Maintenance Update

Back from hols last night, to find message on answer phone ... from the Coffee Pot Cafe on Winchcombe station: Down to 3 boot scrapers.  I popped round today, and they had sold 4 during the week.  At Toddington, the F&W had sold 5 during the week.  In the TPO there was a line of rail chairs with their bottoms in the air, all painted black - so, thank you, someone!

Foremarke Hall drew into Winchcombe hauling the BR stock while I was restocking; 2807 pulled out of Todders hauling the GWR stock.  The 55xx tank was on Elephant & Sturgeon duty.

Roster: 2807 is out of service this week.  Next Saturday and Sunday (10/11th) she is booked to haul the second train.

I noted that the Turk (8274) is marked as "unserviceable", but further investigation showed that she had broken a right-hand driving wheel spring on 20th July, though it has now been replaced.  It was only 29 June (just 3 weeks earlier) that it had broken a spring on the left-hand side!  Both of its injectors are marked as being "wet" (i.e. dribbling too much) and one axle box ran dry.

On 2807, I checked the issues log and the following are outstanding:

• RH intermediate tender brake block is not touching the wheel when the brake is on.
• Top gauge frame test cock is rotating with its nut & spindle.
• RH injector steam valve spindle needs repacking.
• Y-splitter on top of the manifold is blowing.
• LH training (axle box) underkeep retaining bolt loose.
• Front RH mud hole door is hissing.
• RH training spring is striking the forward hornstay stud (this is a recurrence of a fault from 11 May).
• All tender brake hangers need better fixing (one almost fell off due to a loose nut).
• LH injector rear cap is leaking steam.

So, there's a few things to keep our chaps happy on Wednesday.

I assume that we had yet more problems with our water supply?  My green garden hose between standpipe and TPO has been replaced with a yellow-looking one.  It suffered in the sun when it also had mains pressure in it.  The Hoselock connections are not exactly reliable, either - they tend to blow apart at random intervals.

TTFN

R.