The overhaul is coming on – the boiler is de-tubed, out of the frames and being needle-gunned ready for Non Destructive Testing to establish the extent of work required to get it back to work.

The primed sections have been “done” – since these shots were taken quite a lot more has been completed. The smoke box and door have been sent away for shot blasting – as has the chimney.

On the 27th October 2016 the loco was suspended on jacks (first lift for the newly refurbished loco jacks at the GWSR) – the wheels were removed – the wheel set from 3850 is being transferred to loco 2874 as these are historically accurate for that while the set from 2874 are the “correct” pattern for 3850.  The wheels will shortly be sent away for turning – the axle boxes will require some work – one of the photos below shows them cleaned up and ready to go into our container (and I can confirm that they are very, very heavy!!!)

Pony truck – wheel set for 3850 – loco on accommodation bogies (in the background is the pony truck for 2874 – that loco is in the shed with the wheel set from 3850 already in place – excellent progress over a very intensive 3 days – many thanks to all the volunteers involved.