The past 6 months have seen much work progress on restoring the Standard 4 Tank, as well as ordering and making new parts.

Cab

The main challenge has been to fund and order a new cab roof for 80150. The appeal to raise funds towards the new roof was a big success, with the £4,000 target being surpassed.

This allowed the group to start researching drawings for the roof. Early on in this task, it was recognised that some changes to the original design would need to be made, such as building the roof in two halves and welding them together and using a slightly different plate thickness.

With the support from other groups, such as Bury STD 4 Group, CAD (Computer Aided Design) drawings were created and sent away to Somdor Engineering, who would construct the roof. Alongside this, work has undergone on the cab frame in order to support a roof again.

This included building new front plates and rear bulkhead, which the 75079 Group helped produce. Early March 2019 saw the newly-built roof safely arrive at Ropley, ready for painting.

Axleboxes and Sandbox

In order to make 80150 more visible for the Mid Hants Railway’s Open Weekend, plans were made to move the tank. Although the bogie moved smoothly, some of the unsprung coupled axleboxes moved, causing 80150’s front end to drop and back end to rise.

Despite halting the move in time for the Open Weekend, the movement of the axleboxes on their horns means that they aren’t sized as initially thought. This also means the axleboxes are in better condition than expected.

Stripping down the engine has continued with the removal of various equipment, such as the four-feed sandbox. This took several days as the sandbox is heavy and large, which combined with tight space in between the frame, made the whole task difficult but not impossible.

More parts need to be removed, like the water levelling pipes, which will allow the group to list down which parts need replacing or repairing.

For more information or to support the restoration of 80150, please visit the group’s BT MyDonate page here.

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