LNWR Coal Tank 1054

Hopefully soon to be completed at Ingrow is the Webb coal tank engine dating from 1888. This worthy old workhorse has seen running on many preserved railways including the KWVR. Very extensive work was needed to complete this last heavy overhaul including the making of new inside cylinders.

Above picture curtessy of Peter Skellon http://www.bahamas45596.co.uk/

A new cylinder block has been fitted to the National Trust’s LNWR Coal Tank No.1054 by members of the Bahamas Locomotive Society. The block was lowered into the engine frames on Friday 29^th October, the casting having been delivered to the BLS’s Ingrow Loco workshop on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway the day previous.

The new cylinder block was manufactured based on a Crewe drawing obtained from the Search Engine archive at the National Railway Museum at York.  The drawing, dated 1888 and thus the same age as 1054 itself, was also for used for the LNWR Special Tanks and DX Goods.

To aid the patternmaker in manufacturing the wood patterns and core boxes, a further drawing was prepared by the Society’s Engineering Manager, Steve Allsop, The patterns were produced at Forward Pattern Co of Aston, the casting was undertaken by Boro Foundry at Stourbridge, and the machining carried out at Multi-tech of Featherstone.  Steve Allsop commented, “It’s been an interesting project, and not just having the job done, but also meeting the various people involved to achieve the result.  It is both remarkable and pleasing that such work can still be achieved in the UK.”

Since 1973, the engine has been in the care of the Bahamas Locomotive Society, based at their Ingrow Loco Museum on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway in Yorkshire.
http://www.bahamas45596.co.uk/

We look forwards to seeing the fruits of their extensive labours when the loco steams once again.