August has been another busy month on the engineering front of the project. North Bay Engineering Services in Darlington have been making serious progress with the trailing truck spring beams for GSN. The beams which were water cut using CAD made by a society volunteer are currently being machined to the required specifications and should be delivered by the middle of September. The beams are the first ones made for a Merchant Navy for over 50 years and the biggest component we needed to replace on the trailing truck.

Our next working weekend will be held at Sellindge between the 28th and 30th September to which all our members are invited to attend. At this working weekend we plan to trial fit all the various components for the trailing truck should the hangers and fittings be completed in time. One of the components we have been recently working on is the axle box covers which we got cast earlier in the year. They have now been machined for us by Leaky Finders in Devon with the covers requiring the oil feed hole boring, the fixing holes reamed and the back edges milled flat to create a tight fit against the axle box. The work was done in a timely manner and ready to be fitted to the locomotive.

In July we mentioned that the Society was loaned an original Bulleid electric lamp to be use on the locomotive. The Society has now got the lamp all wired up and working to display at various stands and Society events.

As always thank you for your continued support

Work continues on the locomotive with progress being made on the machine shop front. With temperatures a little over 80 degF in Ians workshop at school it’s time to make some more progress on the Klinger valves. All 4 bodies have had all the internal machining completed and are ready to be drilled for the cap mounting stud holes. Just waiting for a drilling jig to be made. The 2 large caps are machined inside and out and are awaiting jig drilling plus the interesting part- Machining the metric trapezoidal thread. Another one of our members has volunteered to create all the spring hangers and fittings for the trailing truck and bogie. The Society has provided all the material for the work and if anyone would like to contribute towards the cost please do get in touch.

The project was featured in this month’s Heritage Railway magazine which was a roundup of the Society’s efforts over the last year. Its great being able to get some coverage in his particular title which will hopefully gain us some supporters.

The Society is delighted to announce we have acquired a brass lamp fitted with the bullseye lens, toggle switch to side and bulb holder inside. The lamp is reported to have come off Merchant Navy’ Class No. 35024 “East Asiatic Company” and was purchased at a recent Railwayana auction. Gaining the lamp is fantastic news for the project as the use of original components helps add character to the locomotive. The lamp is part of a number of items that have been loaned to the Society on a loan term lease by one of our members to be used on 35011. Members will be able to read about the other components in the next issue of the Packet out in late September.

Lastly the Society was saddened by the death this month of project supporter and Bulleid 4DD Double Deck EMU Supporters Group Committee Member Ian Ross. Ian was a great friend of the project and helped publicize the project in the early days.  His loss at such a young age came as a complete shock and our thoughts are with his family and friends at this terrible time.

As always thank you for your support.