Construction Blog
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The cab, being constructed at Elvar Engineering in Buckinghamshire, has arrived at the premises of Diamond Engineering for the Open Day on Saturday. It's mounted on a jig representing the back of the chassis. When returned to to Elvar, it will have the window frames and glass added and start to be fitted out.
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These were delivered today to Diamond Engineering. Forged and machined by Somers Forge of Halesowen, they are machined to very tight tolerances to be interference fitted into four of our driving wheels - those designed to be the Intermediate and Rear Wheelsets.
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In the past two weeks, the hinge blocks were fitted to the ring&seal and the hinges were bolted to the door, following which the bolt heads were ground down so they are flush with the hinges. The resulting assembly was then mounted onto the ring, resulting in the photo below. Following the delivery of the chimney, machined by Daniela, the chimney has been temporarily mounted on the Wrapper. Today, the whole unit has been hoisted back onto the Chassis ready for the Open Day on 11th April.
So what's missing - Baffle plate is still be to be added to the back of the door. It's ready and drilled but we didn't want to slow progress for the Open Day!
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| The Smokebox assembly now with the Chimney. | The complete smokebox back in position on the chassis. The two Sweep Webs can be seen in front under the Bufferbeam. |
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After some having the Wrapper on display on the frames, and the Smokebox Door Assembly on view at the Greatest Gathering at Derby last August, assembly is taking place. A rear reinforcing ring has been welded into the rear of the Wrapper - this is where the Boiler will ultimately be mated to the Wrapper. Next, the Smokebox Ring&seal has been been welded into place. Elsewhere in the factory, the hinges and door have been drilled to enable the hinges to be riveted onto the door.
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61673 Chimney Machined:
The chimney casting, cast in time for last year's Open Day (12th April 2025), has been machined by Daniela (Daniela Works Ltd). The picture shows the final product with the eight mounting holes clearly in view. The chimney will be shipped down to our home base at Diamond Engineering to be mounted on the Smokebox Wrapper and Door assembly for the Open Day.
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This month, progress has been made on a number of fronts.
Smokebox: Welding has commenced to create the 'Face of 61673' The front reinforcing ring has been fully welded onto the back of the Ring&seal. A rear reinforcing ring has been machined and tack welded into the Wrapper at the rear - this will be finally machined when the boiler is ready to be fitted into the smokebox. After checking that the door still fits perfectly into the ring&seal,
Read more: The Face of 61673: Shaping the Smokebox and Rolling Chassis
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Smokebox: Welding of the front and rear reinforcing rings into the Smokebox Wrapper is scheduled for this week (wk 26/1/26). Once done, the welding of the Smokebox Door assembly, shown in its finished state at the Greatest Gathering, is planned for the following week. As promised, a start was made with the front reinforcing ring welded to the back of the Smokebox Door Ring. The photo shows it initially tack welded into place, after which it will be fully welded into the Smokebox Wrapper.
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Smokebox: It was decided that before the Smokebox Wrapper was welded into position, it was preferable at this stage to commission some extra items. To this end, front and rear reinforcing rings have been designed as per the LNER 1948 drawings, the rear one to only be tacked welded at the present time - this ring will be finish machined when the boiler is offered to the smokebox. Chimney reinforcing plates are also being designed. An order was placed with CTL Seal mid-December for the manufacture of these two rings. An order has been placed for minor items, for the fitting of both these rings along with the final assembly of the smokebox door components into the Smokebox Wrapper.
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The Smokebox Door assembly is now ready for welding into position into the Wrapper and discussions held with CTL Seal about this work.
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After a very successful three days at the Greatest Gathering, with much interest shown in the Smokebox Door assembly that we had displayed on a pallet, once it was back at Sheffield, some minor adjustments needed to be calculated, before welding of the ring into the Smokebox Wrapper, can take place to the height of the hinge blocks to accomodate laging material in the groove of the smokebox ring. Originally, asbestos lagging rope would have been used, but clearly this is unacceptable in the modern world, so fibre glass lagging rope is now used. A small sample (12") was obtained from the manufacturers, cut into 4 pieces and the door lowered into it to find the depression made. The hinge height was adjusted with appropriately sized washers. The calculations done, a full 30m coil of the rope has been purchased. CTL Seal will manufacture a specially shaped pair of shims to enable the hinges to be seated correctly once they are riveted in place on the door.