MEMBERS MONTHLY BULLETIN - JANUARY 2023

People

Thanks to determined ancestry research undertaken by our colleague Neil Kinsey, we have been able to trace a great-grandson of Sir Henry Fowler, the LMS Chief Mechanical Engineer at the time of the Patriot class build. He has expressed interest in our project and we arranging to meet him to take this interest further.

One of our Trustees, John Hastings-Thomson, who will be known to many of you, has had to undergo major heart surgery this month. He is still in hospital to help his gradual recovery, but we understand the operation was successful. We all wish him well.  

Sales

Good news on the sales front. Sales to December have already exceeded the full year for 2021/22; and last weekend we attended the GCR Winter Gala and grossed more than £2500, which may be a record there. Much of this was due to a very generous donation of model railway items.

Such models always prove a good source of income for the Project, so if you have anything of that ilk that you are prepared to donate please get in touch on sales@lms-patriot.org.uk .  Thank you.

Engineering

A provisional computer-generated design has been developed this month for our locomotive tender. Significant design changes are needed for main line operation - to provide sufficient water capacity, and to accommodate air brake reservoir tanks and space for main line control equipmnent. The first indications are encouraging: we will provide more information on this in the next edition of The Warrior magazine. 

Meanwhile, our contractor Leaky Finders has completed work on the tender frame assembly. The next phase of work there will be the completion of the axle boxes and work on brake system components.

Surface treatment of the chassis frames (bead shotblasting to remove the millscale imperfections first identified in 2021) was completed last week at West Shed.

The inside cylinder and the new front buffer beam can now be refitted to the frames; this is expected to to take place in February. The repairs to the defective welds identified on the frames are being arranged in February, subject to the Tyseley welder availability.

We are expecting an estimate from a contractor for the MPI testing of other chassis components for quality assurance, prior to refitting to the frames.   

In the last Bulletin we reported that William Cook Cast Products expected to complete the new driving wheels by the end of January. Significant unavoidable production delays and overoptimism mean that delivery will be delayed. Two of the wheels have completed proof machining and are ready for the important finishing stage this month.  

The replacement driving wheel axle has been delivered to West Shed with all documentation required.

We have just received a comprehensive estimate from a supplier after detailed dialogue on the reassembly of the driving wheelsets. 

Finance

 This month our Treasurer reports on credits received from our ancillary funds providers this month to illustrate what you, our members, do to boost our income at no financial cost to yourselves.

Recycle4Charity – used ink cartridge recycling. Quarter 4 income - £58.25, Total in the last 12 months - £147.50. Grand total - £3231.41

Amazon Smile – Your spending on the Smile website has generated £89.81 this financial year. Those members who have used this platform may be aware that Amazon plan to wind it down by February 20^th. However. they are providing an additional one-time donation equivalent to six months of what we earned through the programme in 2022, and we will also be able to accrue additional donations until the program ends.

Just Giving - £660 received within the last year (including gift aid of £60).