April 2026

Project 62 - April 2025

April has been a productive month for 30076, with some satisfying milestones reached by the end of it.

Work on the side tanks has been the steady drumbeat throughout - welding up holes, cutting out sections, grinding back excess weld, and de-rusting, progressing week on week in the shelter.

Outside, the big moment came on 29 April when the bunker finally came off. It had been gradually worked loose over the course of the month - bolt holes welded up, the cab roof lifted clear early in April, and the bunker itself reduced to a handful of retaining bolts by mid-month. John Drew brought the Railway’s excavator over to lift it clear once the last fixings were removed. The front buffer beam cut ends were tidied up along the way too.

Cab dismantling has moved forward steadily as well. The cab doors came off on 8 April and have been rubbed down and worked up for priming since. The handbrake and its fixings were removed on 15 April.

The steam pipes are also in hand - serious work began on unbolting the pipes from the cylinders on 22 April, and the left-hand steam pipe was fully removed by the end of the month.

On the fabrication side, new buffer steps have been taking shape - steel plate cut to size, holes drilled, and the pieces worked up ready for fitting.

The workshop got a well-earned tidy-out on 29 April too.

A solid month all round - and the team will be back on 2 May to keep things moving.