Although the loco looks very odd at present with the cab set back and the boiler jacked up off the frames, we are actually making good progress on several fronts.

The boiler cladding continues to progress towards completion and we are very pleased with the excellent standard of work done. The throat-plate side sheets, large and fiendishly shaped, have now been completed along with the centre sheets that could not be started until the boiler was raised. In addition to the usual awkward three-dimensional curves, each sheet has 13 holes in it to gain access to the flexible stays on the ends of the thermic siphons, of which more will be heard anon.

Another 'nasty' piece of cladding now finished is the cover over the steam manifold shutoff valve. An extra strip added to the crinolines has made the cover more rigid, which in turn ensured that the cover could be shaped to provide a smooth transition between it and the firebox cladding. Some restored Bulleid locos have an ugly lump at this point, but ours is as good as the best of them, or even a little better!

With all the firebox cladding now completed, a start has been made on the boiler barrel cladding. This has required the boiler to be raised for access to the underside; easy to say, but not so easy to do with a "Merchant Navy" boiler! However, with the aid of loco jacks and lots of wooden blocks the boiler now sits some distance above the frames, providing much better access to the longitudinal crinoline strips to which the barrel sheets will be fixed. Whilst the horrendous shapes are no longer such a problem, each barrel sheet is several feet wide and over ten feet long, heavy and unwieldy. They wobble everywhere when handled and seem to have a life of their own. The sheets are being fitted from the firebox end. Whilst there is still plenty of work to do on the cladding, we are confident of seeing this job completed during the first half of 2006.

After lurking under cover for some time at the back of Toddington yard, the fire grate has now received its rocking mechanism.

The original links have been cleaned up and painted for reuse, and stainless steel pins machined to join the links together.

At the same time, the previously-restored mechanisms used by the fireman to operate the rocking grate have been brought out of store and fitted to the back of the firebox. All should now be ready for the fire grate to be bolted to the underside of the firebox at the next full boiler lift.

Meanwhile the Tender has ended its exile way down the Toddington South Head-shunt, and has been moved to a place in the yard where we can get at it to recommence construction. We have ordered some parts for the tender brake gear, and we are expecting delivery of a set of brake hanger arms very soon. Material has been obtained to make the bearings in which these arms swing, and some enquiries have been made about the manufacture of vacuum reservoir tanks. We expect to see the tender brake system make a lot of progress in 2006.

In addition, hours of patient work in the machine shop have seen the Tender Eyebolt Guide finished and a start made on the connecting pin that holds the drawbar in place within the tender draw-gear assembly.

One of the problems of a long-term restoration project is the need to revisit work finished some years ago, and we are busy de-rusting and repainting parts of the running boards and cylinder casings. Similar work will be required on the tender, though this will have to wait until the better weather comes in Spring.

Finally, we had an amazing piece of good luck when searching for a tap to re-cut the threads for the caps covering the flexible stays on the ends of the thermic siphons. We wanted an odd Imperial size, and were resigned to an expensive exercise having one specially made. However, on contacting a supplier dealing in Imperial sizes, after the initial sharp intake of breath they suddenly realised they had exactly what we needed, left over from a cancelled order years ago. We don't know who was more surprised, the supplier or ourselves!