October, November, and December have been a
busy period to remove the pony truck and then wheelsets, this blog update will
take you through this process.
Health and safety are a key issue so all care
is taken with the current COVID rules and guidelines as well as the CSPL and
GWSR rules for the handling of heavy items and ensuring the loco is safe when
carrying out such work.
We are lucky enough to have heavy lifting gear
that allows us to lift the complete frames of the loco off its wheels sets. This
kit also allows us to remove many items with the loco safely “jacked up” and
secure to anyone work in or around the frames
Firstly, the connecting rods need to be
removed, something that has been done many times before but always throws up a
challenge or two!
Inside the frames work to remove all the springs
and axel under keeps
Here you can see one of the CSPL team helping remove the springs
Once all the springs and underkeeps were
removed the lift could take place. This was carried out with CSPL and GWSR
support teams slow lifting the loco frames thus freeing up the wheelsets and
axel boxes.
In the next picture you will see an old brake
block hanging from the axel box to stop it flipping over and falling off the
wheel set axel. The two axel boxes per wheel set are lifted and shown in later
photos
The loco frames now stand above the wheels
sets. This is a significant milestone in the HGO and shows the amazing work
being carried out by our support team at the GWSR
After the lift it’s the move, here the CSPL
team start moving the 4 wheel sets out from under the frames.
Then the lift of the axel boxes
The next picture shows all four wheels sets in
front of the frames of 2807 with all the axel boxes removed
In early December the wheelsets were dispatched
from the GWSR Toddington to the South Devon Railway. Here they will be re-profiled
and returned where they, along with the refurbished axel boxes will be returned
to the frames.
Some of the final work to be completed before
Christmas was to give the loco frames a good steam clean. It also required
plenty of hand cleaning with scrapers and brushes
Its has been a great end of 2020 in what has
been a very challenging year. A big thank you goes to the CSPL HGO working
parties on a Wednesday and Saturdays, The GWSR Steam Department and Management,
The GWSR Board, and the CSPL Board/HGO Planning Team. I, as the Chairman, have
had to observe from afar due to COVID travel restrictions and part of a support
bubble for family.
Please keep coming back to the Blog as we will keep
posting updates.
