A Night Owl Emerges from the Dark – Part 2 Paul Perton, Marketer, Writer, Photographer
Beginning the move to Devon
The empty space where the 4709 frames had been at Llangollen
The Peaky Finders team! (l-r) Leaky Finders’ George Balsdon, Paul Carpenter, 4709’s Richard Croucher and Leaky Finders’ Rory Edwards,
its long, slow journey south. Out in the open, suspended from the crane, there was just a hint of the finished size of this giant 2–8–0. It will weigh around 83 tonnes when complete, with the tender accounting for another 46 tonnes. Now firmly in the care of Leaky Finders’ Rory Edwards and George Balsdon at Hele near Exeter, work on 4709 began to ramp up quickly to make up for time lost to the COVID lockdown. Waiting at Leaky Finders was a long list of jobs that Rory and George could check, measure, do and get underway. First up on the list was a thorough check of everything about 4709’s chassis, including the overall dimensions, correct alignment of the running board brackets, measuring all the holes and the accuracy of the horn ties. This was done to confirm that all holes had been drilled as per the GWR drawing and any discrepancies noted for rectification. The horn ties were corrected at Llangollen but were finally checked again. The running boards were then mounted, with The CAD drawing for the new running boards
On the road at last – Leaving Llangollen for Devon
After weeks of COVID-caused delays, the chassis of 4709 inched its way out of the Llangollen workshops and into the daylight for the first time early in August, en-route to a new home in Devon. Limited headroom meant that the 10+ tonne chassis had to be moved out of the shed, to be craned on to the low loader for 92
GREAT WESTERN STAR MAGAZINE
January/February 2021