September 2012 - update

Well, today I said farewell to Zebedee. I ran her several times over the summer, including the 7.25" gauge society AGM at Woking, but, by then, a buyer had appeared and offered a very good sum for her. So, she's off to Inverness, where I'm sure she'll be very well received, thus giving me a good reason to start the next one. Well, once I've finished the one I've taken on for a friend, that is. . . . . . The only question is, what to call that new locomotive - Mr McHenry, Florence, Dylan, or maybe Ermintrude????????

All done

At last, the tinkerbells are finished. The boiler tests are done, and they have had their first (and possibly only) run together at Swanley. A couple of weekends ago, I accompanied tink 2 to her new home and very much enjoyed running her there. Zebedee will stay at Swanley for the immediate future (unless someone out there makes me an offer for her I can't refuse!!), although she will be visiting the Moors Valley Railway shortly for their annual tinkerbell rally (Saturday only). Therefore, it's on to the next project - a single fairlie. Blog to follow . . . . .

Second tinkerbell finished

Now, the second loco is finished.

All that remains is to get them steam tested, and the final few niggles sorted out then it's time to start on the next project. . . . .

Today, I completed the first of the two tinkerbells. Here she is in the February sunshine:

More progress

Well, the weather's taken a turn for the worse but progress hasn't. The boilers are both now lagged, and one tink has the cladding on. She also has the manifold fitted, the boiler clacks, and one injector is piped up. The ejector is all done, as is the blower. So, before the first set of tanks return, I need to do the small injector piping then I'm ready for them to go on. Next, the second set of tanks will go to be sprayed, and I get to start doing the lining.

Progress to date

Since the last post, lots of little jobs have been done, moving the locos closer to completion. These include finishing off painting the frames, building the manifolds, fitting the vacuum controls and piping, making the blast pipes, and getting the buffer beams and smokebox supports painted. A big job has been to fit the chimnies. Over xmas I painted and lined the cylinder covers. Last week the boiler cladding went to the sprayer for painting. He says that it will be done by next week, when I will take the tanks, bunkers and cabs up to him for some of his magic. After that I have to do the lining. . . . So today I did 2 of the last 3 jobs needed before the cladding can go on - making and fitting the steam pipe from the regulator valve to the pipe between the frames, and painting the smokeboxes. All that remains is to fit the lagging. Once the cladding is on, I will fit the manifolds, then pipe up the blower and injectors. Then I'm ready for fitting the tanks.

In the sunshine

I took the opportunity of getting the locos out today in the sun to get some jobs done that are difficult in the shed. Having completed the second set of tanks and bunker, they got attached to the running boards. I also fixed the cab front to the second loco. Below is a photo of the two locos together - at last, they really do start to look like real locomotives!!!