MEMBERS MONTHLY BULLETIN - FEBRUARY 2021

ENGINEERING

At West Shed, the motion has now had all the bushes pressed off and the condition of all components fully assessed. 

Following discussions with PRCLT we have decided that using the legacy motion parts obtained for 5551 could have a hidden risk of failure. One of the radius rods has a previous repair that has weakened the part to the point of being unsuitable for further use. We will therefore be sourcing 2 new outside combination levers, 1 union link & 2 outside radius rods.

While the driving wheel weld repairs have already been completed, repairs are under way on cracks discovered in one of the wheel pans. It is looking like there will be delay in returning the wheelsets to West Shed, due to the effects of the pandemic at the South African plant manufacturing the new axle material.

The main reverser shaft, intermediate reach rod and intermediate reverser shaft have been trial-fitted successfully; and preparatory work has started on the cylinder covers prior to refitting them to the cylinders.

On the boiler, HBSS are continuing their work on securing the firebox stays; and have purchased material in preparation for manufacturing and fitting the boiler slides.

VOLUNTEER HELP

We would like to thank those members who responded to our call for office volunteers in the last monthly bulletin.  There are new helpers on our sales merchandise stock management and we are arranging handover.

We have established a panel of potential helpers for safety certification administration tasks and are working to define the work we need doing initially.

LLANGOLLEN

We have managed to re-establish contact with the Llangollen Railway over historic engineering quality issues. (Progress on this had stalled for over a year because of the pandemic and management changes at the railway.)  A Zoom meeting was held on 20^th February. We would like to thank Peter Edwards, the new chairman of the Railway, for an open initial discussion; and we have planned for talks to continue.

FINANCE

On the finance front, February is traditionally the quietest month for income, but this year, it’s up by £1,000 compared to February 2020. Our bank balance remained constant at £147k for the month. We’ve received additional income in January/February from the following sources, which we wouldn’t have had without your continued support in thinking about and supporting us when you go about your daily business:

• Amazon Smile - £27.31 for the quarter to 31^st December.
• PayPal Giving Fund - £97.90.
• Steam Railway - £18. Publication of a photograph taken by a volunteer who nominated that the fee be donated to the project.

First, thank you to all of you who shopped through the Amazon Smile website where a donation of 0.5% of the purchase price is made to the project. Second, the PayPal Giving Fund is designed to provide sums to qualifying charities where it has received payments from generous donors who recommend The LMS-Patriot Project as a charity to support. This could come through from various platforms who use PayPal as the payment method. A big thank you to all who recommend us as a charity to support. Apologies to the well-known supermarket but ‘Every Little Helps’!