No. 3840’s boiler and tender reach Tyseley

ANOTHER milestone in the construction of No. 3840 County of Montgomery was reached over July 4-5 when the locomotive’s boiler and tender chassis moved from Didcot Railway Centre to Tyseley Locomotive Works.

Both the boiler and tender have been donated to the Churchward County Trust by the Great Western Society (GWS), which removed the Standard No. 4 boiler from donor 2-8-0T No. 5227 just a few days before the transfer to Tyseley. The entire operation was coordinated by the GWS, and as well as the departure of the ‘County’ 4-4-0 items also saw the arrival of the new boiler for Hawksworth ‘County’ 4-6-0 No. 1014 County of Glamorgan for trial fitting at Didcot.

The Churchward 3,500-gallon tender chassis was the first item to reach Tyseley on July 4, with the boiler following the next day. A full preliminary inspection of the boiler is expected to take place in due course, but early indications are encouraging.

In the meantime the Churchward County Trust is seeking volunteers who may like to get involved with the project in a ‘hands on’ way, who can help clean the boiler and tender up and undertake lighter engineering work on site at Tyseley. Anyone interested should contact the Trust’s Engineering Liaison, David Bradshaw, on bradshaw.md@gmx.com

Commenting on the move, CCT Chairman Gary Boyd-Hope said: “Getting the boiler and tender to Tyseley was vitally important as they can now be prepared for inspection, which in turn will dictate future work programmes and fund-raising activities. It also provides an opportunity for supporters to volunteer with the project; something we’ve been keen to offer since we started.

“Furthermore, being able to refer to the boiler as No. 3840’s rather than No. 5227’s is a great psychological boost. However, we are under no illusions about how much work the boiler will require to make it fit for service again; decades spent in the open air at Barry Scrapyard will have undoubtedly taken its toll on the barrels. That said, early indications are positive.”