Maintenance Update (painting, lapping, braking)

Wednesday 21st

John T reports:

" I'll admit it, since next time you are in the TPO you will suspect it, that I was at Toddington today. I managed to clean 6 chairs, paint 8 bottoms and cut some bolts.

I felt I owed a visit, especially as I can't attend on Saturday next."

Saturday 24th

Fred, Dixie and Gil passed through Todders, but went on to Winchcombe to play in the siphon.  Bruce painted the rail chairs that John had prepared.  We're still a bit stymied regarding doing any work on the loco while she is on stand-by.

Wednesday 28th

There are three new issues raised (probably while on the Friday Fire & Drive):

58 [MY]: Steam heat safety valve blowing @ 30 psi.

74 [MY]: Handbrake 8-9 turns; needs adjusting.

75 [MY]: LH clack passing to pep pipe live when off.  {Sorry if I misread the shorthand!}

There is a valve on the steam heating pipe at the back of the tender, which is designed to prevent excessive pressure passing into the coaching stock.  Generally, GWSR limits this to 40 psi.  Bruce decided to tackle this.  He extracted its innards and lapped-in the internal valve, and then reassembled it.  Of course, there is no way of verifying the pressure-relief point when there's no pressure, so Bruce just tightened it a shade, and we'll see what happens when we next have steam up.

Bruce was going to help Gil with the tender brakes, but I arrived and took over.  There's a "bottle screw" under the tender that has to be turned to shorten the brake linkages.  It requires the use of a BIG spanner.  It take you all your effort to lift the spanner, let alone turn it!  Nevertheless, Gil & I managed to rotate the bottle-screw one whole turn, which reduced the number of turns on the handbrake to five (to apply the brakes).

Dixie passed by, having already been at Winchcombe.  He picked up a couple of electrical sockets for the siphon; sanded ten brushes for boot scrapers; and then buzzed off again.  Bill, Geof and Ray were all working on the siphon at Winchcombe.

Gil & I sorted through a pile of technical drawings, trying to put them into some sort of order and file them in Carpo's drawers.  A few of these drawings are not on the GWSR system, so Gil has taken them to get them scanned.

Finally, I applied stain to the brushes that Dixie had sanded.

2807 is on stand-by over this weekend.  Next Wednesday and also Saturday, we have to unbox the boiler and give it a wash-out.  The Boiler Inspector comes on Monday 9th.  Wednesday will be boxing-up the boiler again, and lighting a warming fire.  Bruce wants to get the safety valve off and lap that in before the steam test … on Thursday (12th).  We may then be in use on Race Trains that Friday & Saturday.  THEN we should be free to begin winter maintenance!

Roger

Maintenance Update (reverser, shackle, meeting)

Saturday 10th

Bruce checked the issues log, and there were no issues from Friday's Fire & Drive.  So, there was not a lot to do.  However, Bruce did remind me that various crews had felt some sort of knocking from the loco.  I had heard a knock once, when walking along side as she was being shunted in the yard.  So, John T and I decided to clamber over her looking for "shiny bits" (i.e. where something might have been knocking or rubbing against something that it shouldn't).

Despite a good crawl inside & out, the shiniest thing we found was a rubbing wear on the right-hand lifting link.  It is clear that the bolt through the forward eccentric rod does catch on the lifting link.  However, there appeared to be a gap of about 1/8 inch.  We waggled the reverser; we heaved on the rods; but we couldn't move anything significantly.  There is a gap at each end of the reversing shaft, where there is a collar to limit the sideways movement.  Could this possibly move enough to cause the bolt & link to collide?  Bruce didn't think so.  Maybe it's just one of those things - when hurtling along at 25 mph, things oscillate and sometimes do 'high fives' with one another?  Either ways, when she's near to a power supply, we'll grind a bit off the end of the bolt.

We think that there is a need to walk along side (as I had done previously) and listen to where this knock is coming from.

Eleanor (not my daughter) had cleaned out the smokebox and the grate.  It was too hot to get inside the firebox and clean the grate properly.  The Wednesday gang will have to do that.

