Although the headline-grabbing wheelsets are away at South Devon Railway Engineering, work has continued at a fair pace at Darlington Locomotive Works, including the delivery of the spectacle windows and frames; the frames have been CNC machined from leaded gunmetal (bronze) castings by Durham Precision Engineering, the glazing retaining strips have been laser profiled from 6mm brass sheet by Holme Dodsworth of Newcastle. 20.5mm thick multiple laminated glazings with an anti-spall coating on the inside have been made to comply with current railway group standards by Romag at Consett. These components have been sponsored as part of our Dedicated Donation scheme - have you sponsored a component yet? If not, find out how to do so
here.
Meanwhile Ian Matthews has been producing the fiendishly complicated compound curvature for the junction of the firebox cladding and that of the boiler barrel.
All photos by David Elliott
