May 2024

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The April Showers, or dare I say ‘deluge’ has slowed progress on the deck painting, but there has been plenty of action down below as following the replacement of the top and bottom boiler manhole doors, and the closing of the smokebox doors we have filled the boiler as we progress towards this years live steam test. So, reversing the process of removing the fire bars (as described in last month’s News) all the bars are now back in place. All this has been happening in tandem with the installation of the boiler lagging and as if that isn’t difficult enough, it necessitated the removal of several pipes from the boiler which now have to be refitted for the steam test which we hope will take place towards the end of June. Returning to the issue of the boiler lagging, whilst this may seem a relatively simple task, it has proved anything but. The crinolines which will hold the lagging blankets in place are required to be fitted with spacing pieces, welded to the straps which have the twin functions of holding the crinoline straps off the boiler shell with a sufficient gap through which the lagging can be threaded, but also to support each length of lagging in position to prevent gravity doing its thing and encouraging the lagging to slide down the boiler shell. Working in the confined space between the boiler shell and the hull and frames is not the most pleasant of environments, and frayed tempers have been observed when wrestling a section of the lagging material into position, particularly where there are rivets and the large nuts to the combustion chamber stays to negotiate. It is all hard work and slow going, but it should pay dividends by reducing fuel consumption, which is not only good for the environment, but will also reduce our running costs, given that these have increased three-fold in the last five years, primarily due to the cost of coal. On a sombre note, this month we lost one of our long-standing members, Paul Boot, who had been supporting Kerne for over 50 Years. A Civil Engineer for British Rail, Paul was responsible for the replacement of Kerne’s wheelhouse in 1977. From the modified design of the original structure, he produced the drawings and oversaw the manufacture and fitting of the new wheelhouse, which lasted 42 years before it was replaced by a new structure manufactured to Paul’s drawings. His interest in steam was not confined to Kerne, he was an accomplished shipping and railway photographer, who published some notable books on Mersey shipping. He will be sadly missed.

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