With us back into traffic on the first of March it has been a very hectic start to the season. As maintenance on some of the other loco’s at Toddington overran owing to the work required we spent 19 days of March in traffic working. This added no less than 1036 miles to our accumulative total since we completed her restoration to 15237miles. This is the most she has ever run in a single month in preservation, July 2006 being the previous highest at 16 days.

April has also been quite busy but after this bank holiday weekend will see her stopped for a few weeks for a washout and some general running repairs. Generally the loco is running well and is a popular choice amongst the crews. We look forward to a trouble free and successful season                         

Following a very successful and reliable season the engine is now stopped for winter maintenance and annual boiler exam by the railways insurers. She has been drained of all water and all washout plugs and mudhole doors removed for inspection. The cold exam as its known took place on Wednesday 23rd January and was passed by the inspector. This inspection also required us to strip down the Safety Valves for the inspector to look at.

As I write this on Thursday 7th February we are in the process of boxing up the engine ready for a steam test, which is being planned for later this month as she is due back into traffic week one of March. This work is ongoing for the next few weekends.

In addition to the boiler exam we have also been doing other work. Further to my report in August 2007 we have now replaced all the rubbers and washers on all the axles of the tender. In fact we took the view that the spring hanger bolts themselves were a bit wasted in places and could be liable to snap if the tender hit a bad rail joint. John Hancock came to our aid and put us in touch with a contractor who has a CMC machine and who could produce these bolts, (actually they are studs) quickly and cost effectively. To put this into perspective these studs are twenty four inches long and are made out of two inch round bar, so quite big and heavy, and there are 12 of them. These were then transferred to my garage at home for painting and hand fitting of the split cotters for the top nut. These have all now been fitted and the tender will have her ride height adjusted as soon as she is loaded with water and coal. At the moment she is totally empty as the coal space has been repainted in bitumen and the tank drained dry for the winter.

Whilst drained dry Sean Nielsen had a look at the sacrificial manganese anodes that we placed in the new tank when it was built in March 2006. These are in there to effectively attract the corrosion and stop the steel of the tank rusting. This appears to be working very well as the anodes are slowly eroding but the steel of the tank has only a light rust colour to the surface and nothing else. The fitting of the anodes is proving a really good decision at this stage.

In addition we have taken the bogie leaf springs off in pairs and are having them re-tempered to try and get them back into shape. These were done originally on restoration but have gone flat again which is a concern. One pair has already been refitted with the second pair back at Toddington waiting for fitting this weekend. The coil springs that attach to the leaf springs have already been replaced earlier in 2007 so will simply be refitted.

There are numerous small jobs to do as well as giving her a thorough clean. The Fireman’s wooden seat is down at Newton Abbot with Don Asher who originally made them. The steel edging that sits at the rear of the seat has become detached so Don, with his wood work skills is going to repair it for us.

Hopefully very soon we shall be in steam ready for a test run to Cheltenham and back!

Just as an aside I now have a train reporting frame and numbers so sometime next year she may appear with it fitted, as well as one of my headboards, “The Bristolian” which you may have seen already, but also “The Cornishman” and “The Cheltenham Spa Express”.

John Cruxon