Friday 27th
I popped down to Todders to deliver a heap of {Tesco's} cardboard trays that we use to box-up boot scrapers. Mark Y spotted me and pointed out that there's a loose nut & bolt on a bracket that holds oil pipes going down to the axle box on the LHS driving axle. He & John P had attempted to tighten it, but couldn't. Mark was concerned that the nut could be catching on the wheel.
Later in the day they had a minor disaster:
The reversing lever was shaking badly and on the second run Mark detected knocking sounds from the motion. He stopped the loco and went inside the motion to find out what was occurring. He found that one of the eccentric rods was loose. Apparently the lock nuts had loosened because the split-pins were not tight up to the locknut. This had allowed the main nuts to slacken as well, so that the ends of the rod were bumping against the eccentrics. The nuts were re-tightened and flogged up on return to shed.
We have been advised to get some spacer washers made to take up the space between the locknut and split-pin and to fit them as soon as possible.
It has also been suggested that we check the clearance in the bottom pivot for the reversing lever together with the bushes in the ends of the actuating rod.
Meanwhile: Maurice has opened up his door to the outside, so he's probably been off out exploring and testing the weather. Program on TV about calories said that he should only have three peanuts per day! I better cut back on the bowl of food, then.
Message from Dave Owen (of Cheltenham) via Stuart: "2807 looks a treat and congratulations to all who put in so much time and effort". It's nice to get feedback like this.
Message from David Holmes in the GWSR Toddington shop: " I now have the Hornby 2807’s in the shop at Toddington"
Saturday 28th
I was late arriving (due to family commitments) but found that I was the first (and only) one to arrive! The loco was in service anyway, so kind-of hard to do anything on it.
I painted three bottoms; cut up some cardboard boxes, fed Maurice and retired. Later, I partook of tea & cake in the Coffee Pot café on Winchcombe station, and "happened" to see 2807 roll in. Much comment from onlookers about the cleanliness & shininess of our loco!
Just in case you've never noticed, there's an excellent footplate guide here: http://www.gwsr.com/footplate/VirtualFootplate.html that explains the controls. The cab layout is very similar to that of 2807.
Monday 30th
John G & I went down to see if anything could be done about the issues raised: (a) the eccentric rods, and (b) the oil pipe brackets.
We checked all of the nuts on the eccentrics, and all are well tight. The space between the locking nuts and their split pins is actually less than the thickness of a washer! Nevertheless, washers could be machined down to suit.
We went round all of the brackets that hold the oil feed pipes above the axle boxes. Six of the eight brackets had at least one loose nut! The problem is that the bolts are countersunk with slotted heads. This makes it difficult to tighten them … when the nut has seized on the thread! Also, as the nuts are behind the wheels, and the balance weights were blocking access on the LHS, Carpo had to shunt the loco to give us access to them. In the end, we had tightened all except two seized nuts. It was impossible to hold the slotted head firmly enough to turn their nuts … so they won't be dropping off during the week!
Wednesday 1 April
As the loco is in service, no one turned up at Todders. So, I applied a primer to the tops of the three rail chairs and went home to plant my spuds.
The current list of (new) issues is:
5. [PG]: Regulator suffering from lack of oil? J-cocks on smokebox leaking. {Talking with Jeff L, he agreed that he felt that oil was not getting to the regulator when he was driving, and it got worse through the day}
6. [MY] LH engine back gear ecc rod to ecc strap bolt loose. {He fixed it; I checked the other nuts & bolts}
7. [MY] Crown oil pipe bracket loose on frames, LH driving wheel. Tip of thread catching rear of wheel. {Monday, John & I went round them all. Two remain seized. Not convinced it's catching the wheel}
8. [MY] Vac pump piston rod rubbing on end bush at full forwards stroke. OK at full rear, ?Head worn? {We have been aware that this is so, and we can't do anything about it. The rod is positioned at its best}
9. [MY] Safety valves lift at 210 psi. {When talking with Jeff, he suggested that creating a vacuum might become difficult if pressure drops below about 190, so it would be good to adjust them}
10. [AS] Left hand intermediate underkeep retaining bolts too short x 2. Lock nuts not fully on threads.
11. [IB] Lubricator feed to RH cyls leaking slightly. Visible on lubricator when hot.
12. [JC] Left hand injector steam feed leaking steam under floor. {We have been aware that a sleeve is inadequately brazed, but it is a challenge to remove the entire pipe to re-do; so we haven't, yet!}
Loco is in service
Friday 3 April to Monday 6th, then Friday 10th (probably for the weekend … it's just not on the roster yet).
Roger
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