Sandringham New Build(s)

I think the answer is they would have been forged (made by hammering) rather than machining. There's a tendency these days to produce components by machining from solid because, with CNC, the process is comparatively cheap once you have a drawing. Whereas in the days of manual machining, that would have been an expensive way to do things, that you could instead forge. There's a photo here of the smokebox door on Beachy Head, and it looks to be a far simpler fabrication, without any significant machining - just a strap with a rolled end, subtly curved and fixed to the door by rivets.

I couldn't quite work out what was happening with the door straps from the video: they looked like they had both ends machine into a complex shape, whereas the photos of originals seem to just show you have a hinge at one end and a plain strap. There's a drawing here from the B17 website of the CAD design and while it has the same forked hinge at one end, I can't work out what has happened at the other end of the parts that have been produced.

From the video, it looked like the inner part of the smokebox door dart was going to be machined. It will no doubt look beautiful when done, whereas an original would have been a fairly crude lump of hammered steel ...

Tom

 

I couldn't quite work out what was happening with the door straps from the video: they looked like they had both ends machine into a complex shape, whereas the photos of originals seem to just show you have a hinge at one end and a plain strap. There's a drawing here from the B17 website of the CAD design and while it has the same forked hinge at one end, I can't work out what has happened at the other end of the parts that have been produced.


Tom[/QUOTE]

I asked the question and apparently we are looking at the end of the original steel bar used to machine the whole strap, before it is finally cut off and cleaned up at the end of the job.

 

Thanks for that - makes more sense.

Tom

 

All a bit OTT. The originals would probably have been plain straps riveted to the door. The hinge ends would then have been adjusted with heat.

 

Great to see Daniela bringing all those years spent with David Elliott to bear to the benefit of the new build movement. You can see Hengist in the background too.

 

Aye, a bit of heat and a hammer is the way to do it.

 

Correct but you make things with the equipment and processes available. In ye olden days a team of well-muscled men with a large forge and drop hammers would have made short work of this. I doubt that Daniela's workshop has this facility! Two hinges are being made, not a production run.

 

But if one of those hinges breaks and causes an incident the RAIB would look at the original drawing and ask the question " these hinges are shown as being forged. Why wern't they?"

 

Only if the theoretical incident was as a result of the method of manufacture. It’s a new locomotive with no grandfather rights so would be built to whatever drawings are used, old and new.

 

There are some exciting developments coming up over the next few months in respect of the construction of B17/6 no. 61673 Spirit of Sandringham. In advance of this, I should like to offer the opportunity of all followers of the National Preservation Forum to receive for free, the last issue of the Trust’s magazine, The Spirit. If you email me on my personal address, alanwarren.18@gmail.com I will send you (within 24 hours) an electronic copy of the last issue of our magazine for your information. If you respond to this request, I will also subsequently send you the next issue which is due for publication in the middle of August 2025. So 2 issues for free! This is in response to our commitment to the Railway 200 celebrations in 2025. Onwards and upwards for the future of new build steam!

 

Very kind, email sent

 

Ditto!

 

Construction Update – July 2025

Rolling Chassis
Somers Forge of Halesowen have finished forging the crank stub axles and the sweep webs with heat treatment and initial machining. The crank pin will be delivered soon. All these items will be shipped to Daniela Works at Shildon for final machining, where the coupled axleboxes and cannonboxes already reside, fully machined. These items, along with the driving wheels will then all be shipped down to South Devon Engineering on receipt of the two rear plain axles – the tyre plugs and the Timken roller bearings are already there.
Also, the horn stay material has arrived at CTL Seal and will be machined in the coming weeks, ready for the arrival of the completed wheelsets.

Smokebox
Work has continued on the smokebox door assembly with the second dart handle, the retaining bar, its brackets and the inner smokebox door baffle all now available. Minor machining was found necessary with the fibre glass yarn in place, to ensure a perfect gas tight seal at the point of closure and checking continues. Welding of the smokebox ring was put on hold so the whole assembly could be displayed at the ‘Greatest Gathering’ event at Alstom’s works at Derby on 1st - 3st August.

