The Red pannier, She Lives!
Anyone who has followed this blog for more than a few posts will notice 2 things...
1. Posts tend to be very long (for which i apologise )
2. I have an ongoing project to rebuild a 5 inch Great western pannier tank to its London transport guise.
But in this shorter installment, the great day has arrived...
After 8 months of work, a few set backs and missing a good few target dates, she's steamed!
A very last minute affair, but we made it to the booked outing last weekend down in the west country.
In the last 3 weeks since the last posting, all the tanks and platework have been painted red, handrails black and everything put together. The during an extended lunch break on the 2nd May, she steamed for the first time in nearly 3 years.
Theres a good few niggle with her yet the tanks arent sealed properly so theres a slow leak out the water feed to the crosshead pump
On the saturday we had a steaming in the afternoon, pottered round the yard a little, did half a lap or so. It quickly became apparent because of a machining fault, the injector would not put water in the boiler. Theres a myriad of small issues we discovered on that first run, but nothing to put us out of action. Small tweaks to be made mostly. So i took the plunge and steamed her up again sunday morning. Pottered round the yard a bit, then did a transfer move with some coaches with a similarly new Pug. A few issues cropped up, but in the end we ran for several hours, just doing light duties, and generally proved it works!
Overall very pleased with it. compared to some engines, especially ones that have been to bits there is very few faults with it, and nothing major. And she sounds fantastic, set up just right, credit due there to grandad!
Sorry no video, maybe next time with a few more last few progress shots. But she's by no means finished, so this saga will carry on a little while longer...
In other news....
Dads latest projects broe cover. a very hush hush quiet project to produce 3 Met railway 4 wheelers in super quick time, started 13th december, finished 29th april! He's done a superb job, the upholstery in the 1st class is the actual material used on the full size...
These were always built to sell to finance the full size van, so we'll play with these for a month or two then they'll go to pastures new. He's already ahd enquiries about more to be made...
and finally a few other pics of the weekend. Thanks again t all the regulars who attended, and the laughs down the pub in the evening!
The amount of western engines present called for a photoshoot...
2 prairies,
saint
city
star
manor
metro.
a mini swindon line up in 5 inch gauge! And some really fantastic models in there.
the aforementioned pug, very expertly weathered by a mateof ine. I intend to eventually finish mypannier to this sort of scheme! red panniers were never clean!
Hope you enjoy the slightly shorter installment, mainly because off to Harrogate model engineering show tomorrow, so i'll keep it short and sweet.
Cheers
Mark
- 9
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