IRONCLAD
WORKS

Museum workshop / Calder Fen

STEELREMEMBERS.

One survivor. Five bays. 18,406 parts returned to running condition without sanding away the truth.

Enter the service pit

The restoration arc

FIVE BAYS.
ONE UNBROKEN LINE.

Hull 38 entered on a cable and left under its own power. Each cutaway records what the workshop found, kept, replaced, and refused to disguise.

01
BOW PLATE DELAMINATIONLOSS: 11.8 KG TURRET RING SEIZEDIRON OXIDE SCALE: 9 MM ENGINE BAY EMPTYMOUNTS TORCH-CUT
AS FOUND / 17 OCT 2019

THE FEN KEPT THE SHAPE.

Recovered upright from black peat, the hull carried no engine, optics, or floor. The mud preserved tool marks beneath forty-three years of standing water.

Original mass
31.2 t
Metal retained
74%
First task
Salt draw
02
BULKHEAD No. 3DATUM ERROR: 2.1 MM 168 SEAMS EXPOSEDNO BLAST MEDIA USED JIG B-14TWIST REMOVED

Switch on, then move the inspection lamp across the stripped hull. Arrow keys reposition the lens.

STRIPPED HULL / BAY 02

NOT CLEAN. LEGIBLE.

Low-pressure water and hand scalers opened every seam. Red chalk marked wartime repairs; white chalk marked ours. Nothing entered the blast cabinet.

Logged seams
168
Datum points
42
Chassis twist
7 mm
03
V-12 CRADLELINE-BORED IN SITU INJECTION PUMPBENCH No. 8 / 120 BAR TWIN FINAL DRIVEBACKLASH: 0.31 MM
DRIVETRAIN / BENCH 08

TWELVE BORES. ONE PULSE.

A period-correct V-12 block, found cracked behind cylinder nine, was stitched cold. New white-metal bearings were poured from the 1944 pattern book.

Displacement
38.8 L
Cold pressure
4.6 bar
Reused gears
63%
04
OXIDE COAT 02DRY FILM: 76 MICRON CAST TEXTURE KEPTFOUNDRY MARK: K-182 CURE: 19°C / 48 HSURFACE UNFILLED
RED OXIDE / COAT 02

THE HONEST COLOUR.

Primer closes the metal but reveals every hammer blow. Pits remain pits. Casting scars remain signatures. Only active corrosion loses its voice.

Primer mixed
64 L
Mask points
317
Filler used
0 kg
05
CREW COMPARTMENTINTERPRETIVE FIT ONLY EXHAUST TEMPBANK A: 418°C TRACK SAGTARGET: 38 MM
RUNNING / ROAD TEST 14

MOTION, NOT MAKE-BELIEVE.

The final olive coat follows pigment fragments trapped beneath a tow lug. She moves for interpretation days only, carrying no live systems or armament.

Road speed
18 km/h
Oil held
4.1 bar
First run
2.7 km

Track shop / Heat 7

A LINK IS
A PROMISE.

Each 14.6 kg shoe begins at 1,080°C. The die closes once. Grain flow turns around the pin boss, then every link is struck with the hull ledger number.

620 MM14.6 KG / 1,080°C
PYROMETER 071080°C
Inventory card / verified 12.04.24

EVERY RIVET
COUNTED.

Provenance is not only where a hull came from. It is the chain of custody for every washer that sends it back out.

IRONCLAD WORKSFORM 38-BFINAL BUILD LEDGER
PARTS ENTERED18,406DOUBLE-SIGNED
Original, conserved11,842
Period stock, matched2,119
New, pattern-made4,287
Interpretive, removable158
INSPECTOR
M. VENN / 044ARCHIVIST
R. SATO / 019COUNTEDIW 38
04 771 38 BNO PART ENTERS WITHOUT TWO NAMES
CALDER FEN / TRENCH CIRONCLAD WORKS42.7 KM
52° 47' 11.2" N
00° 09' 43.8" E
Recovery trenchCustody routeWorks intake

The survivor's provenance

BURIED BY ORDER.
FOUND BY ACCIDENT.

In November 1945, Hull 38 was driven into a peat-cutting trench and disabled. A drainage crew met its glacis plate seventy-four years later.

  1. Assembly ledgerChassis 04-771 leaves the fictional Marrowgate depot without armament records.
  2. Fen depositionTrack pins are removed and the engine is salvaged before controlled burial.
  3. Recovery permit CF-118The hull rises on a four-point textile cradle after a nineteen-day water draw.
  4. Museum registrationHull 38 enters the Calder Fen Industrial Memory Trust collection.
“We restore movement so the public can understand scale, labour, and consequence. We do not restore a weapon.”Rina Sato, collection archivist
Final test / Bay 04 / Doors open

WAKE THE
V-12.

Prime the system and watch the four-stage ledger. Headphones recommended; sound remains off until you enable it.

OIL0.0BAR
ENGINE000RPM
Primer pumpsSTANDBY
Starter motorSTANDBY
Cylinder 01STANDBY
V-12 idleSTANDBY

Engine test standing by.

The noise is interpreted from workshop recordings. Hull 38 is preserved as evidence of industrial labour and wartime cost.

Workshop viewing gallery

SEE THE MARKS.
HEAR THE WEIGHT.

Restoration days: Thursday and Saturday
First engine interpretation: 14:30
Calder Fen Industrial Memory Trust

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