Following the A1SLT Convention, the brick arch was demolished on Tuesday morning. The image below illustrates the state of old arch - it is up side down so the dark area is the fireside of the arch, the dark material is metal content released from the coal during combustion. This is a significant build up given the short length of time this arch was in in the locomotive, the key issue being the weight of the additional material.
A small section of the brick arch as removed - John Wilkinson
The next image shows the material after it was removed from the firebox, it is as it came down and has not had to be broken up to get it out of the firebox. This arch started break up almost immediately and was not as strong as the previous one, the telling factor is that this arch came down in 15 minutes because the material had not bonded correctly, the preceding arch took over 10 hours to get down. Clearly the work was justified. This material will now form part of the new pit surround at Wansford so there will be a piece of Cambridgeshire that is forever part of Tornado! Who knows, we may soon be using this new mainline servicing facility!
The rubble removed from Tornado's firebox during the brick arch replacement - John Wilkinson
The new arch was constructed using Sheffield Refractories Jonlite. This was laid following the instruction sheet for the material and following the instructions for liquid content to the letter, an electric vibrating poker was used a specified to ensure that the concrete was properly compacted into all the areas of the former. The arch formers were removed and a fire was lit after the 24 hour going off period had elapsed.