Bruce was giving Eleanor a lesson in vacuums as I clambered into the cab.  I distracted him, and we took a look at the copper pipe with a crack in it.  There was no pressure on the 'clock', though some steam would pull through the whistle.  Guess what?  There were drops of water oozing out of the crack in that pipe!  This despite that coil being closed off.  The consensus view is that the packing in the Y-splitter expands/contracts dependent upon steam pressure, and under little pressure it allows steam to squeeze past the on/off cock.  Once pressure rises, it seals.

Bruce investigated making a new pipe.  There is no point in trying to silver-solder the outside of a pipe that is under boiler pressure.  The ends of the pipe are formed (swaged).  We have the technology, but not the pipe.  I asked Gil to order some 1/2 inch thick-walled copper pipe.  He things it comes in ten-foot lengths.

In odd moments, John cleaned up a couple of rail chairs and chopped the bolts of many more.  I applied a top coat to 7 in the production line, and then did some tidying up of the pile of rail chairs awaiting attention.

Fred, Gil, Geof and Bill were all working in the siphon.  Geof & Gil were forming the joints (tenons) in the new door frame.  Bill was painting the metalwork of the ceiling.  Fred was doing something on the outside!  I was only calling in to get Gil's autograph on the cheque for our 100 Club winners.  But guess what I spotted … two LMS chairs and one LNER ….

Sunday 11th

… which are now in the pile at Todders.

Down there on crossing duty at the Diseasel Gala, I realised that (yet again) no one had put the cap on the chimney!  So, I did, of course.

Wednesday 14th

There was only Bruce & myself today.  We decided to try to fix the bolt (strictly, it's a tapered pin with a castellated nut on the end) that is making the shiny mark on the hanging link.  Bruce connected up the power - we had to run the 110V from the end of the pit down to the loco, which was well past the pit.  Then he read the notice that says not to use the 110V in road 8, so he had to move it to road 9's pit.  Finally, after covering everything with cloths, I was able to angle-grind a smidgeon off the end.  Bruce, being today's gopher, brought the red paint, and I applied a little to the end of the bolt and to the hanging link.  We'll find out on Saturday (after Friday's Fire & Drive session) if they still have a spatial coincidence problem.

Gil arrived, partly to deliver an invoice to me and partly to bring the newly-purchased adjustable reamer … and then discuss with Bruce the plan of attack.

Meanwhile, I painted lettering on seven boot scrapers and fitted a brush to each of six.

Gil buzzed off to Winchcombe, so Bruce & I decided to wend our ways, too.  Bruce went home … to do some homework; I boxed up the six boot scrapers and adjourned.

Today we had to say 'farewell' to a faithful friend, who has faultlessly carried out its duties for some 30-odd years.  Someone noticed that the shackle that has helped heave many an item up, in & out of 2807 is marked "for recovery use only", so we are banned from using it to lift anything!  So? … We were only "recovering" the valve rods from the cylinders …

Saturday 17th

Today was a 2807 Board Meeting (which means that little work gets done!).

Bruce & David struggled past us in order to get some jobs done.  They began by preparing and welding the seam of the toolboxes on the tender.  These had been coming apart for a while.  Having been spotted wielding a welder, David was then co-opted into doing some welding for Dinmore Manor!

Bruce move on to removing the flange from the out-flow side of our blow-down valve.  JC had asked to borrow this in order to make a pattern for it.

There will be a period of silence on the 2807 updates, because I am otherwise engaged for a bit.  Rest assured that I have not forgotten about you!

Roger

Maintenance Update (condenser, copper, breather)

Thursday 1st Oct

I popped in to Todders just to finish off the boot scraper ordered by Dame Janet Trotter.  John P [Loco Dept] was lighting up 2807 ready for the Fire & Drive on Friday.  We had a chat about the oil level in the RH big end, and he said he'd keep watch.

2807 Fireman's report from Friday 2nd Oct.

"Right Hand Connecting rod big end oil reservoir.

