Thursday 25 November 2010

'Kriegslok' Boiler Preparations

As has been mentioned earlier on this blog and elsewhere, the massive 'Kriegslok' (War Locomotive) 2-10-0 No. Ty2-7173 has been sold by its private owner, and will be leaving the railway for a new home in Belgium at some point in the not-too-distant future.


Included in the deal is a spare 'Kriegslok' boiler, which last week was placed on a 'Weltrol' wagon by the LMS steam crane. The boiler was due to leave yesterday (Wednesday 24th Nov) and preparations on site had been carried out to enable lorry access, including emptying the 'Civil Engineering' display track.


The displaced Engineers' trolleys.


The spare boiler had sat in the yard at Wansford for several years, but at the time of my visit was perched on the 'Weltrol' to be shunted down to the lorry loading area (adjacent to the 'new' station building). If everything went to plan, this boiler has now left, leaving the 'Weltrol' free for the next job - carrying the boiler of under-overhaul 34081 '92 Squadron'.


The two remaining boilers on site - in the foreground is that from Danish Class F 0-6-0T 'Tinkerbell', behind it is the boiler from Swedish Class S 2-6-2T No.1178. The overhaul of the former is being undertaken by a team of volunteers, whereas the overhaul of the latter is sadly on ice due to lack of resources at this moment in time.