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| Latest news | Working Party reports | Working Party dates | CAD Drawings | Archived news and reports |
October 2011
The tender was displayed at Superpower. With the tender being painted in undercoat over the previous few days it was duly delivered to Dinas in time for the Welsh Highland Railway's Superpower weekend. The restoration team were there and on hand to show visitors the progress to date and to answer queries as required.
It also saw the launch of the NG15 restoration T-shirt and quite a number were sold that weekend. These are now on sale through the Society's shop on its website.............
September 2011
The tender construction nears completion. The tender will be painted in undercoat over the next few days and will be delivered to Dinas in time for the Welsh Highland Railway's Superpower weekend. This weekend coincides with the September working party weekend and so the restoration team will be there on site to show you round progress on the locomotive.
June 2011
The tender construction has started in earnest. The sides are complete with some baffles in place. Other ''pieces of the gig-saw' are in preparation or ready to be fitted.
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May 2011
With the tender now fully funded Brunswick Ironworks have started work on manufacturing some of the smaller components for the tender body and all the larger platework has been ordered and delivery is awaited. This is a very significant and much welcomed step in the restoration.
February 2011
The tender is now fully funded.
With the help of a single generous donation we can announce that the rebuilding of the tender body is fully funded. This is a single large piece of the restoration and in view of the existing body being life expired it is one piece where we have the opportunity to make improvements to the loco.
We have to keep in mind that the loco will spend 50% of it time running tender first on the WHR. This it turn creates problems with visibility and lines of sight when running in that direction. Whilst the original NG15 tender design would not have been a problem in the wide open spaced of South Africa we have quite a different environment on the WHR with a much narrower formation and with frequent crossings by road, occupational tracks and footpaths. This has lead to a much more stringent requirement for rearwards visibility and thus for the tender design seen on this website's homepage. Whilst this is not entirely the most up to date view it does give you an idea of the nature of the design.
D J Williams of Brunswick Ironwork in Caernarfon, who have been helping us with other work on the loco including the Scrap to Steam event in 2009, will be constructing the new tender bodywork.
October 2010
The launch of a race with Wilf Mole of the Sandstone Estates in South Africa who is embarking on the restoration of NG15 №136.
The intention is to have a race to see who can get their NG15 into service first. Wilf reckons he intends to have his NG15 ready for 24th January 2012 and so we will need to react fast if we are to beat that deadline. As is the case with restoring steam locomotives it's the availability of funds that will be the limiting factor to completing the Loco. With that in mind the 134 team are launching a new appeal for funds. This is based on needing 500 days at £500 per day to see the restoration through. More details are HERE.
21st September 2010
The wheelset tyres have now been turned and seen outside Boston Lodge works on the 9th September 2010. See the Gallery.
9th July 2010
The wheelsets have been sent away to the Boston Lodge works on the Ffestiniog Railway. The works there will re-profile the wheels from the South African profile to that needed for the Welsh highland. As well as the gauge profile itself this also involves slight adjustment to the back-to-back dimension to allow smooth passage through pointwork. Pictures are available in the Gallery.
5th May 2010
The Welsh Highland Railway's annual Rail Ale festival takes place over the weekend of the 7th to 9th May. As there is a Working Party that weekend attendees to the festival are invited to view the work taking place on the loco. If you do attend please remember that the shed is a working part of the Railway's infrastructure and we'd appreciate it if you did not come over with beer glasses (or in a poor state of health!).
November 2009
2010 Working party dates announced.
The dates for the working parties have been announced for the period up to the peak summer holiday. These are much the same as the 2009 routine of them being on the third weekend of the Month:
Jan 23-24th
Feb 20-21st
March 20-21st
April 17-18th Week after Easter
May 8-9th Beer festival weekend
June 19-20th
July 17-18th
After a break in August when there is not working party they will resume in September and these dates will be announced nearer the time.
See the Working Party dates page for more details.
