10 October 2019 · Flying Scotsman – Steam, Sweat and Tears

Presenter: Mike Corbett, ex Project Manager, Flying Scotsman

Mike’s recent involvement with Flying Scotsman (FS) began when First Class Partnerships (FCP) were contracted to manage the project in 2012 after a certain amount of work had already been undertaken on the locomotive. He quoted 2 basic rules of locomotive restoration – everything takes longer than you plan, and when it is 75% complete, you still have 75% to go!

When FCP took on the project, the first task was to look at current reports on FS’s condition and the sequence of events to date. It appeared to have be a rather piecemeal approach with no clear plan to achieve mainline standard, and there had been some criticism of the work already carried out. This is partly because of the circumstances at the museum – a large publicly funded organisation with its associated difficulties, and personnel, policy changes and other circumstances producing some discontinuities.

After reviewing FS’s current position, a programme of what to do now, had to be established together with expected costs based on the knowledge available. In 2013 a series of packages were put out to contract with the National Railway Museum (NRM) keen to be involved with some of the works, and bearing in mind that there are only a limited number of companies qualified to carry out the tasks required. Riley & Son Ltd had already done some work on FS and made a successful bid for the majority, with some work packages being retained by the museum.

Over and above the engineering works required, there was quite a complex list of stakeholders and companies who would be involved with testing, specialist electronics, gauging, safety systems installation and testing. FCP provided project management and expert engineering experience and knowledge. The project management was split into 6 main areas:

Programme of works;

Risk log (approximately 40 items initially);

Issues log (around 60 identified);

Change log – to deal with variations (approximately 50 of these);

Finance log – to deal with forecasts and changes;

Resources – those of the museum and Riley’s.

Mike went through all the various stages of managing the project and the monitoring of progress, meetings, reports, and financial controls before detailing the work to be done from initial inspections, through works required – some major, to the final achievement of FS being fit for mainline running again. There were a number of challenges to be resolved along the way and some really interesting engineering details to help explain the problems and solutions found, as well as the sequence of inspections, certification and acceptances and the various uniquely qualified individuals and companies who contributed along the way. One of the first major problems identified involved elongation of the fitted bolt holes that fixed the middle cylinder casting to the frames. New front end sections of the frames were made and welded to the original rear end frames. Not an easy job, matching new steel plate to that manufactured 75 years earlier.

Detailing the AWS and TPWS, Mike highlighted the difficulties of installing modern electronic systems on steam locomotives, finding a suitable location where the equipment could be installed that was dirt proof, steam proof, heat proof etc! At this time the museum had been
laying off some of their staff but one electrician in particular had been kept on. This proved to be very fortunate as he had kept detailed notes of the TPWS system which was a great help in getting the system accepted.

Another aspect of the project was the essential commissioning involving testing of many of the systems such as brakes, safety devices, weight, height and gauging, snagging, static and running trials. The pressure was on to complete the project as the NRM, in its enthusiasm had given a launch date. After commissioning came certification and acceptance that had to be done in a set sequence. This was all completed in time for the previously announced launch date thanks to the efforts of all involved. Lessons learned along the way included recognising the need for management knowledge and experience in bringing a steam locomotive up to mainline standards; the risks of the unknown with incomplete evaluation; the importance of effective maintenance records; do not book a launch date without knowing if you can reasonably meet it. Mike ended with a few photographs of the launch one of them showing the foresight of a small company like Riley’s as two of their young apprentices were included. Teaching apprentices ensures that the skills required are continued on into the future.

The vote of thanks was given by Peter Bosomworth who said what a privilege it was to thank Mike for his presentation and his involvement with the rejuvenation of Flying Scotsman, his enjoyment of the engineering details, and the enormous range of skills required to complete the task. It is the most famous steam locomotive in the world – a wonderful machine that will be with us for many years to come.