Construction

Castings machined

Machining of frame stay castings is underway at North View Engineering Solutions at Darlington for the smaller components and is imminent at Multi-Tech at Ferrybridge for the larger items.

03061501 Combined firebox support and brake hanger bracket

Combined firebox support and brake hanger bracket – David Elliott

03061502 Rear buffer casing for Spencer Moulton double spring buffer

Casing behind bufferbeam for primary rubber springs for Spencer Moulton double buffer – David Elliott

03061503 Trailing frame stays between inner and outer frames

The trailing frame stays between the inner and outer frames – David Elliott

Wheels machined

Tyres for Prince of Wales have been ordered from Ringrollers in South Africa via Railway Wheelset and Brake Ltd. William Cook Cast Products have sent the coupled wheels to Pattinsons for proof machining.

02031501 8 coupled wheels at Pattinsons Sheffield DE

02031502 Wheel on borer 1 DE

02031503 Wheel on borer 2 DE

The eight driving wheels at Pattinson Engineering – David Elliott

The 24 frame castings delivered from William Cook Cast Products at Sheffield in the L Hunt & Sons Ltd P2 liveried curtain-sided trailer to Multi-Tech Engineering at Ferrybridge and North View Engineering Solutions at Darlington where machining has started.  Multi-Tech is also proof machining the pony truck, Cartazzi and tender wheel centres.

A further order for expanded polystyrene patterns for the next batch of steel castings has been placed on Baker’s Patterns at Telford for the pony truck top centre casting (this fits to the frames in front of the cylinder block and carries the loads from the frames into the pony truck), the front boiler support which is another modified item derived from Tornado to enable the boilers to be interchangeable between Prince of Wales and Tornado. Also two patterns for the distinctive Spencer Moulton double spring buffers have been ordered. These will be sent onto William Cook Cast Products at Sheffield who will be manufacturing the next batch of steel castings which as well as the above items include the coupled wheel and Cartazzi cannon and axleboxes (which are the same as those on Tornado and therefore can use Tornado’s patterns) and the three piston crossheads

A riveting time at Darlington!

In common with Tornado, Prince of Wales will not have many rivets in its structure, the majority of assembly is by driven bolts, where a machined bolt is made very slightly bigger than the hole it fits in and is driven in, either using a hydraulic jack, or if not practicable, a large copper mallet. A self locking nut is then fitted. This way the bolts act as dowels and are very resistant to shear forces which tend to be the predominant loads in locomotive frames. The nuts provide a strong clamping force as well. The resultant joint is very predictable in terms of forces and quality.
 
In the original construction two types of rivet were used:
 
1) hot rivets where the hole the rivet is fitted into is typically 1/16″ larger than the rivet, to allow the white hot rivet to be easily inserted. The rivet is then turned over by a pneumatic rivet gun to form the desired rivet head – typically countersunk if the finished rivet is to be flush with the surface, or snap head which produces the classic hemispherical rivet head. As the rivet cools it pulls the two plates very tightly together, however it is not particularly good in shear as the rivet is a loose fit in the hole.
 
2) cold turned rivets  – these were used where heavy shear forces are encountered, for example on spring hanger brackets. In this case as per driven bolts they are made to be an interference fit in the holes but are inserted cold. The protruding end is then heated to white heat and the head formed as per hot rivets. Whilst they react well in shear, it is not possible to achieve high clamping forces.
 
When applied on a large scale, rivets are cheaper and quicker to make and fit than bolts, however the less predictable joint strength and the lack of highly skilled riveters makes the bolt solution more attractive today.
09151401Warming up rivetsDE
 
Ian Matthews heats up a rivet prior to fitting – David Elliott
 
09151402Rivet in holeDE
 
Mick Robinson inserts the rivet – David Elliott
 
09151403Hammering over rivetDE
 
Reg Rossiter supports the jack as Mick applies the rivet gun – David Elliott
 
The only places where we are retaining rivets is in areas where the bolt heads and nuts would be in the way of other equipment. The frame doubler plates under the front of the firebox are just such an area, where a number of pipes have to be routed along the inside of the frames past the ash pan. Thus we have used rivets with a snap head on one end a countersink head on the other. The photos show the countersunk heads extending proud of the plates, these will be ground back flush as necessary to clear the pipework.  Mick Robinson has experience with using large pneumatic rivet guns so we have done the work “in house” with assistance from Ian Matthews who when not painting engines (including Tornado) does a lot of riveting on 1/8th and 1/12th scale models, and volunteer Reg Rossiter whose background is ship and oil rig engineering, so is used to big pieces of metal. Thanks are due to M Machine for the loan of their diesel compressor and to Rail Restorations North East for the loan of the rivet gun