October 2009
Shotblasting of the frames took place in the first week of October and the following week saw the frames being painted in a rust inhibiting primer. All the main frames were shotblasted together with the frames for the Krauss Helmholtz and rear pony trucks. The work was completed by contractors Campbell Grindlay Engineering of Llangefni, Anglesey.
The shotblasting was done over a number of days as there were many nooks and crannies that took time to fully clean. Once the work was complete the frames were left to dry out whilst members of Team Wylfa cleaned away all the grit from off the floor. They also had to replace all the lights in the shed as they had fallen victim to the grit and water!
The shotblasting is significant step forward for the Loco as it now allows the re-assembly of other components as they become available following their overhaul. However we should still not underestimate the amount of work and cash needed to get those components ready so please visit the Funding page to make a donation to help us.
12th July 2009:
Scrap to Steam - August 3rd to 29th - Maes, Caernarfon (another update)
We can announce that the fundraising event at Y Maes/Castle Square in Caernarfon is being supported by Brunswick Ironworks. Brunswick's were instrumental in the reconstruction of the Welsh Highland Railway with their construction of most of the steelwork needed. This included for example the numerous water tower structures and the many bridges to be replaced along the line.
This is continuing with Brunswick Ironworks currently overhauling the rear stretcher of №134. Providing that the 'Scrap to Steam' event is successful it is hoped that much more work can be contracted to them.
The NG15 group are honoured at having Brunswick's as a major supporter of the project and are particularly thankful at having their support for this major fund-raising event.
9th July 2009:
Scrap to Steam - August 3rd to 29th - Maes, Caernarfon (an update)
Peter
Randall, the projects Manager reports:
"As has been previously announced there will be a fund raising event
for the NG15 in Y Maes, Caernarfon throughout August. In preparation
for this, the NG15 Group will be dedicating it’s July working
party to the task of preparing 133 for movement. This will involve
prepping the Axleboxes, disconnecting the motion, general check and
disconnection of the tender (the loco only will go to Caernarfon). The
Loco will then be shunted ready to be loaded. Would anyone who is
available to help please contact Andie Shaw, so he can put you on the
list of volunteers available.
"If anyone is free to do a day or two in Caernarfon, then we would be
more than pleased to hear from you. Please contact me on
prandall@aol.com or Pam Smith (pamelaS636@aol.com) if you can spare
some time."
3rd July 2009:
Scrap to Steam - August 3rd to 29th - Maes, Caernarfon
There will be a four week long event in Caernarfon to promote and raise awareness of the restoration of NG15 №134 and to raise funds for the work. As it will be peak holiday season it is hoped that much interest will be generated from visitors to the area as well as from within the local community itself.
It is hoped that sister Loco NG15 №133 will be present as the central item of the display. This will give a good impression of what the 'scrap' condition of №134 was when the project started.
14th May 2009:
NG15 Working Party:
Next weekend (16th & 17th May)
the NG15 group will be holding
it’s regular 3rd weekend of the month meeting. The stripping
down of the main frames is progressing well with the work nearly
complete and ready for the next stage of cleaning and painting prior to
reassembly. Anyone interested in joining the group will be most welcome
and should come to Dinas Station at 09:00 on Saturday; we meet in the
Clip Shed which is at the end of the car park.
An Update for all Sponsors!
On Saturday the supporters’ trains are running as well. The team would really welcome the opportunity to let this group know how the project is progressing and what the next steps are. We have therefore arranged to do a couple of presentations, geared around the train times, to allow the Supporters to see our work first hand. The first presentation – aimed for the Bronze supporters will be between 10:30 & 11:30, and the second – aimed for the Silver and Gold supporters will be between 16:00 and 17:00. We are using the Clip Shed for the renovation work, which for those who don’t know it is behind the construction office at the top of the car par at Dinas. We are of course flexible and will watch the running of the train etc.. Please do come along and see what we are doing and the remarkable loco, 134, in its component parts! We all look forward to seeing you at Dinas.