Another day in the Genesis of Samson...

Another day in the Genesis of Samson…

Ok, so the title may be slightly mixing biblical history, but it neatly describes the current rapid progress in the construction of Samson’s frames.  Once these are completed, and later in the year, we will see a marked reduction in progress as the detailed engineering and machining work of the engine unit commences and runs to completion – we’ve been lucky that thus far we have been dealing with the big lumps of metal!

Dave has made extraordinary progress on Samson, and today Chris and I made our own small contributions towards the project.

Below: Here a template is seen under construction to enable the blacksmith to produce the rear handrail.  As one was not originally fitted I was keen that a slender structure should be produced, in keeping with the 1874 year of manufacture of the original locomotive – it wants to be understated, but if noticed it should not jar with the rest of the loco.  We really do need a handrail at the rear of the cab as otherwise there is nothing above knee height and this is not a very desirable situation to have, particularly when running backwards with what is potentially (because of the single cylinder) a quite jerky locomotive.  I marked out a grid and filled in the curves by eye.  It was tried against the engine and will now aid Andy in producing another of his wonderful forgings (just look at the entrance archway to the tea rooms for an example of his workmanship!).

IMG_0014

Below: The day started with drilling and tapping holes for the axlebox keeps, these also serving to stiffen the frames in this location.  Two jigs were in use for this process, with the tapping being carried out by hand. Also visible in this photo is the jig across the right hand hornguides, which will ensure a true centre for both axles as well as coupling rods.

IMG_0015

Below: As Phil was painting, and because the three-phase power supply has yet to be installed, the frames were moved outside to enable Chris to weld the hornguides, by now securely bolted to the frames, into their final position.  Our hard-working welding set can also be seen in this view – being of sufficient capacity to make light work of this job.

IMG_0018 IMG_0020 IMG_0023

Below: The finished job, with four fully jigged and true hornguides fixed to the frames ready for further work to prepare them to receive the axleboxes – but that stage of work is some way off in the future!  Work will now focus on assembling the two well tanks, the brackets for the lids of which can be seen bolted to the inside of the frames here.  Then the frames are ready for final assembly…

IMG_0025 IMG_0026

On another topic, I have added several more galleries to the relevant section of the blog, covering some of the special events in 2011 and 2012.  I will keep adding these over coming weeks so do check back and see what progress has been made.