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| Summary | Latest news | Working Party reports | Working Party dates | CAD Drawings | Archived news and reports |
February 2026 Update and Working Party Report
Another month and another working party. We're still at the stage of dealing with many of the winter work jobs and tidying up the loose ends from the experience of running the loco during the summer.
In the cab the rear protection windows have been painted by Ben one of our local guys (and a driver) and these were duly fitted by our other local Ben who had been 3D printing the mounting brackets required for them. This just leaves the lower folding half to the fireman's side protection plate to be fitted. This will be a folding arrangement that can be moved out of the way when firing.
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The fireman's side window in the down position.
Following the alteration
to the front brake hangers at the last couple of working parties, Erle
duly fitted the brake shoes this month. He then continued on
refurbishing the hard grease pump. We'd found during the year of using
it that it was very tired and in need of some TLC. The main problem were
some
retaining screws for the piston were very worn and not holding the
piston correctly. Once these had been replaced we realized that the
piston itself was very badly worn and so a replacement was made
this month.
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A new piston being made for the grease pump (left) and
the completed ashpan drench cold water input and valve (right).
One of the additions we'd decided to make following the year of running, and one that has been mentioned before and started in previous working parties, is that of adding and external water feed to the ashpan drench so as it can be cleaned out whilst the loco is not in steam. This was duly finished this month and so a standard hose claw fitting and control valve are now fitted.
We re-attached the pipework for the rear sanders as this had been removed whilst we investigated where (rain) water was getting into the sand system. Hopefully all should now be well and working correctly for next year.
Two last items to mention with the first being that of the cab seats. The frame and swivel for the seat top had been fitted at previous working parties however, as the padded seats we needed are still some time off we've fitted a couple of wooden seat tops as in interim measure.
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The fireman's side seat with its new (temporary) seat top in the folded down position.
The second is the boiler. Whilst we've had and passed the cold inspection and hydraulic test the steam test was due on the Wednesday following the working party and we're glad to report that we've passed this as well.
January 2026 Update and Working Party Report
Whilst people had been working on №134 on odd days at the beginning of the year, for the bulk of us we started with the main working party on the 17th & 18th January. And a good attendance it was as well.
One of the main tasks was to get all the washout plugs back in place following the loco's passing of its annual winter boiler exam. Before doing so however, and following a request from the boiler inspector, we also removed some more of the historic water treatment scale and debris that had fallen onto into the foundation ring.
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The washout plugs have
been refitted (left) and
new brake shoes waiting to be fitted following modification to the
hangers (right). The old unevenly worn shoes are furthest from
the camera.
The rest of the tasks really centred around the outstanding jobs and modifications needed following the initial trial running of the loco in 2025. The more complex of these was the realignment of the brake shoes for the Krauss-Helmholtz front driving axle. Whilst the rearmost brake shoes on the 3rd driving wheel were tolerant to the slightly altered gauge for running on the Welsh Highland Railway, those on the front axle with its sideways play for the Krauss-Helmholtz arrangement were not! There had been quite a bit of uneven wear so the decision was made to realign the hangers back to their designed position in relation to the wheel's tyre.
An ongoing job was that of the fitting of the rear cab windows. This follows on from the fitting of the side windows at the end of last year and should give much more protection during the bouts of less pleasant Welsh weather! With the rear windows now fitting as required they were then removed for painting.
We'd been fitting a water input to the drench system so as a water input hose could be used for cleaning out the ashpan when the loco is not in steam. This was progressed a bit more this weekend, however we were an adapter fitting short to be able to fully complete the job. A blanking plug was therefore made to cover the future water input so as the loco could still be steamed. Another mod being done was that to the rear sanders. After seeing how these performed during the summer a couple of changes/improvements have been made.
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The rear and side cab windown in place.
When we arrived on the Saturday we were greated by a shed full of locos, three NGG16 Garratts and our NG15 №134. The Garratts were №s 87, 130 and 143. On Sunday however, NGG16 №138 put in an apperance, however as the full sized version is currently being overhauled this was in the form of David Oates's 16mm coal fired model!
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Four NGG16s and one NG15!
