March 2010 - The engine is a Lister D single cylinder petrol engine, built in the 1950's to a design dating back to the 1920's. Before starting work on Loco No.1 I'd had the Lister apart and done various bits of work - re-ground the valves, improved the spark, sorted out the timing, etc. One thing I didn't do is remove the crankshaft and piston, and the engine when running was pretty smokey, so I've had the thing in bits again to have a look at the piston, and also to facilitate painting.
Sure enough, whilst the piston rings look fine, the oil scraper is seized in it's groove for about one quarter of it's length. I've not had chance to have a go at freeing it yet.
The crankcase, head and crankshaft housing are now primed and ready for re-assembly - plan is to put the top coats on when it's all back together.
April 2010 - Freed up the oil scraper ring, and put the Lister back together again on the loco frames. Ended up deciding to move the Lister closer to the centre of the loco to improve weight distribution. I had thought about this, but obviously not hard enough. Have painted the various Lister parts as they've been put back on the engine, but got bored in the end so have bolted the last few bits on just for the sake of seeing if it still runs.
A short video of the Lister - wmv format and about 2Mb.
May 2010 - I got hold of an Albion gearbox some time back - this is now fitted. It has three forward and one reverse gears, although the plan for the moment is only to use first and reverse. I've fitted the Albion, and a jackshaft immediately below the Albion. Drive is via 3/8" chain from the Lister to the Albion, and then 1/2" chain from the Albion to the jackshaft and from the jackshaft to each axle. I had a flat belt pulley which came with the Lister, and I've re-used this as a way of mounting the flat sprocket on to the Lister. Seems to work, but doesn't look very elegant. The clutch on the Albion is designed for use with a bowden cable, but I'm operating the clutch with a hand lever at the moment. Plan is for a foot-operated clutch, connected via a bowden cable. Initial test runs on a short length of rail seem fairly promising.
A short video of the initial test run, courtesy of the WLR's official cameraman - wmv format and nearly 6Mb.
August 2010 - The gearbox and jackshaft have been dismantled, and the jackshaft and jackshaft brackets have been cleaned, painted, and are now being re-fitted to the loco. I've also added some angle round the edge of the loco - the body work and floorboards will be attached to this.
Support bracket for the jackshaft in the process of being painted.
This photo shows the jackshaft and chains fitted back on the loco. The gearbox sits between the two pieces of angle near the flywheel and the hole in the nearmost frame stretcher. My apologies for the photo quality - I've been very happy with Wilkinson's 'Underframe Gloss Black' but it turns out it doesn't photograph very well! This photo also shows the angle (in primer) on which the floorboards will sit and to which the body will be fitted - the beginning of the bodywork framing can be seen (unpainted) in the background).
November 2010 - The bodywork frame has been completed - this is three pieces of angle iron welded up for each side, then bolted together with two additional lengths of angle iron as cross-braces. I've drawn up the body work (bonnet, front panel, two side panels and gearbox guard) and had this laser cut by Guttridge. The bonnet has been folded and both it and the front panel are being painted.
The clutch pedal has been painted and fitted, and some bits of timber I had have been fettled-up as floor boards. I've also had the petrol-tank and straps off the Lister and painted these.
Front panel - the large hole will have some mesh fitted across it, and the gap between the bottom of the front panel and the buffer beam will have a plate fitted over it.
The bonnet is still in primer, and the side panels are unpainted. The side panels are held on with wing nuts, and will have handles fitted.
Floor boards and clutch pedal. The gearbox, just visible to the left of the brake column, will have a chain guard fitted.
August 2011. Long time no update. Have made and fitted the gearbox cover, cooling water drain pipe for the hopper, front grill and a few other sundry bits and pieces. These photos actually date from February.
Chain guard fitted over the gearbox.
Loco outside back in February - I have done some more work on it since!.
Build part 4 - from the Works to the WLR
