Update from Colin:
Saturday 8th
"The siphon moved into the barn about 11am . We had already cut a new post and painted the new side panels and very nice they look.
Once in the barn we stripped all the tatty sheets that had been put on; gave some of the worse ones the carriage and wagon for body covers (for coaches).
I got up the ladder to examine the end of the coach and found it to be full of nails, screws, rot, so I took it off and we will make a new one for both ends, all in all a good day." Colin Bennett
Wednesday 12th
Gil & Bruce were in a conflab when I arrived. They were comparing our expansion link and die block dimensions to those on a diagram. Of concern was the width of the die block - specifically, the thickness of the two plate (either side of the brass bit). The ones on it are less than 3/8" (fitted in BR days). But the brass bit is too wide for the expansion link width. hence, skimming some off each side of the brass bit means that the side bits could be made thicker. Should they be? It would appear that they should be 1/2", and after skimming, they could be (without fouling or seizing anything!).
Bruce was dismantling the test cocks from the water gauge … except that one wouldn't! The internal packing seems to have caused the tap to jam with the nut underneath. Turn the tap, and the nuts turns in sympathy!
I cleaned one SR chair and then painted 13 black bottoms. It was too cold and foggy to risk putting a second coat on the tender buffer beam, so I went home after lunch.
Today's rumour: (actually, Bruce said…) a black tender is being delivered, but being Race Day, the car park is full, including several coaches! I didn't notice it when I left, so maybe it went away again?
Saturday 15th
David was first to arrive, and was welding a die holder back together. This is a thing in which you fit one of those dies that cuts a thread (i.e. nothing to do with the die block that he, Bruce & Gil are playing with!). One of its handles had dropped off (and previously been soldered back on, apparently - hardly efficacious!).
Bruce & Gil soon arrived and began discussing the die block and expansion link sizes and clearances. David also joined in, and I think that by lunch time they had decided on what dimensions to use!
Dixie came, too, and when he went to put his shoes on, he commented: "What's all this in my shoe?" Morris appears to have been making camp in them and was making it quite comfortable in there! Bruce made a comment (that I shalln't repeat) about mice liking cheese. :-)
Bruce & Gil toddled off to Carpo's office to photocopy the drawing with dimensions upon it. The office was locked, but they key is in a well-known place. Gil opened up and they made a photocopy. As they left, Bruce pulled the door shut and asked Gil where the key was (in order to return it to its safe place). Gil had left the key in the office on the desk! Bruce went on the prowl for a second key (by which to open the door and retrieve the first key) … there isn't a second key! Lucky for him, Gil had escaped by this time, because the only Plan B is to climb up to a window, dangle through it and release the Yale latch!
Gil didn't reappear until after lunch! He and Dixie had gone to Winchcombe to work on the siphon. He returned with a well-worn bracket, asking David to build it back up with weld (please).
The F&W (under the new management of Lynn) had sold 4 boot scrapers, so I got stuck in to applying a base coat on the 13 chairs whose bottoms I had blacked on Woden's Day. I now am faced with a dilemma: I need to needle-gun a new lot of chairs; Carpo has declared our compressor OOS until it has been inspected. So, my thought was to do a Risk Assessment: What is the risk of (a) the compressor blowing up, or (b) Carpo finding out that I had switched it back on and used it? It was obvious to me that the latter was the greater risk and not the former …
;-))
Oh, look! There's a black tender in the yard.
Roger
Sunday, 16 March 2014
Sunday, 9 March 2014
Maintenance Update
Wednesday 5th
Gil & Bruce started the day at Todders. They finished off the tender steam heat pipework by attaching the final section (the bit with the hose on it) at the back of the tender. Bruce painted the new bracket and tidied up the lagging on the pipe, which had unravelled where the welding was needed. Gil escaped to Winchcombe to help Fred restoring the siphon van.
Two Loco Dept chaps, Pete & Roger, applied a second coat of bitumen paint to the tender's coal space. The rear section with the dome in it could also do with a second coat.
I had to give a lighting-up training course (theory) during the morning. After lunch, I tackled the remaining loco brake rods & linkages. I cleaned all but two. These were the heaviest ones, and my back was aching by then! The problem is all of the bending over while scraping, brushing, wiping and polishing the things!
Bruce moved on to the die block in the right-hand expansion link. There was too much slack (sideways movement) in the block as it slid up & down in the expansion link. Essentially, it is a lump of brass with a steel plate on each side. So, the brass needs about 1mm shaving off it. Removing the side plates turned out to be a challenge. There are four rivets holding the assembly together. They have counter-sunk heads, and Bruce started by trying to drill out a head. He soon discovered that they had become work-hardened, and refused to be drilled. So, it took him some of the morning and all afternoon, re-sharpening drills; threatening it with a masonry drill; persuading it with a mallet; and finally extracting the rivets. At least one of these had had a spot of weld on it. Bruce's thought was that at some stage (during BR days) the rivets had worked loose, and the quick answer was weld! Certainly, we have never had this apart, whereas we did have the LHS one apart when up at Llangollen. That one was also loose, and I believe that assembly was held together with counter-sunk bolts. We sent that to South Devon to be riveted together.
Saturday 8th
Gil popped in to see Bruce (and sneak a cup of tea + biscuit!) then buzzed off to Winchcombe, where they were about to move the siphon into the "barn".
Bruce began by moving the compressor and removing the (other) end for Carpo and the inspector to inspect. The he took a multitude of measurements of the die block and expansion link. Then went home.
I attacked the loco pipes and rods, cleaning the grot off of the last three, ready for when the loco comes back.
Then I decided that the tender's buffer beam looked very faded, so I applied Signal Red to it during the afternoon. I did do a (mental) risk assessment, and figured that if I didn't do it today, it might rain, so I did it today, despite the presence of visitors (the railway is open again). Actually, I stuck four "Wet Paint" signs all over it, too! It was nice to have people come up to me and ask to which loco this was the tender.
