The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, no. 7406570. Registered office: Lime Tree Lodge, Thorpe Road, Mattersley, Doncaster, DN10 5ED
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Darjeeling Locomotive 19B
Following the successful acquisition of the locomotive and stripping it down for its 10 year overhaul, it became clear that, unfortunately, a replacement boiler is required.
The Trustees are determined to restore the 19B to working condition, and currently, they have contracted the Ffestiniog Railway to design and gain regulatory approval for the new boiler. The boiler design was completed and passed onto the hands of BES for certification, It was thought it would be at least a few months but after some emails between Boston Lodge’s engineering team and the lead engineer at BES, and it was immediately clear that there was little for him to query. As a result, we now have certification of the design for the new boiler.
We’ve already reached out to various boilermakers in the UK to see who might be interested, and had a good response. The way this works is there are a couple of well-known firms who can make the “hot pressings” required (the most complex being the throatplate) – normally a boiler maker will order these parts from one or other of them, then assemble them into a working, certified boiler. We believe we have enough in the bank already to buy all the components, and we should know soon whether we have enough for the full manufacture.
The next step is to discuss pricing, timescales, etc. with the candidate manufacturers, so that final assembly and testing will likely be over the winter of 2025/26, and the loco should, then be back in full service for 2026.
The overhaul work itself is being carried out at Statfold Barn, who have generously offered to cover the labour costs of the overhaul.
Of course, a new boiler does not come cheap, and that, with the other overhaul costs is expected to total about £228,000. Most of this has already been raised but another £20,000 is still required.
To donate, please follow the 19B Trust website link below,
Statfold Barn website is at
www.statfold.com
For details of the 19B trust visit
www.darjeelingtank.org.uk
Or view their Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/groups/darjeelingtank/
More pictures on our page 19B.
DHRS sales stand at Statfold Barn Model Railways
show in October 2024