I spoke to Steve Oddy about the supposed problem prior to leaving the shed. We checked the reservoir at Cheltenham on the first trip and again at Toddington when stopped for lunch. There had been no excessive oil loss and the connecting rod temperature was normal i.e. slightly warmer than the coupling rod journals. This was the situation throughout the remaining Fire and Drive service. I checked the Connecting Rod oil reservoir during disposal and found that the level had changed very little. The big end temperature had also remained as normal. Looking through the drivers report cards I suspect a faulty cork had caused the oil loss problem.

Steam Condenser Coil.

This was interesting as it behaved exactly as it had done the previous time I reported it when on duty with Steve. In that case, as with on Friday the engine was "cold" and had not been in service the previous day. Anyway, overnight the boiler pressure was about 10psi from my warming fire. As the pressure reached 40-50psi a well-defined steam leak on the first bend in that coil could be seen. As boiler pressure increased further to normal working pressure the leak slowly disappeared and remained so throughout the day. I suspect the "T" cock is passing a little when cold. The lubricator working on the other coil functioned normally throughout the day."

Saturday 3rd

Bruce checked the oil level and it was roughly at the top of the restriction pipe (i.e. still plenty in the reservoir below it).

No new issues logged from the Friday outing.

Gil was here briefly, and painted a few bottoms…  Thereafter he scurried off to Winchcombe (as is his wont).

Bruce had been concerned about the lack of lock-nuts on the loco's vacuum reservoir (beneath the cab).  The studs are a tad short, but Bruce made one lock nut and fitted it.  There has been no hint of the nuts working loose.

Later, Bruce was diverted onto a 5542 problem.  Someone (not knowing their own strength) had broken part of its steam heating valve.  It had been silver-soldered back together, and Bruce got the job of cleaning up the carrot (i.e. the tapered internal plug).  Although he made a good job of this, when the valve was assembled and tested, the repair fell apart (at which point Bruce handed it back!).

As we have 2 orders plus a potential order for ten more boot scrapers, Dixie and I set to on cleaning some.  By 3.30 pm we were exhausted, having prepared 13 rail chairs.  Gil painted the first four's bottoms before dashing off to Winchcombe to play with the siphon.  Dixie finished them off, so we have 13 shiny black bottoms pointing skywards.

Sunday 4th

Bruce (who lives a stone's throw from the station) heard a familiar whistle!  It transpires that the 5542 had a bit of an issue: "Cab floor broken in two places", hence it was "red-carded" and 2807 came to the rescue.  This explained the puzzle of Malcolm R's photo of 2807 on the Sunday service!

Monday 5th

I popped in to complete a couple of boot scraper orders.  I checked the oil in the big end, and it was fine - not even dropped down to the level of the top of the restrictor pipe.  I also fitted the chimney cap - we'll have to have a word with the Loco Dept.  That's the 2nd time I've had to fit the chimney cap (that the crew should do at the end of the day).  Meanwhile, it had rained during the night (and the cap is partly there to prevent rain ingress to the smokebox, where ash + rain = acid).

Wednesday 7th

Gil & Bruce discussed plans for the winter maintenance … then Gil disappeared to Winchcombe (again).  Bruce then tightened up the balance weights on the driving wheels.  They are lead, and do work loose over time.  It's easy enough to threaten them with a hammer and force them to tighten.  They are not loose enough to fall off!

John G painted about 10 chair tops in Deproma (primer/undercoat); David M joined us after lunch and completed the final few.  I, too, worked on boot scrapers for the day (surprise, surprise).

During the afternoon, Bruce removed the section of copper pipe between Y-splitter and coil to see if we could see a split in it.  People have been recording issues about it since July.  Yes indeed, there are signs of splits on the rather sharp bend where it turns to fit onto the Y-splitter.

