Our apologies for the apparent lack of news over the last few months, but, there has been plenty going on in the background. Like buses, two major news items have come along at once.
Firstly, Riley & Son (E) Ltd of Bury, Lancashire, have made excellent progress with the machining of the axles. The photograph shows one of the radial axles and the intermediate (coupled axle). Machining is well underway for the second radial axle and the components for the built up crank axle. Our thanks to the team at Riley & Son (E) Ltd for the progress so far, and to our Engineer, Elliot Powick for his stoic work and many hours spent liaising with the team at Bury. We look forward to receiving the completed wheel-sets in time.
Secondly, the completed brake cross-shaft assembly, the machined hand-brake column and screw assembly has been delivered to Tyseley Locomotive Works. Northern Heritage Engineering Ltd, in Darlington, have been machining the various components over the few months as reported previously. The focus now will be to assemble these components to the frames in readiness for further brake components. The drawings for these components are almost ready to be sent to various suppliers for quotation and eventual manufacture.
An opportunity to MEET THE TEAM at the delightful Epping to Ongar Railway’s steam gala from the 17th to the 19th of April. The GER 789 Information stand will be located within the marquee at North Weald station.
“Class F5 No. 67218 (GER 789) at Epping with the Ongar shuttle on 7th April 1955. It is still clean having undergone a General Repair and an overhauled boiler, ex F6, 67230, in March 1955 (Yeadon’s Register of LNER Locomotives).
This photo is from the John Longhurst Collection, East Anglian Railway Museum.
Many thanks to Rob Boyce for allowing us to reproduce this photograph. Rob is currently helping to catalogue and scan this collection. “
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.
The brake shaft has been completed at Northern Heritage Engineering Ltd in Darlington and is ready to ship to Tyseley Locomotive Works for assembly to our locomotive. The hand brake column and handbrake assembly will follow shortly.
Taken from Northern Heritage Engineering Ltd (Facebook page)
In 2024, the pair of brackets to carry the brake-shaft were cast by FSE Foundry Ltd in Braintree (see Engineering News June 2024). These are currently being machined at Northern Heritage Engineering Ltd, Darlington (see https://northernheritageengineering.co.uk / https://1863mountaineer.co.uk ). The brackets are being machined to the Great Eastern Railway drawing, Nr 6677 of 1907, which itself is updated from a drawing dated 1885. Small modifications are noted in the two drawings and highlight the differences between the initial 1884-1887 batch of locomotives, designed by Thomas William Worsdell, and the 1903 – 1909 batch of locomotives, as redesigned by James Holden. Numerous other modifications and additions are also seen on the 1907 drawing for the later class G69 (F6) locomotives and other changes as the design evolved. These drawings are held at the Essex Records Office on behalf of the Great Eastern Railway Society.
In the photograph above, a flat surface and shoulder is being machined where the bracket will mount to the frame. To the left of the casting is the boss that will be machined to house a steel bush that will allow the brake-shaft to rotate when the brakes are applied. Holes for the mounting bolts will be added at Tyseley Locomotive Works and marked from the holes already drilled in the frame plates.
To explore how you further assist the construction of GER 789, please click on “How You Can Help.”
GER 789 brake column on the miller. Northern Heritage Engineering.
The handbrake column that was cast by FSE Foundry Ltd in Braintree in July (see Engineering Report , is being machined at Northern Heritage Engineering Ltd in Darlington. The column was cast using the original drawing, Nr 6678 of 1885, which is held at the Essex Records Office on behalf of the Great Eastern Railway Society. The casting required machining on the rear face and base to ensure that it is square and flat to be mounted to the rear cab/bunker panel. The casting stands 3 ft 6½ inches and weighs in at a hefty 138lbs (62.6 kg) and was particularly difficult to set up on the milling machine as the all the outer faces are tapered and not parallel to the surfaces being machined. Additional machining is required for the mounting holes and handbrake shaft bearing.
Northern Heritage Engineering Ltd ( https://northernheritageengineering.co.uk )has specialised in many aspects of engineering within the heritage market and have many projects on their books. We became aware of this company in their previous guise as North Bay Engineering Services Ltd and their new narrow gauge locomotive builds, including ‘Otter’, for the Isle of Man Groudle Glen Railway, and ‘Blyth’ for the Southwold Railway in Suffolk.
More recently, Northern Heritage Engineering Ltd have been supporting the S&DR200 celebrations in Darlington and provided engineering support for the ‘Locomotion’ locomotive replica and rolling stock. Also in progress, is another new build, the ‘Mountaineer’ ( https://1863mountaineer.co.uk ). This is a recreation of one of the first locomotives that were built by George England for the Ffestiniog Railway in 1863.
In parallel to the brake cross-shaft assembly, enquiries are also underway with regards to the other brake components, the linkages, brake hangers and brake blocks. This will complete the handbrake system ready for when the wheel-sets eventually arrive from Riley and Son (E) Ltd
The first components for the brake assembly are being machined at Northern Heritage Engineering Ltd at Darlington. The two items seen above are the levers that pull the brakes onto the wheels via further links and levers. These levers will be assembled to a cross-shaft that is actuated by the handbrake, or the brake cylinder via a valve in the cab.
The levers are circled in red on the image from Elliot Powick’s CAD model below. Northern Heritage Engineering Ltd are also machining the cross-shaft, the levers for handbrake and cylinder, the handbrake handle, drop link and nut. The cross-shaft mounting brackets and handbrake column will also be machined ready to be assembled to the locomotive.
The column for the handbrake has been cast by FSE Foundry Ltd in Braintree. A CAD model was developed from the original drawing, Nr 6678 of 1885, and was used by FSE Foundry Ltd to manufacture the wood patterns prior to casting. The finished raw casting stands 3 ft 6½ inches and weighs in at a hefty 138lbs (62.6 kg). The casting now requires machining on the rear face and base to ensure that it is square and flat to be mounted to the rear cab/bunker panel.
The Great Eastern Railway Society John Gardner drawing below shows the handbrake column (in yellow) in position in the rear of the cab (note: this is the normal round cab window F4/F5 cab). The handbrake passes through the column and is threaded on the lower end, which engages in a long threaded nut, which in turn, lifts a lever on the brake cross-shaft. The cross-shaft is carried by the two mounting brackets as described in June 2024.
Handbrake column pattern. Graham Rowland Eng. Manager.
Handbrake column casting Graham Rowland Eng. Manager
