Catch Me Who Can

News

Next steaming

We have not yet fixed any steaming days Catch Me Who Can for 2012.

Latest progress - 20^th January

We have finished painting all the wooden lagging strips, ready to be put back on the boiler when the weather is warmer. The steel bands and other associated bits of ironmongery have also been attended to.

The new chimney has been wire-brushed internally and liberally daubed with heat resistant silver paint. It will be protected from the direct heat of the exhaust gases by the inner chimney liner, so we expect the paint to protect the steel from corrosion for a reasonable time. A trial fitting over the damper shaft will be needed before the exterior is painted.

Meanwhile, some research is being carried out into early steam whistles, and a source identified for a suitable design for us to borrow. And a piece has been machined to replace the existing temporary arrangement for guiding the bottom end of the valve operating 'walking stick'.

Recent steamings

Catch Me Who Can was steamed for the SVR Peep Behind The Scenes weekend on 3^rd & 4^th September. Saturday in particular was pretty busy with numerous conducted groups showing a lively interest in our little presentations.

Now the lagging forms almost a full circle round the boiler we found that we needed only the smallest of fires to maintain steam for ticking over. We also had the new chimney damper in place, though we will probably only need it when there is a load on the engine.
The locomotive was in steam at The Rally in The Valley in Bridgnorth's Severn Park on the weekend of 16^th & 17^th July.

Wet and windy weather was forecast for the Rally weekend (again), and although it did not turn out as bad as expected and Saturday afternoon was sunny and hot, the dire predictions seem to have kept many people away. Apart from the occasional soaking and our commemorative merchandise being blown out of the gazebo, we had an enjoyable weekend anyway.

We would like to thank Samco for providing the transport and the trailer for the engine to sit on.
Catch Me Who Can had its first public steaming of the year for the Bridgnorth Station Festival on Saturday 11 June. Sunday turned out, as forecast, to be wet all day and we decided to give it a miss. We hope we did not disappoint anyone.

Progress Update, 16^th December 2011 - Painting the woodwork

Work continues on the boiler lagging. After fitting all the pieces, everything has been taken off again, and moved into the warm of the paint shop to dry out. We have now had three painting days during December, and with more of the group able to contribute to this less technical work, the job is making very good progress. All the wood has been carefully cleaned with white spirit and has received one undercoat. More than two thirds of it has been given a second undercoat and a coat of 'chassis black' gloss. Once all the wood and the steel bands have been brought to this stage it can be reassembled on the boiler and a final coat of gloss applied in situ. This will have to wait until there is a spell of warmer weather next spring. There will be plenty of other work to do in the meantime, however.

Progress Update, 31^st October 2011

The wooden boiler lagging strips are all in place, and most of the inevitable minor adjustments have been made, some of these found necessary as the wood swells in the damper weather. With the strips in place, the girth has been measured and the steel retaining bands made and tried in place. These are the three black bands in the photo. An additional band will be fitted at the far end. Soon, it will be time to take the whole lot off again (carefully numbering the pieces as we go) so that each piece can have at least one more coat of paint all over.

Progress update, 5^th August 2011 - more of the same

Work continues on fitting the lagging strips and making various bits of ironmongery to go with it. We now have all the strips fitted on the easy side. Many of the strips have to be cut to fit round various projections on the boiler and cut away at the back to fit over the mounting pads, but when the strips and bands are all in place they will artfully conceal everything, so it will be hard to see where all the work went.

Progress is also being made on the chimney, with the forging of an arm for the damper which will be fitted in the base of the chimney. This is quite different from later practice where the fire was controlled by restricting the air flow into it.

Progress update, 16 June 2011 - a start on the lagging

The first few wooden boiler cladding strips were easy. Now we have to start making cut-outs to fit round the numerous obstacles. When the job is finished, the strips will be held firmly in place by four outer steel bands. Until then we have to try to fit each strip without all those already in place collapsing in a heap. It looks as though it is going to be another 'educational' job.

Posed with the nameplate are the construction team of (left to right) Alan, Charles and Dave.

No, that is not the new chimney. And yes, we are still using that old cylinder cladding end cover as a chimney cover.

Progress update, 3 June 2011

Following the internal inspection, reassembly and steam testing, the boiler now has a clean bill of health, and a new inspection regime that means it will not need dismantling again for up to five years.

The chimney extension is now complete, with a discreet and workmanlike beading round the rim. The riveting crew have eventually got the job under control. At their last session they fitted all forty-two rivets in the longitudinal seam, at last completing that part of the job. We still need an entry gland for the exhaust pipe, bracing for the top of the chimney, and a damper in the bottom.

