35006 Almost Ready for the Party

Good evening,

Following on from my post looking at the latest news from the 35011 team and Daves post yesterday looking at 35005, tonight I thought I’d turn my attention to the Merchant Navy closest to a return to steam – 35006 Peninsular & Oriental S. N. Co. The first place to start is to congratulate the 35006 society who received the ultimate accolade for its great job in restoring 35006 in the form of the John Coiley Award for Locomotive Restoration by the Heritage Railway Association.Now to the locomotive itself. Since the last update we can happily report that she is now has all 3 con rods fitted. This was a very tricky task for the 35006 team as they had to fit the centre big end bearing to the centre crank pin and then fit them to the central connecting rod which when done from underneath the engine is no easy task. Having now a three cylinder pacific for the first time the team were itching to steam her up and give her a go, the resulting test can be seen below.

After this run work turned to completing 35006’s various jobs that need doing on the locomotive, such as the vacuum reservoir tanks up on the rear deck of the tender being plumbed into the vacuum system. P&O is now almost ready to make her debut in the preservation era and with the GWSR Gala in May quickly coming up, the star of the show will be ready to steal the limelight away from the best of Swindon.