Introduction:
Hello and Happy New Year from the Saturday Gang!
Hopefully you have enjoyed your festive season. It has given us at the Gang a chance to take stock of all that has happened this year and look to the new decade.
2019 saw us finally return Austerity 25 ‘Northiam’ to steam after ten years, and also bid a fond farewell to 376 ‘Norwegian’, which has been in service almost as long.
One big change you may have heard about is that December marked the end of the monthly Saturday Gang Video Reports. These have been a constant and regular fixture of our online presence since 2012. But in the new year we will be taking more time to make longer, in depth videos covering specific topics around the shed and Rolvenden yard. However, these blog updates will continue as normal.
On the promotional side, we were fortunate to have one of our volunteers, George Moffat, featured in an article in the Tenterden Terrier winter edition! We’re very grateful that he managed to get our little gang mentioned several times in the piece!
So a lot has been happening on the media side of things. But now let’s take a look at how our locos are looking for the start of 2020.
Locomotives:
WD USA Class 0-6-0T 30065 ‘Maunsell’- After a brief hiatus, work on this loco has resumed. We began by thoroughly cleaning the piston covers, and cleaning the lubricators, also annealing the associated pipes.
Hunslet Austerity Class 0-6-0PT 25 ‘Northiam’- Remains in service. The Saturday Gang were delighted to join in an RXD (Railway Experience Day) in September, which granted us the opportunity to drive the loco we’d worked on for so long.
WD USA Class 0-6-0T 300 ‘Major-General Frank Ross’ (Formerly DS238 ‘Wainwright’)- Remains in service with running maintenance throughout the period. This included boiler washouts and the odd cylinder repairs.
GWR 1600 Class 0-6-0PT 1638- In service with running maintenance throughout the period. This included reattaching the blast pipe in September.
NSB 21C Class 2-6-0 376 ‘Norwegian’- This loco has finished its boiler ticket and ended its period of service. December saw ‘Norwegian’s final running days, and the loco was cleaned and covered for the winter. It will be missed.
LB&SCR A1X Class 0-6-0T 32678 ‘Knowle’- The overhaul continues on this loco. Over the last four months we have cleaned the cylinders and slide bars, removed the vacuum hose, reassembled the sand pipe and cleaned and painted the buffer beam. This overhaul is set to continue into the new year.
LB&SCR A1X Class 0-6-0T 32670 ‘Bodiam’- Out of service.
Manning Wardle O Class 0-6-0T 14 ‘Charwelton’- The overhaul on this loco continues. Recently the frames have received new layers of paint, and the bunker section of the cab has been reattached.
SE&CR P Class 0-6-0T 753- Out of service.
Videos:
Conclusion:
Well that covers another year. Our next blog update should be coming around May time, and will hopefully bring some coverage about the next video. Do follow us on Facebook or subscribe to our YouTube channel below if you haven’t already. Until next time, thank you and best wishes from the Saturday Gang!
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