The Churchward County Trust is putting together the last details of its next big fundraising drive, in which it wants to raise about £50,000 to complete the assembly of the front end of the new-build County Class 4-4-0 No. 3840 County of Montgomery.

If the appeal is successful, the trust will have a complete set of frames for the new County Class locomotive ready for wheeling, including the extension frames, cylinders, racking plate, and bufferbeam, etc.

The frames are an integral part of any locomotive, so it is vital that they exist in the early stages of construction. Although the main frames have already been erected, they need to be fitted to the front-end frames.

On all Churchward two-cylinder locos, twelve fitted bolts on each side joined the front-end frames to the rear of the cylinders. Great Western Railway practice was to assemble the front end as a single unit, consisting of machined cylinders and extension frames, racking plate and front buffer beam, and the bogie, and bolt it to the main frames.

The Trust is currently not in a position to progress to this stage as it would need to have the new bogie erected, completing this unit will enable the front and rear frames to be aligned and united into a complete unit so that the driving wheels can be fitted at a later date.

Churchward County Trust is in the process of constructing the 41st Great Western Railway County Class 4-4-0 No. 3840 County of Montgomery. It is working closely with the Great Western Society at Didcot so that it is built to the pattern of the ten original ‘Counties’ erected at Swindon in 1911/12 with Holcroft curved frames and a screw reverser.

The locomotive will incorporate both original Great Western Railway and new components, including the ‘Standard No. 4′ boiler currently fitted to the unrestored 2-8-0T No. 5227 and the patterns for the 6ft 8½in driving wheels that were used for Didcot’s re-creation of Saint Class 4-6-0 No. 2999 Lady of Legend.