Roger
P.S.
Rearrange the following words into a well-known phrase or saying:
"The north facing tender is still".
Gil & Bruce started the day at Todders. They finished off the tender steam heat pipework by attaching the final section (the bit with the hose on it) at the back of the tender. Bruce painted the new bracket and tidied up the lagging on the pipe, which had unravelled where the welding was needed. Gil escaped to Winchcombe to help Fred restoring the siphon van.
Two Loco Dept chaps, Pete & Roger, applied a second coat of bitumen paint to the tender's coal space. The rear section with the dome in it could also do with a second coat.
I had to give a lighting-up training course (theory) during the morning. After lunch, I tackled the remaining loco brake rods & linkages. I cleaned all but two. These were the heaviest ones, and my back was aching by then! The problem is all of the bending over while scraping, brushing, wiping and polishing the things!
Bruce moved on to the die block in the right-hand expansion link. There was too much slack (sideways movement) in the block as it slid up & down in the expansion link. Essentially, it is a lump of brass with a steel plate on each side. So, the brass needs about 1mm shaving off it. Removing the side plates turned out to be a challenge. There are four rivets holding the assembly together. They have counter-sunk heads, and Bruce started by trying to drill out a head. He soon discovered that they had become work-hardened, and refused to be drilled. So, it took him some of the morning and all afternoon, re-sharpening drills; threatening it with a masonry drill; persuading it with a mallet; and finally extracting the rivets. At least one of these had had a spot of weld on it. Bruce's thought was that at some stage (during BR days) the rivets had worked loose, and the quick answer was weld! Certainly, we have never had this apart, whereas we did have the LHS one apart when up at Llangollen. That one was also loose, and I believe that assembly was held together with counter-sunk bolts. We sent that to South Devon to be riveted together.
Saturday 8th
Gil popped in to see Bruce (and sneak a cup of tea + biscuit!) then buzzed off to Winchcombe, where they were about to move the siphon into the "barn".
Bruce began by moving the compressor and removing the (other) end for Carpo and the inspector to inspect. The he took a multitude of measurements of the die block and expansion link. Then went home.
I attacked the loco pipes and rods, cleaning the grot off of the last three, ready for when the loco comes back.
Then I decided that the tender's buffer beam looked very faded, so I applied Signal Red to it during the afternoon. I did do a (mental) risk assessment, and figured that if I didn't do it today, it might rain, so I did it today, despite the presence of visitors (the railway is open again). Actually, I stuck four "Wet Paint" signs all over it, too! It was nice to have people come up to me and ask to which loco this was the tender.
Roger
P.S.
Rearrange the following words into a well-known phrase or saying:
"The north facing tender is still".
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Maintenance Update
Sunday 23rd
I popped in to do lettering on a few chairs.
Monday 24th
I popped in on the off-chance of seeing/assisting with turning the tender. Rumour has it that Moveright are now coming on Wednesday instead!
Boxed up some boot scrapers, but I have now run out of shelf space. The railway starts operating in another week, so hopefully sales will take off again.
Weds 26th
Poor old Fred was all on his own working in the siphon at Winchcombe!
Gil and Bruce, assisted by [Loco Dept] Dave had begun cleaning and drying the tender top by the time I had arrived. Bruce was making gaskets for the steam heating pipe. Mike W [also Loco Dept, but increasingly helps with 2807] turned up, so there were three of them tackling the bitumen paint. Somehow, they all managed to complete the job without painting themselves into a corner. Luckily, it was a sunny day (apart from two minor anointments of heavenly water) and the bitumen went on fine.
Bruce has been preparing the rear steam heating pipe section ready for David to weld on the flange at the end so that it can be bolted back in place. It had been welded in place, previously, due to some rushed job by another mob! The bracket on the back of the tender required some tidying up to make a smooth surface. Bruce also cleaned up the end of the pipe ready for welding.
Me? Oh, rail chairs!
Today's rumour: Moveright might be coming on Thursday or Friday.
Friday 28th
Tender still pointing north! But at least it is now in the car park, which kind-of suggests that a lorry is expected soon! It looks quite smart with its shiny black coal space.
I painted 3 chairs crimson plus 4 GWR (bronze) green, and fed the mouse.
Saturday 1st March
Tender still in the car park. Gil joined Fred & Ray at Winchcombe, working on the siphon van. It was supposed to be moved under cover … I forgot to ask!
John & I started by doing some rail chair work. John decapitated bolts that were still in some chairs. I painted the lettering on those that were almost complete.
After elevenses, we tackled the bits that we'd taken off the loco before it went to Tyseley. Armed with diesel, scrapers, wire brush, plastic brushes, paint brush and rags, we began cleaning the grot off the rods & pipes. By mid-afternoon, we'd had enough. It was not easy working alongside another engine inside the shed, and being bent over doing the cleaning, it became a back-aching task. Nevertheless, we got through almost half of the bits.
Today's rumour: Moveright has had a lorry stolen.
Sunday 2nd
An early start, with Bruce and David arriving to do a spot of welding on the steam heating pipe. The rear pipe had previously been welded in place, so Bruce & David have made a proper bracket, and flanges for the pipes on either side of it. I misguidedly thought it was a quick welding job and I'd be home for lunch … so didn't bring any.
It transpired that the positioning of the bracket, and the alignment of the flange on the pipe, and the length of the pipe all took time! The weather didn't help, though much of the time Bruce & I were relatively dry beneath the tender - unfortunately, David was getting wettest, as he was at the end of the tender doing the fixing! The heating pipe itself is about 9 feet long, and when David was welding the flange onto it, Bruce & I were holding it at various angles to enable David to access each side of the flange. At one point we had it completely vertical.
