Southern Locomotives Ltd has released news of their intent to overhaul No. 34010 ‘Sidmouth’ to mainline condition.

The decision has been made so that Sidmouth can replace Eddystone when its ticket expires.

With this decision, the team at Sellindge has been preparing the locomotive’s frames for an official examination, which includes testing the thickness of vulnerable areas, performing ultrasonic tests on the welding, and confirming the integrity of the frames.

All the work that takes place will be documented so that the staff at Herston Works have a record of the work that takes place at Sellindge.

There is currently no space at Sellindge Works, whilst work takes place on 80104, so staff are continuing with work on 34010 at Sellindge.

The team at Tyseley has begun de-rusting and painting the boiler silver to smarten it up in preparation for TLW to begin its overhaul.

This boiler ran with 34053 but will now be used on Sidmouth, and the job list on the boiler will be known after a full inspection.

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