6880
 
Well I am pleased to report that 6880 continues to grow with more and more parts being added (I can see this line being used for many years to come).
 
Over the four days of  19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd of June, we achived all we had set out to do. The team included: Quentin McGuinness, Ian Massey, Max Trench, Richard Pumphrey, Ashley Broomhall, Jon Kerr, and myself. We also had a helping hand from a possible new member, Richard Vanstone.
 
Without a doubt the 'man of the week' award goes to Ian Massey who seemed to be very persuasive when coaxing 15mm by 90mm metal bar around 90 degree bends with the biggest blowtorch you have ever seen. Well done Ian for all your help.

 
Richard and Mick seemed to be playing a game involving the magnetic drill and rota broach cutters, seeing how long each cutter would last. I am pleased to say we only had one break, and that was with just under 200 holes drilled. Again well done guys, but I assure you there are plenty more holes to be drilled!
 
The result of our labours were both rubbing plates (where the tender buffers against the engine) fitted, rear buffer beam fully fitted, with slots cut out. Front  saddle plate fitted, saddle plate angle fabricated, four angles cut and fitted below cab, and four other angles fitted to hold the buffer beam and saddle plate.

 
Ashley took charge of cleaning a collection second-hand parts we have acquired, some which will be fitted in due course.
 
John and Quentin spent time on working out the gala timetable, a thankless task which will not really make sense until next year.
 
Another thing of note was a visit by Paul Appleton who works for Ian Allan publishing (Hornby Magazine and Railway Illustrated are just two of the many titles they are involved with). Paul brought many good ideas and views to the table and he decided to sign up for 6880, with the possibility of becoming more involved.
 
The visit to the MEN Arena in Manchester to have ours ears blown by Whitesnake and Def Leppard was also a great night out.

The next set of working dates have now been published. This now takes us up to 2009.

Regards.

Will

Photo's by Mic Prior.

6880

Good progress was made this weekend, 31st May - 1st June, despite a small team consisting of Quentin, Max, Richard, John Kerr, Steve Rodenhurst and myself. Ian Massey popped in for a look as he was doing his firing test, which he has passed.
Well done Ian, you have just acquired more responsibility!

The dragbox underwent final alignment and was drilled and bolted into place. Max spent a few hours getting his head around 1936 Swindon drawings and managed, with the help of a few more pairs of eyes and Foxcote Manor, to decipher what it was trying to tell him and marked out the back buffer beam.

With mag drill and rota broach cutters the manufacturer of swarf could then begin, with around 65 holes to drill we knew this was gaoing to be a long job, and was going to stretch into Sunday. After a good nights sleep, the rest of the holes were drilled and with the aid of some temporary brackets the buffer beam was fitted to the dragbox.

So at long last 6880 has grown in width..

No doubt the extended weekend coming up in June, the 18th to the 22nd, we should be able produce even more swarf, and this should result in more parts being made and fitted.

We have just acquired a full set of eccentric straps at a fraction of the price it would cost to have them made new. I would not be far off in saying we now have around 75% of the inside motion. The eccentric rods are due to arrive towards the end of the month, complete with new pins.

We attended the GWRS gala on the weekend of the 24th to 25th May, usually a good turnout, but the weather was very windy followed by never-ending rain, so on Sunday we decided to head home. We did however make a small amount of money for the 6880 fund.

5199

So far I hear 5199 is running well with no problems, the Bluebell lads have taken to her with one driver requesting that they have her for keeps..... sorry but that is going to be a NO!

We have just taken delivery of a new radial truck spring as a spare, along with a set of new brake blocks and gaskets for the first boiler washout.

That's all for now, thanks for reading.

Will

6880

Construction of 6880 has started again!

After almost 12 months of non-activity on the frames, apart from final riveting last year, we have now restarted work with the drag box being fitted.

With 5199 to re-tyre, drawings to find, quotes on pattern making, casting, and machining, all in between fundraising, we were being asked what is happening with 6880?

So with many parts now on order, i.e brake hanger brackets, horn-guides, & horn-ties, some of which is now with the GWS at Didcot, you can expect to see some further progress.

On the subject of progress, we have now got the steel plate section for the back buffer beam brought in for marking out and another stretcher identified that will put more strength into the front section of the frames, and a list has been compiled of various items that will need be formed with a press.

I hope you all pleased that work has recommenced and you can look forward to more updates on the construction of 6880.

Working parties

The next working weekend will be on the

31st May/1st June

We will be setting ourselves up for the planned working week and the main job will be fitting the back buffer beam before progressing on with further plate work.

We have planned for the working week for 14th to the 22nd of June, but after much discussion at the weekend it has been decided to leave the dates as they are BUT it is likely work will not start until Wednesday 18th, with an extension into Monday 23rd June. This due to prior commitments of key members. Could you please tell me what days you may be able to make.

