July 2025 Newsletter

Volunteers Needed

The railway is always looking for new volunteers to help with the maintenance and operation of the railway. If you are interested in getting involved, check out the volunteering page on our website.

We would be happy to open our doors to anyone who would be interested in helping out, whether you have experience in the railway industry or not. We have a wide range of roles available, from driving the trains to maintaining the track and buildings.

One of our newest volunteers, Tim, has been helping out with the maintenance of the railway!

Paint Your Wagon at the Old Kiln Light Railway - Tim

We don’t just run passenger trains…

One of the aims of the charity that runs the Old Kiln Light Railway is “preserving, restoring, exhibiting, and operating industrial, rural passenger and military narrow-gauge railway locomotives and rolling stock”

To this end the railway has a fleet of rolling stock that is not used operationally including some Robert Hudson built skip wagons. These are perhaps the archetypal narrow gauge pieces of rolling stock being used in many different types of industrial setting. Three of these have been arranged in the sidings close to the public fence of the yard at the railway, known as the Jubilee sidings, and as they were looking a bit sorry for themselves a project was initiated to give them a bit of a facelift.

The railway’s volunteers, including one’s young son, have therefore been giving so far two wagons a new coat of paint to make them more presentable to the public and having a very enjoyable time in the process.

This is another example of the sort of activities that our volunteers are able to get involved in at the Old Kiln Light Railway!

8981 repairs - Ian

The engine mount was returned from the firm in Alton and promptly fitted with a new paper gasket and lock washers.

Over the next few days, engine alignment was carried out using the Motor Rail factory tool, Initial alignment revealed the engine to be within 10 thou height to the gearbox, but sitting 60 thou downhill towards it, way beyond the 3 thou stated in the manual! both of the larger mount bolts were also bent from being fitted without wedge washers in the past, these were replaced along with fitting correct washers.

After the soft foot was eliminated, the packing pieces under the repaired mount were milled down in parallel, with the repetitive process of rechecking with the alignment tool after each pass, to ensure accuracy.

Surprisingly, once a reading of zero had been obtained, and triple checked by others, the engine was removed for its newly relined clutch to be fitted, along with the other half of the new roller bearing, before being refitted for what is hoped the final time, and coupled to the gearbox.

There followed a fast paced day of rebuilding, all the clutch and gear linkages, pipes, filters, exhaust, diesel tank and other gubbins were refitted, adjusted and greased with well practiced hands, no doubt the result of having this type apart in the works so often during the last couple of years.

The following day, the new drive chains were duly tensioned, and tensioned again, the locomotive needing to be rolled back and forth between adjustments to get a more accurate feel.

The loco was tow started and despite firing on one cylinder, it appeared to, through the smoke, behave correctly in short trial runs in the yard.

Following adjustments to the engine's decompressors, the running issues were solved. light and loaded test runs were undertaken, with now no sign of the dreaded Tesla self driving symptoms.

First passenger trains were worked without fault, aside from some noisy bearings in first gear forward, but that will be a problem for another day.

8981 should hopefully see its fair share of use once crews are refreshed on Motor Rail driving, with reversion back to its Midhurst guise now under serious consideration for this venerable machine. watch this space.

9655 Bluey Update - Alex

Engine

The crankshaft had initially been sent off for regrinding back in March, however this didn’t work out due to the crankshaft not fitting in the machine of the firm it was taken to. Since then its been taken to another firm, who after measuring it up have shared some good news, that the crankshaft is just within tolerance for diameter and roundness. Its therefore been decided to have the crankshaft polished and fit new standard size bearings. A problem then arose that the standard sized bearings that came out of the engine were mismatched and of two different materials, one half being whitemetal and the other half being leaded bronze, this unfortunately prevented them from being remetalled. Luckily a complete used set of the whitemetal type main crank bearings have been acquired. A huge thanks goes to John Rowlands for his assistance in sourcing these parts.

As a slight last minute addition to this update, the crankshaft has now been reunited with the engine. Tolerances have been checked and all looks to be very promising. The play previously seen has been completely eliminated, and the end float has also been greatly reduced.

