C2 Project News

News Archive

February 2024

Working Party report from February 2024

October 2023 to January 2024

A long awaited update - We've not gone away!

September 2023

September 2023 – Heavy Downpours and Bright Spells including a Lightbulb Moment!

August 2023

August Bank Holiday report

Late July to Early August 2023

C2 Gauging

Late May 2023

Beer Garden Weather!

May Day 2023

End of April - May Day working party report

Easter 2023

An Extended Working Party over Easter Fortnight

March 2023

March Working Party 2023

February 2023

A busy month, with lots of progress

January 2023

Beating the Winter Blues

December 2022

Happy New Year

November 2022

Progress with the Cab, Cylinders and Turbogenerator

October 2022

Working Party October 2022 - Boiler lift and busy times

September 2022

Equinox Activities

August 2022

It's beginning to look like a steam locomotive!

Late July 2022

Preparing the Coupling Rods

July 2022

A working party of two phases

June 2022

A big move around

Diamond Jubilee 2022

A Momentous Occasion

May Day 2022

May Day Bank Holiday Weekend

Easter 2022

Easter Working Party 2022

March 2022

Spring has Sprung

February 2022

A Sunny Weekend

January 2022

Happy New Year

November 2021

A busy autumn weekend

October 2021

Impromptu October weekend

Mid September 2021

Back to School?

Late August 2021

Bank Holiday Progress

Late July, Mid August 2021

Holiday Season and it's HOT HOT HOT!

Mid July 2021

Some quiet pottering

Late June 2021

A Buzzing Weekend

Mid June 2021

Gathering Momentum

May 2021

Back at Boston Lodge at Last!

January 2021

Happy New Year!

December 2020

C2 Project Livestream: IMechE Railway Division Lecture

November 2020

Autumn 2020 homework progress

September 2020

COVID-19 Update and finally some progress

May 2020

Harbin's HongQi

Easter 2020

Update from Easter 2020 – Working from home

Suspension of Working Parties

Temporary halt to Working Parties

Early March 2020

Update from the Early March working party 2020

February 2020

A Historical Revelation

Late February 2020

Another Rough Weekend

Early February 2020

Braving the Elements

January 2020

Happy New Year!

Christmas 2019

A Productive Season

Updated 5th January
Late November 2019

Update from November working Party 2019

November 2019

Updates to the History Pages

Autumn 2019

September and October 2019

Late August 2019

A Bank 'Holiday' is just an opportunity to work harder!

August 2019 AGM

The Saga of the Boiler

July 2019

A weekend of Light Pottering

Late June 2019

Keeping the Machines Turning, and the Youngsters Learning

Mid June 2019

A busy weekend on the Ff&WHR!

Late May 2019

Late May Bank Holiday Weekend

May Day 2019

Early May bank holiday weekend working party

Easter 2019

Update from the Easter 2019 working party

Spring 2019

Postcards from China

End of March 2019

Update from the last weekend in March 2019

Mid March 2019

Mid March 2019 - Working Party Report

Late February 2019

Volunteers' Weekend!

Mid February 2019

Update from the middle of February 2019 working party

Late January 2019

Cylinders and Motion

Mid-January 2018

No heavy snowfall in Wales (yet!)

C2 Art page new for 2019

New C2 art page for 2019

December 2018

Update from working party between Christmas and New Year - December 2018

November 2018

November 2018 working party

October 2018

A Chilly Weekend!

September 2018 (again)

The September Working Party

September 2018

The Eastern Bloc Connection

August 2018

Here be Dragons!

July 2018

Putting the Toys Back in the Box

Hunslet 125

Happy Birthday Linda and Blanche

May 2018

A Busy Month

New Merchandise

We are pleased to announce new merchandise added to our range

Late April 2018

Making the most of a few sunny days!

Tender Frames

Mid April Update – Tender frames cleaned and painted

Easter 2018

Busy Times on the Tender!

New Website Pages
We haven't seen an update for a couple of weeks - what's going on?
Late February 2018

A Wintry Working Party

Mid February 2018

Another 'extra' working party

Late January 2018

Here we are again!

Mid-January 2018

Penblwydd Hapus!

Nadolig Llawen!

Merry Christmas!

November 2017

News update from 27th November 2017

October 2017

Making Brakes

September 2017

More Progress on the Tender and the Brakes

August Bank Holiday 2017

Keeping the Machines Busy

Mid August 2017

Extra Mid August Working Party

July 2017

I'm sure our working parties are longer than they used to be!

June 2017

Summer is Here!

May 2017

Back to Normal

Q&C II 2017

The Quirks and Curiosities II Gala Weekend

Easter 2017

Wheeling the Frames and other major progress

March 2017

Another Busy Working Party

February 2017

A busy month for the C2!

