Heritage - Rail - News

Restoration of McLaren Traction engine No. 767 

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.

This has been no mean feat (regrettably I do not have pictures to send with this report as there was a fault with my camera and I lost the pictures. We have also re-conditioned the steering chain drum and pedestal bearings and have fitted them to the bottom of the belly tank.

It was good to get the front axle and wheels on as it seemed to be a major breakthrough and the engine looks as though it is starting to come together.

Another big task has been making up a boring rig for boring out the drive pin hole in the rear wheel to make it round again. We have also manufactured all the necessary hubcaps and given them a coat of copper hammertone paint. Last of all a steering wheel has been fabricated.

On Saturday 21 June we steamed the boiler for the first time and apart from a couple of weeps here and there the boiler was tight. After one or two more steams it should be ok. We are going for 150 psi working pressure and the UK test pressure would be one and a half times that which is 225 psi which we have already had the boiler up to on the hydraulic.

We have also done extensive work on the boiler fittings, i.e. gauge standards, check valves, cylinder drain cocks etc.

Once the boiler has been certified for hydraulic and steam test, I can then fit the crankshaft and tender and assemble the engine ready for road trials.

The pictures enclosed depict the following :

Front axle and wheels assembled

83

Rear axle rejuvenated

84

Re-conditioned steering chain drum and pedestal bearings fitted to the bottom of the belly tank

86

Front hubcap attached

87

Wheel drive pin hole bored out from oval to round
88

Engine in steam

89

Steering wheel manufactured

90


Rear Hubcaps manufactured

91

Regards,
Keith

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