From our roving reporters at the NYMR

Monday 29th
Stuart reported:
"I attended the NYMR Gala as a 2807 Support Staff member, arriving Thursday afternoon and got back home 10pm last [Sunday] night. I am struggling to come up with an expletive that will adequately express how much of an excellent time I had. My Grateful Thanks to our Brian G, who sorted out a brilliant spot for me to set-up with my camper van directly behind Grosmont Station. I printed and took with me 400 hand-outs, which I had amended and updated specifically for the NYMR.

Over the 3 day event, I only rode on 2807`s trains, speaking with hundreds of passengers and at the stations I handed out the leaflets which on almost every occasion, required me to give a short history of our loco. I can honestly say that currently my voice is somewhat tired, but without exception everyone was very interested and many were unaware of either the Glos Wark`s Railway or where it was, so I therefore have been an ambassador for them and us.

On the Saturday on Grosmont Station, I actually met 2 people from Evesham who had come up to see 2807 and who are great fans of our loco and the Glos Wark`s railway. Another chap I met, who was from Cheshire, had actually bought stuff from our stall at the July Bus Rally.

I personally handed out 350 Leaflets and was permitted to distribute the other 50 in waiting rooms etc., on the NYMR. I am now hoping that with them, I have planted some seeds which will bring us and the GWR some financial benefits. 

All the NYMR staff were very hospitable and friendly and have fallen in love with our loco and in fact are planning to kidnap it. The drivers and firemen all had smiles reaching further than ear to ear and were totally impressed with 2807`s power and the ease it attacked the famous bank incline whilst pulling 7 coaches full to capacity with not even any standing room left.

On 1 of the trips, Brian G rode in a coach with me, whilst he had a break from the footplate, and we had to squeeze in a corner at a door to be able to make the journey. I took some short videos with my digital camera with sound when we were on some of the sections and I just hope that when I play them back on my laptop, they look and sound as good as they were. If they are suitably good enough, I will put some on YouTube and somehow get them to Steve for our website.

During the weekend, I met up with Roy and Audrey Gamlin who were representing the 2807 FLA and had some of their leaflets with them as hand outs. Ian Bromley was there for the full event and we had several journeys together and a meal at the Station Tavern next door to Grosmont Station. On the Sunday, John Tyler and his wife were at Grosmont Station awaiting a trip on 2807, also on the same day I met 2 lads who were from the East Lanc`s Railway. one of them was a fireman there and after his journey on 2807 he said to me with a smile, "I see what you mean, the loco is powerful and the sound is awesome".

All in all, I think you will have gathered that I had a good time and that 2807 performed flawlessly, effortlessly and impressively."

Tuesday 30th
The following report arrived from Brian:
"The first weekend of 2807 at the NYMR has been a massive success!

All the NYMR team are hugely impressed with the loco, the standard of maintenance, and performance. This is great credit to our CSPL team and the continued work to keep the loco in running order.

I had some wonderful comments on Sunday evening from the Chief Engineer of Nunney Castle praising the performance of the loco also.

They are so pleased with the loco that on Sunday and again Monday I was asked if they could use her on more days than stated in the contract, this I agreed to with Clive Goult loco dept head.

The loco was actually used on Monday 29th Sept and Clive will be contacting me requesting permission for further days soon.

At the request of Ian Carpenter, later this week they will be replacing the fusible plugs as they are near the “end of the boiler life”

Gil is going up this weekend and Paul Richardson of the loco department will be up as loco rep the following weekend for the War Event."

Subsequent to this, Brian said that NYMR want to use 2807 on extra days - like, Wednesday to Sunday this week!  … and they've fitted new fusible plugs already, in anticipation!

Is this good, or is this brilliant???  We all have every right to be proud of our engine, don't you think?!

Roger

2807 at the NYMR

As & when reports from NYMR reach me, I will distribute them.

Just to catch up on new issues logged while still at Todders:

35: RH flange lubricator spring broken.  {Bruce removed the spring, took it home and repaired it.  He refitted it before the trip to NYMR}.

36: Small blow from RH clack.

37: Left front drain cock started blowing for 1/2 day then sorted itself.  {Likely cause is a bit of grot stopping the valve from closing fully.  No action taken (since it "sorted itself") but it would be good to dismantle and clean all drain cocks in due course}.

38: Coal watering valve continuously leaking water.  {Unclear if this was from the valve itself or from the pep pipe (which we know about = caused by a leak in the clack valve, creating pressure in the pep pipe}.

39: Back RH firebars to be changed - buckling.  {See 41.  We changed 3 fire bars before going away}.

40: Ejector still blowing through.  {We have not had the opportunity to remove the ejector and fix it.  It may have to stay like that either until November, or even until winter maintenance}.

41: Rear middle fire bar dropped into ashpan during day.  {It was badly burned away such that the end was disintegrating.  We replaced it before going to NYMR}.

Tuesday 23rd
I called in at Todders circa 2pm and the loco was still in the yard.  I couldn't stay and wait for the low loaders.

Mark Young heard that the lorry arrived circa 8.45 pm (so I'm glad I didn't wait for it!).

Wednesday 24th
Tesco day for me, so I didn't get to Todders until 11.00.  2807 had gone by then.  Gil & Fred saw the loco & tender en route as they drove to Todders/Winchcombe.  The lorries pass right by Bruce's house, so he noted the loco leaving at 9.10 and the tender some 20 minutes later.

I did a couple of hours on boot scrapers, as no one else came.

