Sandringham New Build(s)

Excellent stuff! Glad to see it's moving forwards.

One quick question about roller bearings: IIRC there is an issue with old roller-bearing fitted vehicles, that they need moving every so often to avoid flats forming on the bearings. Is this an issue with new bearings (which will be bearing significantly less mass than design loading until completion)?

 

I can't speak for locomotives, but for wagons that were in storage a 'lift and spin'* is required if stood for more than 6 months. I can't remember whether that is across the board or just for wagons stored near a running line, and therefore subject to vibration.
Pat

* Involved slowly turning the wheelset and listening for any noise from the bearing. Pretty hit & miss!

 

While on the subject of roller bearings (posts above) I should have mentioned that all of these have already been purchased (for the bogie, driving wheels and tender) and are currently in store at South Devon Railway Engineering where the wheelsets will be assembled.

 

A Merry Christmas to all steam fans out there, whatever your loyalty is to each of the Big Four companies. Some exciting times ahead for Spirit of Sandringham as even more major components have been ordered for fabrication/construction during 2024. Watch this space!

 

Construction Update

This week, CTL Seal in Sheffield have started to machine the six coupled driving wheels. The photo shows the first one placed on the machining bed, ready to have the hub machined out to the final size. Once this is done on all wheels, the final dimensions can then be used to machine the plain axles to their final size. It will then be all go to complete the intermediate and rear wheelsets, as the other components (tyres, roller bearings) etc have already been acquired and paid for. This activity is planned to be after this years Open Day on 13th April at CTL Seal.

An order for the smokebox cylinder and liner has also been placed and quotes are being sought for the door, hinges and dart.

Considerable design work has also been undertaken over the past 3 months on the front bogie and several more manufacturing drawings produced ready to be sent out for quotations. It is anticipated the order for the 4 bogie wheels will be placed with William Cooks in the next few days.

By the end of this month, the Trust will have raised its first million pounds towards completing 61673 Spirit of Sandringham

 

The impressive size of a B17 driving wheel - and this is before the tyres are put on! The same size as a Gresley A4 Pacific. (CTL Seal on 12th February 2024)

 

The smokebox wrapper and liner for 61673 Spirit of Sandringham, have today been delivered to CTL Seal in Sheffield. The ring and door will follow shortly.

 

A chance to see progress on 61673 Spirit of Sandringham and meet the team behind the build. A date for your diary.

 

Thought you might be interested to see the latest publicity posters prepared by the B17 Steam Locomotive Trust to explain to the general public what they are doing.

 

A few photos taken before the crowds arrived for the Open Day at CTL Seal in Sheffield on April 13th . A very successful day with many new members signed up! And before anyone asks, the sixth driving wheel was on the machining table!

 

Tom Ingall has just uploaded an interesting video to You Tube. Exciting times ahead!

 

The machining of the Driving Wheels is reaching its end point. Each of the six wheels has been machined on one side, then been carefully machined and polished to the final size ready for the axles. More recently, the crank pin location has also machined to the final size - the photos show the last one on the appropriate machine, and then the final measurements being taken. These measurements will be passed to Railway Wheelsets, so the plain axles can be finished. The only job left is to turn the wheels over and machine the other side so that they are the final thickness. Once we have the two plain axles, these and the four wheels will be shipped to South Devon Engineering to be united with the roller bearings and the tyres to create the first two B17 wheelsets in well over 65 years.

In addition to the smokebox wrapper and liner that were displayed at the CTL Seal Open Day in April, the smokebox door has now been ordered and an order is imminent for the door ring and seal groove.

 

Thanks for the update(s) Wozzy.

 

Are the other two waiting for the crank axle (or with some judicious use of a hacksaw, are you going to make a "Hunt"?)

 

Yes, the other two are waiting for the crank axle to be manufactured. The difficulty at the moment is acquiring the correct grade of forging material for the crank axle given only a relatively small amount of this material is required and there appears to be a very limited number of companies from where this material can be sourced. Hope that makes sense!

 

Work on B17/6 no. 61673 is proceeding on a number of fronts currently. One of the lesser-known tasks under way is to paint the frames in order to protect them from corrosion. This is being carried out professionally by leading specialist in the field of heritage painting, Phil Anderson. Here are a couple of recent shots, including some from unusual angles between the frames.

A point to note on 61673 is the rounded corners to the frame cutouts for the hornblocks. The original B17s were prone to frame cracking, and the cracks had a natural tendency to start at the square corners of the hornblock cutouts and spread outwards. By rounding the corners on the new frames, the intention is to remove the square corner at which the cracks tend to form. With all the other design improvements being made, such as the use of roller bearings, 61673 will be the best B17 yet!

 

Liberty ships and De Havilland Comets had similar issues I believe

 

Out of interst.
What is reason that it cannot be made of the kind of steel used for built-up crankshafts in big two stroke marine engines?

 

Interesting point Hermod, but possibly due to the difference in the fact that the B17 is a forging and not a built up crank? I'm sure a metallurgist will provide a more detailed reply.

 

Are the B17 team ging for a forging (as per original) or a built up crank? In this day and age I would have thought the latter would be a more sensible approach.