The loco is fixed at 32mm with outside frame slip-eccentrics. When I 'stripped' the frames I left the wheels on the axles and found that this is one of the examples that looks like it was converted from 45mm or was made from parts originally intended for 45mm gauge track. The hole positions that were present for the attachment of the front and rear beams confirmed this. I am sure some Merlin experts can chip in with some information as I do not know that much about these loco's. The frames were also stamped with the number '94' which could well be a sequential serial number of model number or similar.
I used spray paint (acid etch undercoat) for refurbishment of the black parts other than the roof which is satin black powder coat. I like to use powder coating for bodywork where possible as it is so resilient to heat, fire, oil, knocks etc. However, this does make it difficult to match colours unless there is a comparable RAL code available. I confess that I could not find a suitable code for the green so went for the closest match which was RAL6002. I did not want to strip the original paint off the boiler so found a good enough match to do the body work. Anyway, when looking at the loco running round on a ground level track it looks pretty good - to my eye anyway!
The boiler on the loco is of brass construction and it is in super condition. The loco cab was originally made of 3 parts cab front/sides, cab rear and roof and when I acquired the loco this was soldered in once piece. It had been hacked about a bit with the replacement of the original roof mounted gas tank (gas knob sticking out the cab front) and an upright tank had been inserted by opening up the seam of the cab on the offside rear. The loco roof also had some extra holes in it including the ones added for re-gassing and operation of the replacement gas tank. The burner looks to have also been replaced at some point with a later Roundhouse one. I decided to make the cab of bolt together construction and I repaired/covered some of the unsightly holes in the body parts prior to powder coating. The side tanks are solid metal blocks and add quite a bit of weight.
The loco runs very well indeed and it seems to be quite powerful - it is also a heavy loco!
I have taken some shots of the overhauled engine to compare with the pictures of the engine a week or so after the 2011 show.
![Image](./myff/1979541/Stoneleigh_2011+049+%28Large%29.jpg)
![Image](./myff/1979545/Stoneleigh_2011+050+%28Large%29.jpg)
![Image](./myff/1979547/Stoneleigh_2011+051+%28Large%29.jpg)
![Image](./myff/1979550/Stoneleigh_2011+054+%28Large%29.jpg)
![Image](./myff/1979553/Stoneleigh_2011+052+%28Large%29.jpg)
Here are some more pictures in a slightly better light: