Those of you who have followed previous reports will recognise that we are now seven weeks into the overhaul of Tornado.  Good progress has been made since we started.  From this (on 17^th January):

To this (on 28^th February):

By the middle of February, the boiler had been removed and sent to DB Meiningen (as reported earlier), and, immediately following this, work at Locomotive Maintenance Services Ltd (LMS) in Loughborough continued to remove the remaining motion, pistons and crossheads prior to lifting the frames to remove the wheelsets.  The frames were lifted and the driving wheels, bogie and Cartazzi were wheeled out.  Several buckets of grease were scraped off the bogie and main frames and the bogie was stripped ready to release the wheelsets.  The driving wheels will be retyred and profiled at South Devon Railway workshops and the bogie and Cartazzi will just need reprofiling.

At the end of February, Ben McDonald (Director of Engineering), Huw Parker (Director of Operations) and David Wright (Owner of LMS) visited South Devon Railway (Engineering) to view the tender wheelsets, discuss refurbishment of bearings and agree the plan for the loco wheelsets to be delivered to Devon.  The tender wheelsets have been de-tyred and machined ready to receive their new tyres.

Visiting the SDR(E) engineering workshop – plenty of tyre work ongoing!

Ben and David discuss tyres and bearing refurbishment with SDR(E)

Tender wheelsets in the line ready to receive new tyres

At the end of February, the frames were wheeled outside and given a though clean using the A1 steam cleaner.  Several passes using the cleaner and degreaser were required to remove a significant build-up of grease and dirt from under the running board and outside frames.  Access to the inside frames was slightly more challenging and involved getting very wet and covered in grease!

The frames prior to cleaning….

…and during cleaning

All the locomotive’s axles have been ultrasonically tested and received a clean bill of health and the middle crank has also been closely examined. The tender spring hangers were subjected to MPI testing and are now ready to be painted prior to reassembly. The tender frames have been shot blasted and are receiving coats of new paint ready to receive the newly tyred wheelsets when they return.

The Darlington Locomotive Works team have been busy too, refurbishing components ready to return to Loughborough. Volunteers have been in helping to strip, clean and paint items (as the following photos by Locomotive Manager, Richard Pearson, demonstrate).

To support the overhaul, why not join The Overhaul Club?

Components moving from Loughborough to Darlington

Brake cylinders get their first coat of paint

Re-cutting the seats on the superheater header

A1 SLT volunteers John & Martin Baistow cleaning

More cleaning…..

…and painting!