Blue Peter Locomotive Blue Peter Bite

This is Blue Peter, but mini.

Expect epic adventures, makes, bakes, badges, pets,

presenters and your post.

We've only got five minutes, so get ready for your Blue Peter adventure.

Here at Blue Peter, we're famous for having challenges,

badges and even a steam locomotive.

Yep, you heard me right.

The Blue Peter locomotive is the last of its type in the world

and dates back to the 1940s.

But the years have taken their toll and many of its parts need some TLC.

Including repairing its boiler,

mending its cylinders

and giving it a new lick of paint.

So, two years ago, Barney and I helped move Blue Peter

to its new home in Crewe, where it could be lovingly restored.

It was a tricky journey which involved being

transported on a low-loading lorry.

The journey took hours and proved a little bit too much for me.

90 miles later, the locomotive arrived at its new home

and all that was left to do was get it into the engine shed.

And there's one man they called for the job.

-BOXING BELL RINGS

-Here we go.

HE GRUNTS

Radzi!

Peter, I've got my hands full here!

Radzi! We use this to push it!

HE GRUNTS

Well, we'll do it Peter's way.

Blue Peter locomotive, all clear.

With Blue Peter finally in the shed,

the team could begin the restoration work, but that was going to take

a very long time, so it's over to you, Linds.

As you can see, work is well and truly underway,

and today is a big day for our friend here because she's

having work done on the parts that actually get her moving -

the boiler.

So it's time for Barney and Radzi to stand aside

and let the big guns take over.

Talking about me.

This restoration is massive.

The locomotive will be completely taken apart,

repaired and put back together piece by piece.

Not one nut or bolt will be left untouched.

We just need the boss to arrive now.

Who is that?!

This is Steve. He's in charge.

If there's a man to get the Blue Peter locomotive

back up to speed, it's him.

So, Steve, it's good to be here.

What has been going on with our locomotive?

It's a long, slow process.

It's taken a lot of refurbishment to all the individual components.

And what are we going to be doing today? How can I get involved?

Well, today, we're going to be making an important

piece of the boiler, which is the copper firebox.

If only we had a finished version so we could make it really clear

-to the viewers what you mean by that.

-Follow me.

What a guy!

Steve, what exactly have we got here?

-What we've got here is a copper fire box. Currently it's upside down.

-OK.

It would normally be the other way up and inside you'd have the coal.

The coal heats up. On the outside there's water.

-It turns it to steam and that's what makes the steam locomotive go.

-Ah!

Normally, that fire box is hidden inside the casing

like this locomotive here.

Oh, so that's kind of the skeleton of the boiler

-that will be inside the locomotive?

-Correct.

-I've got it.

How exactly am I going to be helping today?

-You're going to making one of these plates.

-Really?

-Yes.

-Do you trust me?

-Yes.

-Hesitation!

Well, if I'm going to work on the boiler,

I'd best get my BOILER suit on.

Get it? No? Never mind.

Time to get this loco back on track.

I need a serious bit of kit. Something that can bend metal.

I need a massive hammer!

-Heavy, isn't it?

-Yeah.

My job is to bash this copper plate into shape around the mould below.

Hold it there. Don't go...

OK.

-Let it bounce, yeah? Don't go mad. Don't hurt yourself.

-Fun!

-There you go.

-GRRR!

-That's it.

-Quite good for getting anger out.

After a quick practice,

it's time to heat up the copper using blowtorches.

There we go.

When the metal is literally red-hot,

it's soft enough to mould into shape.

And that's where I come in. Do not try this at home.

Yeah? Oh, I'm scared.

It might look like fun, but it's vital we get this right.

This is the actual copper plate that will

sit in the boiler for years to come.

'After some impressive hammering...'

Got the job!

'..the guys let me loose with the blowtorch.

'What a day!'

And then it's over to the team to finish off the moulding.

Now I can see why restoring this locomotive

is literally going to take years.

Steve, that was a job well done.

Yeah, about halfway through the repair but still a long way to go.

Well, I cannot wait until the Blue Peter locomotive is back on track...

You're sending out all the right signals, Steve.

Hope you don't run out of steam!

So there we have it.

It's going to be a while yet until the Blue Peter locomotive

is back up and running in all her glory and I can't wait.

And it's great to know she's got such a fab team

working really hard on her, especially Steve. What a guy!