Frames bent to shape

David Elliott and Mick Robinson had a successful weekend at Darlington Locomotive Works. The main frames now have the bends in them, and the remaining frame plates have been set up and temporarily bolted to the main frames.  The bends in the rear frames (needed to allow room for the Cartazzi wheelset to move sideways without the wheels hitting the frames) were achieved as follows:

A bending former was made up using a piece of steel plate normally used to the protect the inspectionpit boards from exceptionally heavy loads, to which was temporarily welded a hefty piece of rolled steel joist (RSJ) which forms part of the boiler cradle, a specially pressed former to provide the correct bend diameter and a spare piece of angle to brace the upright to the floor plate.  This was carefully lined up with the inside of the required bend and secured to the rails by large tack welds.

07121402First frame bending setupDE

The rig is set up around the frames to start the bending process – David Elliott

07121403Frame bending formerDE

The former around which the bending will take place – David Elliott

The area of the frame to be bent was then heated using two large oxy-propane torches, two being required to reach the necessary dull red heat in the whole of the width of the 30mm plate being bent. Two complete bottles of oxygen were used, made possible by the loan of a second oxy-propane set from M Machine.  The rear end of the frame was then formed into the correct place using the fork truck, the angle of the bend being checked with a laser profiled template CNC cut from the 3D model of the frames.

07121404First bend successfulDE

The first bend successfully completed – David Elliott

07121405Set up for second bendDE

The rig re-set for the second bend – David Elliott

Once the team were happy with the initial bend, the whole rig was reorganised with the bending former outside the frames to make the rear bend which returns the back of the frame parallel to the main part of the frame.  This time there was no room to use the fork truck between the frames, so an alternative method was employed using the ten tonne jack set to push the end of frame being bent.  Once all four bends were in place, the doublers under the front of the firebox and the rear outer (Cartazzi) frames were temporarily bolted on. For now the frames are held together (and apart) by threaded rod and tubes cut to the required distance between the frames.

07121406LH frame bends completeDE

The completed bends – David Elliott

07131401Mick warms up the third bendDE

Mick Robinson warms up the next area to be bent – David Elliott

07131403Mick studies his handyworkDE

With the inner frames bent to shape, the Cartazzi frames could be bolted on – David Elliott

07131405Detail of frame joints at front of fireboxDE

One of the frame joins and the threaded bolts securing the plates together – David Elliott

Frames erected!

07111401FrameErectionTonyLord

With the frames delivered, out came the frame stands last used for Tornado – Tony Lord

07111402FrameErectionTonyLord

The frame plates were roughly positioned – Tony Lord

07111406FrameErectionTonyLord

A close up of the doubler welded over the Cartazzi axle – Tony Lord

07111407FrameErectionTonyLord

A view from the firebox end – Tony Lord

07111409FrameErectionTonyLord

One side of the frames is uprighted – Tony Lord

07111411FrameErectionDE

The frames erected on the stands and held together with threaded rods – David Elliott

07111413FrameErectionDE

The opposite view from the rear of the frames – David Elliott

07111411FrameErectionTrailing outer frames and main frame doublersDE

The Cartazzi frames and additional doublers awaiting fitting – David Elliott 

Frames delivered to Darlington

07101401Prestons arriveDE

Prestons arrive with the frames from Boro’ Foundry – David Elliott

07101403Frames arrive in DLW-DE

The wagon is carefully backed into Darlington Locomotive Works – David Elliott

07101404Front frames craned offDE

The smaller front frames are craned off – David Elliott

07101405Main frame plate being craned off 10-7-14

The main frames then follow – David Elliott

07101407And on the groundDE

The frames have landed! – David Elliott

07101410Dave Brown from North View Engineering welds on doubler plateDE

Wasting no time, Dave Brown from North View Engineering welds a doubler on – David Elliott

07101411Plate held vertically to complete weldDE

The frames are uprighted to facilitate this – David Elliott

First steel casting

We can now bring you an image of the first wheel casting after it had been broken out of the mould at William Cook Cast Products.  We are also pleased to say that Darlington Locomotive Works is ready for the frames thanks to sterling efforts by Mick, Andy and the volunteers. This is just as well as the frames were loaded on to the lorry at Boro’ foundry yesterday and due at DLW between 8.00 and 9.00 today!  The Cartazzi outer frames and main frame doublers will be collected on Friday.  In the meantime the first paint has been applied – to the doublers over the slots for the Cartazzi axle in the main frames – see picture.
 