Cab

After an initial clean up and inspection the decision has been taken to restore the locomotive without the recently acquired cab, at least for the time being. Once the locomotive is back in service and some other tasks around the railway have been completed attention can then turn to rebuilding the cab. At the moment the priority is on the engine and mechanical side of the locomotive.

Fuel Tank

A new fuel tank has been sourced. The original was found to be in very poor condition, with the bottom being very thin and having quite a lot of holes in. A replacement off the shelf square tank has been fitted, due to difficulty in finding a replacement cylindrical tank. New brackets have been made to fit the new fuel tank to the original tank supports. This is of fairly simple construction consisting of a few bits of angle and flat bar joined with some threaded rod. Once under the bonnets its not obvious the tank has been replaced, the replacement’s fuel filler neck even lines up with the hole in the bonnet.

New Seat

A new seat has been fitted to the locomotive. The original toolbox and seat was beyond saving when 9655 arrived at the railway a few years ago. At first an old power saw crate was modified as a new toolbox and seat. However after finding photos of 9655 with an old Mini/Morris type seat fitted during industry the decision was made to try and replicate this.

A modern replica of a seat similar enough to the original has been sourced and a new steel frame to mount the seat to the chassis has been made from various bits of scrap metal.

Air Braking

To be able to run passenger trains 9655 has been fitted with air braking controls. Whilst the locomotive itself isn’t air braked, it now has the ability to operate the air braking on the coaching stock in an emergency. The pipework has been kept as low profile as possible, with the air hoses being removable when not in use.

Electrics

Headlamps have been fitted to each end of the locomotive. The rear lamp has been fitted to the brake column in roughly the same position they would have been on a cabless locomotive fitted with lights from new. A small toolbox has been fitted to one of the plated over sandboxes to house various electrical components. Wiring up of parts is happening as and when during downtime on the engine.

5713 Overhaul - James

With better summer weather arriving and other works concluding, the major overhaul of 5713 has begun. This has led to the complete stripping down of the locomotive to its bare chassis to assess each component for reuse, repair, or replacement.

Some parts already identified as needing repair are the frames, specifically where the weights attach, due to bolt stretch and nuts wearing into the chassis. Additionally, some of the panels had a significant amount of dirt buildup between the chassis and the weights. The general condition is as expected from a locomotive that hasn't had much maintenance in the last 40-odd years.

Certain parts of the locomotive require replacement. At this early stage of the rebuild, it's difficult to ascertain the full extent of what needs replacing. However, the axle box brasses and pads will be replaced, as will some bolts.

5713 was also looking very tired in black, with some of its paint chipped and flaked off. As such, the owners have decided to give the locomotive a new livery, which will be announced soon.

The Mills Wood Loop Completion - James

By the end of April, the main infrastructure of the Mills Wood loop extension was completed. All rails were installed, leveled on the sleepers, packed, and tested. This meant "normal-ish" operation could resume with the running of service trains. As there were some issues getting the ground frame installed, the points had to be manually barred across, clipped, and scotched for trains to pass. Fortunately, the ground frame didn't take too long to get operational, with the project reaching substantial completion by the start of June and normal operations fully restored.

Further works, which will be addressed as and when time allows, include the reconnection of the wood branch to its new point in the new track layout, the installation of another ground frame to control these points, and the potential for a set of trap points just across the level crossing at Mills Wood for future development in the area.

The entire project was completed by very few hands. Works included moving three sets of points, constructing a set of points from spare parts, bending rails (even when they were uncooperative) to suit the realignment's profile, casting foundations, and rodding up the newly positioned ground frame while also giving it a coat of paint. This was a significant achievement for the few volunteers working on this project.

Upcoming Events - Operations Team

With the summer season quickly approaching, we have several major events planned for the railway, all, as always, subject to availability. Mark your calendars for the Fire Engine Rally at the start of July, which should feature steam locomotives. We'll also be offering weekend running from mid-July and Railway Wednesdays throughout the summer holidays. To cap off the season, join us for Steam at Work at the beginning of September, which will include an enhanced timetable.