Finally, the bracket was in place and the flange welded onto the pipe, and all that was needed was to tighten up brackets holding the pipe to the tender. There's not a lot of room under there, and David found it even more troublesome because he had his welding helmet on. By this time, 4 pm, it was beginning to rain quite hard.
And when you've finished a job … there's only to putting-away to do! In this case, that also included putting the tender back in the car park where it was yesterday!
Many thanks to Carpo for shunting us about.
Roger
Post Script
Those of you who read railway magazines may well notice write-ups about the late Mr Francis Blake. Francis was instrumental in the rescue of many locos from Barry. He was also one of the early shareholders in what was to become Cotswold Steam Preservation Ltd. His was a significant contribution to the rescue of 2807. There is a write-up by Andy Bryne in the next edition of 2807 News. [the 2807 supporters' magazine]
I popped in to do lettering on a few chairs.
Monday 24th
I popped in on the off-chance of seeing/assisting with turning the tender. Rumour has it that Moveright are now coming on Wednesday instead!
Boxed up some boot scrapers, but I have now run out of shelf space. The railway starts operating in another week, so hopefully sales will take off again.
Weds 26th
Poor old Fred was all on his own working in the siphon at Winchcombe!
Gil and Bruce, assisted by [Loco Dept] Dave had begun cleaning and drying the tender top by the time I had arrived. Bruce was making gaskets for the steam heating pipe. Mike W [also Loco Dept, but increasingly helps with 2807] turned up, so there were three of them tackling the bitumen paint. Somehow, they all managed to complete the job without painting themselves into a corner. Luckily, it was a sunny day (apart from two minor anointments of heavenly water) and the bitumen went on fine.
Bruce has been preparing the rear steam heating pipe section ready for David to weld on the flange at the end so that it can be bolted back in place. It had been welded in place, previously, due to some rushed job by another mob! The bracket on the back of the tender required some tidying up to make a smooth surface. Bruce also cleaned up the end of the pipe ready for welding.
Today's rumour: Moveright might be coming on Thursday or Friday.
Friday 28th
Tender still pointing north! But at least it is now in the car park, which kind-of suggests that a lorry is expected soon! It looks quite smart with its shiny black coal space.
I painted 3 chairs crimson plus 4 GWR (bronze) green, and fed the mouse.
Saturday 1st March
Tender still in the car park. Gil joined Fred & Ray at Winchcombe, working on the siphon van. It was supposed to be moved under cover … I forgot to ask!
John & I started by doing some rail chair work. John decapitated bolts that were still in some chairs. I painted the lettering on those that were almost complete.
After elevenses, we tackled the bits that we'd taken off the loco before it went to Tyseley. Armed with diesel, scrapers, wire brush, plastic brushes, paint brush and rags, we began cleaning the grot off the rods & pipes. By mid-afternoon, we'd had enough. It was not easy working alongside another engine inside the shed, and being bent over doing the cleaning, it became a back-aching task. Nevertheless, we got through almost half of the bits.
Today's rumour: Moveright has had a lorry stolen.
Sunday 2nd
An early start, with Bruce and David arriving to do a spot of welding on the steam heating pipe. The rear pipe had previously been welded in place, so Bruce & David have made a proper bracket, and flanges for the pipes on either side of it. I misguidedly thought it was a quick welding job and I'd be home for lunch … so didn't bring any.
It transpired that the positioning of the bracket, and the alignment of the flange on the pipe, and the length of the pipe all took time! The weather didn't help, though much of the time Bruce & I were relatively dry beneath the tender - unfortunately, David was getting wettest, as he was at the end of the tender doing the fixing! The heating pipe itself is about 9 feet long, and when David was welding the flange onto it, Bruce & I were holding it at various angles to enable David to access each side of the flange. At one point we had it completely vertical.
Finally, the bracket was in place and the flange welded onto the pipe, and all that was needed was to tighten up brackets holding the pipe to the tender. There's not a lot of room under there, and David found it even more troublesome because he had his welding helmet on. By this time, 4 pm, it was beginning to rain quite hard.
And when you've finished a job … there's only to putting-away to do! In this case, that also included putting the tender back in the car park where it was yesterday!
Many thanks to Carpo for shunting us about.
Roger
Post Script
Those of you who read railway magazines may well notice write-ups about the late Mr Francis Blake. Francis was instrumental in the rescue of many locos from Barry. He was also one of the early shareholders in what was to become Cotswold Steam Preservation Ltd. His was a significant contribution to the rescue of 2807. There is a write-up by Andy Bryne in the next edition of 2807 News. [the 2807 supporters' magazine]
Saturday, 22 February 2014
Maintenance Update (siphon, tender, bootscrapers, Manor)
Colin provides an update on siphon van restoration:
" Sat 15 - at the Siphon:
We went down to the coach to inspect what the weather had done to the sheets.
I had brought Ann as extra hands in case of any problems, in the event the coverings were ok. I thought we would have no power but Fred had fixed up a lead from a socket nearby so we had another go at the slats as Fred had done some more work on the post and bit by bit we inserted all 22 slats for the two windows.
Each of the windows have different fittings, one side just slid in with a plain shoulders although they had been painted so we had to fettle each one, the other frame had lugs to fit in holes either side and so we had to fettle these as well as well as checking that they were straight to the eye and fitting into the post holes. very time consuming. finally just one slat was holding out and was 1/8" out but we had to leave then as the dog was at home and must have been crossing his legs. so that is for next time.
Ann meanwhile had been scraping paint off the internal walls - very boring but will look good when finished.
All in all a good day and some progress and no water through the roof but a bit through the holes in the sides.
I would just like to thank Fred for all the work he puts in at the siphon and a lot done at home and without which we would not be going anywhere.
We had fun in the form of coaches being shunted back and forth by an 02 Shunter by C/W guys who admired what we have done so far ."
