Hi all. I've had myself a quiet little February, steam-wise anyway. With the wedding slowly creeping up and plenty to do around the house, I've found myself either at work doing overtime or sleeping in late at the weekends! However, today, I managed to drag myself along to a sunny but chilly Tyseley for another volunteer Saturday working party. Efforts today were surprisingly not centered around pampered 1950-built Castle Class 4-6-0 No7029 "Clun Castle", but around her elder sister. "Clun" was still sitting in the same place in the running shed area on 'Five Road', pushed up against the Hall and "Kolhapur". Having been thoroughly polished and cleaned over the last few weeks to remove the last of the York muck, "Clun" is now immaculate again...
Up in the main workshop, elder sister No5043 "Earl of Mount Edgcumbe" is now ever so slowly reducing in bulk as her overhaul starts to gather pace. I don't usually post progress shots of the engines as it isn't my business to share this news, but on this occasion a very recent shot of 5043s condition was published in the railway mags so it's not news anymore! As we can see, the "Earl" is looking a lot less herself with bonnet, handrails, steam pipes etc all removed. I believe she is pretty much ready to have her boiler lifted when time and workshop capacity allows...
One of my tasks today involved the "Earl"s regulator handle. I was to clean this up (not that it was ever particularly dirty!) and then apply a protective coating ready for it to go into storage before eventually being refitted to the engine. I've had the pleasure of briefly driving the "Earl" on a couple of occasions, although I must admit that holding the regulator is much more fun when there is an engine attached to it! Knowing my luck, this is the closest I'll get to any handle this year...
The final results of my cleaning efforts on the regulator are seen above. I believe it is an original, but I'm not sure what it came off. It's nice to see the beautiful "Earl" getting attention again; she is a fine machine. "Clun" is fabulous: don't get me wrong: but the "Earl" holds a special place for me as this was the first engine I travelled on the footplate of on the main line. Roll on the return of the "Earl"...
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