159's bogies

As previously reported by Andy Bailey, 159's trucks are now ready for final painting and assembly.

£400 worth of nuts bolts and washers.

Dan Heeley has agreed that I can publish his summary of the work on the trucks.
"To give a little more detail on 159s trucks:

The project originally acquired a pair of ex-Lisbon 22Es with a view to re-gauging them. An abortive start was made on this, as some will recall one truck was partially assembled. However numerous defects were discovered including a twist in one of the side frames.

A decision was made to have new side frames made. These differ from the Brill standard as the pattern was made un-handed so that only one pattern was required. This new approach also allowed the strengthening bars to be dispensed with that were present on the Lisbon trucks, which would no doubt have been criticised as unauthentic!

Of course most of the transverse components are new, but a number of other parts have been reused after refurbishment, including pony wheels, most of the axle boxes (although one proved beyond repair so a new one has been made) and the `plunger' mechanism as well as some sundry items. The driving wheelsets are ex Blackpool & Fleetwood by the way! – again with new axles and brand new gears.

After many setbacks the end is now in sight and I think we will all be glad to roll 159 out and show it to the world!"