SVR Loco Newsy News / discussions

Do we know how 7802 fits into the SVR's future overhaul plans? I would imagine she would require some quite heavy work this time around given the amount of use she has had..

 

2017 according to the last published overhaul list (I can't find the link, sorry) on the SVRA forum

Patrick

 

The list stated 7802 would enter the works in 2015 and be completed for 2017, however of course this could be delayed with other locomotive overhauls.

 

2857’s boiler was on test 14 September, per SVRA unofficial online thread.

LMR Austerity 152 'Rennes' - This summer has seen the stripping for assessment the boiler of 152. The boiler has not seen service since it was withdrawn by the NCB in the early 1980's and is in typical run down NCB condition. Work has focused on removing all the copper firebox stays, all crown stays, palm stays and releasing the longitudinal stays from the front tubeplate. Also removed are the foundation ring, firehole ring and copper firebox. All these items are in poor condition, and a decision will be made shortly on the most cost effective way forward for the repair. The steel tubeplate and smokebox have been removed, these will both be renewed. SVR Engineering http://www.svr-engineering.co.uk/

Talyllyn Railway No 2 'Dolgoch' - Work is progressing very steadily on this new build boiler project at Bridgnorth. The new copper doorplate has been manufactured at Bridgnorth, and a selection of photos illustrates the various stages of progress. The new steel tubeplate is also being formed, this being a first for the boilershop, as to date it hasn't made a tubeplate in this way before at Bridgnorth. The steel tubeplate and doorplate stiffeners have also been produced; these have been riveted up ready for fitting when the plates are ready. SVR Engineering

22 September saw the arrival of the boiler of Hawthorn Leslie 2859 (Tanfield Railway No 2) at Bridgnorth boilershop. The boiler is there for repairs to enable the locomotive to return to steam for its centenary in 2011. Work is to focus on the removal of the front tubeplate; this is likely to be renewed. Also the firebox is being removed; this is to be replaced with a new steel assembly. The foundation ring and steel wrapper are likely to require some repairs, and the boiler will also require a full re-stay and re-tube before it is ready for testing. SVR Engineering

Patrick

 

I'd be interested to hear comments on the wording above: 'and is in typical run down NCB condition'.

Were NCB locos typically in run down condition or is that just a perception?

Former NCB employees working on the engineering side that I have spoken to have had a different view.

 

I can't find this loco on the UK HEritage Railways loco database, and I doin't realise that another of the wx-LMR engines had survived - can anyone please give some more information?

 

http://www.pontypool-and-blaenavon.co.uk/pages/locos-steam.html

61624 - took me a while to find it! PBR website has it down as NCB No. 8, whereas SVR has it listed as LMR No. 152.

 

Is there any update 0n 75069.

 

Well, as a former NCB engineer, I, too, would dispute the statement. There were exceptions but the majority of locos were maintained in reasonable condition. Most were 'plated' to run on BR so had to be mechanically satisfactory for this purpose. As for the boilers, the NCB were very keen on the condition of such items and would not allow them to be operated if in bad condition.

 

I couldn't say with any certainty why the boiler is in the condition that it is, but; trust me; I've had it from the horse's mouth that it's far from brilliant.

 

I think that a bit of perspective is necessary when considering what is acceptable now and what was acceptable 30-50 years ago, which is the sort of time frame that we are looking at. I have BR documentation stating that no loco should leave the works after a major overhaul with firebox plate thickness less than 60% of original. If I suggested that this was acceptable today, most people would just laugh. Outside of BR, what was acceptable in terms of boiler condition was vastly different. Boiler Inspectors weren't generally interested in the condition of the tubes and if they popped, you either blanked them off or replaced the odd one. No ripping them out after ten years. Fit brass or copper tubes and you would reasonably never expect to replace them. If you had grooving at the foundation ring, it was quite common to weld it up from the outside, no worries about the welder being coded, as long as it didn't leak. Provided that the barrel wasn't lap jointed and the stays were Ok, catastrophic failure was unlikely. Loco boiler explosions due to other than low water or stay failure were virtually unheard of in the 20th century so the standards of inspection and acceptance at that time couldn't have been too far wrong.

Somewhere in the loft I have a photocopy of an old book on boiler maintenance written by a boilersmith at a steelworks. It has a section on keeping boilers in service when they were desperately needed and suggestions include drilling out stays and fitting bolts with copper washers and attaching angle iron to firebox sides where plates were thin or stays broken, amongst many other ideas. Shock & horror, now, but these things regularly happened once. Even wire-winding of boiler barrels was not unknown, especially on agricultural boilers!

We'd never have done any of that in the NCB, though and I'm not advocating any return to such practises!

