As it was an ex-L.N.W.R. 4-4-0 loco in L.M.S. crimson lake livery with yellow lining and with an unusual wheel arrangement not seen at many tracks that helped me make up my mind to buy the engine.

The problem of the driving wheels rubbing was something that needed to be looked at first of all and in July 2000 I decided that I would tackle that problem before getting too involved with running the locomotive. However, as I started to investigate the cause of that and removed the first components to check clearances, I decided that I would go through the whole loco and rebuild it to a standard that I would be happy to run and own. This is a summary of the work done:-

Cylinder Block – I have made new pistons, with home made rings, piston rods, cross heads, connecting rods, slide bars and have worked on die block support frame due to the valve gear pins being bent. The cylinder cocks were changed from the horizontal blown out the side (like Casey Jones!) to a block made up that has to fit under the running board and then piped out to the front of the loco. They are unfortunately positioned on the horizontal centre line and therefore it is difficult to clear the condensate, when starting. I decided to make the balanced slide valves again to my dimensions. These were more or less Don Young’s 5” gauge “Etna” design, scaled up.

Bogie – This was left as bought other than that the wheels were skimmed, to make all four the same size and to ensure that they were to Society standards.

Driving Wheels – These were re-machined to correct the run out that was visible when set up in the lathe and again, checked that they were to Society standards. To ensure that the throw on all four crank pinholes was the same, they were re-bored by working to a ssystem where the wheel is positioned over a spigot offset from the lathe spindle. The centre position in the middle of the pear drop was checked and adjusted as necessary and the holes then bored to size. This procedure will easily make any number with the same throw. Crank pins were then replaced. The balance weights on the wheels were of incorrect size and wrongly positioned and with the work I had already put in on the wheels, I decided to replace them. These were re-made to photographs, so that they looked true to prototype.

Axleboxes and Axles – I think that the boxes fitted, were of the Greenly Scott type, where they have a fitted bottom section for an oil pad. This was soft soldered in and had 2BA studding for the springs. I did not like this, so replacement boxes and a new trailing axle were made.

Crank Axle – With regard to the problem of the driving wheels rubbing the frame plates, I found after stripping the loco, that the overall dimension or the crank axle webs, was greater than the dimension between the inside faces of the horns on the driving axle. This resulted in the frame plates being forced out, creating a bulge of 5/16”. It was fortunate that the original builder had fitted the horns with counter sunk screws and that enabled me to remove the horns and machine them to a size which would allow the crank axle to fit between them. At this time, I noticed that the Greenly drawings did not show very much frame support, other than the front buffer beams, cylinders, slide bar brackets, die support brackets and a large drag beam casting for the driver to place his/her feet on. The drag beam casting had not been fitted to this loco and I decided to include additional support around the crank axle and horn positions by fitting two round stretchers of ½” diameter. One of these also gives support for the front of the firebox.

Other Frame Items – The number and size of fixing bolts through the angles attaching drag and buffer beams were not to my
satisfaction – these were increased in number and size. When the loco was bought, a steam brake was fitted. This was made to the 7¼” gauge Royal Scot design but the mounting method used and the use of wood for the brake blocks was unsatisfactory. The Greenly design did not fit a steam brake and as I had a part built “Highlander”, I based my design on this, using the brake hangers and some of the pull rods to hand. All other items were made again.

Boiler – When I first viewed the loco, a problem was noted with the blower not shutting off. This was to have the effect of making the boiler make steam at such a rate, that there was a build up of pressure against the two safety valves, which were set at the time to 100psi. This was rectified and at the second viewing, it was then possible to control the blower. I found, when rebuilding, the reason for this. Steam for the Blower was taken from the manifold, through a valve and then through the boiler by way of a hollow stay. This hollow stay was constructed from a number of short lengths of tube, silver soldered into one length to reach the smoke box tubeplate fitting. One of the joints was not sound and therefore steam at boiler pressure leaked into the hollow stay and through into the blower with no control over the flow. At this stage of the rebuild, the blower was removed and I found that the material used for the fittings into the front and rear boiler plates was not satisfactory, so I made the whole assembly again with the end fittings made from phosphor bronze. All the back head fittings were removed as they were of poor quality and I remade them. The fire hole door was removed as it was fitted to the boiler with chrome plated screws screwed directly into the backhead. It was replaced with a drop down type, fitted on stainless steel shouldered studs screwed into the backhead up to the shoulder. The door assembly fits over the other end of the stud and bears onto the flange, fitted with brass nuts. The regulator was also removed and it was found that the valve size and steam ways were similar to a 5” gauge loco with smaller volume cylinders. (An old railway driver told me, that this was known as “Wire Steam”) To get larger steam ways in the new regulator, and because the bushes fitted to the backhead and front tube plate were not large enough to take an increase in pipe size, I had to position the regulator body in the smoke box. The tube from the old regulator was retained to hold the spring on the valve and to collect the steam from under the dome. The handle and fitting on the back head were made again. The last main items made again, were two replacement safety valves as the originals were of insufficient internal dimension to meet boiler inspection steam tests and I did not like the shape of them.

Cab and Roof – The changes to this were mainly cosmetic. Captive nuts were made to help with fitting the roof, a set of window frames were made for the inside of the cab and the fittings to bolt to the lower cab sides were changed.

Wheel Splashers and Lower Cab Sides - This was an area that was not completed when I bought the loco. A temporary floor was in place which left the rear set of driving wheels exposed. Gas taps that were being used for injector water valves were also visible. These were all removed and, with reference to drawings from Greenly and Don Young and photos of full size locos, the cab and footplate were completed.

Tender – When the tender and loco were coupled together, I noticed a slight mismatch in height. The riding height of the tender was higher than the loco. I found that the tender wheels were 3/8” larger in diameter than they should be at 6”. The loco driving wheels were also slightly under size, which did not help the mismatch. I decided to reduce the diameter of the tender wheels to the correct size of 5-5/8”. The wheels had enough metal on them to allow for this reduction. When the machining commenced, I found a large blowhole first of all in one – and then in another three, so that four of the six wheels had blowholes. I decided to machine the wheels further and shrink steel tyres onto all of them. The axle boxes were machined to take a fixed spindle with one end being clamped by a screw. The wheels were fitted to a hollow axle assembly with roller bearings fitted in each end. These in turn run on the fixed centre shaft. A grease nipple for annual purge is the only required lubrication. The brake gear was reworked with new blocks and operating handle assembly. Two frame stretchers were fitted at the bottom of the ‘D’ cut out and vacuum brakes were installed. With the gas taps removed, there was a requirement for two water valves. These were made and fitted to the tender chassis and fed from a sump which was also made and fitted to the rear of the tender tank at this time. When making the sump, I included a facility to drain the tender at the end of the day’s running. This was done by fitting a plug with an extension tube in the centre that acts as a drain to empty the tender at the end of running and an overflow pipe to prevent the situation where water is left sloshing on the top of the tender rear when overfilled.

Painting – When I bought the loco it was in L.M.S crimson lake and black, lined in yellow or straw. I have kept to this livery and after removing all old paint to bare metal and where possible bead blasting the surface, I have sprayed it. A Bob Moore pen was used to complete the lining.

All that is now required, is a boiler certificate and many hours of happy steaming.