Transport at KSE

 Another short and sweet post as the team continues to crack on with the boiler of the C class.  A lot of work has taken place at the outer firebox end. The outer wrapper is nicely rivetted in place and drilled. The first image is of the bosses (one each side at the front of the outer firebox that do. Other ancillary fittings are being drilled for and riveted ready for dropping the completed boiler into the flames. Another couple of images that tell the story of this long running restoration is the outer bracket on the outer wrapper. You can see the original; too wasted to use and so yet another part has had to be fabricated anew. It’s been a long slog but the last few years of working through each part; remedial welding, grinding off, machining, or else making a replacement…. that’s where the money goes folks! However, with that in the rear view mirror we are now building our little locomotive. This year promises to be the most exciting but we need at least £50,000 to get us ...

Another boiler related post and that will be the norm for a while. To quote David at Locomotive Maintenance Services Ltd “it’s all go on the boiler” and we can see! With the outer wrapper nicely riveted in place we can classify see it marked up ahead of drilling this week. A noisy job; chances are you’ll be able to hear them at it! This National Lottery Heritage Fund supported project is full steam ahead to get the engine complete and back running on at Kirkby Stephen East. We still need to find £50,000 to get the project over the finish line; details of the ‘876 Club’ and other ways to support us can be found on the LCLT website.

As this is a fairly new blog, and some readers may not know about the goings-on at KSE, we've put together something to bring you all up to speed. As there's rather a lot, we'll start with the North Eastern Railway (NER) passenger vehicles:  N.E.R 6-Wheelers Amongst the collection at KSE is a cohort of NER 6-wheeled coaches, that we hope will pair perfecrly with NER C class No.876:            131 One of several important vehicles for the NER microcosm at KSE is NER Passenger Brake No.131. Not only will it form part of the appropriate Timeless Trains passenger rake, it will also join Stores Van No.2 in a stores train. For this update, we see the main frame repairs, including the bottom rails, almost complete and, with the body now lowered down on to the chassis, correctly aligned and secured in place, attention has turned to installing the new floor. As can be seen in the attached photo, this stage of the work is also approaching completion an...

Progress with the C Class boiler is now very obvious and exciting with some key achievements since the last post. The team at LMS have been doing the last bits of riveting on the outer wrapper sections and crown sheet ahead of them starting drilling all the stay holes in the sides. The throatplate stays are already drilled.   The backhead was newly fabricated in 2023 and has been in store ever since. That has been receiving necessary attention such as riveting brackets on before all the pads can be fitted for clack boxes, gauge frames and the regulator stuffing box. Once this work is completed the backhead will be finished and awaiting the inner firebox before it can be fitted.  Work on the on the inner firebox is continuing apace with the tubeplate now 90% formed and just needs the last bits dressing and forming in on one corner. The inner firebox wrapper is all marked out for the rivets and 80% of the holes are drilled and the doorplate will be offered in and then drill...

Firstly, for those who are new to what we do at Kirkby Stephen East, North Eastern Railway stores van No.2 is an important part of the collection at KSE. It is owned by the Locomotive Conservation and Learning Trust (LCLT). The van was rescued by Beamish Museum in 1973. A decision was taken by Beamish Museum to de-accession the vehicle from its collection and dispose of it. This was in 2013. The van was offered to the LCLT. After inspection of the van the LCLT agreed to assume ownership. It was transported to KSE in 2014. It restoration, helped with funds from a National Lottery Heritage Fund award, began in late autumn 2018 and is now largely complete. Completion of some minor interior jobs is in hand. Externally there is a roof job to complete that will be tackled when scaffolding has been erected in the shed. One feature of the van that had been proving difficult to deal with was the reproduction of the fitted sidelights. The van carried sidelights because in addition to the deliver...

One of the many myths about the J21 (sorry, Class C) was that it needed a new boiler. It doesn’t, but the existing one has needed a lot of time, work and money to get ready for steaming. Great progress has been made with this and the image shows the left-hand side of the boiler and the general arrangement, with the assembly now prepared and ready for riveting. With the new backhead and foundation ring fitted, and the outer wrapper nearing completion, the boiler / firebox assembly is now coming together.  Needless to say, concurrent with this final push to construct the locomotive there is a sprint to raise the last of the necessary funding to top up the huge generosity of the National Lottery Heritage Fund; without which this restoration could never have happened. Please join our 876 Club or indeed any of the support schemes tailored for every pocket.