News, 13 June 2022

More progress this week on the push towards the completion of the body. The holes for the Marker and Tail Lamp mountings have been cut from the no. 2 nose.

The use of a laser level makes the positioning easier but only if the loco is level in the first place. The track where the loco is isn't level and so the loco doesn't sit level either. Two small jacks under the buffer beam have been used to get the loco level in both planes (longitudinal and lateral). Using the datum kindly provided by EECo when they built the loco nearly 60 years ago we were able to establish the buffer centre lines (horizontal and vertical) before we cut the noses off. These data were used to ensure that the noses were straight and level when they were reattached and now are used as data for positioning the cut-outs, etc.

Just visible in the photo below is the horizontal line (highlighted with a yellow paint pen) across the buffer centres. Once this was made level according to the laser it was easy to establish the position of the 'first row' of lamp mountings (Marker Lamps) and then the second - the laser line shows the Tail Lamp positions. The Tail Lamp assembly is placed only for photographic effect.

The Second Man's side door will need two similar cut-outs for Marker Lamps, one level with the lower row / lower hinge and one level with the upper hinge. The addition of the nose ladder will complete the nose end external appearance in a few weeks.