THE main frame plates for new-build GWR County 4-4-0 No. 3840 County of Montgomery have been ordered – and a new £10,000 appeal to pay for the machining has just been launched.
The Churchward County Trust has placed the order for the plates with Tata Steel of Wednesfield, as per Swindon drawing No. 43495, just six months after the launch of the £1.5million project.
The trust aims to re-create one of Churchward’s ‘Rough Riders’ using a combination of new and original GWR components.
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The order represents the first new metal to be ordered by the trust and has been funded by the donations from members of the project’s Founders’ Club, but more is need to cover the machining.
Delivery of the parent material to Wednesfield from the rolling mill was expected during September, with the frames expected be cut within 10-12 days following its receipt.
Project leader Gary Boyd-Hope said: “The frames are generally considered to be the heart of a locomotive, upon which everything sits, or fits beneath or between. By placing this order we have effectively breathed life into County of Montgomery, 106 years after the last County frames were laid at Swindon Works.
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