2018

August - The Long Wait

Since the move of the boiler to the South Devon Railway Buckfastleigh Workshops (SDRE) in February frustration has built among the Directors as expansion of the work scope on two of the preceding boilers has pushed work on Boscastle back month by month.

In the monthly phone conversations with SDRE it has been apparent that we had no option but to bide our time and wait for the work on Hartland and Archibald Sinclair to run to completion before work on assembling our firebox could commence.

In the course of these conversations it became apparent that it may be to our advantage to be well down in the queue as SDRE have had to overcome several problems arising from the boilers “as built” not matching the drawings. The new components were found not to fit when offered up and required quite a bit of unplanned rework. These are lessons well learnt. As well as this hard won experience SDRE have access to the 3D scan recording the shape of our firebox, undertaken by “Central Scanning” while the boiler was a Loughborough. That is another potential aid to help them generate something that fits first time.

June

At long last SDRE were able to undertake some preparation work outside, in the open air (which actually made it easier for them to juggle the large pieces), and June saw our boiler undergo drastic surgery as the inner firebox was removed and the outer back plate also cut away.

July

In the last four weeks the throat has been descaled and Magnetic Particle Crack Detection applied. This has revealed some cracking in the corners. Paul Pridham is confident that these can be repaired by welding and the throat plate will be re-usable. The next four photos give various views of the inside of Boscasle’s “outer” firebox; views that few people living will have been able to see before.