MEMBERS MONTHLY BULLETIN, MAY 2021

Engineering

Work at West Shed continues to be limited by PRCLT’s need to allocate resources to 6233’s overhaul. However the left hand side expansion link has been successfully fitted and the inside expansion link has been removed for assessment.

There is no progress yet on the testing of the driving wheels reported in last month’s bulletin. The wheels have to be shot-blasted before the testing can be carried out and we are liaising actively with Riley and Son to get this done.

We do however have some better news: we have found an alternative supplier for the new axle material we need this year - the prospect of an 18-month wait has receded.

In the last week of May we held our first face-to-face Engineering meeting at West Shed for many months, with PRCLT’s Simon Scott in attendance.  This focused on the vital technical assessment and quality assurance review we have started with PRCLT.

Meanwhile HBSS have this month completed the task of tooling the lateral stays on the boiler. This work has been steadily underway since the pandemic started, with about 1500 stays tackled over that period. Next will be completion of the slide bars, followed by work on the transverse stays.

Leaky Finders will now move on to the brake shaft support brackets, hand brake linkage and support brackets.

Video

I recently recorded an update video at West Shed with Andrew Kennedy from Oakwood Visuals, who has been filming the Project since March 2009. (This hasn't been possible at West Shed over the last year because of lockdown rules). The video will be posted soon on our website and on our new YouTube channel which you can find by clicking on this link.

Alternatively, you can search for "The LMS-Patriot Project" in YouTube. Please visit the channel, Like, Subscribe and make comments.

We want to increase our online presence and the YouTube space is a brilliant way for our Members to show their own videos as well as getting our message out to a wider audience. If you would like to see your own Patriot-related video on our channel, please email marketing@lms-patriot.co.uk

Finance

Thank you for responding to our request to avoid cheques when renewing and donating, saving us a considerable sum in bank charges. At the same time, we are minimising our own use of cheques, which cost us 50 pence each. Thank you as well to those who have nominated the Project as the beneficial charity when using Amazon Smile, PayPal Giving and Easy Fund Raising. It all helps.

From the “Home” Office

Although the office building at The Hub has reopened, the other volunteers are not yet ready to return, so our Westerman team is still working from home. They collect the post only once a week so please continue to allow them extra time to respond. The temporary telephone number, 07801 945689, is still in operation. Four books of raffle tickets will be enclosed with your copy of Warrior 49, unless you have previously told us you don’t wish to receive them. We will be delighted if you are able to buy some, if not all, the tickets to help our income in these restricted times. When sending the stubs to us please remember to complete the reverse of one of them to indicate how many you sold or purchased and the method of payment.