely acknowledge that the 'likes' should be credited to you rather than me!

 

I'm quite happy for you to go on being liked, Robin!

 

September update: http://www.82045.org.uk/news/82045_news-sept21.html

 

SVR's official Youtube channel has a very well made introduction to the project:

 

October Update. Trucks, firebox, lubrication and much more edition. http://www.82045.org.uk/news/82045_news-oct21.html