November 2025 Update and Working Party Reports
Whilst it's been a bit quiet on these pages recently, it hasn't been quiet as regards 134. For most of the summer months 134 was being used on the Gelert Explorer train service between Caernarfon and Beddgelert. The service ran on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays with 134 being rostered for the Monday, Friday and Sunday. This therefore meant that for some weekends we were only able to work on 134 on the Saturday, or alternatively mid week.
Since the naming at the Society's AGM back in September (see the Latest News page for more details) 134's current boiler spell had expired so it needed to be prepared for its winter boiler examination. During this winter period it is also planned to catch up and complete a number of the unfinished jobs as well as incorporating a number of changes, or rather improvements found as a result of its spell hauling the Gelert Explorer train service.
For the boiler, all the washout plugs were removed, and following a visual inspection it became apparent that there was quite a bit of debris on the foundation ring. This is small pieces of scale like material and is a result of the old style boiler treatment that had been used in South Africa. The treatment causes a build up on the internal firebox platework. Whilst some was removed as part of the boiler's overhaul not all of it was accessible. Following the loco's use and a number of thermal cycles some of these deposits have become loose and settled on the foundation ring. We took in turns over the October and November working parties to remove as much of this as possible. A very tricky and laborious job indeed! Stop - Press: following the visit by the boiler inspector since the November working party we have been given approval for another 12 months of running.
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A removed boiler washout plug ready for the winter boiler inspection.
A part of the winter work we inspected the tender and some of the loco's axle boxes, particularly looking for water ingress.
In the 'jobs to be completed draw' is that regarding the cab windows. With the front cab windows having been completed our attention is now focused on the side windows and the two windows internal to the cab. These latter ones provide some crew protecting whilst reverse running in the worst that the Welsh weather can throw at us. These latter windows can be stowed in the roof of the cab when not needed and dropped down if required. The side windows are sliding windows and in the better weather can be slid forward and out of sight internally against the cab side. Over the two working parties, and midweek working days, these were fitted, although the rear protection window's mountings have needed some adjustment, a job that continues.
Also in this category are the cab seats. These are fold down swivel seats, one on each side for the driver and fireman. A number of components had been previously made and painted, however a considerable amount of fabrication work was still needed for the seat mounts. These were duly completed on the November weekend and fitted on each side with a temporary wooden seat top added to the drivers side. The final seats will be padded. It's planned to have another fold down seat for when there's a trainee or footplate passenger also in the cab.
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The fireman's side inner
cab window in the down position. This can be stored into the roof when
not needed (left) and
a view of the Driver's side seat with its temporary unpadded
seat top (right).
Two jobs in the 'external to the loco drawer' are also being progressed, and in one case completed. The completed job is the installation of an ashing out pit at Caernarfon. These are the same as the one first installed at Dinas and arrived as a set oflaser cut stainless steel profiles. These were first welded together to make the fabrication that will drop in between the rails. The first of these was destined for Caernarfon and this was successfully installed at the November working party by the same team from Alstrom's Derby plant who installed the Dinas pit.
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The new ashing out pit in Caernarfon together with its installation team. (Photo: Adrian Strachan)
The other 'external' job is that we're doing some refurbishment work on the hard grease application gun that we were given by our friends out in South Africa. It became apparent that this is a well used piece of kit and needed a bit of TLC. This included replacing some internal pins and also making a new piston as it was felt the old one was possibly passing as much grease as it was injecting!
In the improvements draw is that of a change to the ashpan drench and grate steam pipework. In the light of experience we've decided to increase the size of the pipework for the grate steam to give a better flow into the grate. This is in the hope of keeping it cooler and thus reduced clinker with the fuels were having to burn at present. At the same time, and as it uses the same pipe in the ashpan, were having an input so as we can clean the ashpan using an external water hose when not in steam.
Again in November, and as another improvement, we added a stop to the handbrake so as can't be unscrewed too far and also fitted an indicator to display the state of brake shoe wear on the tender brakes.
The July 2025 Update and Working Party Report
Following the May working party numerous other odd days saw work taking place on the loco including a Saturday in June that was due to be the main June working party. This was cut down to one day as our loco was out on the line on the Sunday hauling the Gelert Explorer thus limiting what could be done. A few jobs were achieved that day by way of more 'loose ends' finished off as well as attending to a steam pipework leak to the front sanders. We were also aware that some of the medium bore pipework needed a bit more support to prevent vibration and a possibility of a subsequent fatigue failure.
