10th January 2018.  

Cold and disheartening, the task of extracting boiler tubes gets under way.  As the smokebox tubeplate is also to be replaced, the quick way to remove tubes is to cut aound them in the tubeplate and then collapse the fitting at the firebox end.

A tarpaulin around the front end to protect it (and the workers)  from the weather, the first few tubes are out and the process can be seen.

The first victims.  Not just scrap, these are to be used as post-bases for various projects around the railway.

During December, the piston valve covers were removed and now the piston valves themselves have been taken out for measurement.

On the right can be seen the view looking down inside a piston valve.  The brown shiny covering is a combination of oil and steam and is very resistant to removal. Inside that can be seen the forward end of the front valve liner, which extends about 12” into the valve. About half-way along can be seen the diamond-shaped port holes through which steam enters and leave the cylinders. Further in is the void between the two valves - this is connected to the blastpipe in the centre of the smokebox.

21st January 2018.  

Outside in the cold, the task of tube removal continues. All the big ones are out and a start is being made on the 151 small tubes.

Inside, the task of measuring the motion components is nearing completion and quotes are being sought for the reboring of the cylinders and piston valves.

Under the loco, the horn stay bolts are being taken out temporarily to confirm that we won’t hit stumbling blocks when attempting to lift the loco off the frames. These bolts are fitted to match their own specific hole and numbered so that they can be returned to the correct hole whenever removed.

A picture from Kingsley Harris. Proudly displaying the results of their labours, Richard and David take a brief rest from the extraction process.

Lubrication pipe clamps under the LH slidebar. The numbers are photo-shopped onto the image, not written on the frame!

28th January 2018.  

There’s not much left to do on the chassis now.  For now, the slidebars are to stay until we understand whether they’re needed to act as alignment guides for cylinder boring. The bogie will come out when the frames are lifted.

Needle-gunning has started on the RHS wheels and chassis.  Obviously, there are areas that cannot be reached while the chassis remains on the wheels but a good start can be made and while volunteer labour is available, it is best to make use of it.

Looking very bare indeed.  The chassis bereft of practically all components.  

Rear RH wheel and frame exterior with paint needle-gunned off.

Reverser screw.  There’s a small amount of play between the screw and the travelling block but it’s thought that there’s no need to rework this part - in use on the NVR, the loco is running so much within its capabilities that slight inaccuracies in cut-off setting will not matter.

One of the crossheads being cleaned up.  Quiz question - is this the RH or LH crosshead?