Weds 19th
Gil, Dixie and Bruce continued with fitting the brackets, hangers, brake shoes and rigging to the tender. By end of day, all of the brakes are fitted and fully operational. Bruce had moved on to making gaskets for the tender's vacuum pipes.
We had anticipated having to push the tender, today, such that the shunter could couple up to the rear and move the tender. It was planned that on Friday, when Dinmore Manor arrives, our tender will be turned. This involves it going up onto the lorry; the lorry doing a U-turn in the car park, and dropping the tender off facing the opposite direction. I was armed with a pinch-bar (a duff one as it turned out) and ready to get the tender rolling, when Mark Y called a halt to it all. There was some doubt about Dinmore arriving on Friday. As we need to be over a pit to fit the remaining pieces (vacuum and steam heating pipework), we might as well stay put!
Meanwhile, I'd been working on rail chairs all day. Painted 16, cleaned a further 3 and sold 2.
Thursday 20th
I nipped down and painted 14 LNWR in enamel black. Washed the brush out, and then noticed two more hiding! Went home anyway.
On the way out, discovered that Dinmore Manor had arrived. I asked Mark (who was shunting her into the shed) if he wanted our tender moving, but he said that the move & turn-around is now to be carried out on Monday.
Friday 21st
Popped in at Winchcombe and discovered a new pile of rail chairs for us. I picked out 2 LMS, 2 GWR and 2 BR(W), and took them to Todders.
Painted the lettering on the 14 LNWR chairs.
Saturday 22nd
I went via Winchcombe to pick up 6 more rail chairs to take to Todders. Bruce arrived and we decided to start on finishing the tender. Gil arrived and we began refitting the vacuum pipes under the tender. Then Geof arrived, saying that the weather was good enough (just) for him to join in. So he took over from me, and I went back to chair painting.
The chaps fitted the vacuum pipes (two of them) and started on the steam heating pipes. But this could not be completed because we need David to do some welding where we had to cut the pipe free to take it off.
Steve was around, and did chip in when it was time to move the tender. We had to push the tender (by hand, as it were) along past the points, so that the 08 shunter could couple up to the rear of the tender and take it round into the yard. Steve & Geof demonstrated how to push the tender [not], with Bruce acting as brakeman.
The shunter deposited the tender in the yard, with Geof applying the handbrake.
Roger
" Sat 15 - at the Siphon:
We went down to the coach to inspect what the weather had done to the sheets.
I had brought Ann as extra hands in case of any problems, in the event the coverings were ok. I thought we would have no power but Fred had fixed up a lead from a socket nearby so we had another go at the slats as Fred had done some more work on the post and bit by bit we inserted all 22 slats for the two windows.
Each of the windows have different fittings, one side just slid in with a plain shoulders although they had been painted so we had to fettle each one, the other frame had lugs to fit in holes either side and so we had to fettle these as well as well as checking that they were straight to the eye and fitting into the post holes. very time consuming. finally just one slat was holding out and was 1/8" out but we had to leave then as the dog was at home and must have been crossing his legs. so that is for next time.
Ann meanwhile had been scraping paint off the internal walls - very boring but will look good when finished.
All in all a good day and some progress and no water through the roof but a bit through the holes in the sides.
I would just like to thank Fred for all the work he puts in at the siphon and a lot done at home and without which we would not be going anywhere.
We had fun in the form of coaches being shunted back and forth by an 02 Shunter by C/W guys who admired what we have done so far ."
Weds 19th
Gil, Dixie and Bruce continued with fitting the brackets, hangers, brake shoes and rigging to the tender. By end of day, all of the brakes are fitted and fully operational. Bruce had moved on to making gaskets for the tender's vacuum pipes.
We had anticipated having to push the tender, today, such that the shunter could couple up to the rear and move the tender. It was planned that on Friday, when Dinmore Manor arrives, our tender will be turned. This involves it going up onto the lorry; the lorry doing a U-turn in the car park, and dropping the tender off facing the opposite direction. I was armed with a pinch-bar (a duff one as it turned out) and ready to get the tender rolling, when Mark Y called a halt to it all. There was some doubt about Dinmore arriving on Friday. As we need to be over a pit to fit the remaining pieces (vacuum and steam heating pipework), we might as well stay put!
Meanwhile, I'd been working on rail chairs all day. Painted 16, cleaned a further 3 and sold 2.
Thursday 20th
I nipped down and painted 14 LNWR in enamel black. Washed the brush out, and then noticed two more hiding! Went home anyway.
On the way out, discovered that Dinmore Manor had arrived. I asked Mark (who was shunting her into the shed) if he wanted our tender moving, but he said that the move & turn-around is now to be carried out on Monday.
Friday 21st
Popped in at Winchcombe and discovered a new pile of rail chairs for us. I picked out 2 LMS, 2 GWR and 2 BR(W), and took them to Todders.
Painted the lettering on the 14 LNWR chairs.
Saturday 22nd
I went via Winchcombe to pick up 6 more rail chairs to take to Todders. Bruce arrived and we decided to start on finishing the tender. Gil arrived and we began refitting the vacuum pipes under the tender. Then Geof arrived, saying that the weather was good enough (just) for him to join in. So he took over from me, and I went back to chair painting.
The chaps fitted the vacuum pipes (two of them) and started on the steam heating pipes. But this could not be completed because we need David to do some welding where we had to cut the pipe free to take it off.
Steve was around, and did chip in when it was time to move the tender. We had to push the tender (by hand, as it were) along past the points, so that the 08 shunter could couple up to the rear of the tender and take it round into the yard. Steve & Geof demonstrated how to push the tender [not], with Bruce acting as brakeman.
The shunter deposited the tender in the yard, with Geof applying the handbrake.
Roger
Saturday, 15 February 2014
Maintenance Update
Saturday 8th - update
Colin sent photos of the siphon - you can see the slats and the general state of repair before Fred's restoration group get at it. It's a long haul going all the way round it!