The main job that day however, was progressing the front oval windows that necessitated much machining work in the workshop.
The July working party on the 26th turned out again to be a single day affair, mainly due to a number of us having other commitments, or operating the service trains on the railway. Just 4 of us on the Saturday but we were pleasantly surprised as to what we'd managed to do. The oval front cab window that was being worked on last time was fitted to the driver's side and rather splendid it looks.
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The first of the two front oval windows has been fitted, this one on the driver's side.
At the front, and on the 'to finish off' jobs list was the sanders as they had always been lacking a method of checking that sand was free flowing into the weir. A ball valve was duly fitted to each sander for this purpose. Next, and on the same list, was the addition of side oiling pads for the slide bars. These had been made a few working parties ago however, were yet to be fitted. This situation was corrected on the Saturday afternoon.
On the 'snagging list' was checking out and thoroughly cleaning the corners of the ashpan. Also the main regulator gland needed repacking as the regulator was rather annoyingly wanting to close itself.
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One of the sand inspection
valves for the front sanders (left) and
the headboard on the newly made adapter for it to fit onto a headlamp
bracket. (right).
One problem we'd had with the lamp bracket for the rear of the tender was that it was too close to the tender body. It would take the traditional oil lamps but not the modern style of LED lamp. Even though we have our main headlamps front and rear we still need to be able to fit a portable lamp when running on the main line so a spacer was made to fit behind the bracket thus giving us more room. On top of this, all the headboards used to identify the train service have a two pronged attachment methodology. Whilst a bracket to take the headboard had been made for the loco front we didn't have anything to be able to fit the headboards to the tender rear. We therefore duly made a suitable bracket so as the headboard can be fitted to the lamp bracket. This just needs painting to finish it off.
It might have been just the one day, but a constructive day at that.
The May 2025 Working Party and Update
A rather belated update following the May working party.
A smallish group this time, especially on the Sunday but progress achieved nevertheless. The most concentrated effort was Erle machining the oval cab front windows with one of the casting spending most of its time over the weekend on the miller. This is just one of the four casting that make up the two windows so there's still much work needed on the remaining three castings. We do however have the first incarnation of these windows in place in the cab front although these do not open as the new ones will.
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One of the four front oval
window castings being machined (left) and
the driver's side rear sanders just needing the sand pipe
connecting. (right).
A good few looses ends tidied up such as paint the tender brake gear adjusters in red to indicate which ones are adjusted to remove slack in the linkage. Following the use of front sanders we are happy that they work fine so these were permanently fixed into position rather than on the clamp arrangement we installed to make sure the system worked OK. On the rear sanders, the only item remaining is the plastic tube to take the sand from the trap to the steam operated jets. We did get some plastic tube however, it turned out to be a bit too small and too much of a challenge to fit over the hose-tail ends as these were a bit bigger in diameter than expected.
We also took the opportunity to clean out the smokebox and fit another blastpipe nozzle, one with a slightly larger flow area as we were wondering if we have a bit too much back pressure in the cylinder exhaust.
Another job completed was to make the slide-bar side oiling pad holders. We don't have these pads fitted as yet, however after the weekend this can now be done.
A productive weekend with more jobs ticked off the list.
Easter 2025 Update
Over the Easter period following the April working party a number of the teal spent a number of days at Dinas working on 134 with the intention of tiding up some of the 'loose ends' ready for 134 to start earning is keep on it's first revenue earning train, namely the 2025 Snowdonian. This was taking place on the Saturday after Easter. As part of this exercise, on the Wednesday before we took the opportunity of taking 134 on a short test run. This entailed meeting the day's service train after it had returned to Caernarfon and hauling it back up the hill to Dinas. Needless to say it all went very well.
Part of the reasoning behind this was that we had replaced the grate over the Easter holidays as we weren't entirely happy with the fit of the original. We'd also done some changes to the ashpan drench to get more a more even flow of water into the ashpan.
After Easter we continued with the fitting the rear sanders by plumbing in the last of the steam pipework.
