Stark Raving…

November 1, 2025

The Urie Locomotive Society Annual General Meeting is taking place this coming Saturday the 8th of November at 2pm in the education room at Ropley. Members are welcome to visit from midday onwards to see our progress on 499 first-hand. We have lots to update you on at this pivotal time for the ULS and we would love to see you all! In our traditional ULS fashion, non-members are welcome with free entry but £20 is payable before we allow departure!

We are also pleased to say that we have reached 20% of our goal to raise £20,000 in our tubeplate appeal. The new tubeplate is on order. The contractor will be water-jet cutting the tube and flue holes before delivery. We still need to raise further funding to cover the cost of a new angle ring and labour. The tubeplate project is over and above our original planned scope for 499’s boiler overhaul. If you can, please consider making a donation.

Tender No. 3223

This month we have made excellent progress once again on our new tender tank., The coal raves are now temporarily fitted on both sides. We will be drilling the raves to prepare them for riveting before removing them again to allow us to work on the floor of the coal space.

Mike raising the front fireman’s side profiled section of the raves.
Mike S drilling rivet holes in the coal raves.
We now have a distinctly Urie shaped tender with the coal raves in place.

499 Chassis

Our new dragbox buffer beam that sits under 499’s cab is now riveted into place. Liam has made the new studs for the rubbing block which we have also fitted. The next phase in this area around the cab will be to refit the steps. While we had them off the chassis, we have also taken the opportunity to fit some angle brackets for the injector plumbing.

Barry riveting the new dragbox buffer beam.
New buffer beam with rivets ground back flush. The new studs for the rubbing block are on the left.
The completed dragbox buffer beam with rubbing block fitted.
The completed dragbox beam with rubbing block fitted.
The cab footsteps with new angles fitted to hold the injector plumbing.

Boiler 799

After a delay for the boiler repairs required on 30506 earlier this year, the Ropley boiler shop team are progressing on boiler No. 799. The upcoming program of works will include the team riveting the lap seams of the inner firebox, fitting the steel throat plate and the replacement lower section of the backhead. The heads of the remaining firebox stays have been cleaned off to allow us to complete ultrasonic crack testing. This will help us determine how many stays require replacing. As a minimum, we will need to renew all stays in the upper breaking zones (front and back vertical rows and top horizontal rows on each side). We will also need to fit all new ‘starting size’ stays around the lower section of the firebox in the new platework.

The boiler shop team have trial fitted the foundation ring over the new copper firebox plating. The excess copper is to allow for any movement or shrinkage during the copper welding process and while we fit the remaining components. We will cut this back flush with the foundation ring later.
The space for the cutout section of the steel backhead. This will be one of the first parts of the outer plate the boiler shop team will fit.

All photos courtesy of Jamie Karslake, Pat Bell, and Sam Wyatt.

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