Colin adds:
"Went down to help on the Siphon Sat 7 We first fixed the light which had not worked for a long time. We then tried the slats for the windows in the new post Fred had made they were quite a way out so we took the post off again and moved it up a bit and the slats looked great we were just thinking what to do next when Carriage and Wagon guys came and could we be ready to move in an hour ok so we strapped everything down and within the time frame the coach was moved it was quite strange to see the steps still there with no coach we spent the rest of the day tying down the sheeting in a gale force wind then I took Fred and some chairs down to Toddington quite a day!.
Attached are some phone photos of the move. I have some more and Fred took some as well
The only thing we forgot to secure in the move was the table with the Microwave on it on castors so it went walkabout no damage done."
Weds 12th
Bruce & Gilbert began by playing with the tender - Bruce attempted to open up the hole in the frame for the final pin to pass through horizontally. He gave up. The driving wind & rain were just too much. However, this is the last one to be done.
Talking of bolts (which we almost were), Gil bought two different lengths (because of two different thicknesses of plate to pass through) and the shorter ones were fully threaded. The longer ones are only part threaded and have an unthreaded portion inside the bracket casting and supporting cross-member. Indeed Bruce is having to extend some of the threads otherwise the threads will not even reach through. The railway is not happy about us using the fully threaded bolts. Mark Y came and discussed the situation with Gil & Bruce. Gil explained that it is not possible to buy what the Railway say, off-the-shelf. Mark Y stated that if such is the case, then the Railway (workshop) will do whatever is necessary to form bolts to the Railway's specification .. as a priority! Mark Y (and Carpo) also confirmed that using the R-clips rather than split pins is acceptable to the Railway. Gil has gone away with a new shopping list!
Anyway, Bruce continued to extend threads and drill holes for R-clips on those bolts that are acceptable.
Being consigned to inside the TPO due to the weather, Dixie began sorting through model railway bric-a-brac with a view to rationalising the stock. I "rationalised" some boxes of "Admin" stuff … except that Gil stopped me from donating the projector and set of slides to the skip. Goodness knows when they were last used for a talk. They might just go walkies when Gil's not around. ;-)
Just after tea break, we had a power loss. Dixie went to investigate (him being an electrician) and it was the whole site dead. Lucky it was after tea break! It did occur to me that if the power was off for an extended period, we were stuck there because the gate wouldn't have opened!
After 15 minutes, the Grand Universal Provided let there be light, and we pressed on. Dixie and I painted rail chairs. Dixie had the pleasure of doing six black bottoms, three black tops and 3 GNR green. I did lettering on 3; 4 BR(W) green top coats plus 2 BR(W) red undercoats.
The sun began to shine at 3 o'clock, but we went home anyway. As we left the yard, a wheelbarrow was hurtling in an easterly direction, all on its own. As it was heading for our tender, I though it prudent to chase after it and return it to the wheelbarrow stable .. and make it stable. We had discussed pushing the tender close up to the workshop door in case that made it less likely to go ride-about on its own. But we didn't bother.
Oh, and The Railway agreed that we can have 2807 facing south when she comes back. This will mean also turning the tender around, of course, otherwise it would be a struggle for the fireman to get at the coal!
Saturday 15th
Gilbert, Bruce & David pressed on with the tender. It's amazing how much time it is taking to get these bolts done to spec. Bruce spent most of the day lining up each individual bolt in his jig and drilling the hole through it for the split pin. David spent much of the day with a die, cutting the thread just about three more turns on each bolt. Gil was under the tender. Mike [Loco Dept] joined him after lunch, and they worked on fitting the brackets, the hangers and the brake shoes. The front pair are completed and functional (so the tender won't blow away). The rear ones are fitted but not yet functional because they need the operating rod fitting that connects all of the brakes. The centre pair are not yet fitted.
Next Weds we need to fit the centre ones, and get the whole brake system functional. Reason? Because next Friday the railway is going to turn our tender round … when Dinmore Manor arrives.
Back to today: Mike refilled the axle boxes with oil. They didn't need a changing particularly, but Bruce had drained them when the thought was that we would need to jack the tender up to carry out this work on the brakes and that meant that the underkeeps would have to be removed .. whereupon the oil would escape on its own.
I pressed on with chair cleaning. I have been sorting out pre-World War One chairs to do a special one-off offer for the May gala (all because of the WWI theme). Being 100+ years old, these chairs are generally a tad filthy. See attached before & after photos. They'll get a couple of coats of paint and the lettering will be picked out, of course.
I found some GWR in addition to the GNR and LNWR ones. Having exhausted the supply of these oldies, I had the usual delight of painting their black bottoms and black holes.
Roger
Colin sent photos of the siphon - you can see the slats and the general state of repair before Fred's restoration group get at it. It's a long haul going all the way round it!
Colin adds:
"Went down to help on the Siphon Sat 7 We first fixed the light which had not worked for a long time. We then tried the slats for the windows in the new post Fred had made they were quite a way out so we took the post off again and moved it up a bit and the slats looked great we were just thinking what to do next when Carriage and Wagon guys came and could we be ready to move in an hour ok so we strapped everything down and within the time frame the coach was moved it was quite strange to see the steps still there with no coach we spent the rest of the day tying down the sheeting in a gale force wind then I took Fred and some chairs down to Toddington quite a day!.
Attached are some phone photos of the move. I have some more and Fred took some as well
The only thing we forgot to secure in the move was the table with the Microwave on it on castors so it went walkabout no damage done."
Weds 12th
Bruce & Gilbert began by playing with the tender - Bruce attempted to open up the hole in the frame for the final pin to pass through horizontally. He gave up. The driving wind & rain were just too much. However, this is the last one to be done.
