Bringing back a Bulleid

It’s taken a few months longer than planned, but we’re tantalisingly close to welcoming our fantastic Bulleid back to the main line.

Over the last 18 months Braunton has been undergoing a heavy general overhaul at the LNWR Heritage facility in Crewe. This has included some major remedial work on her boiler and some minor repairs to the remainder of the locomotive.

Work on the boiler has included the renewal of hundreds of stays — steel supports that hold the inner and outer firebox of the locomotive in place — including the complete replacement of all of the crown and transverse stays, and renewal of hundreds of firebox and boiler barrel rivets. A complete ‘re-tube’ has also taken place, involving the removal and replacement of all Braunton’s boiler tubes and a complete new set of super heater elements have been fitted.

Despite the magnitude of the task, the LNWR Boilersmiths have excelled themselves in returning to us — in swift time given the amount of work undertaken — a boiler with a brand new 7 year main line ticket.

The unique view of Braunton’s boiler above shows the inside of her firebox, including Bulleid’s (the designer of the West Country Class) thermic syphons. A closer look also reveals the more than a hundred stays that had to be renewed over the course of the overhaul, the give-away being the shiny and protruding rather than flush ends protruding into the firebox.

The LNWR team have also been hard at work making sure that Braunton’s ‘bottom end’ is in fine form. This has required work on her front bogie (which helps to steer the loco around corners) as well as ensuring that all of the motion is still up to specification.

The culmination of this work took place just a couple of months ago, when Braunton’s boiler and frames were reunited and final re-assembly started to take place.

Superheater troubles

After steam testing we discovered problems with Braunton’s superheater header, the metal casting to which the superheater elements attach in the smokebox. Despite our best efforts we were unable to rectify the problems and are having a brand new casting made.

In the mean time, we’ve kindly been loaned the superheater header from No. 34039 Boscastle. Below we can see two of the LNWR Heritage team preparing the header for fitting to Braunton.

Time for reclassification

Now that the superheater header issue has been sorted Braunton has been moved to the paint shop where she is undergoing conversion from West Country to Battle of Britain Class. This might sound like a major job… Happily, all that’s required is a fresh coat of paint, re-numbering from 34046 to 34052 and the application of a brand new set of nameplates! (spot the mistake on Lord Dowding below…)

Once painting is complete we’ll be making final preparations for Lord Dowding to make her first test run. Initially we’ll perform some slow speed testing on site at Crewe Diesel Depot — helped by an ample 1/4 mile of track — before moving on to the main line with DB Cargo (formerly DB Schenker) in Mid-April.

We’re super excited to have Lord Dowding out on the main line in the next few weeks, joining Royal Scot in making up the Icons Of Steam Spring/Summer 2016 fleet.

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