THE Watercress Line’s ambitious Heritage Lottery funded-project to restore its flagship steam locomotive, the Merchant Navy class Canadian Pacific (CanPac), to its former glory reached an important milestone this autumn.

For months the line’s dedicated and specialist staff and volunteers have been working toward putting the locomotive’s frames onto newly-refurbished driving wheels. This has included some tricky and specialist work doing alignment checks, working on the axle boxes, restoring parts needed for the ‘re-wheeling’, moving the driving wheels alongside the frames, and putting the wheels into the right order.

At the end of last month the frames were carefully lifted onto the wheels. This marked an important step toward getting CanPac back in operation, which is due for 2019.

Experienced railway engineering firm Arlington Fleet Services helped the CanPac project staff achieve this milestone by providing overhead cranes to complete the preparation work and, on September 26, lifted the frames into place on top of the driving wheels.

Dr Becky Peacock, outreach and interpretation officer for the Watercress Line, said: “The lifting and lowering of the frames was the nerve-wracking and time-consuming part of the day’s operation, with the axle boxes having to be carefully lined up with the holes in the frames as they were lowered inch by inch. What a relief to have everything finally in place!

“It was a brilliant day for all those involved and a pleasure to see the frames sitting back on the driving wheels. We’re grateful to Arlington and our own specialist team for all their patience and hard work.”

She added: “This is a significant milestone for the staff and volunteers working on Canadian Pacific’s restoration. It hails the start of the long process of reassembly and ultimately seeing the engine back in steam in 2019.”

The CanPac project is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund but the railway needs to raise £200,000 in match funding. Canadian Pacific’s boiler is in worse condition than expected and needs a new inner firebox. It will cost an extra £120,000 to replace the inner firebox and the project needs help to raise this money to get the engine back in steam. To remove the inner firebox, 2,200 boiler stays had to be removed. The project is running a ‘Sponsor a Stay’ Appeal to raise funds to replace these. Each boiler stay costs £25 to replace.

To get involved in the appeal, visit the website watercressline.co.uk.