Friday 10th
I
knew it was going to happen, but I still have a twinge of sadness -
Maurice has definitely left home. The food I put down for him on
Wednesday was still in his little bowl.
2807
was in service on a Fire & Drive. Seemed to be going OK. Carpo
also told me that he had decided to keep her in service for Saturday.
I
really went down to restock the railway shop with some of our teddy
bears (the Winchcombe Wendy one seems to be everyone's favourite!).
However, while there I applied Deproma to the tops of the three
black-bottomed-chairs. Then there will be nine ready for their enamel
coat on Saturday.
Saturday 11th
Daphne gave Bruce permission to come down for a couple of hours, so he helped me by applying the top coat to the rail chairs.
2807
was chuffing up & down happily, so there was not a lot that people
could do - hence I'd suggested they go to Winchcombe and help on the
siphon work.
Meanwhile,
I tackled some exceedingly clagged-up chairs, and managed only to
de-grease four by 2.30 pm. Bruce had gone by then. Mike W came and ate
lunch in the TPO, but then went to help with P&O (they hope to
light a fire on Thursday).
Sunday 12th
2807
was in service again. I did a spot of painting for a short while, but
really went down to count up how many teddy bears we still have.
Tuesday 14th
Carpo reported: " Bad
news Roger I'm afraid. The joint twixt safety valve and delivery clack
has lasted all of about 4 steamings and has failed again today although
the crew managed to nerdle the engine through the day."
Wednesday 15th
Gil
& Bruce, assisted by Jeff & John P from Loco Dept, set about
solving the problem of why the first gasket lasted four years and the
second one only four days. As the loco was in steam yesterday, it was a
shade too warm to work on it initially (not to mention the pressure on
the 'clock').
In
due course, they removed the clack box from the left-hand side of the
safety valve block and retired to the TPO for an inspection. Bruce
started cleaning up the face and it was soon clear that it was not
exactly flat! It was slightly dished, in fact, plus a bit of a dent and
a scratch. So, he and John P spent a while with the diamond
scrapey-thing making the surface smooth and flat.
John
G & I decided to look at Issue 14, that reported the LH pony
running warm. The loco was not over a pit, so I grovelled I the dirt
and John passed tools to & fro. Draining a small amount of liquid
from both axleboxes revealed no water in there (which, of course, there
shouldn't be!) only oil. So we have no idea why it should run warm.
Maybe it was the sunshine?
For
most of the rest of the day, John G and I repaired one of the
trolleys. They get (ab)used a lot, and the wooden planks were in a
sorry state. In fact, one piece of plywood had stood up to wear better
than real wood. By chance, there was a heap of plywood planking by the
wood store - which is no good for fire lighting. So we made good use of
it!
Once
all of the clack box faces were clean and smart, it was refitted by
Bruce, Gil & Jeff. Carpo inspected it and declared Thursday as
steam-test day. Jamie (Loco Dept) is in on Thursday morning and will
light a steam-raising fire, so all we needed was someone to light a
warming fire tonight ….
Bruce
& I had a quick look at the leaky J-cock on the RH side of the
smokebox. Something is loose, but it is hard to be sure exactly what
needs doing … and it was still a bit warm inside the smokebox! Anyway,
time was running out.
…
John assisted me in starting a fire. By 4.40 pm we decided to adjourn,
and I would pop back about 6.30 and bank up the fire. It is important
to only light a small fire when the loco is already hot, otherwise it
could easily raise steam during the night and blow-off. Apart from
annoying any neighbours, it could then cause the water level in the
boiler to drop to a dangerously low level.
Thursday 16th
FAILED AGAIN! Water pouring out of the clack box joint. Yesterday's fix clearly didn't.
Service days
2807
was rostered to be in service every Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and
Sunday until the end of the month. However, this leak will wipe out
this weekend. Otherwise, Wednesdays are good for fixing things!
Speaking with Andrew M (P&O), their planned steaming test for Thursday has been postponed to
Roger
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