Progress update, 26 April 2011

The boiler is now virtually fully reassembled. The drag-box can be seen temporary mounted below the back of the boiler. This will eventually be hidden by the wooden footplate structure. Meanwhile, two very amateur riveters are progressing very slowly with the new chimney.

Progress update, 29 March 2011

The boiler inspection work is now complete and the flue and backhead assembly has been put back into the barrel. The boiler fittings have been serviced and are being fitted back on. The grate and firebox door plate have been refitted, and the engine should soon be ready to steam again.

The drag-box is virtually complete and ready to fit. The new chimney has been fitted with a central dummy joint ring, over 100 rivet holes have been drilled and the demountable top section (for headroom in transit) has been cut off. The chimney base elbow has had a ring fitted to provide a socket for the chimney, and has been re-worked to make it look less like a welded fabrication. The fire hole door has been altered so that it is hung from the opposite side, which will make it more convenient to fire the engine when the footplate has been fitted.

Boiler Inspection

The boiler has been dismantled for a periodic internal examination, and this affords a rare view of the characteristic return flue that Trevithick used extensively, particularly for portable engines. The larger drum is the firebox, from which the hot gasses are carried round the return bend and along the smaller flue to the chimney.

One of the few problems with this type of boiler is that, as with a domestic hot water tank, as the water is heated it rises to the top, leaving cold water at the bottom. It tends to take a long time for the water to start circulating and mixing enough to heat evenly throughout. The three small tubes that run diagonally through the flue are siphon water tubes, intended to improve the water circulation.

Winter Work Programme 2010/11

We are not expecting to steam Catch Me Who Can again until well into 2011, by which time it should look rather different.

We have now gathered together most of the material needed to turn Catch Me Who Can into a finished, working, railway locomotive. The engine has been moved from its windy corner outside the paint shop into the MPD yard. We want to get it indoors as soon as space can be found for it in the loco shed, so that we can do some work on it in the dry during the winter.

Brakes

We have worked out the details of the braking system and construction has started. While there is no evidence that the original was fitted with brakes, they are a modern requirement, and even if they were not, we are intending to do more that just go round a flat circular track, so the crew would want them anyway. The challenge was to produce an arrangement that would be effective but inconspicuous, and a thoroughly modern system of air-operated disc-brakes was chosen. The system is intended to be compatible with other early engine replicas and vehicles, and the controls will function just like modern railway air-brakes. Our system makes extensive use of lorry braking system parts which are available off-the-shelf, and we now have most of them to hand. We have been given two large slabs of good quality steel for the discs, and the donor is kindly machining them for us. We still have to make quite a number of parts to fit the system to the engine.

Boiler Lagging

Work has also started on lagging the boiler with hardwood strips. Other replicas of Trevithick's engines are not lagged, but it is known that he knew the advantage of lagging. It will considerably reduce the heat loss from the boiler, and that will mean we can get more power out of the engine. Steel 'crinoline' bands have been fitted to the boiler to provide a small air gap between the boiler drum and the lagging. An African hardwood called Idigbo was chosen for its fine, regular structure, stability, and low cost. This was machined to our profile by the supplier and has been cut to rough length and is in the process of being primed prior to fitting.

Footplate

Also gradually taking shape are some very elegant railings to surround the footplate. The background image on the About us page shows the general idea. The photograph shows a demonstration assembly of part of the rear section. The curved pieces on the right are stabilising struts that will fix to the 'buffer beam' below and form fire-iron brackets at the top.

Chimney

Until now we have been using a piece of scrap heating duct for a chimney. We now have a much more substantial rolled steel tube and work has started drilling a long line of 3/8" holes along the joint for riveting. When fitted, it will be braced near the top with ties to the guide bars.

So what else is there to do?

A Footplate for the crew to stand on
Drawgear to pull something
A whistle (although not invented by 1808, we are required to have one)
Boiler feed pipework, including the Exhaust Steam Feedwater Heater and a small injector
We need to borrow or build a light passenger vehicle for the engine to pull

Funding

In the spring of 2010 we received some much needed funding from the Local Joint Committee as well as a most generous private donation. We are now in the happy position of having sufficient funds to finish the locomotive, although there is still a lot of skilled work to do, and not many people to do it.

We still need income, however. The next thing we will need to fund is the inaugural run of the finished locomotive. This will happen when it happens, with plenty of notice. Experience tells us to make no commitment about a completion date until it is much nearer. Work on the engine continues slowly but surely, and progress is made most weeks.