Webb Engineering

Wakefield 12 port lubricators

Wakefield lubricators were often fitted to steam railway locomotives during the 1950s and 1960s.  They are used to supply a measured amount of oil to the cylinders, valvegear and axleboxes. The pair illustrated here are being supplied to a heritage railway and are going to be fitted to a locomotive that is now in the final stages of restoration. The machining and manufacture of all components was done in house at Webb Engineering.

Two completed lubricators awaiting delivery to the customer.

Above is an eccentric shaft complete with ratchet wheel. Both components are made in a high tensile steel and nitride hardened before final grinding.

The photo to the left shows the interior. The two piston yokes can be seen with the eccentric shaft running through the middle.

To the right is a pump assembly comprising of the yoke, six pump pistons with their sleeve valves and volume control adjusters.

Because castings were no longer available for the yoke it was built up in mild steel and then machined.

The components of a yoke prior to assembly

Pump components

Completed lubricator units

The pump locations on the underside of the resevoir casting