The Churchward County Trust (CCT) has announced the completion of a key milestone, the main frame assembly work at Tyseley Locomotive Works, on their new build steam locomotive Great Western Railway (GWR) 3800 ‘Churchward County’ Class No.3840 “County of Montgomery”.
Placing the order back in July 2020, Tyseley have carried out the following work:
- Erecting main frame plates – by fitting the supporting stretcher
- Attaching the horn blocks
- Attaching the spring hangers
The next section of the frame to be added is the rear dragbox.
With welding completed on this component, the final machining is now underway to ensure a perfect fit.
By the end of April 2021 the dragbox should be fitted to the main frame.
Following this, work will then focus on building the cab, splashers and running plate for 3840.
This will allow time for the cylinders to be cast and de-stressed before further work to the front end, in particular having the front end extension frames machined.
CCT’s Engineering Liaison David Bradshaw said: “While completing the extension frames is desirable, fitting them would mean that No. 3840 would take up a further 12ft of valuable workshop space at Tyseley. With no further progress expected on the front end for at least 12 months while the cylinder castings de-stress, concentrating on the rear portion where we can make greater progress makes better economic sense.
“Once we have the rear end assembled, the plan is to get the complete front end assembled as one unit, including the extension frames, cylinders and bogie, which can then be bolted to the main frames to complete the entire bottom end.”
For more information or to support the Churchward County Trust, please visit their website here.
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