B12 Overhaul Update

Trustees meeting on Saturday received an update from CME Keith Ashford on his recent visit to Riley & Sons in Lancashire who are undertaking the work of overhauling the frame and chassis of the B12 8572.

Work on B12 has been delayed slightly while Riley's moved into new and larger premises in Bury. The B12 chassis and bogie is now positioned on levelling blocks ready for work to recommence which includes:-

• replacement expansion link and motion bracket plate

• fitting of replacement tyres

Work on the boiler, which is being carried out in-house at Weybourne, has progressed with the replacement of mudhole doors plate sections on each side of the outer firebox.

Detailed technical discussions have led to the decision to replace the entire front barrel section and throat plate with a new welded longitudinal seam barrel section. This will replace the bottom 1/3 which was found to be significantly wasted and pitted together with the remaining section which exhibited some moderate pitting. Replacing both now will eliminate the need for timely and complicated welding and give that part of the boiler an extended life expectancy.

Additional boiler work will include:-

• replacement of the throatplate rather than undertake repair work as originally planned and

• replacement of the fire hole

Both of these will need to be formed off site by a specialist contractor once costs are agreed.

The B12 frame and chassis pictured at Riley's at an earlier stage of the overhaul