hi phil,

there is a vertical stretcher between the crank axle and front of the firebox, so the boiler cant move forwards, and the front of the rear hornblocks prevent the firebox moving backwards.

when you have added everything else plus all the piping, plus brackets to hold down the expansion angle, i can assure you the boiler wont shift! (it is possible the above brackets arent shown on the drawings).

if you secure the boiler to the smokebox you will have a hell of a job ever taking the 2 apart at some future date eg blanking off bits for a pressure test and the inevitable replacement of superheater elements if the loco sees lots of use.

anyway ive never secured any of my boilers to the smokebox!

cheers,

julian

hi, there is no cladding on the boiler, there is no room for any due to the panel work. also the boiler once in place will not move at all. I used a bit of plumbers sealer between the boiler and smoke box just to make sure it was a good seal.michael