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

The Mikado Club funding the wheeling of No. 2007 Prince of Wales reaches 90% of extended £250,000 target

We are delighted to announce the achievement of significant milestones both in construction and fundraising. The crank axle has been delivered to Darlington Locomotive Works (DLW) following its assembly by South Devon Railway Engineering Ltd at Buckfastleigh, Devon and finish machining by Unilathe at Stoke on Trent. In addition, The Mikado Club fundraising initiative to pay for the wheeling of the engine and tender has reached 90% of its revised target of £250,000 pledged almost three months earlier than anticipated.

The class P2 2-8-2 ‘Mikado’ locomotives were the most powerful passenger steam locomotives to operate in the UK, designed by Sir Nigel Gresley to haul 600 ton trains on the arduous Edinburgh to Aberdeen route.  Sadly, the design was never fully developed and they were rebuilt in 1943/44 and scrapped by 1961.  The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust (registered charity, builders and operators of famous new 100mph steam locomotive No. 60163 Tornado) is building the seventh member of this class over seven years at an estimated cost of £5m. The project will demonstrate how the design can be fully realised through use of modern computer design techniques, enabling the new locomotive to deliver its full potential hauling passenger trains at high speed across today’s national network.

The delivery of the crank axle is a critical milestone for the project being the culmination of a long and expensive process including Finite Element Analysis (FEA) carried out by the railway engineering consultants, Mott MacDonald at Derby to eliminate a weakness in the original design that resulted in fracturing of the crank axle. It is anticipated that the fitting of wheels and tyres will take place in March which will complete the wheelset. It is hoped to have the engine wheeled by spring 2018.

The Mikado Club was launched at the end of March 2016 to raise £200,000 from 160 members to wheel the engine and was extended in June 2017 to 200 members and £240,000 to also wheel the tender. The work involved wheeling the engine to create the first standard gauge ‘Mikado’ since 1945 includes:

1.                Machining axle and cannon box castings, manufacturing roller bearing details

2.                Boring eight coupled wheel bosses to finished size

3.                Assembling bearings and cannon box onto pony truck axle

4.                Assembling bearings, cannon and axle boxes onto plain coupled axles

5.                Trial fitting coupled axles to frame

6.                Pressing Cartazzi wheels onto axle, fitting & machining tyres and fitting bearings & axleboxes

7.                Pressing plain coupled wheels onto axles, fitting and machining tyres

8.                Assembling crank axle, fitting bearings & axleboxes, pressing wheels onto crank axle, fitting and machining tyres

9.                Finish machining crank bosses & boring crank pin holes and machining & fitting all crank pins

10.             Trial fitting wheelsets to frames at DLW.