One of three pictures of 6989 recently donated by Dusty Miller from his collection. We have no idea of location. date or who took it. Can you help? [See Letters to the Editor qn98]

Not getting our grant application was a disappointment, but it bas not diminished our resolve to complete the project. We have since found out that we were not alone in not getting a grant, lots of deserving causes were also unsuccessful.

We ended 2006 with significant progress having been made on the tender frame. The wooden pad that sits beneath the tank is completed, although we have had to temporarily remove some of it to avoid damage during cutting operations. The new shovelling plate is fitted, as is the handbrake. We cannot find the water scoop column, but have most of the fittings. We have no record of it coming with the tender. If any early members can remember seeing it and shed any light on its whereabouts if it did come, we would appreciate it.

We had to have a new tender brake hanger pattern and a set of set of 6 castings made, as we discovered that the ones we had were from a type 66 loco and would not fit our tender. Since then, they have been machined by Colin Dinsdale and are ready for fitting once we get some new pins made. We are also a brake stretcher (equaliser) missing, but a parts swap with Didcot should remedy this for us.

The loco has not been completely neglected. We now have a brand new set of clack valve fittings made by John Hancock so we can restart work on fitting the water feed pipes. Trevor Tremblin is also bending the injector steam feed pipes to shape for us. The front cover picture amply demonstrates the progress that has been made over recent years.

We have added 7 new pictures to our history of the locomotive and a copy of the traffic notice for the special train on 6th August 1964 that took 6989, in company with 6960 Raveningham Hall, 7F No 53809 and Class 48xxxx No 48431, from Gloucester to Barry.