Kilmersdon, our 0-4-0ST engine, is now virtually complete following a recent hydraulic boiler test at Ropley on the Watercress Line. The boiler also had an ‘out of the frame’ steam test which it passed during the week ending 22 July 2022. This has meant that the boiler could be dropped into the frames which have been refurbished over the past year and ready to accept the boiler.
The boiler shop at Ropley have given the boiler new bottom sections on the firebox outer plates and completely re-tubed. All the boiler fittings have been overhauled and this means that Kilmersdon will be inspected in steam once more in early August by the boiler inspector which, it is hoped, will mean that our engine can enter the up-coming Thomas event the following week.
Roger Hardingham, Locomotive Director, S&DRT Ltd.
[Photos courtesy of Mark Drinkwater and Richard Bentley.]
