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Events Diary For 2011 Now Posted
I have just posted the forthcoming railtours for the first part of 2011 on the events page of the website.
At the shed, the team have been busy getting Cromwell ready to go back to Southall to pick up her tender ready for the railtours. While the back truck was out having the wheels re-tyred, we took the opportunity to make some repairs and modifications to the ashpan. Coal ash is very corrosive, especially in the presence of heat and water; what are the conditions like in an ashpan? Hot and damp, especially when the pan spray has been on to damp down the ash to reduce the heat. Ashpans corrode, it’s a fact of life. But they are also usually almost impossible to reach without taking the boiler out of the frames. So having a space under the cab floor where the rear truck wasn’t gave an excellent opportunity to carry out surgery on the pan without having to become a contortionist-trapeeze artist.
45305 has been performing at the GCR and is expected to star as the “Beautiful” in the GCR’s forthcoming “The Big, the Bold and the Beautiful” mini steam gala on February 26th & 27th. 30777 starred in the recent “Banbury Cross” gala at the GCR, alongside her beautiful sister.