Maintenance Update

Monday 2nd
Just a bit of boot scraper painting (again).

Weds
Bruce & I continued with cleaning and painting rail chairs.  P-Way delivered about 40 more BR(W) ones, so I diverted to cutting off bolts.  I must take a photo and explain the drawback of these through-bolted two-hole chairs.
I went to grab a wodge of brushes for Bruce to paint, only to discover we only have 4 left!  A quick e to Stu was in order (i.e. Stu does the ordering and collects from Cheltenham when he's there on business).
I noticed several people working on the siphon restoration at Winchcombe.

Saturday
I was on my own at Todders, doing the lettering on chairs painted during the week.
Gil was on his own at Winchcombe tinkering about inside the siphon (playing at furniture removals, it seemed).
Feeling lonely, Gil came up to Todders for morning tea break!

It was good to hear 2807 chuffing by - you get used to the slight difference in whistles but most noticeable is the beat.  Foremarke Hall almost sounds as though it is straining, because of the longer time between beats - ours just seems to storm away from Todders box!

I had a phone call during the afternoon enquiring about a Southern boot scraper.  Luckily, over the months, I had discovered two and squirreled them away!

Our loco headboard (Heavyweight Champion) had gone AWOL after the Supporters' Special.  Gil had done a search, so I did one too.  No sign.

Sunday 8th
Found Carpo and enquired about the headboard.  He thought he'd seen one on top of the cupboards in the Loco Dept Mess Coach (but couldn't say which headboard it was).  Sure enough, it was ours!  Thanks, Ian!

Painted the bottom of an SR rail chair.

2807 is not in service this week.  The roster is only showing one week at time, so no info beyond next weekend.

Outstanding issues on 2807's log are:
28: RH middle brake block not touching wheel (I think this is the tender, and we know the new brake blocks need to wear-in).
29: Top test cock on gauge frame faulty.
30: RH injector steam valve spindle needs re-packing.
31: Rear packing nut on Y-splitter on top of steam manifold leaking. [Category 2 = fix ASAP]
35: RH trailing spring striking forward hornstay stud. (Bruce figured this out, and I did a diagram to explain the problem).
38: RH injector steam feed pipe leaking at a joint.
39: Steam heating valve is leaking by.  There's a build up of pressure and evidence of water in the steam pipes.
Memo: Loose brake hanger - all need split pins in bolts.  Weekly inspection enforced.

Geof
We wish Geof a speedy recovery from his recurring lung problem.  It flared up while he was on holiday, and he's landed in Cheltenham General Hospital.

Commiserations also to Dixie, whose back is playing him up (many of us suffer from back complaints - it being a design flaw at the pre-upright perambulatory period in our evolution).

Roger