In June some cracks in the copper firebox, which looked like old repairs, were welded and several rivets were replaced with patch screws.

On the carriage heating it was decided to dispense with the ‘Sarco’ unit and to pursue the idea of replicating the ‘orifice’ pressure reducing system used on the 56XX 0-6-2Ts. A pattern was produced and a couple of castings run off.

The ashpan, rebuilt in situ in 2015, deteriorated again; a large split was found on the left hand side. The SVR hope to nurse this ashpan through the remaining life of the boiler ticket but if it becomes a serious issue it may be a ‘boiler out’ job so that we can fit the loco with an ashpan similar to that which is intended to be fitted to No. 4930, ‘Hagley Hall’. This proposal is for a fixed pan with a slope down to a rake-out ‘oven door’, an idea we toyed with around 2009 when working on the boiler. The SVR has come to the conclusion in the last few years that hopper ashpans are generally too much trouble to maintain and unless a loco was designed with one as original it is better to stick with designs that are as simple as possible.

The handbrake screw thread had continued to be monitored since 2015 and was now such as to be the cause of some concern. Visually it was clearly not in a good way, with the square thread worn away to the extent that it looked like a bit of wire wrapped around the spindle. We are all most grateful to the Bluebell Railway for the loan of the one off the 4-4-0 ‘Dukedog’ while the SVR organised a batch production of replacements.

In October another superheater element was found to be leaking. It was removed and the hole welded up. As these elements were all the same age it seemed reasonable to expect them all to start giving trouble, but at least they appeared easy enough to fix. Also in October the steam heat hose between engine and tender was found to have split and this was replaced.

In November the die blocks were re-metalled and this gave the loco a much smoother, quieter ride – mainly due to the fact the reverser didn’t crash about anymore.