4079 “Pendennis Castle ”

There was a Churchward 4000 tender which came out in the early days, I think there were about 2 dozen of these, and they were used behind the early Saints, as well as the first 28xx. This might be what is being referred to, although I'm not aware of any Castles running with these. There were also two types of 'intermediate' 3500 tender, both a Churchward and Collet pattern. These have higher sides than the normal 3500 tender (to account for the lack of a well tank) and were used behind some of the Castles in the 20's - this is what I would have expected to have been fitted to the engine.

Tender records can be a bit of a pain though... whereas engine histories tend to be pretty complete, only a 'representative selection' of tender records survive!

 

I always think the castles looked best with the 3500 gallon tender, just an aesthetic view, not technical!

 

Hi All,

Welcome to another quick update on progress with Pendennis Castle and her overhaul at Didcot. On the 7th November, several hernias were obtained when the first test castings of a valve and cylinder liner were delivered to the Railway Centre. The valve liner wasn’t so heavy but the cylinder liner took 4 of us to drag (I would like to say carry but it would be a lie!) on a climbing trolley up the stairs that form the entrance to Didcot! They will now be turned to size and shape and given no problems being found, the rest will be ordered as soon as possible. In an act of great keeness, the valve liner is already in the lathe... This is a big step forward for us and as soon as the new liners are fitted, the rest of the valve gear will go into place. Fundraising is going well but we still need all the help we can get in this respect to put No. 4079 back on the main line where she belongs.

All the best!

The 4079 Restoration Crew

 

Thanks team 4079 for once again keeping us updated. As for the GWS website it's still nothing new since February!

 

I’ve been contributing to the GWS ‘Mainline’ fund for sometime now but as nothing from Didcot has been on the mainline for a few years can not this money be used to fit up 4079? I don’t know how many other people are still contributing.

 

Anyone got any up to date information on Pendennis Castle as Didcot has gone very quiet about 4079 again?

 

I'll be there for the day on May 1st so will find out what I can.

 

Last I read in the GWS Echo its still progressing nicely. Most of the Didcot project teams seem to work alternate weekends so progress will be regular if not spectacular. From what I recall financially they are about half way to raising the funds needed for steaming, with more needed for mainline work. The tender sounded like it was progressing towards final finishing, with work starting on the boiler - tubes ordered etc. I think the next Echo is due shortly but it doesn't always have an update on every project - if there is anything more to add before someone better informed comes along I'll add it here.

 

The boiler is virtually finished, and has been for some time. Not sure where the tubes are, it's been waiting for them for ages. A week ago or so the engine was visited by John Lyas, who'd flown over from Australia (just in time!!). John had done a lot of work on the engine during its time in Oz, particularly during the 1984-87 overhaul.

 

Does anyone have a current update on progress with 4079?

 

Hi All,

The restoration is moving along well at the moment. The question of the valve and cylinder liners is close to being resolved. A company has been contracted to machine and fit them so this will be happening over the next few months. The company will be down during next week to make a few minor repairs to the valve liner seats, true up the bores and then take the final measurements in order that they can machine the liners themselves to suit the bores. This is one of the last great hurdles in the restoration and after this is done and the pistons, and valves are refreshed then the whole of the valve gear should (in theory at least – you know how it is!) go back up.

The small tubes have been ordered and should be with us by the festive season and will go straight into the boiler if for no other reason than it gets them out of the way! The brake gear has been another focus of attention and all of those carefully labelled pipes and parts had been on the shelf dutifully packed away just long enough for all of the labels to go missing. The sneaking suspicion is that some small furry critter had made best use of them as a very plush des – res on site! We were rescued by one of 5051’s former support crew who spent a day helping us sort through them. Having 5051 on site as a pattern helps too…

The engine will soon be the proud possessor of a shiny new set of boiler cladding as the old stuff was a bit tired (for tired read: rotten, dented and generally beyond its use by date!) and one of the sub teams within the restoration gang will be hard at work making that happen over the winter. The acres of painting to be done continue at a pace and there is every indication that a very well finished machine will emerge from Didcot works. The next hurdle for us to undertake is the main line fit – all of those lovely electronic gizmos. While 6023 is still in the works, a survey will be undertaken and drawings borrowed to copy the set up as far as is possible to introduce a standard arrangement in the finest Swindon tradition. This will assist particularly when it comes to fault finding, ordering new parts, vehicle acceptance bodies, etc.

The next big purchases will be the smoke box end steam pipes – some of these are definitely beyond further use and require replacement and all of those electronic bits for playing on the big railway so your continuing financial support is required wherever you can help us please. We are getting close to the day Didcot is the home to not one but two mainline GWR 4 cylinder 4-6-0s and that will be a day that I am sure that we will all be waiting for.

