On Tuesday the 3rd of October the frames were despatched to Tipton Mill to be put through a rolling mill in order to remove what is known as a 'crossbow' in the drivers side frame. Despite contacting them the week before and agreeing the time and date for this job it had not crossed their minds to tell us that their big rolling mill that was needed for the job was now in the process of being sold to India, and, despite the fact the job would of only taken a couple of hours, they had now no interest in helping us.
It is no wonder that manufacturing in the UK is going downhill, or that they have to sell off equipment to India!

Frames loaded and ready to go. (W. Naylor)

Quick thinking by Ian, Chaz the driver and myself saved the day. A couple of calls revealed Ballachree Ltd in Bradford who owned a suitable set of rollers. They were able to help us in our hour of need, so it was off over the Pennines now.

Thanks go to George and his team at Ballachree for helping us out, they could not have been more helpful. They saved the day for British engineering and showed us what northern hospitality is all about.

On the rolling mill at Ballachree. (W.Naylor)

I believe this is the first time a Grange has been to Bradford too!

The frames are now back at Llangollen awaiting final assembly. The 'crossbow' was corrected by more than 75%, but with a couple more minor tweaks at Llangollen they will be within tolerance and fully fit for use.

They would have been put back on the frame stands and ready for assembly on the 7th & 8th October working weekend, but someone decided to take the front wheels out of 5643 and left the road blocked with a 50ton crane on the weekend. So thats the job for next time then!

6880 is put through the mill. (W Naylor)

AGM REPORT

The AGM took place on the 8th of October in the function room at Llangollen Station, attendance was good with some new faces seen. Some of the main changes were:

Ian Massey is now the engineering Liaison officer and is in charge of liaising with Llangollen Engineering on the build process.

Richard Gadge is the new membership secretary and has a misson to increase the membership and boost income further. Looking back on last year we have now effectively doubled our income, largely due to the Express Scheme, details of which will be included in the website very soon.

Discussion took place regarding the assembly of the frames and the possibility of contracting the work to Llangollen Engineering. This will guarantee the job is done in time for our Gala Steel Steam & Stars, making 6880 herself the centerpiece exhibit.

Written by Will Naylor
Last Updated ( Sunday, 15 October 2006 )

To all those who helped on Saturday 23rd, THANKS. Doing days like this now allows us to send the mainframes to be straightened a lot sooner than waiting for the next working weekend.

The biggest surprise is we now know that Max can design something in his head, measure, mark out, cut, drill holes, and it all fit together. Well done Max for the design and building of the 'toast rack'. The frames they wil be going away on Tuesday 3rd October to be manipulated and should be back the same day.

Laying out the 'toast rack'.

The SVR was a good do in the evening, meeting friends old and new. They had a great turnout of visitors, as always. Lets hope we can make our Gala even better!

Setting the rack up on the wagon.
 

Dave Owen has sent us a quote for assembling the frames with stretchers etc, this will be one of the topics for discussion at the AGM and will be dependent on our finances and terms of payment.

Loading the frame plates.

The Heritage Railway magazine sponsor leaflet and advert are now finalised. Heritage Railways will sponsor 50% of the leaflet cost, and a full page advert in the Magazine, worth in excess of £800. The leaflet will be full colour A4, designed by, you've guessed it, Craig Tiley, with a planned print run of 40.000.

Max taking a well earned rest.

 

THE IMPORTANT BIT
 
Quentin and myself are run ragged with all the admin work, the gala preparations are begining to take a toll on us, and we have a huge mountain to climb in order to make this event the success we all want it to be.

 So if anyone who does have some freetime, or arms, legs and mouth in the right place, depending on the task in hand, please contact us and offer some assistance.

We all like to get our hands dirty or polish the armchair sometimes, but 6880 has a real chance of moving forward next year with the success of the Gala making a very real possibility of the extension frames being made and fitted. The Gala requires 100% effort to make this happen, and we need everyone onboard to do as much as they can.

We will have 40.000 leaflets to give out by the 20th April. Can you help distribuite them?

Do you attend model railway exhibitions, could you distribuite some leaflets to them?
Do you attend other railway events or gala's, could you help by distribuiting some leaflets there?
Can you help build a database of good contacts for a mailshot?

It does not matter where, but we need to distribuite as many as possible to potential visitors before the event starts. Please contact us if you can help.

The next report will be from the AGM. 
All photos by Quentin McGuinness
Contributed by Will Naylor
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 04 October 2006 )

Working Weekend.
 
With two teams working over the weekend we are pleased to say both have done well!
 
Mick, Emma and Steve managed to raise over £250 over the two Gala days, and considering we used to take about £100 over a Gala weekend we offer a big thanks to the sales team. I know they are itching to get back into the shed to get their hands dirty! In addition Q and I found a nice £50 in the donation box from the platform.
 
In the workshop Max, Ian, Quentin and myself have now finished the cradle, or 'Toastrack', ready to transport the frames back to the Midlands for their final tidy up. I spent some time tidying up the welds with the grinder, Max was his usual unstoppable self, we think he wants to take our new magnetic drill out on a date, we can't seem to get him to part with it!
 
For those who missed the Gala action try this link, http://www.flipspix.fotopic.net/c1082235.html.

