We have only gone and ordered some cylinders and Frames!

The Cylinders have been ordered and the frames will have been ordered by the time you read this!

The order for the cylinders has been placed with Premier Patterns of Smethwick and will be delivered to Sheffield Park by, we hope, the end of August. Premier Patterns are well known to the railway preservation world and have been helping a number of groups including The Patriot Project, the Strathspey Railway, the GWS County Project and many more including the Bluebell Railway and also traction engine owners.
The process will be to produce a poly pattern for both the left and right hand cylinder by 3D printing, using the CAD drawings which were produced by Matthew Holloway.  These patterns will then be used to create sand moulds ready to pour the molten grade G250 Cast Iron and produce the “rough” castings.
Once the castings have been made and allowed to cool, the “Curing” process will begin.  This involves storing them in the open to sit for around a year to relieve the stresses in the metal. This will be done at Sheffield Park.


A 3D CAD model of the cylinder pattern

As soon as we are able, the machining process will take place, this is likely to be an interesting and delicate job.  The red surfaces in the picture above denote the surfaces that are required to be machined using a number of different processes.  All of the machined surfaces are to a fairly tight tolerance so will require expert machine operators to carry out the processes.

As a comparison, the old and well past the sell by date cylinder block.

The frames are being ordered from Tata Steel and the steel for the side plates is being specially rolled to a thickness of 22mm or ⁷/₈^ths of an inch in old money.  They will also be produced from CAD drawings prepared by Matt Holloway.  Tata will be not only rolling the steel, but cutting the profile of the frames including removing the larger weight reducing holes and apertures for the horn guides.  They will also be marking out the positions for all of the holes ready for drilling and reaming to size.  The frames are also likely to be with us by the end of August. 

Once they have arrived they will need to be thoroughly cleaned and protected from the forthcoming winter weather.  The actual drilling and reaming of the holes will need to be done with the skill and accuracy that we can rely on from our Project Engineer.  The order not only includes the side plates for the frames, but all of the items in red in the picture above. The other parts include the rear drag box assembly that was eaten away by the effects of the weather and coal dust, the side valances which have become misaligned and wasted and the front and rear buffer beams, together with associated angles.

The original frames showing signs of "secondhandedness"

Keep up to date with the progress of the restoration by following our blogspot at http://wainrightsfinestsecr27.blogspot.co.uk/ or following our facebook page where you can also comment and contact us.

We now need to raise the funds to help to pay for these vital parts of the restoration.  The total cost of the cylinders and frames is, in round figures £10,000.  On top of this will be the cost of machining the cylinders (expected to be in the region of £7,000 to £8,000).  We are hoping that you may be able to help us by contributing towards the cost of the castings and frame plates.  There are various ways you can donate and these are listed below.


We have a BT my donate page and this can be found at: https://mydonate.bt.com/events/27

We can also accept cheques for any value either with or without a gift aid declaration.  If you would like a gift aid declaration form please contact us at the address below and it can be sent to you. If you are not able to allow us to claim back the Gift Aid, please contact us and we will let you know the best way to donate.

For those of you in the modern age, we also have a text donation page for donations as shown below.
To donate £10 text "FENC72 £10" to 70070

    - you can donate £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10 just by changing the amount in the text massage.
    - you can also elect to Gift Aid your donation;
    - your operator's standard text charge applies.

Thank you for your continued support and interest in the project, hopefully you will see the fruits of everyone’s labours in around 4 years or so.

Clive D. Emsley
Chairman - The Fenchurch Fund

Project Manager - PROJECT 27
A Sub-Committee of the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society
www.bluebell-railway.co.uk