Friday 19th
I managed to snatch a short while to slap a primer coat on the 11 rail chairs.
Noted that Gilbert & Brian were at Todders on Thursday.
Brian reported:
"All went well today with the visit of NYMR to the GWSR to see 2807 in action.
They inspected the new arresters for the ash pan and were very very impressed, I think the quote was “you should max produce these they are the best I have seen”
They were very impressed with 2807 and are very much looking forward to our visit."
Saturday 20th
Bruce & I started preparing for 2807 to go to NYMR. Largely on the assumption that NYMR won't have spares to fit our loco, we took three each of the long & short fire bars. We sorted out one loco spring and one tender spring, and put all of these on a trolley. There's a selection of corks; two wheel chocks (aka "scotches"); two loco lamps plus a gauge frame lamp; and the three cinder screens for the ash pan.
As 2807 is in service this weekend, there are things we can't do … until Monday.
So, I applied a top coat to 9 of the 11 rail chairs, and put a second blue (under) coat on two LNER chairs. Once I get going with the paint brush …. so, the springs & fire bars now say "2807" and the screens are painted with heat-resistant silver!
Carpo popped in and commented that when I said last time that the leak in the Y-splitter had "magically" fixed itself … it hadn't! Carpo had fixed it, by extending its thread.
Stuart has noticed that the Hornby 2807 model is now available at £144. However, Stuart does bespoke conversions at nearly £30 cheaper than that! Email him if you are interested: stu_farrimond@hotmail.com
Sunday 21st
Top coat on the two LNER chairs, plus gold lettering on the other 9. Just enough Garter Blue to do Bob's chair. 2807 in service between Cheltenham and Winchcombe (Thomas weekend).
Monday 22nd
Bruce and I were assisted by Clive [GWSR] in getting 2807 ready to go. She began in the siding by the station, which was not ideal. However, Clive volunteered to go in the firebox and clean out the ash. Two of the fire bars were in such a bad state that they had to be replaced with new ones.. Clive had also cleaned out the toolboxes (before Bruce & I arrived), and various unnecessary items (such as our spanners) were removed - and some rubbish disposed of! Two loco lamps and the gauge frame lamp were put inside the toolbox.
I removed the nuts from the front bell housing, and located our chimney cap. In playing with fire irons, I noticed that the yoke that should be used to safely hold them in place was loose. However, when Bruce tackled it with a spanner, the nut refused to budge.
Carpo shunted us over the ash pit, where Clive cleaned out the ashpan. We then fitted the new cinder screens into the damper doors. Bruce removed wooden planking on the cab floor so that we could get at the pins that hold loco and tender together. The grot beneath the boards was unbelievable! So Bruce cleaned the boards and the floor beneath.
We were told to drop water from the tender until only 1,000 gallons remained. This had to be done over the pit, but we did discover that one of the two hose connections had been disconnected, but not the other.
2807 was shunted out into the car park where loco and tender were separated. The photo shows Bruce tidying up before heading home.
After we'd all gone home, Brian emailed to say that Alleleys and NYMR say the tender should be empty of water! Loco is due to depart Tuesday afternoon.
Roger
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