17th May 2013

8th March 2013
New dust shields for the bogie axleboxes. These comprise of metal fastening plates with a leather seal which are screwed to the inner faces of the axleboxes. As their name suggests, they prevent dirt and grit from damaging the bearing surfaces and contaminating the oil in the underkeeps (oil reservoirs).

8th March 2013
A rough iron casting for the new outside piston heads being machined on a lathe by one of our volunteers.

18th March 2013
Both piston head castings, machined to size. The castings are hollow to save weight, and six holes in each serve to aid the casting process and will be filled with a steel plug, screwed into place.

18th March 2013
This shows the right-hand cylinder lubrication pipework, completed earlier in the year. Apart from a few small items, the pipework is as complete as it can be until the boiler is re-fitted.

19th April 2013
A radius rod for the right-hand side of the locomotive has been acquired. The rod it replaces was very worn and had been welded together from two halves, resulting in it being bent, and shorter than it should be. This wasn't the original rod though, and had itself replaced the original item, which was stolen from the loco in the late 1980s. The new rod, after a bit of attention, looks as good as the two original rods, and is in as good condition mechanically.

19th April. 2013
Another view of the newly-acquired radius rod, above. One of at least three different radius rods that Boscastle has sported in her time.

30th April 2013
Shown here are the two repaired suspension link covers. These fit on top of the running boards (one either side of Boscastle) and prevent sand and cinders from getting into a part of the valve gear known as the suspension link.

The right-hand suspension link is the bright piece of valve gear seen in the top left-hand side of the lubrication pipe photo. The covers also allow access to grease nipples on top of the suspension links.