Engine renovation nears completion

Things tend not to go exactly to plan with Kelvin renovations, and our engine was just the same with some trials and tribulations especially with water leaks from water pipes.  Luckily, Dick Goble had a solution which I sincerely hope will cure the problem and seal the leaks once and for all.  This was to add small spigotted flanges (if that's the appropriate term) to each of the cylinder inlets, in order to replace the damaged and pitted faces.  There are a few pictures below:

The pitted cylinder inlet face

As you can see from the picture, the inlet (or are they outlet?) faces on the cylinders were pitted quite badly, which caused difficulty in achieving a water tight seal.  As well as the small spigotted flanges, we used "milliput" to fill some of the bigger pits in the face, and a decent gasket also of course, to produce a good "sandwich" which will hopefully seal well.

Here are also some pictures of the engine packed up and ready for the transit to Norton Canes, which took place on Monday 28 May 2012, using a hired horse box! from Barlows Trailers and lots of pushing and shoving with the engine hoist!

First shell pictures

This post will be a bit of a catch-up for a few weeks, as we have seen the shell start to be built and the engine renovation having been completed as far as possible.


First for the shell, and it's Norton Canes tug style shell, built by Graham Edgson and Tony Bate at Pelsall, at 60' length.  The early stages of the shell have now been completed as per the first real visit early in May 2012.  Whilst it is early days, you can already see the fine steelwork and super lines of the NC build.  The bow has a 5'6" section, together with an 8' tug deck, you can see that the lines will be wonderful at the front.