Despite what I said in the last blog entry, I couldn't leave well alone. So last night I did a partial strip down of the valve gear, which wasn't as painful as expected. I eased out the hole in the coupling rods for the end axles, and this has lessened the tight spot quite a bit. It's still noticeable as a slight hesitation when starting off slowly, or running at a dead crawl, but it's not there at all when running at even the slow plod of a non-fitted goods train. So I'm going to call it quits now and leave well alone. As mentioned, it wasn't there at all during testing, and it's not evident when running as light engine, just when under load with a train hooked onto the tender, so I'm guessing it's something to do with weight transfer onto the rear axle when pulling a train. To be honest I think we tend to fixate on these running issues a lot more when the loco is something we've built, rather than one that's come out of a box - after all, how often do we do endless slow running and start/stop tests with an RTR engine? If it runs we just tend to accept it as a good 'un and press it into service.

Anyway, with that done I returned to the body. As mentioned in an earlier post, the only really significant hitch I ran into was the boiler being a bit short. I started at the cab end, so by the time I got the front of the boiler, it wasn't quite in line with the vertical step down between the frames. This was a problem, because the smokebox front casting also included a rectangular piece below it, which wouldn't now fit properly. My intended solution was to cut the rectangular piece away, and then recreate the lost detail - a step and some rivets - on the bare metal of the underlying footplate casting. However, by the time I got around to adding the detail, I'd had a change of heart and decided to take a lazy way out. I thinned down the sawn-off rectangular bit as far as possible, then just soldered it back into place. There's a bit of a step between the smokebox and this plate, but it's barely noticeable and for me this is as a good-enough compromise.

Other than the whistle and the backhead (which I haven't put in place yet as I don't want to cut the motor spindle until the last moment), it's about done and I've begun cleaning up in readiness for a coat of primer.

I have to say I've really enjoyed this build, and it's made me quite eager to build one of DJH's larger engines, such as a Stanier pacific. In the meantime, I've got the painting and lining to take care of, and two 61XX Prairies to build.

Thanks again for reading.