Report compiled by Graham Rowland & Elliot Powick
2025 has finally seen a more productive year engineering wise, Graham has been systematic in procuring several very important sets of drawings and detail information for the build, along with continuing with getting all the parts together to furnish the locomotive braking system.
The Handbrake column pattern was manufactured in the early part of 2025, with the actual column being cast in June and taken to Northern Heritage Engineering Ltd in Darlington for machining. Northern Heritage Engineering Ltd were also tasked to machine the brake cross-shaft and associated components, which should be completed in early 2026, ready for assembly on to the locomotive at Tyseley. The order for the other brake rods, brake levers and brake blocks, should be in place in early 2026. The plan moving forwards is for Graham to continue with the locomotive braking system and cab equipment so that once the loco is on its wheels, it’ll have everything in place to keep itself where it needs to be.
Along with the column, Grahams been moving along with the other components including all the parts and brackets for the brake shaft assembly that mounts directly under the cab.
A s you can see above, Northern Heritage have done a superb job of getting all the parts together for this, next stage is to get the assembly mounted to the locomotive frames at Tyseley later on in 2026.
Along with the braking components, Five visits to the Essex Records Office were achieved but, despite this, a further 89 drawings from the Great Eastern Railway Society ‘Dupen’ collection were photographed and added to our archive. In addition, 37 high resolution scans have been sourced from the Great Eastern Railway Society and 13 drawings have been scanned by the National Railway Museum. Another two visits to the Graham has also had several visits to the NRM securing 13 more drawings required for the loco’s construction, that coupled with visits to the Essex Records Office are planned in January 2026. This should see the review and copying of useful drawings from the ‘Dupen’ collection completed. There are approximately 9,500 drawings in the collection and rolled into 90 steel tubes. Generally, only two or three tubes are reviewed at a time before the back starts aching and it is time to give up and go home. The drawing tubes have been withdrawn in an order of perceived importance and interest to us, so the last tubes are mostly of sundry items as reported last year. However, a few interesting drawings turned up relating to the braking system and Westinghouse pump. One drawing, Nr 23783, which could have been easily overlooked, was for a rubber bump stop for the cab sliding side windows. It is not referenced on any cab arrangement or assembly drawings, and it was considered that the side windows could be vulnerable to damage if the windows were lowered without any resistance. The drawing shows that a simple ‘D’ shaped component of ‘India rubber’ is used to cushion the impact as the window is lowered.
The drawings scanned from the collection at the National Railway Museum were requested to answer some anomalies regarding the design of the cab and tanks in readiness for the construction of these components. The drawings used in the early years of our locomotive’s construction were prints from drawings on microfiche and are not particularly sharp. The recent scans are high definition and record the smallest and faintest of detail and are very useful. One drawing for the cabs and tanks was listed as being virtually illegible but has been scanned successfully. Another good find in 2025, was the drawing, Nr 16993, for the side tank vent pipe for the ’hybrid’ cab locomotives, i.e. ours – Nr 789 (67218) and Nr 790 (67219). The vent pipes are visible in front of the cab on the class F6 locomotives, but the F4’s and F5’s have the vent pipe running vertically just inside the cab and are virtually invisible on any photographs except for a small square hole in the cab roof. The drawing is crucial as the design is quite complicated with the pipe running from a round section, at the interface with the tank, to a square section as it runs vertically through the cab. During this transition in section, the centre line also moves outboard by 1½ inches!
On other fronts, Elliot has slowly been progressing the wheels with Ian Riley & Sons. Slow progress had been an issue due to Rileys “house” move, which, when you see the size of the machinery involved, you can understand why this unfortunate delay occurred. Now that they’re “fully ensconced” things have been moving forwards at a fair rate of knots. Almost all the components needed for all four wheelsets are now in the Rileys possession, all 8 tyres have arrived from South Africa and all the forgings for the 4 axles have also arrived bar the crank webs for the crank axle, this is just waiting on material classification prior to ordering. All the forgings have also arrived for the 4 crankpins (as shown to the left). Plan of action is to get the leading and trailing wheelsets made first, hopefully being delivered in or around the first half of the year, followed by the driving wheelsets before the end of 2026.
The two pictures on the right show the 4 driving wheel tyres and on the left, the leading and trailing tyres. Below are the axle forgings for the leading and trailing wheel sets and the trailing driving axle.
In early February the pattern for the leading and trailing radial truck was signed off and the pattern has been ordered. Once complete and inspected, this will allow for the castings to be made for both wheelsets. Tyseley have already manufactured the guides and are ready to fit once the machined castings are available to ensure a good fit to the loco. Patterns are well under way for the cross heads too and we’re hoping that they we be on order before the end of February.
Tyseley are also pushing forwards on the pistons and rods to hopefully get the “motor” part of the loco completed.