Talking of bolts (which we almost were), Gil bought two different lengths (because of two different thicknesses of plate to pass through) and the shorter ones were fully threaded. The longer ones are only part threaded and have an unthreaded portion inside the bracket casting and supporting cross-member. Indeed Bruce is having to extend some of the threads otherwise the threads will not even reach through. The railway is not happy about us using the fully threaded bolts. Mark Y came and discussed the situation with Gil & Bruce. Gil explained that it is not possible to buy what the Railway say, off-the-shelf. Mark Y stated that if such is the case, then the Railway (workshop) will do whatever is necessary to form bolts to the Railway's specification .. as a priority! Mark Y (and Carpo) also confirmed that using the R-clips rather than split pins is acceptable to the Railway. Gil has gone away with a new shopping list!
Anyway, Bruce continued to extend threads and drill holes for R-clips on those bolts that are acceptable.
Being consigned to inside the TPO due to the weather, Dixie began sorting through model railway bric-a-brac with a view to rationalising the stock. I "rationalised" some boxes of "Admin" stuff … except that Gil stopped me from donating the projector and set of slides to the skip. Goodness knows when they were last used for a talk. They might just go walkies when Gil's not around. ;-)
Just after tea break, we had a power loss. Dixie went to investigate (him being an electrician) and it was the whole site dead. Lucky it was after tea break! It did occur to me that if the power was off for an extended period, we were stuck there because the gate wouldn't have opened!
After 15 minutes, the Grand Universal Provided let there be light, and we pressed on. Dixie and I painted rail chairs. Dixie had the pleasure of doing six black bottoms, three black tops and 3 GNR green. I did lettering on 3; 4 BR(W) green top coats plus 2 BR(W) red undercoats.
The sun began to shine at 3 o'clock, but we went home anyway. As we left the yard, a wheelbarrow was hurtling in an easterly direction, all on its own. As it was heading for our tender, I though it prudent to chase after it and return it to the wheelbarrow stable .. and make it stable. We had discussed pushing the tender close up to the workshop door in case that made it less likely to go ride-about on its own. But we didn't bother.
Oh, and The Railway agreed that we can have 2807 facing south when she comes back. This will mean also turning the tender around, of course, otherwise it would be a struggle for the fireman to get at the coal!
Saturday 15th
Gilbert, Bruce & David pressed on with the tender. It's amazing how much time it is taking to get these bolts done to spec. Bruce spent most of the day lining up each individual bolt in his jig and drilling the hole through it for the split pin. David spent much of the day with a die, cutting the thread just about three more turns on each bolt. Gil was under the tender. Mike [Loco Dept] joined him after lunch, and they worked on fitting the brackets, the hangers and the brake shoes. The front pair are completed and functional (so the tender won't blow away). The rear ones are fitted but not yet functional because they need the operating rod fitting that connects all of the brakes. The centre pair are not yet fitted.
Next Weds we need to fit the centre ones, and get the whole brake system functional. Reason? Because next Friday the railway is going to turn our tender round … when Dinmore Manor arrives.
Back to today: Mike refilled the axle boxes with oil. They didn't need a changing particularly, but Bruce had drained them when the thought was that we would need to jack the tender up to carry out this work on the brakes and that meant that the underkeeps would have to be removed .. whereupon the oil would escape on its own.
I pressed on with chair cleaning. I have been sorting out pre-World War One chairs to do a special one-off offer for the May gala (all because of the WWI theme). Being 100+ years old, these chairs are generally a tad filthy. See attached before & after photos. They'll get a couple of coats of paint and the lettering will be picked out, of course.
I found some GWR in addition to the GNR and LNWR ones. Having exhausted the supply of these oldies, I had the usual delight of painting their black bottoms and black holes.
Roger
Sunday, 9 February 2014
Maintenance Update
Monday 3rd
Following complaints about the state of our files and the wearing out of all of our metal saw blades, I bought some more NEW items!!! The chaps will be thinking it's their birthday!
Wednesday 5th
Foul weather - strong winds & driving rain. Hardly fit for working outside. Nevertheless, Gilbert did venture out to the tender. The pit over which it is standing was filling up with water, and the pump had seized. Bruce said the only thing to do was stand on a sleeper rather than in the water. Gil removed the front two brake hanger brackets so that Bruce would fit bolts in the warm & dry TPO, and drill the bolts for a split pin.
While it was not raining hard, Gil also cleaned the tie bars, links and brake hangers ready for refitting them. Mike also assisted Gil.
Each bracket has to be fitted with its bolts and they are drilled to take a split pin as close to the nut as possible. Minor differences in the brackets necessitate this action individually. Bruce was doing this all day.
Having built up a stock of cleaned rail chairs (in anticipation of such a day) I was able to paint 9 black bottoms, 3 Darlington Green GNR 1913, 4 BR(W); do lettering on 3 crimson ones, and fit 14 painted chairs with their brushes.
JC had delivered our new blow-down valve. This is a bit of a sore point, because we had one of these; were advised to get an "Everlasting Blow-Down Valve" instead; and we sold our GWR one. Now the railway has insisted that we get the Everlasting one replaced with a GWR one. The problem was that the Everlasting valve did not match the face on the boiler, hence a joining section had to be fabricated … and it corroded. Bad news, because a failure in that would emit water at maybe 300 degrees C, just below the cab.
Saturday 8th
David, Bruce and Gil continued working on the tender brakes. By rain-stopped-play, the front two brackets were completed, pins secured, hangers hanging, tie-bar tying the two hangers together and brake blocks fitted. Bruce applied the tender handbrake, just to get the brakes to go on this one axle - it'll stop the tender from blowing away!
Gil disappeared to an FLA meeting after lunch, while Bruce and David attacked the rear two brackets. As usual, two out of three holes aligned perfectly.
David also marked a template for the securing holes on the pony truck bearing cover (AKA bell housing; AKA policeman's helmet) ready to machine the new one to fit.