It was very surprising to see the amount of people wanting to see 6880 in the shed, and a lucky few got the guided tour.

News.
 
I'm is off to Hornby soon to pick up some Granges for the 6880 subscribers, the nameplates are ordered and should be here by November. We have spoken to Peter Rich and the nameplates for the big 6880 are his now first priority.
 
Our loan form the 3205 fund will be ending this month and that makes us over £250 a month better off.
 
Betton Grange Express.
 
Without doubt this is proving to be a success story in the making with three people signing up straight away. This in addition to the expected take up of the scheme. If we can get ten members onto the 'Express' by Christmas that gives 6880 over £10.000 a year extra.
 
We have had admiration from the powers that be at Didcot and Llangollen concerning the quality of the literature for the 'Express' scheme. Well done Craig.
 
Working weekends.
 
There is an additional working day on the 23rd of September, the misson will be to assemble the cradle on a flat wagon and load the frame plates on to it. The intention is that Ian & I travel down with the plates for checking, but it is planned that a trip to the infamous SVR gala will be made in the evening, night running on the SVR and the chippie at Kidderminster sound good.
 
If all goes to plan the plates should be back by the working weekend October 8th 9th. Dates for next years working weekends will be published soon.
 
Future plans.
 
One topic to be discussed is the approval of Llangollen Railway Engineering to assemble the frames for us, pending a favourable quote. It is now our intention to get Dave and the boys to put them all together, goes against the grain we know, BUT we need them finished and painted with the cab on top by the time our Gala comes around in April. As a team have not got the manpower to fit the job into the remaining timescale, the Gala is fast approaching we need 6880 looking her best.

Contributed by Will Naylor  
Last Updated ( Sunday, 17 September 2006 )

by Will Naylor
Saturday, 01 July 2006
Well its coming to that time of year again......The working week is on!

15th July through to the 23rd July. Mark that diary.

Q and I are working hard behind the scenes putting into place everything needed so there will be nothing stopping us from achieving the target of all the frames riveted by the end of the week.

There are quite a few jobs to do before we can start the riveting but as we all know once we get started it tends to flow well.

The countersink holes have now been welded up and a countersink bit has been ordered, Todd is making an adaptor so it can fit our mag drill. Thanks to Mark Leaman Lawrie for doing such an excellent job with the plasma cutter, we only have some light triming of the new angle irons to do now so by saving us machining costs we are once again indebted to his help and support. All the rivets are now sitting in the cab, 200 of them at £2 each.

Please let me knowlet me know if you are able to attend, there is some accomodation in the camping coach, 2 compartments will be finished, but I need to plan ahead. There is a £3 a night charge now, but all money will be put back into the coach, and it is hoped to progress with heaters in all compartments, more lighting, freshened paint and a start on the lounge...

Contributed by Simon Holden   
Sunday, 18 June 2006

This week saw the completion of the County frame conversion by Llangollen Railway Engineering.
In a press release George Jones of the Llangollen Railway stated:

"The modified frames from the Hall class loco 7927 which were dismantled at Llangollen last November will be rolled out on Friday 16 June with the number 1014 applied. The conversion job to make the frames suitable for a County is now complete with new buffer beam, new rear drag box, a revised stretcher and a repositioned bogie pivot which will allow for the larger wheels and the different boiler. The frames are off to Didcot on Tuesday 20 June where the rest of the recreation will take place by GWS."

Once again Llangollen Railway Engineering is proving the quality of the work it is capable of producing and that it is now a leading contract engineering source. Congratulations to all the team involved.

BBC Wales covered the event for an early morning news program, in the site downloads section there is an mp3 file.

Can't wait for 6880's turn, I think Quentin and Will want a little more than radio coverage!

Contributed by Simon Holden   
Sunday, 07 May 2006

This week saw the collection of the finished chimney from Swindon Copper Boilers.

Trevor Tremblin and Quentin


The new copper cap was sponsored by member Richard Cadge and made by company owner Trevor Tremblin. So far it is the only new part for 6880 to be made in Swindon, but we are pleased that such an important symbol of the Great Western Railway can still be produced in its spiritual home.


The finished chimney outside Steam, Swindon.

Contributed by Simon Holden   
Sunday, 30 April 2006

It has been another busy month for the 6880 team, although much of the work is 'behind the scenes' preparing for our big fund raising event. We will bring you more news on this very soon.

Work has now started on the boiler, and with the strip down starting a more thorough inspection has revealed the good news that this boiler was only 5 years old when Willington Hall was sent to Barry as scrap. We have been surprised with just how good the condition really is, prompting the comment 'almost as good as new'! There is still a lot of work to do, but we have a very good base to begin with.

Heating up the bolts. (W Naylor)


Undoing the bolts.(W Naylor)


Extracting the elements. (W Naylor)


How much more to go? (W Naylor)


Some were a struggle! (W Naylor)

The frames have been dispatched to Jay Engineering for machining, and are due back to us around the end of May. This will be a key point in the project and we will bring you news very soon.

The company is now VAT registered, and we have submitted another Gift Aid claim, both of these tax reclaims will help your donated pounds go a long way further. As always, thanks for your contribuition, without you it would not be happening.