SteamRanger's 520 in August 2024 

I followed 520 on a trip from Mt. Barker to Victor Harbour on a cold, wet winter's day in 1993. Despite the weather it was magnificent seeing her up close.

Volunteer overhauls can take betwee ten to twenty years. Ratio of repair to running is about 10 hours to 1 hour but increases between exams and age. Increase maintenance on boilers, tubes and super heater elements corrosion, fatigue, erosion if the don't stay warm for months as they were design to do. Once a month or weekend or occasional steaming increases maintenace and shell plate fatigue. If only society workshops had modern high rail with raised track on metre high supports to work under them, instead of crawling along dirty old pits. Modern 5 tonne bridge (gantry) cranes in the sheds so the the old blokes wouldn't burst their own boiler lifting heavy parts. Also interesting reading: The Steam Locomotive, ItS Theory, Operation and Economics, By Ralph P. Johnson , Chief Engineer, The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1945.

Do you have any idea when they put the boiler back on the locomotive and repainted

It will be a magnificent day when it again rolls out of the shed under steam!

Wow ! That sure is a whole lot of work to do ! Well done team 👍

It looks radically different without the boiler