Locomotive Works News

Restoration/conversion of "84030"

The aim of this project is to rebuild BR Class 2 No.78059 into a representative of the tank engine version of the class. A small group under the leadership of John Jesson normally meet every Thursday to work on the project.

The fact that there is no surviving example of a British Railways Class 2 Tank Engine is not the only motivation behind this project; 84030 should also be exactly right for the Bluebell Railway's operations in terms of its versatility, power and reliability. Additionally, though the tank versions were common on the Southern Region, the tender versions were not "native" to the region. When acquired from Barry Scrapyard, 78059 had already lost its tender; so if the decision had not been taken to convert it to a tank engine a complete new tender would have had to be built from scratch.

The Eight and Ninth newsletters (which were sent to project supporters earlier) are now available as pdfs.

This newsletter is compiled by John Jesson and Tony Sullivan.

To read the PDF you need Acrobat Reader. If you don't already have it installed you can download it free of charge from Adobe.

The photo on the right shows some of the 130 fitted bolts (3/4in and 7/8in diameter) with suitable nuts, which have been made to securely fasten the stretchers into the frames and mount tank and platform supports.

The photos below show the Brake cylinder on its support stretcher, the left-hand-side rear tank support and revearsing-gear mounting, and the seven-part pattern set made by Roy Stirling for the trailing wheel spring bracket castings.

The Seventh newsletter is now available as a pdf.

This newsletter is compiled by John Jesson and Tony Sullivan.

The photo on the right shows the machined hind drag-box assembly.

The main frame extension plates have now been drilled with all the holes for fitting to the near rear stretcher. They are seen here in Tony Sullivan's photo, in the workshop at Sheffield Park today.

To read the PDF you require Acrobat Reader. If you don't already have it installed you can download it free of charge from Adobe.