The Foundry 75F Loco Department at Spa Valley Railway has reported that recent work has taken place away from the locomotive which has seen the procurement of a full fire grate, alongside this, work on the casting of new drivers brake valves has now begun.

‘Sutton’ had a number of fire bars which were life expired in the grate, however, due to excellent relationships with other Terrier owners, the team were able to borrow patterns from the Isle of Wight Steam Railway which enabled a complete grate cast including side bars and some spares.

New Pattern for the Terriers Fire Bars // Credit: Spa Valley RailwayA new pattern was made to cast a number of plain firebars in lots of three, which made casting future batches more cost-effective. During this time, the Bluebell Railway and Kent & East Sussex Railway requested help with casting sidebars and the order for ‘Sutton’ also included these too. Bluebell Railway was given ‘Suttons’ set to support ‘Fenchurch’ in getting back in steam in the near future, with a further set for ‘Sutton’ now set to be cast again.