Bruce, John G and myself in attendance today. With 2807 still in service there was a limit to what we could do. It seems that Foremarke Hall’s superheater troubles necessitate removal of the s/h header and sending it back to Tyseley for more machining. That puts 7903 out of service for a while longer, so what does that mean for 2807?
There were 4 more issues reported (though it is apparent that at the end of the day, the driver simply lists the things that he’s spotted, regardless of them having already been reported!).
Issue 22: Driver-side whistle valve blowing past. {we assume this means the Emergency / Guard Brake whistle … which was raised as issue 14 already}.
Issue 23: Gauge glass blowing by. Glass replaced. {Much appreciated that remedial action was taken by the crew}.
Issue 24: Driver-side cross-head bottom slider hot.
Issue 25: All tender underkeeps have black/grey oil.
Regarding Issue 24, it was reported in Issue 12 that the fireman-side slide bar was hot. I had inspected the slide bar last week, and though it was warm, it was not too hot to touch. So, when 2807 arrived at Toddington circa noon, Bruce and John went to check her over. Bruce reported similarly, that the bottom slide bar was warm but not hot. We think that it is likely that the bottom slider will be warmer than the top because the weight of the cross-head bears down onto it. We don’t agree that either is “Hot”, and we are not concerned.
Bruce examined the whistles and feels that the one that he and Gil played with last week is probably still leaking steam (as well as the emergency whistle). The seal in the valve seat appears to be copper wire, but Bruce believes that a copper washer would be more reliable. So, he’s ordered some copper and will manufacture some washers.
John spent all morning painting boot scrapers with their enamel top coats - 4 GWR green; 2 black, and 1 BR in crimson.
I continued with the pieces of conduit for the ATC. We now have three sections to be welded
together for the down-piece from cab to runningboard. We can do no more until 2807 stands still!
Friday 17th
Bruce’s copper was delivered by David. David took away the welding equipment and the ash pan
meshes (that stop large embers from dropping through onto the wooden sleepers) to work on those
at home.
Saturday 18th
As 2807 was in service, Bruce and John T set about cleaning rail chairs. I arrived just before lunch,
and painted the lettering on the chairs that were in the production line. By end of play, Bruce &
John had cleaned 7 chairs, and I painted their bottoms.
More importantly: A few problems arose with 2807. They are hoping to nurse her through Sunday,
and then we have Wednesday to fix what we can. She is required for the Thomas weekend 25/26
June to play at being Henry.
As I said, Foremarke has to send its superheater header and elements back to Tyseley for remedial
action; so 7903 will be OOS for a couple of weeks! P&O has tender brake issues that have not yet
been resolved. Also, its steam brake works, but requires attention - some parts are apparently not
machined to spec.
So, back to 2807: Three keystone bricks in the brick arch have started to crumble. Part of each has
dropped off, which means that the arch is not as safe as it needs to be. JC has ordered us a new
arch, which should be despatched on Monday. It ought to be at Todders by Wednesday. On
Monday and Tuesday the firebox will be too hot to spend time inside, anyway, so the brick arch will
have to be replaced on Wednesday.
The crossheads and lower slide bars are running hot. Today’s crew have been filling up the
crosshead oil reservoirs on every trip. Both sides appear to be losing oil, which probably means that
their felt pads are worn. I called in at Winchcombe on the way home and inspected the crossheads
and slide bars. On both sides, the crossheads were too hot to hold; the bottom slide bars were
warm and holdable. The RHS was hotter than the LHS. The loco was stationary awaiting the diesel’s
arrival. There was a film of oil on the bars, but not as much as I had seen on 4270 which I examined
as I left Todders. Oil was dripping out of the RHS crosshead and forming a pool on the ground. I
didn't have time to examine the LHS as thoroughly as the RHS, as the diesel was approaching, and
then 2807 was leaving.
The consensus is that we remove the LHS crosshead on Wednesday and replace the pad. To do this
necessitates the removal of the con rod! However, to do the RHS would mean additionally removing
the vacuum pump rod. You can’t do both at the same time, because the wheels (and rods) have to
be specifically positioned to extract the con rod from the crosshead.
Hopefully, 2807 will then soldier on for another week whereupon we shall have to tackle the RHS
crosshead.
Apart from that, the crew say that the whole boiler rocks from side-to-side relative to the cab. This
is a bit alarming! Gil thinks that the wedges at the back of the firebox, between it and the frames,
might have worked loose. You can’t get to them without removing some cladding! Whether there
will be enough people available on Wednesday to explore that issue remains to be seen. Any
volunteers?
Sunday 19th
Well, she made it to the end of the day OK.
If I can make an hour or two free on Tuesday afternoon, I shall clean out the clinker, cinders & ash
from the firebox so that work on the brick arch can commence immediately on Wednesday.
Roger
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