LBSC Britannia

After some investigation it became clear the tap follower I was using wasn't particularly straight! The plunger has been bent at some point. i wasn't that happy with my Dial Gauge  holder so made a new one that actually holds the Gauge on centre height! I started with a bit of rusty square stock. Bit of drawfiling and it looks vaguely presentable Hole for the Gauge was centred and drilled 7.8mm(I used the DRO 1/2 function and an edge finder to get it central.  Then it was reamed to 8mm, mainly to get a nice finish. I used suds to lubricate it as I'd run out of cutting oil. I then drilled and tapped for the pinch bolt, no picture unfortunately, then it was time to slit the bar, using a new R8 slitting saw arbour that cam this week. It works quite well if you get the saw cutting clockwise, the opposite direction causes the bolt to unscrew and it all end up in a heap.... Clearance hole was drill half way though. Then it was back to th...

Here's some more background on Cyril written by Tom Croton  "There is a bit to add/correct in your profile of Cyril. He was not Chief Engineer for Avery Applied Research Unit but the Engineer that built equipment prototypes. This involved great skill and application expertise.  In my work with a Special Steels manufacturer, I was lucky enough to be involved  with some of the projects being worked upon. It  was pure chance, by the way that we became professionally involved, despite me being his son-in-law! His talents with just a file in his hand had to be seen to be believed. His teacher, of many years before, as a watch and clock maker, commented upon his enormous talent and said that Cyril had been born a hundred years too late. He won a prize for excellence upon training completion. Upon leaving the world of horology behind he applied for a position with Clark Chapmans. His first job here was to build a press tool for the manufacture of lorry chassis. He was...

Heres the page from Model Engineer magazine circa 1951. Think my dad was a toddler at this point! Its obvious from the surface finish that these were machined as two sets of three. It looks like one of the sets was cleaned up on a shaper or possibly hand filed  I first needed to find the centre of each axle box. They were all slightly different sizes so opted for the corner to corner method. Using an optical centre punch helps the old eyes! Domed end acts as a magnifier. Once centred the plastic part is replaced with a close fitting punch and lightly tapped. All done... I then enlarged the dimple using an automatic centre punch. Not sure this was a good idea see later.... Into the 4 jaw on the lathe, I'm using a spring loaded tap follower in the centre pop mark and a DTI to centralise in the chuck. This seemed to work okay on the first two boxes but I couldn't get the third centred. Slocombe drill to start the hole.  ...

LBSC gave two options for axle boxes. Plain and Ball bearing. As far as I can see the Loco uses ball bearings so I've purchased the same for the Tender. I opted for rubber seals  6mm x 19mm x 6mm (626 2RS) Deep groove ball bearings about a quid each from ebay. LBSC specced 1/4" x 3/4" which is pretty close :-) There won't be a lot of meat left at the top and bottom of the axle box. Domed covers will need turning down quite a bit as the covers are quite shallow, so may make a form tool for that. I want them to match the covers on the Pony truck :- I will engrave all of these with the B.R. TIMKEN logo, whilst I'm at it.

Here's a few pictures showing the loco as I bought it. I mocked up the boiler and plate work to get a feel for what it looks like. I hadn't appreciated how high the cab sits.  Tender is less complete than the loco wheel castings are un-machined, its genearlly a good idea to let iron castings rest for a while I think 50 years should do it! The grate and ash pan assembly sits a bit high at the moment so the boiler barrel doesn't quite sit level.  Paint is in good condition so will just need the odd bit of touching up. Only centre section of grate can be dropped. Nicely detailed trailing truck. I will engrave the B.R. TIMKEN logo on the bearing caps with my pantograph engraver. I'll do this when I do the same to the Tender Axle boxes. Boiler appears to be very well made.  Not sure which design of regulator was chosen Curly provided two different ones. May change to my preferred PTFE lined commercial valve. ...