Sharp Stewart 0-4-4T Dunrobin
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Dunrobin is an 0-4-4T, built by Sharp Stewart in 1895 for the Duke of Sutherland. It was used until around 1920 to pull the Duke’s private train between Dunrobin Castle and Inverness, the Duke having acquired running rights on the Highland Railway as a condition of financing construction of part of the line.
Contents
Preservation
The locomotive was exported to Canada in 1965, but acquired in January 2011 by the Beamish Living Museum of the North[1] and repatriated to the UK. On arrival, Dunrobin was brought to Bridgnorth to be dismantled and the feasibility of restoration to working order assessed. Contracts were subsequently let to Severn Valley Railway Engineering Services for boiler and mechanical overhaul at Bridgnorth Loco Works.
Current status
Progress on the overhaul saw work on the locomotive's rear bogie truck completed, and work on the chassis. A new cylinder block was commissioned. As of March 2018[update] the boiler boiler was largely complete (and awaiting assembly), with a great deal of new material incorporated including new barrel, firebox outer wrapper skirts, all new stays, new longitudinal and palm stays, overhauled dome, new smokebox and new internal components such as the J pipe also being replaced. A test steaming may be possible in 2018.[2]
When Beamish bought the locomotive they could see some cracks in a small number of spokes. Once these were stripped at Bridgnorth, a great deal more cracks were revealed, to the extent that an independent inspection was commissioned using the magnetic particle inspection technique. The renewal of all four ‘driving’ wheels (coupled wheels) was instigated, the crank axle being retained, whilst the rest (wheel centres, tyres, front axle and crankpins) will be entirely new.
Beamish Transport Online blog has regular updates on progress of the work which has necessitated many new parts including cylinder block, smokebox and boiler barrel sections.
The photograph below shows work in progress in March 2012.
Dunrobin in Bridgnorth Works
See also
References
- ↑ Beamish announcement
- ↑ SVR News No. 199 and 200, Autumn and Winter 2017