The 563 Locomotive Group has issued the latest update on restoring Adams T3 Class 4-4-0 No. 563 to running order.

At the end of April, the completed boiler was moved outside, filled with water and pressurised to check its integrity, all being witnessed by the boiler inspector.

A few days later the boiler was steamed to a pressure of 175 psi.

Following this successful hydraulic and steam test, the boiler was fitted back into the frames, allowing the cab roof to be fitted and more components reassembled.

Although 563 is being restored in Drummond’s 1903 livery with its distinctive stovepipe chimney, the group has purchased Drummond chimney from UK Architectural Heritage Ltd and test-fitted it so that it now has the option to portray the engine in different liveries..

The photo below shows 563, with its later Drummond chimney, at Woking in 1919 on a train to Southampton via Alton. Such a scene is the 563 Locomotive Group’s vision for the future.

In the workshop, 563’s iconic stovepipe chimney has been refitted, the cladding has gone back onto the boiler and is now being painted. The cab roof is now in place, so the rest of the cab can now be finished.

Parts of the tender tank have been refurbished and the well section of the tank has been replaced, and it has been reunited with the frames.

Coal rails have also been fitted back to the tender for the first time since the 1960 cosmetic restoration at Eastleigh. It is now waiting for LSWR lettering to be applied.

Although 563 is close to returning to steam thanks to the Flour Mill and the team at Herston, the group still needs support to finish the project.

To finish the overhaul now requires less than £40,000, which the group hopes to raise by sponsorship.

• London and South Western Railway locomotive lamps
  Appropriate lamps and disks suitable for 563’s 1903 Drummond livery are required. At that time the London and South Western Railway used ‘plugs’ instead of the brackets fitted to later Southern Railway locomotives and those of other constituents.
• The Southern Railway retrofitted lamp brackets into the LSWR plugs. To operate on the Swanage Railway, 563 will need a dedicated set of lamps, discs, and diamonds.
• Although the discs and diamonds can be produced in-house, they are rather complicated. The Group has been working with the Urie Society and the South Western Circle, and has found a suitable drawing for an LSWR locomotive lamp, which looks quite different to the latter SR lamps. A quote of £430 each has been received to manufacture these lamps, and two are needed.

Cab Gauges

• The Group is also looking for a sponsor for steam heat and steam brake pressure gauges to be mounted on the footplate.
• 563 did not have steam heating fitted when it was originally overhauled, but is now an essential requirement for running in colder weather. Each gauge, with the correct ‘LSWR’ lettering, will cost £380.

Anyone who wishes to sponsor one or both gauges should email [email protected]..