All the best,

The 4079 Restoration Crew

 

Just over a year ago you had the valve and cylinder liner castings and were machining them yourselves at Didcot according to your update 8/11/2009. What happened that you have had to contract this out a year later? Not a criticism BTW just interested, look forward to seeing her on the Mainline.

 

The problem we encountered was just the amount of time it was going to take the volunteers at Didcot to complete the job. Turning cast iron is quite a slow job and it was going to tie up machines and manpower in such a way that was just not efficient. We also didn’t have a machine big enough at Didcot to take on the cylinder liners in a way that we felt would end up with a quality result. The idea for us of course is that this very intensive restoration on 4079 is going to ‘last’ so to speak, for at least a few more boiler certificates. This work on the liners should be good for a great many years to come.
We looked a several options including a number of people who said they could do the job for us for little or no money until they found out just how big the bits or the job was. It got to the stage where we felt that contracting it out was the best thing to do and we turned to other jobs while we ensured the funds to have the work done by an outside contractor was in place. Whilst this reorganised the schedule we don’t think it has held us up too much in real terms. As we are essentially a charitable organisation the decision to spend a fairly large sum is not taken lightly and we were keen to seek out all the other options first. These things occasionally turn out like this but rest assured that the liners will be in soon! I hope this answers the question.

Best Regards,

Team 4079

 

Thanks Team 4079 and I for one am looking forward to seeing you back on the mainline!

 

Thank you very much for this candid and informative post, along with your previous one. Knowing about peoples problems can often help others avoid them. I wish others would be so forthcoming.

 

My thoughts too. It can appear from a distance with some projects that there is little in the way of progress being made, and a lack of informed updates reaching the public domain only adds to that feeling. These updates here however for 4079 show that significant progress is being made with the overhaul, and are therefore welcome to read.

Much appreciated Team 4079 - I look forward to reading further updates in due course, and I wish you well with the overhaul.

 

Many thanks guy's. Please keep the updates coming when you get a chance.

 

Any chance of an update Team 4079?

 

Hi All,

Ask and ye shall receive (an update that is!). I have blown the virtual dust of my log in and therefore I am pleased to bring you an update on 4079. Sorry it's been a while but we have been busy fixing a Castle...

We have had a good year thus far and a great deal of progress has been made. On the boiler front, the main insurance inspections were carried out recently and it has been all but passed for re tubing (expanding in rather than just resting in!) and final boxing up as and when we are ready. We have all of the tubes in stock and when we are closer to 'go time' we will have it all reassembled. We are obviously keen to extract the most out of the boiler certificate so that will only be done much closer to the time. It is now being coated in a special (and very expensive) heat resistant paint that has been very kindly donated to the project by J & L Industrial Paint Services.

The society stores has revealed a large cache of 'A' size (the smallest set of heads & rings - remember that we have a cylinder block that has been put back to as new tolerances) valve parts from the other castles restored by the society over the years (5029 & 5051 before you ask!). These have been skimmed in a lathe to size and are being fitted to the inner valve rods. The outer valve rods were a little bit too elliptical and we are having them built up by a special process called spiral welding - check out their website if you are in to such things, it's a fascinating process! This will open the door to fitting up the remaining motion over the autumn / winter period.The last big job remaining motion wise will be the machining down of the pistons and the manufacture of new piston rings. After that, the delicate job of setting it all up will begin.

As the previous post intimated, the loco now has a beautiful new set of boiler cladding as the old stuff had patches upon patches and was pretty rotten where it wasn't patched... All of the tinwork on the engine has either been repaired or replaced and is receiving paint to prepare it for fitting up.

The new cylinder drain cocks have been finished (4079 was fitted with a set of steam operated ones in the past) and the complex linkage that is used to operate them is being fettled to make it fit in with the knot of vacuum brake pipework and other bits an pieces under the engine. Along with this, the brackets that hold these pipes in place are also being either restored or remanufactured as many of them were a little bit too far gone to use again.

The fittings for main line running are beginning to be made and / or overhauled. There will be a box of bits heading to Thales in the not too distant future.

We are entering the final phases of what was thought to be an easy job that has turned into an epic adventure in engineering and to enable us to have the chance of make that date with history in 2014 (as readers of a certain steam magazine will realise) , we need to keep the funds rolling in. You can make a donation via the Didcot website and if you can manage to do so then let myself and the team thank you in advance.

If anyone has a question about 4079, do ask - I may not post on the forum often but I do keep my eye on what is going on here!

All the best,

The 4079 Restoration Team

 

Thanks Team 4079, reading about what has been achieved has made the wait for an update so worthwhile. Keep up the good work!!