31463
Another 2 months on, whats been happening, well at the beginning of May I W Locomotive Fabrication Limited came out to do the remaining welding work on cab 1 that wasn’t accessible before and fit the new headcode box cover. Plus we found some extra snags, there was a weld required on a window frame and the engine room door grills had a series of holes in the fins. As always thank you Ian for your excellent craftsmanship.
Time to get the paint brushes back out, so since the last update 31463 body has received 2 coats of primer and undercoat. No.2 cab has recieved 2 coats of primer and 1 undercoat while no. 1 cab has recieved 1 coat of primer. The bars across the windows in the engine room and boiler compartment were painted in gloss. B side radiator grill has also been painted in gloss. The fire pull covers have been removed for cleaning and painting and both pieces of glass are fractured so we’ll order replacements.
Off the loco all the small body side grills have recieved 2 coats of undercoat and 1 of gloss. No. 1 end secondman body foot step has been stripped ready for painting. Lamp brackets have recieved there first undercoat. The nose cover for no. 1 end has come back in to the workshop, the high intensity light removed and it’s area primed while the rest of the body had its first undercoat.
With collaboration from GCR South (Use of their pickup), GCR North (Use of their Forklift and Paul Chambers), LMS (David Wright & Hayden) the good buffer with a new spring was collected from LMS, transported to Ruddington and then fitted to 463. The broken spring buffer was removed and then transported back to LMS, who replaced the spring while we waited. This was then transported back to Ruddington and replaced on 463 so it now has a full complement of buffers again. Thanks to Julie who assisted with the fitting of both buffers. Julie was small enough to get behind the buffer beam to hold the bolts while we attached the buffers, not that she was dressed correctly for the job (we hope Paul has treated you to some new jeans).
During the following week no. 2 end buffer beam and buffers were prepped and painted into gloss black with various valves and electrical covers were stripped and primered.
The headcode boxes came into the workshop and had there blinds and winding mechanisms removed.
We have cut the first panel of board for no. 1 cab floor into 6 pieces, the first piece of floor has been fine tuned and fits nicely and has its metal strips fitted. One piece of flooring that is different to the rest is a metal plate with vinyl flooring glued to it, the vinyl floor has been removed and the metal plate will be cleaned on a future visit.
Rail 200
1705 flew the T1LC flag at the Great Central Railway being on display at Quorn and opened for cab visits. A few days before the event 1705 went into Loughborough platform for a wash.