Steve popped in for a cuppa and a biscuit before attending the FLA meeting.
While it was dry (cold and blowy, but not raining) I tackled some more disgustingly filthy rail chairs. These are all pre-WWI that we plan on selling without brushes at suitably themed events. I was just de-greasing the 7th one when the rain set in.
At Tyseley:
The centre wheels have been dropped for the horn guides to be examined.
Roger
Following complaints about the state of our files and the wearing out of all of our metal saw blades, I bought some more NEW items!!! The chaps will be thinking it's their birthday!
Wednesday 5th
Foul weather - strong winds & driving rain. Hardly fit for working outside. Nevertheless, Gilbert did venture out to the tender. The pit over which it is standing was filling up with water, and the pump had seized. Bruce said the only thing to do was stand on a sleeper rather than in the water. Gil removed the front two brake hanger brackets so that Bruce would fit bolts in the warm & dry TPO, and drill the bolts for a split pin.
While it was not raining hard, Gil also cleaned the tie bars, links and brake hangers ready for refitting them. Mike also assisted Gil.
Each bracket has to be fitted with its bolts and they are drilled to take a split pin as close to the nut as possible. Minor differences in the brackets necessitate this action individually. Bruce was doing this all day.
Having built up a stock of cleaned rail chairs (in anticipation of such a day) I was able to paint 9 black bottoms, 3 Darlington Green GNR 1913, 4 BR(W); do lettering on 3 crimson ones, and fit 14 painted chairs with their brushes.
JC had delivered our new blow-down valve. This is a bit of a sore point, because we had one of these; were advised to get an "Everlasting Blow-Down Valve" instead; and we sold our GWR one. Now the railway has insisted that we get the Everlasting one replaced with a GWR one. The problem was that the Everlasting valve did not match the face on the boiler, hence a joining section had to be fabricated … and it corroded. Bad news, because a failure in that would emit water at maybe 300 degrees C, just below the cab.
Saturday 8th
David, Bruce and Gil continued working on the tender brakes. By rain-stopped-play, the front two brackets were completed, pins secured, hangers hanging, tie-bar tying the two hangers together and brake blocks fitted. Bruce applied the tender handbrake, just to get the brakes to go on this one axle - it'll stop the tender from blowing away!
Gil disappeared to an FLA meeting after lunch, while Bruce and David attacked the rear two brackets. As usual, two out of three holes aligned perfectly.
David also marked a template for the securing holes on the pony truck bearing cover (AKA bell housing; AKA policeman's helmet) ready to machine the new one to fit.
Steve popped in for a cuppa and a biscuit before attending the FLA meeting.
While it was dry (cold and blowy, but not raining) I tackled some more disgustingly filthy rail chairs. These are all pre-WWI that we plan on selling without brushes at suitably themed events. I was just de-greasing the 7th one when the rain set in.
At Tyseley:
The centre wheels have been dropped for the horn guides to be examined.
Roger
Sunday, 2 February 2014
Maintenance Update
Wednesday 29 Jan
Gil, Bruce Dixie & myself today. The latter being devoted to boot scrapering, while the rest attended the tender.
Gil b(r)ought some NEW bolts for attaching the brake hanger brackets to the frame cross-members. Guess how much this box of 3/4 inch x 3 inch Whitworth nuts bolts washers & split pins cost? Answer at the bottom of the post!
The chaps were aligning the brackets and suspension pins of the front two brake hangers on the tender. Getting the bracket in place such that the brake hanger suspension pin was horizontal proved a challenge. Clearly, they had not been horizontal before! The pin has to be horizontal for the hanger to dangle vertically. There's not much movement in fixing the bracket, but just enough to do the aligning. Then guess what? The pin wouldn't go through its hole in the tender frame. You can argue that they must have done originally, so ... ??? Well, maybe the brackets are not in their original sequence? In any case, there are at least two different patterns to the hanger brackets! In fact, two of them had to have one edge gently angle-ground back slightly, to enable it to fit in place at all. Otherwise it was being fouled by an angle on the tender frame. Also, two of the (NEW!!!) bolts had to have their heads "modified" for them to fit within the space where this angle is otherwise fouling them.
A couple of weeks back, (note the carefully chosen text:) "it was decided" that the tender would have to be jacked up in order to gain access to these hanger brackets. Jacks were put in place at the front. The horn ties (i.e. bars across the bottom of the bit in which the axle boxes rise & fall) were removed from the front two wheel sets to allow the wheels to drop. Of course, when we set to and began to remove the hanger brackets (was that Bruce & me? I quite forget!) we didn't need to jack up the tender at all. So, the horn ties were fitted back on today ... except that Dixie came into the TPO just as we were packing away, declaring that someone had put the bolts in the wrong way round!
I was oblivious to all of this fun that the chaps were having. I was cleaning up three absolutely caked-with-mud GNR 1913 rail chairs until the rain set in, and then I painted nine tops (3 red ready for Crimson Lake; 3 black; and 3 grass green ready for Darlington Green).
Saturday 1 Feb
Bruce procured a set of hole punches for us, as we are forever making gaskets and never have the right tool for the job. Two lots of new things in one week! Wow!
Gil & John busied themselves with fitting the brackets on the centre. Again, this meant quite a bit of fiddling to get the bracket lined up, the suspender pin horizontal and the holes all in line. Some fettling of the holes through the frame was inevitable.
Bruce made a jig for drilling a hole through each bolt into which an R-clip will be fitted to prevent the nut from falling off if ever it should work loose.
To get the hole spot-on, Bruce used a piece of plate the same thickness as the cross-member to which the bracket is bolted; used a spacer to represent a spring washer; assembled the plate, bracket, washer and bolt, and then drilled through the bolt immediately behind the nut. This should be tight up to the nut, so that it can't work very loose even if it tries to! To finish each off to look neat and tidy, Bruce tried cutting off the excess thread ... but only managed to do one before knackering the saw blade. He's going to use the angle-grinder next time.
