After many months stored outside under a tarpaulin, the chassis for Churchward 2-8-0 no. 4709 has been re-located into the busy workshop at Tyseley.
4709's frames being shunted into the workshop at Tyseley – Photo: Mike Solaway
First priority now is the assembly of 4709’s rolling chassis.
The pony truck assembly is nearly complete and will be finished when its wheelset is fitted. Meanwhile, the cylinder block and extensions frames are closer to being a single unit. Machining of the compensating beam has just been completed and the new equalising beam brackets have been cast and await machining. The next job will be to refit the buffer beam, which will then allow for the new 1.5 ton centre stay to be machined, ready to be fitted to the front-end assembly.
Work is also getting under way, in preparation for mounting the refurbished horn guides to the main frames. These will be fitted together with the horn stays, which in turn will allow trial fitting and complete the refurbishment of the axle boxes, which have already had new white metal applied on their bearing faces.
Slightly further down the list, the refurbishment of the eccentric sheaves needs to be completed and refitted to the main driving wheel set. Donor loco no. 4115 only provided three driving wheelsets and so, the new trailing driving wheelset will require a balance weight which has already been cast, but will require lead filling before it can be mounted and used.
Two of 4709's driving wheel sets stored at Tyseley. Hopefully the pony truck and all eight driving wheels will be under the loco late in 2026 – Photo: Paul Perton
Moving 4709’s chassis into the workshop will enable this work to proceed, quickly and safely. To complete the rolling chassis, we need to raise approximately £30,000. Any financial help you can give to assist in achieving our goal this year will be greatly appreciated. A donations link is available on every page of the 4709 Web site at https://www.4709.org.uk/
