Heritage - Rail - News
Restoration of McLaren Traction Engine no. 767
Jump to the update (latest updates are at the bottom);
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Update 1st September 2007
Our main focus this month regarding the McLaren Traction Engine No. 767 has been restoring the crank shaft and piston rod guides and crossheads... |
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Update 12th October 2007
Bearing in mind that I was overseas for the last week of August and the first two weeks in September we have done very well with progress of the McLaren Traction Engine No. 767... |
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Update 13th November 2007
As you can see we have been very industrious and made very good headway especially as the weather has not been at all favourable during the last month with heavy deluges of rain (and most of our work is done outdoors)... |
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Update 20th January 2008
This last month we have steadily been carrying on manufacturing the boiler and have progressed extremely well considering that we have been hampered along the way as we have encountered serious rainfall combined with Eskom load shedding of electricity services... |
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Update 18th February 2008
Due to a problem with the firebox tube plate material (which had to be returned to the suppliers) progress with the firebox was held up... |
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Update 18th March 2008
This report is somewhat shorter as the month was taken up with manufacture of the Firebox and fitting this to the Boiler which was quite a mammoth task, but it fitted like a glove... |
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Update 11th April 2008
A lot of work during the last month has been entailed in the manufacture of the Tender, this is almost complete apart from riveting which we shall be doing next week... |
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Update 16th May 2008
The engine is at the stage where all of a sudden it will come together... |
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Update 20th May 2008
This project is still very much keeping us busy amongst the many tasks and different problems which we hit, but all in all things at long last seem to be coming together. This project has also made us much more proficient in riveting... |
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Update 25th June 2008
This last month has been extremely busy. The biggest task I have undertaken is the manufacture of the safety valves so that we can steam the boiler... |
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Update 28th July 2008
Over the last month we have been working 7 days a week to try and get on top of this momentum job. As you will see from the pictures we have made a huge dent in the outstanding work... |
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Update 29th July 2008
Here are pictures of the McLaren Traction Engine showing Tender attached... |
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Update 5th September 2008
The McLaren Traction Engine’s restoration is complete! |
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Update 29th September 2008
The McLaren Traction Engine article in The Witness and additional info from Keith Stevens. |
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The Sandstone Heritage Trust recently visited Keith Stevens in Natal in order to inspect the McLaren engine. Considering the derelict machine that was delivered to him Keith has done an excellent job. We do however have a couple of requests for assistance from McLaren owners... |