The LNWR George the Fifth Steam Locomotive Trust has announced that on Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 February, it finished assembling the permanent frame for its replica locomotive.

The work took place at the Keyte Smith Ltd works in Nottinghamshire, and followed the Trust’s frame restoration campaign.

The restoration team brought the locomotive to the shop and carefully levelled it on stands. They then replaced the temporary bolts they had installed previously with 191 Huckbolts, which will permanently secure the parts in place and in alignment. They had to hire specialist tooling in order to install the Huckbolts, so they carried out all the installations in one session.

Once its construction is completed, the locomotive will be the only pre-World War 1 express loco available for main line operation.

The following day, the team worked on inserting thread inserts and spraying primer paint on the parts of the locomotive that were unprotected. They also made preparations for the next stages of building the replica locomotive.

They will need to withdraw various items of platework from storage and check them over before painting them and reassembling them onto the frames. The Trust will place contracts for the outstanding platework items.

The Trust hopes that by the end of this month, it will have taken delivery of the hornblocks, which are currently in the process of being machined.

The part-built locomotive was placed on display at the Crewe Heritage Centre in 2023.