Lukas Nel and his team have now begun the descaling process on the boiler and outer firebox of 113. This is a massive task with both tubeplates requiring normal repairs. This will keep the team busy for some time to come. Our pictures show the guys hard at work deep inside the boiler.
Work has begun on grinding the tube plate at the firebox end of the boiler on 113. This needs to be ground to be totally clean and smooth to allow the crack testing chemicals to work and also to check if the tube plate may have any bulging or be bent in any spot.
Steam Railway magazine has published an obituary from Sandstone Heritage Trust on this great man who sadly passed away in late 2017. Click here to read the article.
Our final Steam Report for 2017. Click on the link to see the latest Sandstone Railway news.
From all of us at Sandstone we wish all our readers Seasons Greetings and a Happy New Year for 2018.
Click here to read
This is our last report for 2017 before the workshop in Bloemfontein closes for the holiday break on Friday the 15th. All the tubes have now been removed from the boiler as our pictures show and the boiler will now be descaled. The tube plates will also be tested and inspected before the retubing commences. This will be during the early part of 2018.