Gone way off-topic on SVR news, though!

 

Not an unreasonable comment Steve. Perhaps I should have included "compared with today's acceptable condition" between the word "brilliant" and the full stop. Gone are the days of changing the bottom three row of tubes of an ex-Barry boiler.

 

I think you have to bear in mind that BR stood the risk of the results of boiler problems, it didn't go to outside insurers. An insurance company is bound to be very conservative, much more conservative, than a body which is self insuring because it is carrying the risk.

Regards

 

Changing tubes for the sake of it!! You'll be telling me next that you carried out a hydraulic test, as well!

 

Changng the bottom three rows of tubes is three rows further than some loco owners went, I think, even quite late on. I remember visiting a railway, whose name I won't mention, in the early 90s and buying a copy of their magazine where I read that its Barry tubes had failed after several years and were being replaced.....

I know that it was quite common to reuse superheater flues, but I would have thought that even back then replacement of small tubes would have been virtually mandatory.

 

I did hear today from a SVR member the reason why 75069 isn't under overhaul is because the boiler barrel is well past its sell by date. I'm lead to believe that work was started on this loco but once the boiler barrel was found to be in poor condition work was stopped and the loco has now been side lined without a possible time scale to when this loco will steam again. Can any other SVR member confirm this.

 

I can remember one early partial retube (small tubes) on an ex Barry loco where, when the whole set was eventually removed a few years on, the preservation era tubes were found to be in worse condition than the BR era fitted ones!! - this was in the late '70s. The incident with 6697 at Didcot which injured the footplate crew brought about the changing of flue tubes as a matter of routine.

 

2857 - The boiler has been fighting back a bit lately. A few rivets at the bottom of the smokebox tubeplate refused to be caulked and have been replaced. Work on the frames has been slowed a bit by the demands of 42968, but wheeling is not that far away - which does not mean that the job is nearly finished. Only when the mechanical bits are together and the boiler is in place can the process of assembling all the hundreds of smaller parts and plumbing start in earnest. There are still bits to be made, for example, with Lady A in the paintshop there has been no room to get to the big bending rolls in there to roll the boiler cladding sheets. Final painting, lining if required, and varnishing are not quick jobs either. (SVRA unofficial forum thread)

4150 - Work has been progressed steadily over the summer rebuilding the bunker, with many pictures on their website.

The spare pannier boiler intended for 7714 awaits new formed steel door plate & throatplate components from a supplier. These are thought to be imminent. 7714 herself remains in the Engine House. (SVRA unofficial forum thread)

7802 was weighed following replacement of a fractured bogie spring hanger bolt - the fracture occurred during its last day in service at Swanage. The hanger bolt was changed on the Monday prior to the gala at Kidderminster but after repairs which affect loco or tender springs it is now the practice on the SVR to check that the weight distribution at each wheelset is in line with the designed figures. This ensures that the loco is safe to operate, does not cause undue damage to p way & structures and makes locos least prone to slipping. Weighing is possible using portable apparatus (featured in a recent SVR news) and check weighing is possible using a permanent installation in the track at Bridgnorth in platform 1. (SVRA unofficial forum thread)

The Erlestoke Manor Fund has an October update on its website. Construction has started on Bradley Manor's new tender with the first Plasma cut profiles delivered by Corus. These comprise the rear buffer beam, 2 x buffer plates, front and rear dragbox plates, 2 x front footstep plates and 2 x rear footstep plates.

42968 returned to service 15 October (society website)

Catch Me Who Can should be going indoors soon, for some work on it in the dry during the winter. The charity is not expecting to steam the engine again until March 2011, by which time "it should look rather different" (charity's website).

Patrick

 

Add to this -

The Wheeldrop - this is proving extremely useful & already the following have benefitted from its use:

42968 - all driving & coupled wheels removed in turn, axleboxes reconditioned & refitted together with motion work & other items making this loco nicely "soled & healed".

7802 - leading tender wheelset remove for attention to a flat on the tyres - wheels out fri, components cleaned sat sun, tyres machined mon & wheelset replaced tuesday recently.

34027 - major progress with horns, axleboxes, motion - rewheeling shortly. Start made on refitting miles of copper pipework.

2857 - axleboxes refitted most of motion refitted or ready. Coupling rods ready to fit. Rewheeling very soon.

6634 - New cab roof fabrication nearly complete. Misc other jobs underway.

Lady A - now in Engine House on display - no room for anything else now!

Boilers - 1501 well into overhaul; 7714 dismantled awaiting new plates

Contract Boilers - Dolgoch well underway, Rennes dismantled awaiting owner decisions, 813 underway, Tanfield (?)boiler being dismantled.