January 2017
Happy New Year!
December 2016

Merry Christmas and a Productive Working Party

November 2016

A lengthy report from our busiest working party to date

C2 Bling
Two new pages in our 'C2 Variants' section, illustrating some of the decorations applied to C2s over the years, and the variety of chimneys and boiler mountings carried by C2s. Perhaps some inspiration for us?
2017 Working Parties
2017 Working party dates now available.
October 2016
Progress during October 2016
Photo Archive Project
The research that we did for the 'C2 Variants' pages led to a desire to collate more historic photos of C2s in China, including their precessors such as KP-4, KV-4 and the related ZM16-4 etc. We are currently setting up a collaborative photo archive of these '28 tonne locomotives' for research purposes.
September 2016
News from two very productive extended working parties on 26-29 August and 23-25 September.
Summer 2016
It's been a while since our last website update - sorry! But a lack of news on the website means we've been far too busy working on the loco, and there's loads to report. Over the summer we've been holding two working parties each month, and many of these have been 3-4 days rather than the normal 2 days. With extra hands available around Boston Lodge, progress has been good.
Loco Performance & Cab Variants
We've added a new website section 'C2 Variants' and a new page within it about C2 Cab shapes. We've also moved the recent page on Tenders into that section. In the Technical Data section, a new page 4 looks at C2 Performance, with calculations as to what it is likely to achieve on the FR and WHR. Finally, in the Locomotive History section, there are some new (old) photographs on pages 2 and 3, and some new text reflecting the results of our ongoing research.
Tender Designs
Paul has written a very interesting page on tender designs. The new page looks at the different designs of tender used with C2s, and considers what our tender should look like when we rebuild it.
May and Early June 2016
May and early June working parties
Easter 2016
Easter 2016 Working Party
February 2016 Update
February working parties.
C2 Locomotive Wheelsets Completed
C2 Locomotive wheel sets have been completed by CMS-Cepcor at their works in Leicestershire.
January 2016
January 2016 Working Party
Christmas - New Year, Dec 2015
Update from the Christmas to New Year working Party, December 2015
November 2015
Update from November 2015 working party
Update October 2015
News from the September and October Working Parties.
August Bank Holiday 2015
News from the August 2015 Bank Holiday Working Party
June 2015
June Working Party.
Spring Bank 2015
Update from Spring Bank Holiday 2015
May Day 2015
Update from May Day weekend 2015
Loco Axles Completed
Completion of the new locomotive axles.
Easter Update 2015
Update from March and Easter Working Parties 2015
March 2015
Although it has been a few months since our last website update (sorry!), work on the C2 has continued to progress.
Update from Autumn 2014
Tender wheelsets re-gauged to 2 foot gauge and other progress over the last 3 months
August Working Parties 2014
Two working Parties in August
Progress on 4 fronts
Progress during the July 2014 working party
Turning the Loco Axles at Boston Lodge
An update from a hastily arranged, last minute but very productive working party
June 2014 Working Party
Axle maufacture now underway
Spring Bank Holiday 24-26th May 2014
Progress over the long weekend
May Day Weekend 2014
Great Progress over the May Day Weekend
Easter - April 2014
Progress over the Easter weekend 2014
February 2014
Progress with the Axle Boxes
Christmas - New Year, December 2013
Working Party over the Christmas to New Year period 2013
Progress June to November 2013
Working Party updates from June to November 2013
May 2013 working party
End of May working party. Work on the tender and loco wheels.
Ffestiniog Railway - Steam 150 celebrations
Come and see progress on the Chinese C2 at Boston Lodge Works
April 2013 - A long overdue update
It's been a very busy year with some great progress
Easter 2012 - Frames Cut!
News of progress during March and Easter 2012. The re-gauging starts
February 2012 - Latest news
An update from the last 6 months, which has been a very busy period for the C2 Project.
August Bank Holiday 2011
A very busy working party was had over the August Bank Holday weekend from 27th to 29th August 2011
August 2011 - Summer Update
Work over the last few months on Dahuichang C2 Number 4
May 2011 - Locomotives of Dahuichang
The history of the narrow gauge locomotives used at Dahuichang
Lifting the boiler - March 2011
New lifting gantry built in the C2 shed and the boiler lifted from the frames
February 2011
News update from Feb 2010
January 2011
News update from the end of 2010 and into 2011
Summer - Autumn 2010
News update from July to October 2010
Working Party 26th / 27th June 2010
Number 4 starts to come apart.
Update May 2010
Photographs of progress from the 2nd May Bank Holiday Weekend 2010.
Update May Day 2010
Number 4 features at the Ffestiniog Railway Quirks and Curiosities Weekend.
Update April 2010
Number 4 is in its new home!
Update Easter 2010
Easter working party - Siding installation preparations and moving the tender.
Update March 2010
Electrical working parties in February and March 2010 - NEW PICTURES ADDED
New Mechandise Added
Chinese Forestry Railway replica plates now available
New Merchandise Added
Shibanxi 4 coach Kit in 16mm scale
Update 2009
C2 Locomotive to be rebuilt at Boston Lodge in a Newly constructed shed
December 11th 2008
A BIG Thank you
News December 5th 2008
There will be no website update this weekend (6th/7th Dec 08) as we are all having the weekend off on the beer. However, for those hungry (or indeed thirsty!) for more C2, then there are lots of picures of the recent C2 move on Roger Dimmick's fotopic site.
News Novermber 30th 2008
Number 4 at Boston Lodge
News November 25th 2008
Number 4 arrives back at the Ffestiog Railway - Here are the Pictures
News October 13th 2008
October 11th/12th Working Party, Boston Lodge
News from September 2008
Number 4 at The National Railway Museum at Shildon (Locomotion) Steam Gala September 20th/21st 2008.
News from August 2008
Number 4 in visit to Locomotion, The National Railway Museum at Shildon.
News from July 2008
Update from July 2008
News from July 2007
Update July 2007
Press Release 13th Jan 2007
CHINESE NARROW GAUGE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE ARRIVES IN UK
 
February 2024