GWRS

We do intend to be at the GWRS Toddington on the 24th, 25th & 26th May. Please let me know me if you can make it as we need to arrange staffing for the stand.

Will Naylor, 4th May

6880

Progress update.

I recently spent half an afternoon discovering the delights of the Black Country, first visiting Shentons to collect the two vacuum brake cylinders, one for 5199 and one for 6880, then it was off to Boro Foundry to drop off the patterns for the Hornguides and hornties, they should be cast by the end of March, and then the last stop was Micron to pick up the dragbox.

I did manage a stop off at the SVR to view 7812 Earlstoke Manor being lit up for the first time in many years, this was my reward! I took a trip round the works and had a chat about railways and politics and then it was off to Llangollen to help out at the Thomas event.

The dragbox and cylinders were then delivered to Twinbidge engineering in Burscough to be machined, and are now finished and back at Llangollen. Hornguides and ties next!

We have asked Llangollen Engineering to quote for machining and fitting the hornguides and ties and I will be asking for quote to fit the dragbox and buffer beam. Once these items have been fitted we are then in a position to work on 6880 ourselves which will lead nicely into the planned working week in June.

The cost of it all.

Building 6880 is not cheap and I would like to give you some idea on how we are spending the money.

• Brake cylinder - £399
• Machining brake cylinder - £315
• Hornguides fronts and middles - £150 each and there are eight of them!
• Hornguides rear - £180 four off
• Dragbox pattern in polystyrene - £148 (we were quoted £900)
• Dragbox casting - £1293.00 (again we were quoted over £2500)
• Dragbox machining - £1000 (I did haggle on this and shaved off £150)

We do adopt a transparent policy with 6880 in the decision making, costs etc so I have no reservation in publishing information.

The cylinder pattern has been quoted (this is a fixed quote that will a maximum, but could be less) and is looking set us back a cool £26.500 but it is payable over a period of time. No doubt we will looking into this as soon as the quote for the extension frames comes in this later week.

5199

Just a word of thanks to all those rallying round 5199 in order to get her back into traffic.

Being on your own in the shed is no joke, it is cold, colder than outside, which was -5 at one point, and as Llangollen is not awash with volunteers as most were helping out at the Thomas event, in the event of me having of accident I would not of been found until Monday...

A big thanks to Ste Jones and Gary Roberts who lent a hand putting the brake rodding back, and to Mick Prior on a Sunday for getting stuck with his usual high degree of enthusiasm. 5199 now has working brakes once more after lots of fiddling about unbolting and readjusting. There is still most of the motion to put back, mainly the heavy bits, but this is already scheduled.

At least we're on the home straight .

Regards Will.

WANTED!

The missing rear radial truck tyre has now turned up at the SDR and the complete wheelset should be back at Llangollen later this week.

So come on boys and girls, 5199 needs our help over the next few weekends.

Feb16th-17th, & 23rd-24th, with the possibility of other dates too.

We have to refit:

• All the Brake rodding.
  •
  • Eccentric rods and straps.
  •
  • Coupling rods and con rods.
  •
  • A repaired boiler band.
  •
  • Put back front footplate.
  •
  • Lots of painting and cleaning.
  

Piston and valve exam has revelaed more work needs to be done by the fulltime staff as well as the firebox repairs, these are being attended tat the moment. As we all know work done by Llangollen engineering costs money and eats into our next overhaul budget, So it is up to us to do what we can do to keep the costs down.

Please contact me if you can help.

I will make myself available BOTH weekends.

Regards Will

5199
 
The saga of the wheels continues with hiccups along the way, these include:
 

• The leading pair has at some point had shims fitted between the wheels and tyre, this would have been to avoid scrapping the wheelset. Fortunately they have trued up on the lathe and they are just within tolerance, this means next time 5199 is retyred she may need a set of new wheels, the good news is it won't be within our lifetime and they are still acceptable for mainline running.
• One of the rear radial wheels had a crack in it which has now been welded.
• It took a week to grind all the welding off that held the tyres in place, delaying the job.
• We are still waiting a rear radial truck tyre to be delivered prior to fitting.

Despite this we are still on course for all wheels back at Llangollen before the end of January.

We are all set to finish painting the frames this weekend as the weather forecast is good.
 
6880
 
Now the good news!
 
We have just placed the order for the rear dragbox, with an expected delivery in 5- 6 weeks. The next step on this component will be machining the casting.
 
The horguide and horntie patterns should be finished by the end of this week. We still await quotes to come in so as to make a decision on where we will get these castings made.
 
Ian Massey and I are making a trip on the 14th of Jan to Somers forge to discuss forging the extension frames, and at the same time we be dropping into a pattern makers and foundary in Stourbridge to discuss the cylinder pattern.
 
 We have just purchased 4 second-hand buffers and 2 brake hangar brackets.
 
We are planning a working week in the last week of May, this being the 24th though to the 1st June, though we will be planning a trip to see the Australian Pink Floyd on the Friday night!
 
Will Naylor