4” Road Loco ‘Rachel’

Fitted the belly tank, looks like a proper Burrell now.

Pushed the engine outside again for more pictures, this time with the belly tank on. I can almost smell the smoke

That is looking very impressive indeed !!

I appreciate the kind words, apologies for taking so long to reply.

While it might not look it it’s been a busy couple of weeks. Finished assembling and painting the ashpan, it’s currently on the engine. Lapped the crankshaft in the bearings and also installed, it turns by hand and should wear in over time. Fitted the brakes and will be painting those parts along with the roller brackets in the next couple of days. Painted the cylinder block recently, really looking forward to throwing my back out putting it on the engine...alright it’s not that heavy but it’s a workout .  Test fitted the water gauge but took it back off to avoid breaking the glass as the build progresses. That’s about it for now, hopefully next update I’ll have the cylinder block on and the connecting rods attached.

Hope everyone is doing well, done a few things to the engine this past month. Painted the cylinder block and installed it on the boiler, left the studs a bit long for a while until I knew the block wasn’t gonna be taken off. Assembled and tested the water pump, it works quite well and doesn’t leak so I can call that a success. Next was the valves, the LH side was giving me all sorts of trouble but with some guidance from Will it’s been sorted.

Once the valves were installed the pistons were next along with packing the glands. The fun part was to follow...fitting the weighshaft bracket. It probably too the better part of the day along with several lengthy breaks but it’s fitted and the valves with the alignment tool fit, at least to the best of my abilities. Its a bit tight but nothing too excessive, should be alright when the expansion links are installed and it’s been steamed a few times.

That’s about it for this time, I’ll leave the last few of the most recent photos of the engine. The slidebars, crossheads and connecting rods are only on temporarily. Looks like I’ll have to add some shims to the crankshaft. I’ll have to get around to fitting And painting the cladding before adding the rest of the running gear.

Getting a little ahead of myself, fitting the running gear before the cladding...still waiting on the replacement to arrive before I can start fitting and painting the cladding. In the meantime it seems like a good idea to make adjustments to the running gear now instead of putting it off till later. Once the cladding is painted everything should go together fairly smoothly, at least in a perfect world!

Good news, the cladding has arrived safe and sound and has been placed on the engine. Did some trimming to get a good fit and still have a little more to do but it’s nearly ready for paint. Also test fitted the gears on the crankshaft and on the 2nd shaft as well as assemble the final drive/differential a few weeks ago.

The cladding has been painted...well mostly, Everything except the lining and clear coat has been done. I’ve been giving the paint a few days between coats to dry plus I’ve had a few problems with the gloss black and took a few attempts to get it right. Gonna give it a long time to cure before moving on to the next step, so everything is inside in the basement to be protected from the colder temps of the garage. I’m sure a normal person would’ve painted the green then follow up with the black stripe, this way seemed easier to mask off and paint with an HVLP spray gun.

Finished the lining on the cladding, took a little over a day to complete.