The Maunsell Locomotive Society is reporting further progress is being made with the overhaul of Southern Railway Q Class 0-6-0 No. 541, formerly British Railways No. 30541.

Work has finished on completing the final snagging jobs on the new tender tank that has been constructed by the 4253 Locomotive Company, based at Rolvenden Locomotive Works in Kent.

Arrangements are now being made to transport the new tender tank by lorry from Rolvenden to Sheffield Park on the Bluebell Railway.

The society hopes that transport can be arranged before the end of this month. The Maunsell Locomotive Society is contributing funds to the tender overhaul and construction of a new tank.

In the workshops at Sheffield Park, the fabrication of a new front dragbox for the tender chassis is progressing, and the journals of the brake beam shaft have been machined.

Painting various parts of the chassis is continuing, as well as cleaning and painting various parts of 541’s cladding.

At Leaky Finders in Devon, where other work is being carried out, good progress is being with re-staying the left-hand side of the firebox, and new monel stays are being machined in-house and made ready for fitting in due course.

Some of the smaller items on the chassis have been tidied up so that the chassis could be prepared for optical alignment work which is now well advanced.

Optical alignment allows measurements to be taken so that the whole chassis can be aligned before new sections of frames are inserted where the horn guides are located.