As mentioned in the "3650 in the 60's & 70's" section, 3650 was sold to Stephenson Clarke P.D. Fuels Ltd on 9th October 1963 and moved to Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen colliery. 3650 continued working until a thin front tube plate, worn tyres and fire box bulges caused it to be stopped.

The issue of the worn tyres was solved back in 1987. The tube plate was replaced in 1993. This just left the problem of the two fire box bulges caused by broken stays. By now we were in a position to address the situation. Following the recommendations of the B.R. boiler inspector Sam Foster, all of the old steel boiler stays had been drilled and burnt out, and the stay holes around the bulges had been reamed, tapped and new temporary stays screwed in place.

	Temporary stays screwed in place around bulge with fine threaded studding and washers through stay holes in bulge area. (4th March 1995).
Bob Fry & Mick Henderson tightening up nuts on the fine threaded studs thus pulling bulge in inner copper firebox back into alignment. (4th March 1995).
	Mick Henderson checking alignment of inner firebox after pulling bulged area flat. (4th March 1995).

This operation was carried out again in the area of the second bulge, and completed the major faults that caused 3650 to be failed from service. Now all we had to do is complete the rest of the restoration!!!

The cladding, or "outer covering" for any engine, is only made of 1/16" steel sheet. This makes it one of the first things to suffer the effects of rust. No matter how mechanically good the restoration is, it's always the "outer finish" that makes an engine look good. Most of the cladding for 3650 (if not already on 3738) was in quite a poor state. Luckily for us we managed to attract the interest of Peter Mason who is a car body specialist. He only came to Didcot to take some measurements for the 5" gauge pannier he is building but was bitten by the restoration bug! Having already replaced and restored parts of the back head (cab) cladding (see previous page), we persuaded him to tackle the cladding "ears". These are an awkward shaped piece of cladding that fits over the belpair part of the boiler where it joins the circular barrel. Originally they would have been pressed, but having no formers, Peter reckoned he could make them from pieces of sheet. The following four photos showed his method.

	Peter cuts and shapes the small segments which he will weld between the already cut front piece and the bent side of the cladding "ear".
With all the segments welded in, Peter welds an edge strip that the next layer of cladding will sit over.
	Peter stands back to admire his work. (11th March 1995)
With the joints ground smooth, Brian Thompson gives the "ear" its first coat of paint. You'd never guess it was not a pressing from the superb finish!! (18th March 1995)

About this time it was decided that a start should be made on the boiler which is normally the last thing to be finished, as when completed, the loco's running "ticket" commences. As 3650's pipe work found it's way onto Didcot's other pannier, 3738, without the boiler, tanks and cladding on the loco, replacement pipe work could not be built.

We decided we would 3/4 finish the boiler and put it in the frames, then put the tanks on so that the cladding could be built / refurbished and a start made on the pipe work. Once done, the boiler could be remove and finished off later as the last job.

The following series of photos were taken over the period 1995 - 1997 and covers re-staying the boiler plus some work completed by coded welders to build up some minor wastage.

	Graeme Ford of Graybar delivers EN32B bright steel for 3650's stays. Unloaded by Kevin Dare, John Fry & Tony Couling. (3rd June 1995)
Fireman's side of boiler partly reamed and tapped. Note the key for stay sizes on the near corner. (15th July 1995)
	Geoff Hinks & Tim Jones plus Andy Martin & John Fry tapping stay holes. (10th February 1996)
Drivers side of firebox with a good proportion of the new stays fitted. (27th April 1996)

The next two photo's show only a small part of the dedication of Mick Henderson who individually made all of the 522 steel & 19 copper stays on his center lathe in his home workshop. (No CNC or capstan lathe, just sheer determination and time)

	Batch of 40 of the 522 stay blanks on the shelf in Micks' workshop that have been faced off & centered one end. (May 1996)
After turning to the correct outside diameter and then reducing the un-threadded center portion, Mick cuts the 11 T.P.I. thread. (May 1996)

Before we could finish off re-staying the boiler completely, we had to employ the services of coded welders' (certificated in welding pressure vessels) to build up the thickness of the boiler plate where minor corrosion had taken place. This was noticable around the carrying brackets, some copper stay heads and washout plug holes.

	All new stays protected with red oxide except for the areas that need building up with weld. (24th August 1996)
Specialist coded welders welding up wasted areas on boiler, and applying calk weld to new tube plate. (16th November 1996)
	Finished build up of weld by coded welders around wasted areas on driver's side of firebox. (16th November 1996)
Kevin Dare calking copper stays, the heads of which had to be lifted to enable welding. (11th January 1997)

Other work being carried out at this time included:-


• Making the valve buckle bushes and glands, installing them in the steam chest cover and cylinder block.
• Refurbishing one top feed pedestal, and machining the other from a new casting.
• Refurbishing the top feed clack valves.
• Refurbishing the newly acquired steam heat shut off valves.
• Finishing off the steam heat pipe work and lagging it.
• Refurbishing the lubrication "W" valve and making the linkage and quadrant.
• Re bushing the die blocks and sending them for re-white metalling together with re-grinding the expansion links.
• Building up with weld and machining flat a small wasted area of the frames where the vacuum pump sits.

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