Dunrobin’s new dome components arrived recently at Bridgnorth, enabling the boiler reconstruction to be completed.  The next steps in the process (after water testing for leaks etc.) have been to fill the boiler with water and light a fire in order to normalise the relation between the components – with so much of the boiler being new material, this is important in order to de-stress the boiler structure.  It will then be presented for hydraulic test, which is carried out for the insurance company surveyor, before moving towards an out-of-frames steam test of the boiler, again for the insurance company.  Only then can the work to lag, clad, fit the ashpan and brick arch, and then install the boiler in the frames commence.  It is, nevertheless, a momentous point in the restoration of the locomotive.

The boiler is seen here being warmed, sat on the testing wagon at Bridgnorth, on the Severn Valley Railway.

Photos courtesy of Duncan Ballard