07091401New P2 wheel 2 cleanedDE
 
The first steel casting for Prince of Wales!  This will now be NDT tested and machined – David Elliott
 
07091402Loading frames at BoroDE
 
The frames are loaded on to a lorry at Boro’ Foundry for delivery to Darlington – David Elliott
 
07091403DLW ready for framesDE
 
Darlingto Locomotive Works has been cleared to receive the frame plates – David Elliott
 
07091404Ian Matthews paints the first frame componentDE
 
Ian Matthews, responsible for keeping Tornado pristine, paints the first frame components – David Elliott

First wheel cast!

David Elliott delivered the Tornado patterns for pony, Cartazzi and tender wheels and the coupled hornblocks to Cooks at Sheffield at the start of July.  The first coupled wheel has already been cast and we will add photos as soon as it is broken out of the mould

Good progress is being made with preparing the expanded polystyrene patterns for casting with the addition of runners and risers.

07031401Coupled wheel pattern after casting first wheelDE

The coupled wheel pattern is prepared for casting – David Elliott

07031404Mould box containing first wheelDE

The mould box containing the first driving wheel casting for No. 2007 – David Elliott

07031403Drag box poly pattern with runners and risersDE

The substantial polystyrene pattern for the dragbox – David Elliott

07031402Frame stay and firebox support poly pattern with runners and risersDE

The frame stay / boiler support pattern – David Elliott

07031405Pony and Cartazzi wheel and coupled horn block patterns delivered to CooksDE

The pony and Cartazzi wheel and coupled horn block patterns delivered to Cooks – David Elliott

Frames machined

These photos and the video show progress on the milling and drilling of the main frame plates at Boro’ Foundry at Stourbridge. The main frames are set up on the large Elga Mill and the top surfaces are being machined first. The table is big enough to accommodate the 11.2m length of the main frames, however the cutting head can only move 8m. Hence the frames will be reset 3 times, once to complete the machining of the top edges, then twice more to machine the bottom edges and the horn slots. Fortunately 8m is long enough to machine all the horn slots in one setting which will ensure that their positions relative to one another are accurate which will make eventual setting of axle centres easier than with Tornado.

The leading frame extensions are simultaneously being machined on a gantry mill. The left and right hand plates are tack welded and clamped together on the machine table so that they can be machined and drilled together. The video shows the cutter returning to the start of a cut at the rear end of the upper edge of the frames and proceeding via a large cut out where the one piece cylinder block will sit. All edges of the profiled frames are being machined to remove the metal that is heat affected by the flame cutting process. Typically 0.25″ is being removed around the edges in 2.5mm deep cuts. (Apologies for mixture of imperial and metric units – the drawings are imperial, the machine metric!). After the plates are accurately set up both machines, cutting is Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) from a .dxf drawing which in turn is derived from the Solidworks 3D model of the locomotive.

06261401Buffer beam and small componentsDE

The buffer beam and small components – David Elliott

06261402Leading frame plate extensionsDE

The leading frame plate extensions are milled – David Elliott

06261403Leading frame plate extensions 2 DE

A different view of the milling in progress – David Elliott

06261404Machining cut-outs for cylinder block DE

Machining the cut-outs for the cylinder block – David Elliott

06261405Main frames at Boro DE

Viewed from the rear, the sheer size of the frames is apparent – David Elliott

06261406Main frames at Boro on Elga mill DE

Milling the main frames – note the tack welds holding the two together – David Elliott

06261407Tender frame plates ready for machining DE

The tender frames were machined at the same time as the main frames – David Elliott

 

Patterns produced

Giving a clear indication of how fast this project is moving ahead, Bakers Patterns of Telford have produced sixteen polystyrene patterns for assorted frame stays, horn guides and brackets for No. 2007. These have been produced by CNC machining solid blocks of the material directly from the 3D CAD drawings, thus saving a huge amount of time and money. The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust was a pioneer in using these polystyrene patterns in the construction of Tornado. The components will shortly be cast by William Cook Cast Products.

05281401Poly patterns at Bakers