Full steam ahead

The work involved the renovation and re-machining of the main engine chassis fabrication, axle boxes, six large diameter drive wheels and various wear parts ready for the summer season ferrying passengers along the Kent Coast between Hythe and Dungeness.

Says Inca's managing director Mike Cain: “This is the fifth engine we have helped to refurbish over several years. Amongst other positive comments back from the company on the standard of work on the Winston Churchill was that the main drive wheels could be spun using a single finger when they were assembled to the rejuvenated axle boxes.”

The Winston Churchill is a Canadian style 4-6-2 Pacific locomotive built by the Yorkshire Engine Company in 1931. It was originally named Doctor Syn after the Dymchurch smuggling vicar created by actor and novelist Russell Thorndike and was renamed Winston Churchill in 1948. The engine is 8.53m long and weighs eight tonnes.

As part of the refurbishment programme Inca had to set up datums and re-machine the 4.5m long main chassis. The main bore, keyway and offset crank bore were machined on each of the six 647mm large drive wheels and the axle box assemblies were stripped and parts re-machined or replaced. There were also various packing blocks that had to be made to suit different replacement areas on the steam engine.

The RH & DR is a 381mm gauge miniature main line railway originally built in 1927 and held the title of the ‘Smallest Public Railway in the World' (in terms of track gauge). It stretches for 13.5 miles from the Cinque Port of Hythe via Dymchurch, St Mary's Bay and New Romney to Dungeness.

The line was taken over by the military in World War II and the only miniature armoured train in the world ran along its length as part of preparation against any invasion of Britain. The line was also used extensively in supplying the build of PLUTO (Pipe Line Under the Ocean) to provide fuel to advancing allied invasion forces.

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