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The two front round
windows in place (left - Photo: Erle Ford) and
taking water at Caernarfon whilst we wait for the return of the service
train (right).
Also at the same time Erle was continuing with the machining and fitting of the front windows. At present we've and older incarnation of the frames as a temporary measure and because we weren't happy with them we has some new casting made. These are the ones we're currently working on. By the end of the week both round spectacle plates had been fitted in place, and very smart they look.
The April 2025 Working Party and Update
With Easter approaching it was just a small group of us this weekend as a number of others in the group will be doing work on the loco over the Easter holiday.
A number of jobs over the weekend involved attending to some of the 'snagging list' items that have reared their head since we started to run the loco. One of those involved attending to a few things in the grate and ashpan following the various test runs and photo charter days. On the Friday therefore the grate was taken out so on the Saturday we then prepared a few new sections ready for when the grate needs to go back in.
Another of those snagging jobs was to re-route the last 300mm of the steam pipe run to each of the front sanders as this was showing signs of it being trapped by the sander bracket on the sharper radius curves.
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A finished and mounted
rear sander brackets (left),
and
one of the new pins in place for the blow-down valve
linkage (right).
On the new jobs, the main one was the completion and fitting of the mounting brackets for the rear sanders. These sanders are mounted similar to those on the front in that they are fitted on the rear pony truck frame thus they require a flexible connector for the steam pipe. The fixed end needs a bracket mounting on the underside of a frame stretcher and so this was duly made, painted, its mounting position determined and the holes drilled ready for it to be fixed in place next time.
At the last working party one of the team machined a pair of pins to replace the bolts currently being used to attach the blow-down lever from the cab to the crank that operates the valves. This weekend they were fitted and painted. Another little tidy-up job complete.
Work continued on the cab side windows. These are being made with laminated stainless steel frames with the glass sandwiched in the middle layer. Much drilling and tapping of holes was needed for these, however, the last one was finished off on the Saturday. These are now safely stored out of harms way until we needs to fit them.
Another of the tidying up jobs was the painting of the brackets to hold the front rail head sweepers and the new door stops that have been fitted to the tender filler doors to stop them opening too far.
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The rail head sweapers with their newly painted brackets.
All told, a small group but much achieved from the weekend.
The March 2025 Working Party and Update
Much has happened since the last working party, particularly regarding 134 being quite 'active' out on the main line.
This started with a series of photo charters on the 7th to 9th March with these being followed by a further gauging run, this time getting as far as Nantmor. More details about these are available on the Latest News page.
However, there was also the the March working party for which the detail will follow here.
Not one the biggest of attendances for a working party, but nevertheless much progress was achieved toward finishing off the final few jobs. However as NGG16 No130 was occupying the pit road in the two road loco shed when we arrived on the Saturday during the day we swapped it and 134 round so as we could make use of the pit to work on the installation of the rear sanders.
Over the weekend the two clamps were made that are to be used to attach the two sanders to the rear pony truck in the same way as the front sanders are attached to the front pony truck. Whilst these were being made the steam pipework needed for them was also progressed. Not an easy task with this being one of the last sections of piping to be put in place so it has to find a route through all the other pipes and fitting already in place!
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The finished rear sander
mounting brackets after painting (left - Photo: Maff Wellman),
and
a completed window frame with some of the components for the remaining
frames (right).
Another large job being progressed this weekend was the assembly of some of the windows for the cab. In this case it's the two screen windows behind the driver and fireman's positions in the cab to provide some protection for reverse running together with the two pairs of sliding windows for the cab sides. These are stainless steel frames and are made of of three laminated sections with the inner layer also holding the toughened glass. There's quite a lot of drilling and tapping to be done to hold the three layers together, and for those of you who have worked with stainless steel, it's not always the easiest of materials to work with!
One thing that we realised we were missing following the experience of the trial runs was a latch to keep the tender door open to make it easier to see in the tender once the coal level dropped to a low level. A suitable latch was duly made and awaits welding into place.
