Although the headline-grabbing wheelsets are away at South Devon Railway Engineering, work has continued at a fair pace at Darlington Locomotive Works, including the delivery of the spectacle windows and frames;  the frames have been CNC machined from leaded gunmetal (bronze) castings by Durham Precision Engineering, the glazing retaining strips have been laser profiled from 6mm brass sheet by Holme Dodsworth of Newcastle.  20.5mm thick multiple laminated glazings with an anti-spall coating on the inside have been made to comply with current railway group standards by Romag at Consett.  These components have been sponsored as part of our Dedicated Donation scheme – have you sponsored a component yet?  If not, find out how to do so here.

Meanwhile Ian Matthews has been producing the fiendishly complicated compound curvature for the junction of the firebox cladding and that of the boiler barrel.

All photos by David Elliott

Although things may have been quiet at Darlington Locomotive Works recently, plenty of activity has been taking place at our supporting engineering firms and sub-contractors.  Down in the West Country, South Devon Railway Engineering is making good progress assembling the wheelsets – remember, to support the wheeling of Prince of Wales you can join The Mikado Club but hurry, there are only a handful of places left!  You can find full membership and benefit details here.  All photos of wheels by Rob LeChevalier.

Meanwhile at Ian Howitt’s works, dozens of parts have been machined and assembly has started on the tender’s frames.  All photos of tender parts by Ian Howitt.

Tender brake hanger bearings

Tender brake cross-shaft brackets

Tender brake hangers

Tender bufferbeam brackets (gussets)

Tender handbrake shaft bracket

Tender spring box washers

The tender alternator pulley being machined at North View – David Elliott

Newly finished equalising levers – David Elliott

Brake pins being machined – David Elliott

In the last couple of weeks work has concentrated on fitting the bearings to the axles and preparing the axles and wheels for transport to the South Devon Railway for assembly.  The following photos are by Mandy Grant:

On 14th March Allelys collected the driving and pony wheels for delivery to SDR(E) – photos by David Elliott:

In the last couple of weeks an awful lot has been going on at Darlington Locomotive Works.  Three coupled axles have arrived and the leading coupled axle set up to press on its bearings.  There has been some more progress on cladding and Daniela Filova has been producing manufacturing drawings on a regular basis.  Orders have been placed for the cylinder cover patterns and castings, tender alternator pulley and roller bearing adjustment rings.  The air pump which arrived in kit form reassembled and sent with its twin plus various ancillaries to Meiningen for overhaul. Ian Howitt collected tender hornblocks and liners and intends machining to start soon and the tender front dragbox is almost complete at North View Engineering Solutions prior to sending to Ian.

Plain driving axles, newly delivered from South Africa – Gemma Braithwaite

One of the axles set up on the bearing press – David Elliott

Jordan Durham from Middlesborough College re-assembles an air pump – David Elliott

Tender castings for Ian Howitt – Bob Hughes

Progress continues on many fronts at Darlington Locomotive Works (and elsewhere) in the race to assemble Prince of Wales.  In the following photos, Daniela can be seen working on the CAD of the cylinder end covers, the Cartazzi axleboxes are assembled on the axle and then fitted, two 08 shunter speedometer drives are prepared for re-working and components of the two newly acquired air pumps are checked before dispatch to Meiningen.  All photos by David Elliott.

In preparation for wheeling the locomotive, No. 2007’s frames were trial lifted by the Matterson jacks at Darlington Locomotive Works.  The lift was successfully achieved proving the integrity and rigidity of the frames.

The view from underneath, from the pony truck pintle backwards – David Elliott

Some idea of the height of the lift can be seen here – David Elliott

Working right up until the Christmas break, the team at Darlington Locomotive Works took delivery of and installed the final combined frame stay and spring bracket assembly.  All photos by David Elliott.

Supervised by Mark Leatherland from Timken, the team at Darlington Locomotive Works pressed the roller bearings on to the crank axle.  The process required the use of an induction heater for the bearings.

Most of Tornado’s roller bearings were fitted by the wheelset assembler at the same time as the wheels were pressed on. For Prince of Wales we have decided to assemble the bearings, axles and axle/cannonboxes ourselves as the plan is to fit the completed axle/axlebox and cannonbox assemblies to the frames before the wheels are pressed on. This makes the setting of the coupled axles much easier as the distance between the axles (which is a critical measurement for a smooth running) can be measured directly – this is not easy when the wheels are on.

The first bearings were fitted on 13th December to the crank axle. Having checked that the dimensions of the axle ends and the various spacer and thrust rings are correct, each component is heated to 110 degrees C using our new SKF bearing heater and slid onto the axle in turn. The axle is typically 0.004″ greater in diameter than holes in the rings and bearings, so as the components cool, they grip the axle. The problem is that if the outside edge of the ring or bearing cools and grips first, the the item will no longer be tight up against its neighbour as it shrinks on cooling. To overcome this we use our 50 tonne jack with various bespoke adapters to press each ring and bearing as it is fitted. The pressure is released once the component has cooled down.

It is a requirement of Railway Group Standards that work on roller bearings is overseen by a qualified bearing specialist which we do not have, so the operation was attended by by Timken Service Engineer Mark Leatherland who will provide suitable paperwork conferring acceptance of our work.

The next stage is to machine the adjustment rings that set the end float of the bearings, after which the axleboxes can be fitted.

    

The roller bearing fitting rig – David Elliott

The induction heater for the bearings – David Elliott

Bill Drumm applies grease – David Elliott

Ian Matthews and Bill Drumm  with their handiwork – David Elliott

The bearings in place, wrapped in cling film to keep them fresh! – David Elliott

As assembly of No. 2007 Prince of Wales accelerates, some components need to be finish-painted in topcoat, particularly those that will be inaccessible once the locomotive is fully assembled; one such is the wheel hub behind the Cartazzi axleboxes.

Ian Matthews’ handiwork on the Cartazzi wheelset – David Elliott