Stuart Hines (the Steam Engineer) was down in Suffolk recently and called in to see progress on the Ruston, Proctor portable which is having extensive boiler repairs carried out there. These are preliminary stages, with the boiler prepared for inspection and the parts needing replacing identified, specified (with the insurance company) and ordered.

Below: The firebox – remember this is a larger box due to the wood-burning nature of this engine. The stay heads have been ground flat ready for removal.

Below: The new front tubeplate, and to the rear the new smokebox door ring. The former has been made by Israel Newton in Bradford, who made Coffee Pot’s boiler.