New appeals launched for No. 3840’s wheelsets

WE have recently launched four separate fundraising appeals to help complete the full assembly of the of the coupled and bogie wheelsets for County of Montgomery, and are therefore appealing for donors who can help progress the project through this next phase of construction.

The contract to assemble the two 6ft 8½in diameter coupled wheelsets – including provision and machining of the axles, tyres and crank pins – and re-tyring of the existing bogie wheelsets, was awarded to Riley & Son (E) of Heywood in September. The four coupled wheel castings (paid for by our ‘Forty 4-4-0s Club’) are expected to move from Boro Foundry at Lye, where they have been undergoing finish machining, to Lancashire in early November.

This project represents our biggest single outlay to date, and the work is being split into three distinct phases. Phase 1 covers the acquisition of the axles and tyres from Germany, and is expected to be complete by the end of this year. Phase 2 covers the machining of the axles and assembly of the wheelsets in June/July of next year, while the fitting of the tyres (Phase 3) is set for September/October 2023. Once complete, the wheelsets will transfer to Tyseley Locomotive Works for installation beneath No. 3840’s frames.

The decision to launch four smaller appeals rather than a single large one allows supporters to target where they want their donations to go, and aids in the allocation of available funding. The four appeals are:

• Inch for an Axle Appeal
The two coupled wheel axles will be 5ft 8¼in long, and to help pay for them the CCT is inviting supporters to sponsor the axles by the inch. 140 inches can be sponsored for £120 per inch, which can be paid for in a lump sum or in instalments of £60 or £30 per month.

• Driving Wheel Tyre Fund
This has been set up to help finance the cost of the four 6ft 8½in tyres for County of Montgomery’s coupled wheels, and their fitting, through 36 donations of £500. These can be made as one-off donations, or in five instalments of £100 or 10 instalments of £50.

• Driving Wheel Crank Fund
The Driving Wheel Crank Fund is running in parallel to the Driving Wheel Tyre Fund to finance the manufacture and fitting to the four crank pins for No. 3840’s coupled wheels. The fund seeks 36 donations of £300, made either as one-off donations, or in three instalments of £100 or five instalments of £60.

• Bogie Wheel Fund
The Bogie Wheel Fund aims to raise the required funding to overhaul and re-tyre the two donated 3ft 2in wheelsets that will eventually form part of No. 3840’s bogie assembly. The fund seeks 40 donations of £300, made either as one-off donations, or in three instalments of £100 or five instalments of £60.

Commenting on the appeals, CCT Chairman Gary Boyd-Hope said: “With the locomotive’s frames taking shape at Tyseley, we are now able to focus on the next phase of the build and get County of Montgomery to the rolling chassis stage. However, with steel prices rising all the time, it was imperative that we place the order now as we have already seen some price increases of up to 400% in recent months.

“We fully appreciate that the current economic climate will result in people guarding the purse strings more closely, especially this coming winter, and are therefore sincerely grateful to anyone who can support us in this next fundraising drive.”

Further details of all of the above appeals, together with donation forms, can be found by clicking on the ‘Support the Project’ link at the top of this page.