CURRENT DRAWINGS LIST:
We aim to update this list annually George Drawing List FEBRUARY 2018
PLEASE ALSO SEE OUR GALLERY FOR PHOTOS!
June 2012 – Whistle – donated by Robin Dean. Original item! It came from a tank engine which worked at Wolverton Works.
July 2014 – Twenty foot length of running plate of one side of the locomotive including splasher with nameplate and crest and lower cabside with numberplate all with authentic LNWR livery
Autumn 2014 – Front frames which extend from the front buffer beam to just behind the motion.
June 2015 – Front buffer beam.
Spring 2016 – Full smokebox including smokebox door.
May 2016 – The pattern for the bogie wheels.
October 2017 – The forgings for both coupling rods.
Summer 2017 – The casting for the top part of the chimney, then cast by early Autumn (and see below)
(High grade steel also required for the high stress parts of the motion)
February 2018 – Chimney and Capuchon delivered. The base which fits onto the smokebox plus the stem of the chimney has now been mated with the top of the chimney.
May 2018 – We took possession of an LNWR loco toolbox (ex A E Grigg of Bletchley MPD) and LNWR design regulator and quadrant. Original items!
June 2018 – Very fine knobs for the George collected today from Statfold Engineering. They will attach the handrail to the smokebox.
July 2018 – Lamp sockets (fully machined August 10th).
We are anxious to also proceed asap with the outer shell of the boiler – see attached for progress report 
Boiler Progress July 18
October 2018 – At last we have a welded handrail. As its a little over 6m long its a good job someone has a suitable boat trailer! Next job is to get it down to Hickling and hot work the two corners. Then a spray coat of black, mount the chimney and stand back to admire the view. Handrail fitted on 23rd October!
December 2018 – Boiler update: We are progressing with the design of the shell with accoutrements (such as dome plinth and mudhole).
February 2019 – we are in detailed discussions regarding the format of the firebox.
March 2019 – we are progressing the running plate for the front of the locomotive and the sides as far as the end of the smokebox, together with the ‘piano front’ which sits below the front of the smokebox and acts as a cover plate for the ends of the inside cylinders. Giant size hinges are needed there to open the cylinder cover plate to give access to the cylinders and tail rods from the front.
We know it resembles a flatpack at the moment but we can’t wait to see it all put together with the smokebox and bufferbeam already made -it will be really striking and we plan to have it on display at Crewe on 8 June and in July and August at the Crewe Heritage Centre.
April 2019 – no longer a ‘Flatpack’ – see photo in Progress/blog.
December 2019
ENGINEERING PROGRESS
This year has seen a continuing progress. Early in the year we ordered the piano front, and the front section of footplating (called covering plate by the LNWR) and assembled it with our smokebox, buffer beam handrail, and lamp sockets on a stand suitable for display. We have used modern techniques to make the money go further. The LNWR used a rather complex arrangement of angles and hundreds of rivets either side to support the footplating. All the rivets were countersunk to give a level walking surface; very expensive! Modern profile cutting and welding makes for a better and more economical job. Laser-cut plates incorporate tab and slot construction, like a child’s toy, the tabs are welded through the slot and then weld is ground level with the plate. Bolting it all together was very satisfying, out first big part of the locomotive.
Sadly, our hopes of setting up a photograph of it in front of the 1903 No. 9 Erecting Shop were dashed when the shop was demolished. Hopes of showing it at Crewe Heritage Centre were also dashed when the event fizzled out.
Nevertheless, the front end looks impressive, and we hope to be able to display it in 2020.
More recently we have taken delivery of the intermediate sections of the footplating to fit between the front end and the splasher.
Another item ordered was the dome, a surprisingly challenging item. Crewe made thousands of these, with a pressed hemispherical top and a castellated interface to the cylindrical part. The latter was flanged outwards at the lower end to meet the boiler cladding. The castellated join can be seen on close examination of the Coal Tank’s dome. After looking at various options, we decided that an aluminium casting was the best option. Making the pattern proved a challenge, but RF&D’s patternmaker persevered and the finished item looks good.
A seemingly insignificant item is the rolled steel section between the upper and lower cab side panels. This seems to have been used from the very early days of Crewe right through to the Claughtons, about 60 years. Hot-rolling is out of the question nowadays unless we want 20 tons – hardly likely! We have found a manufacturer willing to fabricate and machine left and right hand rails for us, and these should be delivered early in the New Year.
Next up is the cab top. This isn’t straightforward as the LNWR cab corners foul the modern loading gauge. With a bit of adaptation of profile radii we think we can comply with gauge whilst preserving the appearance of the LNWR cab. In LMS days the main convex radius of the roof was continued to the outer edge, completely changing the appearance. We want to replicate as much as possible of the appearance of the LNWR roof. More on this in the next issue. Once we have the cab top, probably next summer, we will definitely need a base in which to assemble the full length of our parts.
Meanwhile, unseen, work on the boiler design has continued. As is only right, this is subject to strict regulation, but it comes back to the old BS 2790, almost 200 pages plus related documents. The design seemed near completion but our CAD system, Fusion 360 was getting slower and slower. On the verge of producing drawings, we had to accept that the free F360 is a bit too limited. Our undergraduate, Chali, also found the same while trying to assess bogie wheel stresses. In the end, we had to bite the bullet and buy a professional standard CAD system for several thousand pounds. The pain is slightly reduced by a 25% grant, our first encounter with the world of grant-giving bodies. Our Treasurer found this painful, and no wonder!
After learning the new system, using the cab top as a learning exercise, the boiler model will be rebuilt, with the added benefit of all the weld details which Fusion 360 couldn’t handle.
STEM
The Trust’s objectives include education, particularly STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics. We have taken on Chali Chaligula, studying Engineering at De Montfort University, Leicester, and he is taking a year out working with us. His immediate project is analysis of the LNWR bogie wheel. CHALI CAN TELL HIS OWN TALE OF F360 FRUSTRATION AND HIS LIAISON WITH ALAN JAMES AND JAMIE.
