Wadebridge Loco News
Wadebridge has had a successful year in 2012 with over 50 days of running on The Mid Hants Railway.
The new tender axle boxes, together with the bearings and underkeep trays now are been machined at Ropley works.
We are having a new pattern for the horn guides made. This will replace the set of horn guides we had previously had cast which have now been proved to be problematic in fitting and now found not to be the correct items. We will have to incorporate in to the pattern increased size mounting faces to correct the frame cut outs which were cut oversize to fit the axle boxes on the Diesel Wheel sets but due to design difficulties were not used and have now been sold .Now that we have a set of the original type Bulleid wheels sets and axle boxes to hand and soon the replacement horn guides.
We hope that space will be be made available in the main shed at Ropley works soon to enable us to fit the wheel sets in to the tender frames to achieve a rolling chassis.
We also had cast the brake hangers, a set of brake shoes and purchased the two middle brake pull rods. We would like thank the engineering staff at Ropley for their help and assistance with the tender design and construction
Wadebridge Loco News
Wadebridge is now traffic and has done over twenty days since the early part of July without serious problems. Its due to do another eight days and is then stopped for its annual boiler exam.
New tender Build
Whilst the new axleboxes are awaiting machining we have had cast and machined the brake hangers and purchased a spare set of middle brake pull rods from the Braunton Loco group.
Wadebridge Loco News
Wadebridge is now back in service following the fitting of the new exhaust steam pipes and a piston and valve examination. There were also repairs to the rear lubricator which kept filling with water and the ratchet drive pawls and shaft needed replacing on the lubricator.
New tender Build
We now have to hand the new axleboxes together with the bearings and underkeep trays and now they are waiting machining. The tender frames have been moved to Ropley Station car park to assess the work needed on them.
Wadebridge Loco News
Wadebridge is now running with Port Line's tender which on loan from the MHRPS and once our tender is finished will revert back to Canadian Pacific.
The Loco is stopped to fit the new exhaust steam pipes which will hopefully stop a steam leak from the old life expired ones, click on this link An Exhausting Day in the West Country which will take you to the MHR Works site to see the blog on changing the exhaust pipes
Wadebridge Loco News
Wadebridge is currently in service on the Mid Hants Railway and running with Canadian Pacific's tender. A deal has been done to swap it for Port Lines tender which is a smaller tender but in better condition. It is also planned to fit new exhaust steam pipes which will hopefully stop a steam leak from the old life expired ones.
New tender Build
With the tender wheels sets now finished we have been investigating the production of axleboxes for the tender and, after much thought, we have had a new pattern made by Preservation Patterns. It was largely successful with just few modifications to the test casting needed. The rest of the boxes be will cast up soon.