Cab
Work on the CAD drawings is proceeding on two fronts. The main contractor (Elvar Engineering in Buckinghamshire) is close to completing the CAD of the main cab features, prior to ordering the cutting of the steel sections, whilst our own member is working on the details of the cab floor and parts of the footplate. A supporter of the Trust is also manufacturing the wooden window frames in his home workshop.

Chimney
The cast chimney, which was on display at the Open Day in April, has now been shipped to Shildon, where Daniela Works will machine it.

Bogie
A report has been prepared in conjunction with the B17 and A1/P2 design teams to review the engineering justification for the design change to the bogie from the original LNER design. Principally a change from the original steel casting to a fabricated solution. It also covers the inclusion of roller bearings/cannonboxes and how this affects ride quality and other safety issues. further testing will take place as part of acceptance when the engine is complete using standard and dynamic testing methods with instrumented loaded test runs.

Cylinders
The design for a fabricated solution and the production of the associated full manufacturing drawings has been completed and initial discussions have been held with CTL Seal with a view to the work being offered to their fabrication and machining teams and a quotation for this work requested. The cylinders will be the focus of the next appeal to be launched later this year.

 

Construction Update December 2025

Progress on B17 61673 Spirit of Sandringham is proceeding on several fronts -

Smokebox: After a very successful three days on display at the Greatest Gathering, the completed smokebox door and ring door was transported back to Sheffield. It was decided that before the smokebox wrapper was welded into position, it was preferable at this stage to commission some extra items. To this end, front and rear reinforcing rings have been designed as per the LNER 1948 drawings, the rear one to only be tack welded at the present time - this ring will be finish machined when the boiler is offered to the smokebox. Chimney reinforcing plates are also being designed. An order was placed with CTL Seal mid-December for the manufacture of these two rings. An order has been placed for minor items, for the fitting of both these rings along with the final assembly of the smokebox door components into the smokebox wrapper.

Rolling Chassis: Most items have now been received to make up the driving wheelsets and are either being machined in Shildon or already finished and waiting for assembly. The Timken roller bearings are already in store at South Devon Railway Engineering. The remaining items to be manufactured are on their way, specifically the two plain axles for the intermediate and rear wheelsets. Somers Forge of Halesowen, having already forged our crank axle components, was given the order for these two axles. During early December, they were forged from the special steel required and are now ready to go through final machining to include the cutting of the keyways to match those already on the driving wheels. Delivery is expected in January. The photos below are quite deceptive = the forged axles are actually each over 5ft long (more precisely 5ft 4.5") and approx 9&5/8" in diameter.

Cab: CAD design of the basic cab framework is finished and a rig to assist construction of the cab has been made by Elvar Engineering in Buckinghamshire. Construction of the cab has commenced. In the meantime, design work has continued on the cab floor and the rear sections of the footplate, to include some sections forward of the cab including the running plate and the rear and middle splashers. The wooden window frames, made in oak, are being made by a skilled joiner in Essex.

Bogie: The redesign of the bogie centre as a fabrication is currently subject to Finite Element Analysis by Daniela Works Ltd in Shildon, to demonstrate its strength under load conditions as required by Railway Standards. Results will be included in a formal report to be presented to The Regulatory Authority for approval. The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust have kindly loaned us the use of their bogie cannonbox pattern. The pattern for the B17 bogie wheels themselves (12 spokes) has already been manufactured and is owned by the Trust. These were paid for following a generous donation from one of members.

Tender: Although all construction work is currently focussed on the locomotive itself, preliminary investigations are taking place into the renovation of one of our tenders. We are currently establishing a likely cost from a company who are very experienced in this type of work and will then seek outside sponsorship. As a start, one of our members has donated £4,500 towards this initial investigatory work. However, we do not wish to divert our fund-raising activities away from the main task of completing the locomotive’s rolling chassis and cab, so will not be launching any separate appeal for the tender at this stage. Timescales are likely to be two years waiting in the queue followed by more than a year of rebuilding. The tender will be a 4,200-gallon example, either from B1 61176 or J39 64961. Although no final decision has been made, an initial visual inspection would intimate that the less complete one, from the J39, appears to be in much better condition than the B1 tender although the tank will obviously need complete replacement. An on-site visit to assess them in more detail is tentatively pencilled in for early January.

 

This isn't a project I've followed at all, but I'm curious about the tenders. The photo appears to show three - what's the origin of the third one?