Steam Department

Here is an update on progress courtesy of Nigel Bennett, one of the boiler rats working down in the shop.

"During September the team has progressed steadily.  On 1630 all the tubes and flues needed to do the inspection have now been removed.  Our smaller team members can now get in and out of the boiler. This weekend the boiler cladding and insulation was largely removed.  We are now getting close to the critical point at which the ultra sonic testing of the boiler can be undertaken.  This is critical as it is then that we will be clear if we can move forward without significant additional work.

The new tubes for the boiler have arrived and been stored ready for use.
Work has continued on removing the rivets to allow the firebox patch to be installed. 

For the UP 2-8-0 work continues on the axle boxes for 428.

A really nice job that our smaller team members will have now is knocking the cut end of the tubes out of the tubesheets (around 500 ends all to be done from inside the boiler!!).

Nigel"