9th Feb 2002 The start of the diary of the build on the Titfield Thunderbolt. I watched sever YouTube videos before deciding that I wanted to build the loco as I wanted to see evidence that it could pull a driving truck, and driver, behind the loco and tender. With this observed the purchases of the castings, plans and boiler kit was made. The videos viewed are as follows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9dqhVJ4gos https://youtu.be/9iQSS3oMVnU https://youtu.be/w-uck_OLKyI https://youtu.be/U_y-QEqN9CI https://youtu.be/R3SLhyFTv-Q https://youtu.be/nuoExYfqLVo https://youtu.be/FIlVZEF11ck https://youtu.be/wUs8I5ebMKY https://youtu.be/fOYP5h6mOJg https://youtu.be/4dGahA1L_GA
Friday 10th February 2022 The parcel of casting arrived
Sunday 13th February 2022 Volumes 108 109 and 110 were kindly brought to my home, as I was still recovering from an accident on Thursday last which put me in A&E to have my face patched up. First the volumes were looked through and paper markers places at the various entries of the build of the Titfield Thunderbolt Then the first of the scanning session completed the assembly of a build that could be read after the volumes had been returned to Maidstone Model Engineering's library. It all started on the April 16 1953 issue and went on about every three weeks. The scans were printed of an put into a ring binder
Monday 14th February 2022 Started on the scanning of the articles inthe Model Engineer.
Tuesday 15th February 2022 Continued with the scanning and complete all relevant section in Volumes 108 and 109. I found out that Model Engineers Laser already have drawings for some of the part of the "LION" which saves my much time in doing necessary drawings and saving them to .dxf (which is the standard drawing type that the laser cutter needs) !! link to the laser cutter
Wednesday 16th February 2022 Continued with, and completed, the scanning articles from volume 110 A parcel of Steel arrived from AJ Reeves ready  to make the chassis for the Loco and Tender.
Thursday 17th February 2022 Parts ordered from the laser cutter Part no  Part Quantity 1075 Insider frames 2 308 loco front horn 2 309 loco middle horn 2 310 loco trailing horn 2 1076 motion plate 1 306 tender frames 2 307 tender horns 4 18266 tender rear plate 1 18265 tender side plate 2 18263  tender sole plate 1	There is a lot to do before the actual build start so let's make a start thinking about the build process.. The loco has a simple frame like many trucks and the Axle horns are riveted onto the side pieces steel. To build up the frames of the loco.we need two pieces of 3/4" x 3/8" at a length of 20 1/4" long and the ends must be truly square. The axle horns are being laser cuts see the order above. The horns will be put in place a secured by 3/32" rivets. The horn cheeks will be pieces of rectangular steel rivets each side of the axle box opening.
The extract of the drawings shows that the side frames at a length of 20 1/4" meet flush with the front buffer beam which is made from 1 1/16" x 1/2" steel. The angle piece will be cut from  3/4" or larger angle  and the holes for rivets shown are for 3 1/2" so calculations as to spacing needs to be done. As the 3 1/2" version has frames of 1/2" and the spacing is 1/4" them with 3/4" frames the spacing will be 3/8" and a distance back from front edge of  3/16" and similarly 3/16" down.
At the rear as with the front the width of the drag beam is 3/4" and the thickness will 3/8". The angle pieces will be as for front.
Friday 18th February 2022 I sat down and thought about how to convert 3.5" drawings to 5" in an easy way and decided to print out a paper rule and then cut out a section to give the 5" marking and applied it to the other side where I had marked 3.5" and then connected 3.5" to 5" and drawn parallel lines at various other point doe that I had direct reading from 3.5" to 5". It might be only approximate but it will give a good check guide as to the sizes as the plans are drawn mainly to 3.5" and dimension given in a circle for 5"