Latest News
Current news items are listed below. If the Acrobat icon is shown, then click on the icon to read the attachment. If an image is shown, you can click it for a full size image. You can find old news items in the News Archive.
| BSP taps donation | |
| 18/05/2026 | |
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| Dennis Crossland, who volunteers at Wortley Top Forge came to our recent Open Day and got into conversation with Mike, one of the Monday Gang team. Mike commented that we are always looking out for tools. Dennis brought in a set of BSW taps (for creating the threads in holes); this week he brought in a set of BSP taps. These will be very useful for pipework fittings. Thanks very much to Dennis for these donations. | |
| Reverser Components | |
| 18/05/2026 | |
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| Over the years, the project has slowly collected a number of components for the driver's reverser control. This controls the locomotive valve gear. One end of the travel is full forward gear and the the other end is full reverse gear. As the locomotive speeds up, the driver will steadily reduce the cut off (the point in the piston stroke where the steam supply is cut off) making more efficient use of the steam. The driver's handwheel is on the left - this now requires machining. The drive passes through the 2 housings on the left and then is turned through 90 degrees by the bevel gear wheels. The shaft, top tight, is connected to an 18 foot long transmission tube mounted on the left hand side of the locomotive. the worm gear and worm wheel are connected to the indicator drum, bottom, right, which will show the driver what position the valve gear is in. | |
| Cab Roof Ventilator | |
| 11/05/2026 | |
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| Our next job on the cab is to fit the sliding ventilator panels on the roof. The first task is to fit the fore and aft roof bars. These have a bevelled outer edge which prevents the sliding panels from being blown off. We have to make sure that both of the bars are exactly parallel to each other. Steve has used a 3D printer to make these white blocks. He is using them to make sure that the bars are the correct distance apart. He will then fit a rail to each pair of blocks to make sure that the rails are parallel along the length | |
| Coupled Wheel Axles Arrive | |
| 05/05/2026 | |
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| Today, our axles for the coupled wheels arrived on site. One large box containing 2 axles, one smaller box containing one. The axles are well coated with preservative oil and cloth. Te axles are just over 1.6 metres in length and are 228 mm in diameter at the wheel seat.The axles will now go into storage until we are ready for wheel assembly. Our aim is to place and order for casting the cannon axleboxes this week. |
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| A Pair of Axles | |
| 05/05/2026 | |
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| The axles have been well coated with preservative oil and cloth | |