The last couple of workbench sessions have been preparing items for fitting.

I had done the rear steps some time ago but I hadn’t curved the treads. I did the front ones and curves all the treads at the same time.

Then I dug out the buffers. I’m not sure where they came from but I had secreted a set of NER buffers in the box some years ago. They came as a Buffer stock with a separate washer to create the rims that is bolted to the buffer plank. So they need to be soldered together. I also need to drill them and fit the prominent fixings that are visible in most photos

I also made a start on making the cab window frames so that they would open. I was fortunate that I had a spare set of etches for the wind frames so I soldered two together and then soldered a short length of microbore tube to the top so that I can hinge them

Lastly I machined a replacement upper rear lamp iron from the end of an earth pin out of the 13 amp plug

There is still quite a bit of the plug pin left for making other parts with at some point.

Still enthused, I have been beavering away adding all the details that bring the loco to life.

Further progress on the N10 this week.

Westinghouse Pump and Governor fitted along with associated pipework. I’ve also fitted the vacuum ejector pipe and the Blower valve along with all the handrails at the front.

I also managed to progress the N10 a little further this week.

The first job was to drill out the Westinghouse casting. I have a couple of really nice brass castings in the stash which I believe are Alan Gibson but I’m not 100% sure.
On the back of the mounting brackets there were a couple of spigots so I drilled a couple of corresponding holes in one side of a clothes peg and pressed the spigots into it giving me a secure grip when gripped in the drill press vice using another piece of clothes peg on the other side with a small parallel laid on it’s side to support them.

I drilled through the cast nuts on the right hand side then drilled a hole for the pipe that leads from the governor in the left hand side. While I ad the drill press out I also drilled the governor that I made for the last pipe and fitting.

lastly for now I assembled as much of it as I could prior ro fitting. In order to fit it to the etched mounting plate I cut and filed of the spigots on the mounting brackets and secured the casting to the bracket with 298 degree solder. Next I fitted the governor and the pipe that leads into the smokebox which is a little long at the minute and isn’t soldered in until I have it all mounted on the footplate.