I braved the cold and wind to continue cleaning rail chairs. My needle-gun froze up*. Found an LNWR chair dating from 1896.
Next Weds we need to clean the brake hangers so that we can start to assemble each of them (properly - with the correct bolts and R-clips).
* The air expands as it operates the needles and in doing so cools down (I thought it might be Boyle's Law, appropriately, but it turns out to be Gay-Lussac's Law (boring)). Due to the outside air temperature being only 3 degrees, water vapour in the compressed air was freezing as it coughed out of the needle-gun.
Info from Fred re. our Siphon van:
"I have been informed by Richard Johnson that the C& W dept. can take our Siphon into the barn for re-roofing on March 1st.
However as they are moving stock around in a fortnight's time we will have to be ready to move to a new outside location prior to that.
We will obviously have help in the re-roofing as the siphon cannot be in the barn for too long.
We have requested that we do not return to our present spot which is increasingly impinging on the S&T area as we progress down the length of the carriage so we will probably swap places with the coach behind us on the same track. Power will still be available via our existing cable. We will now have to purchase some white masonry paint asap to go with the adhesive and canvas we have in hand. Help in making edge securing strips has also been offered by C& W.
We will obviously need a reasonable team of workers at that time.
Things are looking up.
Fred"
================
Answer to bolts: A total of 18 bolts, with nuts, spring washers and 25 split pins came to £109.76p
Roger
Gil, Bruce Dixie & myself today. The latter being devoted to boot scrapering, while the rest attended the tender.
Gil b(r)ought some NEW bolts for attaching the brake hanger brackets to the frame cross-members. Guess how much this box of 3/4 inch x 3 inch Whitworth nuts bolts washers & split pins cost? Answer at the bottom of the post!
The chaps were aligning the brackets and suspension pins of the front two brake hangers on the tender. Getting the bracket in place such that the brake hanger suspension pin was horizontal proved a challenge. Clearly, they had not been horizontal before! The pin has to be horizontal for the hanger to dangle vertically. There's not much movement in fixing the bracket, but just enough to do the aligning. Then guess what? The pin wouldn't go through its hole in the tender frame. You can argue that they must have done originally, so ... ??? Well, maybe the brackets are not in their original sequence? In any case, there are at least two different patterns to the hanger brackets! In fact, two of them had to have one edge gently angle-ground back slightly, to enable it to fit in place at all. Otherwise it was being fouled by an angle on the tender frame. Also, two of the (NEW!!!) bolts had to have their heads "modified" for them to fit within the space where this angle is otherwise fouling them.
A couple of weeks back, (note the carefully chosen text:) "it was decided" that the tender would have to be jacked up in order to gain access to these hanger brackets. Jacks were put in place at the front. The horn ties (i.e. bars across the bottom of the bit in which the axle boxes rise & fall) were removed from the front two wheel sets to allow the wheels to drop. Of course, when we set to and began to remove the hanger brackets (was that Bruce & me? I quite forget!) we didn't need to jack up the tender at all. So, the horn ties were fitted back on today ... except that Dixie came into the TPO just as we were packing away, declaring that someone had put the bolts in the wrong way round!
I was oblivious to all of this fun that the chaps were having. I was cleaning up three absolutely caked-with-mud GNR 1913 rail chairs until the rain set in, and then I painted nine tops (3 red ready for Crimson Lake; 3 black; and 3 grass green ready for Darlington Green).
Saturday 1 Feb
Bruce procured a set of hole punches for us, as we are forever making gaskets and never have the right tool for the job. Two lots of new things in one week! Wow!
Gil & John busied themselves with fitting the brackets on the centre. Again, this meant quite a bit of fiddling to get the bracket lined up, the suspender pin horizontal and the holes all in line. Some fettling of the holes through the frame was inevitable.
Bruce made a jig for drilling a hole through each bolt into which an R-clip will be fitted to prevent the nut from falling off if ever it should work loose.
To get the hole spot-on, Bruce used a piece of plate the same thickness as the cross-member to which the bracket is bolted; used a spacer to represent a spring washer; assembled the plate, bracket, washer and bolt, and then drilled through the bolt immediately behind the nut. This should be tight up to the nut, so that it can't work very loose even if it tries to! To finish each off to look neat and tidy, Bruce tried cutting off the excess thread ... but only managed to do one before knackering the saw blade. He's going to use the angle-grinder next time.
I braved the cold and wind to continue cleaning rail chairs. My needle-gun froze up*. Found an LNWR chair dating from 1896.
Next Weds we need to clean the brake hangers so that we can start to assemble each of them (properly - with the correct bolts and R-clips).
* The air expands as it operates the needles and in doing so cools down (I thought it might be Boyle's Law, appropriately, but it turns out to be Gay-Lussac's Law (boring)). Due to the outside air temperature being only 3 degrees, water vapour in the compressed air was freezing as it coughed out of the needle-gun.
Info from Fred re. our Siphon van:
"I have been informed by Richard Johnson that the C& W dept. can take our Siphon into the barn for re-roofing on March 1st.
However as they are moving stock around in a fortnight's time we will have to be ready to move to a new outside location prior to that.
We will obviously have help in the re-roofing as the siphon cannot be in the barn for too long.
We have requested that we do not return to our present spot which is increasingly impinging on the S&T area as we progress down the length of the carriage so we will probably swap places with the coach behind us on the same track. Power will still be available via our existing cable. We will now have to purchase some white masonry paint asap to go with the adhesive and canvas we have in hand. Help in making edge securing strips has also been offered by C& W.
We will obviously need a reasonable team of workers at that time.
Things are looking up.
Fred"
================
Answer to bolts: A total of 18 bolts, with nuts, spring washers and 25 split pins came to £109.76p
Roger
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)