WZLR No.2001

Well it is finished! I make that sound like it was a marathon but in reality it was started in January and completed in June... Not bad for one person working away in any spare time available.

Once it was hauled out of the workshop in a nearby village to the museum it was loaded onto a big trailer and towed over. A simple removal from the trailer to the WZLR track bed was completed swiftly and the all important playing... I mean testing could begin! After a successful run up and down the line without hitting anything it has all been certified as a success. The problem is that it might mean the next project of a passenger coach could come along rather quickly! 

Some further sorting of the air brake system with locos and charging it up is required but these thing can progress alongside other developments of the railway. Our next big challenge is to begin relaying sections of track work in 30lb rail. 

The box van will be running on the railway at our next steaming on the 7th of July, come and check it out!

Temporary...

Well what can I say, it's been a busy last few weeks. After a light tap by a volunteer it appeared the chimney on the Marshall boiler was a bit weak at the base. Having found a larger hammer things got worse! So in an organised panic we set about getting it removed... So with thanks to our neighbouring farmer and his telehandler we were able to grab hold of it with some lorry straps and put it safely on the ground. The extent of its decay was only then really discovered and after a few large taps it looked like a machine gun had done its best. 

The boiler was brought onto site in 1990 and the chimney made new then to replicated the badly rotted out one it came with. It lay in the folded down position until 2005 when the boiler was brought into use. A lot of the major decay has clearly happened in the line where it was flat and the water sitting doing its worse. Coupled with the last 8 years of soot and acid has caused the mild steel to thin some what.

Today we had a go at making a temporary chimney to tie us over. This was made from two sheets of 4' x 8' aluminium rolled and pop riveted together and slid down the main chimney base that is attached to the smoke box. A little fire was lit in the firebox and all seemed to work well however the wind was blowing in the right direction and so another test will be conducted. It should mean that we can continue to steam as planned in July and August.

A new chimney will most likely be made from stainless steel in order to extend its life dramatically over a mild steel equivalent. We hope to get funding for this project as it could cost a considerable sum. The chimney is currently 16ft long by 2ft diameter and requires a flange at the bottom to connect it to the existing smoke box chimney stub.

Electro etching!

The works plate for the new railway box van has been electro etched and will be applied as it nears completion in the next couple of weeks. All the van now requires is the lettering, the roof fibreglassed and paint touched up before being loaded for delivery. 

Watch this space for delivery photos and probably a video of its test running!

The work continues...

The list of jobs grows longer and the volunteers keep going through them. What with the good weather the grass needs regularly cutting, railway needs weed killing and general tidying required. 

The larger deep well pump progresses slowly. A base of block work was put in, this will be covered with a steel sheet and the pump sat on top. This will stop leaves and animals dropping into the tank and dying! The outlet will return via. a slope and a mesh screen. Once the base is completed and the pump installed thoughts will turn to mounting the electric motor to drive it.

With all the weed killing came a great excuse to pull the entire wood train out of the siding to gain access. The picture of the whole lot on the main line is below. Also as a bit of teaser,  picture from the computer screen showing some of the graphics that may be applied to the box van. It is now all painted awaiting its roof to be fibreglassed. Pictures of this remain locked away so that when it is revealed on the railway it is a surprise! Watch this space...