Introduction:
Hello from the Saturday Gang!
Hope you’ve all had a pleasant summer. It’s been rather a different one for us. As well as our continued work on the locomotives at the Kent & East Sussex Railway, we’ve also had a new ongoing project of our own- constructing four new chimney covers for them.
Chimney covers are always placed on locos when they aren’t in steam. The yard was in need of new ones so we took the liberty of constructing a universal design that would fit all the different-sized chimneys and also provide air flow alongside protection from the elements. You can see our progress from bits of boiler cladding to ready components in the last few months’ video reports.
And of course, there has been the usual looking after the locos, so let’s take a look at the state of things on that front.
Locomotives:
WD USA Class 0-6-0T 30065 ‘Maunsell’- The frames of this loco have seen several new coats of paint. Further work on this loco has slowed to make way for accelerated progress on 14 ‘Charwelton.’
Hunslet Austerity Class 0-6-0PT 25 ‘Northiam’- Remains in service with running maintenance throughout the period, namely topping up the oil.
WD USA Class 0-6-0T 300 ‘Major-General Frank Ross’ (Formerly DS238 ‘Wainwright’)- This loco has received maintenance several times over the last few months. It has moved back into the shed for further repairs.
GWR 1600 Class 0-6-0PT 1638- We’ve performed further maintenance on this loco. This includes servicing the frames and repairing the vacuum pump.
NSB 21C Class 2-6-0 376 ‘Norwegian’- Remains in service.
LB&SCR A1X Class 0-6-0T 32678 ‘Knowle’- We have largely stripped down the Terrier for now. The tanks, boiler bands and barrel have all been removed, along with the front of the cab. The cab and running plate have been thoroughly cleaned for the long process ahead. Finally the boiler itself was lifted clear via the steam crane, and cleaned and the boiler cladding repainted.
LB&SCR A1X Class 0-6-0T 32670 ‘Bodiam’- Out of service. ‘Bodiam’ has been relocated to another railway for its overhaul.
Manning Wardle O Class 0-6-0T 14 ‘Charwelton’- Work is to accelerate on the overhaul of this loco. The springs and frames have been thoroughly cleaned and painted.
SE&CR P Class 0-6-0T 753- Out of service, no further information.
Videos:
Conclusion:
That more or less covers everything for the summer. We’ll likely return for another blog entry for the end of the year or January 2020, where we might have an announcement of big changes happening in our blog and YouTube channel.
If you haven’t already, do subscribe to our channel or follow our Facebook page. Until next time, do enjoy your Autumn!
