A small article in Steam Railway magazine.

It’s truly wonderful to see the news reaching of this build reaching out to a larger audience, thanks not least, to the excellent railway transport press here in the United Kingdom. The news of the planned fabrication of the smokebox door found its way into the latest issue of Steam Railway. We of course, encourage everyone to support these magazines, which have been vital to the success of the steam preservation movement over the years.

We would however like to clarify something as we feel that the article may give an impression that we’re fabricating the smokebox door design with the post-1930 modifications made under the auspices of the LMS. We can assure everyone that this isn’t the case. The drawings that we’re working from do date from 1930 simply because it has been difficult to track down earlier drawings with the necessary detail and information.

These particular drawings were drafted by the LMS Drawing Office in 1930 and were intended to show minor modifications to the original door, notably the placement of a LMS lamp-iron fixture and a new centre-boss.  What is fantastic about these drawings is that as well as showing the 1930 modifications, they also happen to show the original door where the changes have been made for comparative purposes! For example the drawings show the original new centre-boss and the original centre boss in a break-out. This is fantastic for it means that we have the original door design in these drawings and we’ll of course be fabricating the door design in its original (LNWR) form and without the 1930 modifications.

We hope this clarifies any potential misunderstanding as we feel that we need to be very clear on this, and we look forward to providing more updates on this in the very near future.