Brian later reported from NYMR:

" Loco arrived safely at 6pm this evening"

Thursday 25th
Stuart has driven up to Grosmont, to watch her over the weekend.

Friday morning: received this photo from Brian of Sir Nigel ("Greasy") Gresley, which had the honour of standing alongside our engine.

Saturday 27th
Bruce told me that he hadn't got away on Monday as quickly as he imagined.  He spent some time cleaning off the coal dust and grime that collects on the tender below the coal space - particularly on the vacuum cylinder.  He also noticed that the hoses linking to the loco had no clips on them, and upon checking the toolbox, found one … where was the other?  So, Bruce set off retracing the movement of the tender, and walking along the track found it - just about as far down the line as it could have been!

Anyway, I called in at Winchcombe and picked up 7 rail chairs to take to Todders.

Bruce arrived at Todders moments before I did.  We started on building up boot scraper stock - I finished off 4 in the pipeline; Bruce began needle-gunning and wire-brushing more chairs.

Gil turned up at 10.30 and started helping Bruce.  Then it was tea break.  I restocked the F&W and then started cutting bolts of rail chairs.  However, at 12.15, Gil buzzed off - he went for a ride on the train!!!

After lunch, Bruce & I pressed on and had cleaned 7 rail chairs by 2pm, when Gil turned up again!  Bruce & I both wanted to leave early, so Gil didn't even have time to get into his overalls before we started packing away.

On the way home, I delivered Bob's refurbished LNER boot scraper (painted in garter blue).

On the Internet there are a few pics of 2807 at NYMR:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdjt42/15175654289/ is at Grosmont;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbmc--OqDT0 This video shows various engines, and 2807 is briefly at 7:40 but significantly from 8:03 to 8:40 (i.e. right at the end - they left the best 'til last!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAPZBTiCOXU shows 2807 from 2:05 through to 3:24 (again, leaving the best until last) on the 11.37 train from Grosmont to Pickering on Saturday.  [Steve Price found this].

http://tinyurl.com/nakbnu5 2807 hauling a Grosmont - Pickering service at Moorgates on 26.09.14 [Thanks to Michael Howard for finding this one].

Sunday 28th
I popped in to Todders after a bike ride, to paint some bottoms - but Bruce had done them before he went home on Saturday!!!

Another vid from Steve:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzfgA20DwLA
(we get two shots - right at the star, but then particularly good from 5:10 to the end).


Roger

Gauging at Pickering

Brian reports "Gauging checks at Pickering all ok".

2807 is visiting the NYMR

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

Maintenance Update (siphon, weighing, damper screens)

Due to family commitments and the recent arrival of Rowan (my daughter's second child), I have been unable to spend much time at the railway.  However, I'm trying to catch up:

Saturday 13th
Colin wrote:
"I went down to the siphon today (Sat).  I had not been down for a while; I was quite impressed with the progress made.  The outside that has had the final colour applied looks great and will only look better as more coats are applied.

I first painted the last slats on the good side with an undercoat. They are very odd things to paint, as the paint slides down the slope, so you paint one bit and find in a couple of minutes there are drips all on the edge of the slats.  But when they are done they look good.  Some will need replacing in the future I think.

I then filled some more nail holes. I'm sure someone is punching some new ones, as they seem to breed. Afterwards I cleaned and painted some more of the inside roof on the bad side. It's all looking good.

Fred was getting the wood ready for the floor replacement by the door and reinforcing one of the cross pieces that hold the doorframe square - a good day and a little more progress."

Meanwhile, Bruce, David, Gilbert, Mike & John were at Todders.  J, G & M weighed the loco*. They then weighed the tender, but discovered vast discrepancies on either side.  Puzzled by this, they went away to contemplate or cogitate.

D & B started on the screens for the damper doors.  These are a stated requirement by NYMR to allow us to run on their line.  In fairness, we have set light to some sleepers in the past …  so these are designed to allow sufficient air in, but not allow red hot / burning cinders out.

Sunday 14th
I called in briefly to collect boot scrapers and replenish stocks in the two cafes.

David, Bruce & Gil were still working on these screens.  Not trivial.  Partly because of the strengthening we have put on the damper doors (to stop them warping with the heat) the mess can not be flat!  Little "boxes" have to be welded in, to miss anything that sticks out.  The damper doors have to close flush, of course, to prevent air influx when it is not wanted.

Monday 15th
I managed to snatch a couple of hours during the late afternoon, and discovered David, Bruce and Gilbert working on the loco.  I think they had been home since Sunday …

Gil removed the spacers on the safety valves, and Carpo was then able to fit them properly.  He also adjusted the tender brake …. ah-hah!  When weighing the tender on Saturday, the tender brake had been on!  Hence it jammed the wheels, and hence they did not weigh correctly!

Bruce continued fitting cinder screens to the dampers, while Gil & David fitted the spark arrester in the smokebox.

Tuesday 16th
David was at Todders all day (until 4.30) finishing off the build & weld of these screens.  Just one remained as not a perfect fit.

Wednesday 17th
Bruce fettled the final screen and made it fit.

Mike & Gil weighed the tender, and the loco (again) to have a single set of results.

I got to work on preparing rail chairs.  There were 11 cleaned by the time I was called away (3pm), but I did have time to paint their bottoms!

* To weigh the loco/tender, each wheel is jacked up by a miniscule amount - only just sufficient to get a thin feeler gauge between wheel & rail to prove that it is in the air.  This minimises the difference between actual weight and the difference caused by raising the wheel against its spring.

Roger