A few other smaller jobs were also progressed, such as a fresh coat of paint being applied to the chimney as it had started to flake off in a few places. The whole chimney was given a rub down followed by a fresh coat of paint, well as much as we could give it until the paint ran out. L
The ashpan was also cleaned out as we're looking at putting a few more holes into the ashpan drench pipework to keep the ashpan a bit cooler.
At present the blowdown valve cranks just have a bolt as their pivot, so a pair of pins were made on the Sunday to neaten this up. They'll be fitted next time.
Last job of the day was to put 134 and 130 back where we found them, and take the opportunity for a team photo, well with those who were left at the end of the day:
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Sunday's 'team photo' taken as were were putting 130 and 134 back where we found them on the Saturday. (Photo: Ben Abbott)
Main February 2025 Working Party Update
This working party was more about preparing the loco for its second load test on the Sunday with the result that there are only a few photos in the gallery from the work done, but you'll find plenty from the run on Sunday in the Latest News section.
We had a few jobs that need attention with regards to the preparation for the run, such as reattaching a sand pipe for the front sanders that was the casualty of hitting a branch last time and identifying and fixing a 'knock' that we'd noticed on the last run. All proving not to be 'show stoppers' thus allowing us to go out for the next test run.
On the continuing jobs front, with the front sanders complete, work started on the rear sanders by way of starting to make the brackets to support the sanders. Also the pipework for the steam supply run was started.
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A view showing one of the new window frames on the miller. Photo: Erle Ford
Erle is continuing work on the window frames, as seen above, but spent the Saturday at Boston Lodge using the millers there due to those at Dinas being in use. On Sunday he then finished with the final fitting of the pin fastening the grate opening arm to the lever into the cab. All jobs going towards the loco being fully completed.
Early February 2025 Working Party Update
On the first day of February a small group from the team assembled at Dinas with the intention of getting 134 ready for a first loaded test run. The majority of the work concentrated on getting the front steam sanders finished and working.
To do this, all that remained was attaching a bracket onto the pony truck frames on each side - these had been made in previous working parties - then attaching the sanding nozzles to them. Also a final section of the steam supply pipe was bent to shape and fitted.
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A view showing one of the
steam sanders in place (left - Photo: Andrew Cole),
and
134 being brought into steam ready for the test
run. (right).
With this done 134 was lit up and readied for the test. This didn't take long as one of the team members had arrived the previous day to warm the loco up.
With that done 134 went off to find some coaches to pull for the test. More of which can be read about in the Latest News page.
The January 2025 Working Party and Update
This was the first working party of the new year after the Christmas and New Year break, although a number of the team were able to work on 134 for a couple of days between the two events. A few jobs were able to be progressed, however this working party provided a good bit of progress towards getting to the bottom of the outstanding jobs list.
The first activity to comment on is that of the window frames. We had a set of castings made some time ago and these had been fitted to the loco without glass, however they were rather too thin to be robust enough. That, together with the hinge casting needing to be a bit stronger, resulted in us deciding to have these remade with new patterns for both the frame and hinge. The existing windows however, were fitted with some acrylic glass this weekend and fitted as non-opening windows to give a bit more protection in the cab for any future trial running we'll do during the winter.
In parallel to fitting the old frames, Erle used this weekend to progress the machining of the new castings as can be seen below.
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The assembled window
before fitting into the dummy cab section (left),
and
This
is one of the new window frames being worked on using a dummy cab
section as a help toward checking it for it's fit (right -
both: Erle Ford).
As part of fitting the front sanders we made a bracket to support the steam sander jets on the front pony truck frame in front of the wheel set. As these now move in relation to the main frames, we also had to make and fit a bracket to support the other end of a flexible coupling that will be used to supply the steam.
I'd arrived the day before the working party to finish off the pipework in the cab for the grate steam, as well as anneling a few more lengths of copper pipe ready to use. The grate steam provides a spray in the ashpan underneath the grate to help keep it a bit cooler to prevent clinker solidifying and sticking to the firebars. There's still more pipework to do so the main working party was spent progressing routing the steam pipework to the front sanders. Just one more length to be fitted next time then, once the sanders are all connected up, we'll be in the position to start putting a load behind 134.
A number of other small 'loose ends' jobs were also completed, so overall the jobs list is getting smaller.
The earlier working party reports going back to 2008 can be found in the Archive