Light-railway engine refurbished by Inca

Kent-based Inca Geometric (www.incageometric.com) has completed a refurbishment project for the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Light Railway in which the main engine chassis of Winston Churchill, plus its axle boxes, six large-diameter drive wheels and various wear parts were renovated and re-machined ready for the summer season ferrying passengers along the Kent coast.

Managing director Mike Cain said: “This is the fifth engine we have helped to refurbish over several years. Among other positive comments on the standard of our work was that the main drive wheels could be spun using
a single finger when they were assembled to the rejuvenated axle boxes.”

Winston Churchill is a Canadian-style 4-6-2 Pacific locomotive built by the Yorkshire Engine Co in 1931; it is 28ft long and weighs eight tonnes. As part of the refurbishment project, Inca had to set up datums and re-machine the main chassis. The main bore, keyway and offset-crank bore were machined on each of the six drive wheels, while the axle box assemblies were stripped and parts machined or replaced. Various packing blocks also had to be made.