It is always a pleasant experience when Dave Young wanders into the office looking tired and announcing he has something to show me! It means that he has been busy in his workshop, so today’s revelation was a pair of bunkers for Samson.  We ordered the steel sheet pre-cut (costs nothing to have this done and is very accurate to specification) and Dave has drilled both these and the angles to allow assembly pre-riveting.  Also fitted is the rather nice wide (and flat) beading. One bunker will be for coal whilst the other (nearest the camera) will house the injector and associated pipework as well as a toolbox at the top.  The production of the frames is progressing with a large set of components being water-jet profiled for us as a gift to the project by a supporter.  This also includes the coupling rods and crankshaft, which can then be turned to suit.  It is thus anticipated that erection of the frames will progress fairly rapidly and enable us to consider the riveting of these in the spring.  I am currently procuring a boiler barrel of correct specification, onto which the castings, once machined, can begin to be mounted.  The plan is to build the engine atop the boiler then work back from there, with the conversion of the barrel shell into a boiler as one of the later stages of the project.  Meanwhile, Graham Morris has prepared drawings in order for me to obtain the driving wheel tyres – a lengthy process as these are manufactured in South Africa.

Below: A pair of bunkers, as viewed from the rear of the locomotive.

Below: New patterns continue to flow in from Dave’s workshop.  Here, from left to right, are the patterns for the crankshaft bearing caps, eccentrics (of which there will be three – forwards, backwards and pump) and the pump valve.  The pump itself is a fairly fiendish pattern with awkward cores to boot.  This is because the pump chamber is part of the reversing lever upstand and also includes the curved base that locates onto the boiler barrel.  I shall look forward to seeing this pattern knowing how much though has gone into its genesis!