Following on from the above, there was one new (!) issue recorded in the crew's log:

73 [AM]: Suspect split in LH condensing pipe, where it enters T cock.  {This is the same as issues 54 and 47, and that Bruce verified today.  We can do nothing now; it will need a new pipe making.}

Thursday 8th

I spoke with SO today about our big end problem.  He's on 2807 for the Fire & Drive on Friday.  It seems there was a misunderstanding (a mild ambiguity, in fact).  It was he who discovered the cork with no breather in it, which he replaced … and the oil-loss problem went away.  The full fact is that the cork had a hole in it where there should have been a cane breather!  No one had noticed!  That's why it was losing oil.  We assumed that the issue 72 report "cork had no core" meant that it was a solid cork … but no!  The core had fallen out.  Doh !!!

Roger

Maintenance Update (felt, small end, nut)

Saturday 26th

This was our AGM day.  It was good to see so many (mostly familiar) faces.  After the AGM, many of us took a trip behind 2807.

There was some discussion (in the TPO) about the loss of oil from the RH big end.  It really is a puzzle.  The oil pot has a vertical pipe within it that has a restriction through it.  Oil should splash around as the loco moves, and some will go down the pipe.  At the bottom of the pipe is a felt pad.  This should restrict the flow of oil and make the pot full last all day.  So, why doesn't it?  The decision was to remove the con rod on Wednesday and have a look at the pad.

I did suggest that replacing the cork (a plug in the top of the oil pot, which has a cane breather through the middle) with a solid one should create a partial vacuum and thereby restrict the oil flow.  This purely as a temporary measure until we could remove the rod.

Monday 28th

I went over to Todders to do some chair painting - we have two or three boot scraper orders that need progressing.  2807 was in the yard, and the RH side con rod was positioned exactly at the angle that it has to be when being removed.  The position is fairly critical, because the step gets in the way, and also the small end has to be backwards of the slide bar bracket.  This was either a stroke of luck, or a deliberate act by the driver - who knows?!  So, I took the decision to fit a Not To Be Moved board on the loco!

In this low position, the oil pot is easily accessible, so I filled it up.  Let's see how much runs out over the two day period.  The oil level can be expected to fall to that of the top of the pipe (but no motion = no splashing, so the level should not drop below that … unless there's a serious problem in the pot!).

I checked the Issues Log for new reported issues from Saturday.  Two:

57 [JC] LH lifting link top pin loose.  Pin tightened & new split pin fitted.  {Thank you, JC}

72 [anon] @ cork had no core.  Refitted cork.  Oil usage decreased.  Continue to monitor.  {so much for the solid cork test - driver spotted it and replaced it with a breathable one!}

The numbering is up the creek .. it was young Jon W's fault!  ;-)

Wednesday 30th

Gil, Bruce, John G & I (aided from time to time by Loco Dept chaps) tackled the removal of the RH con rod.  The oil level had dropped to the top of the restrictor tube (as one would have expected), so that gave no clue about why it loses so much so quickly.  It transpired that the wheels were not 100% perfectly lined up … we had to push the loco back by about 2".  This wasn't too difficult, once the three of us were pushing in the same direction.

The vacuum pump has to be disconnected first (because it is linked to the cross-head).  The big end came off easily.  The little end is always a challenge, and needs an extractor.  So, it took Bruce & Gil a bit longer to get that free.

Sliding the rod off was easy.  We then turned it over to be able to see the felt pad.  It was in place and intact.  We could see nothing wrong at all.  Nevertheless, it was decided to replace the felt in both ends.  I ran a wire through the constrictor, just to be sure it was not blocked.  It was fine.

Today was 3850's last day in service before its Heavy General Overhaul, and John G took the opportunity to ride behind as far as Winchcombe.  He was able to report that Fred, Ray and Bill were working on the siphon restoration.  They had completed the construction of a new pair of doors and were just making minor adjustments to its fit.  They have the wood ready for constructing the other doors, but will test this one in each place first, just to verify that the doors are all exactly the same size!

Bruce cut new felt pads.  These were inserted and then the con rod was fitted back.  Once again, it was the small end that caused trouble.  Getting the castellated nut lined up with the split pin hole took for ever.  It was either the nut being too slack, or too tight.  Some fiddling of the washer, nut, its castellations and the split pin finally got it all to fit together.

We are none the wiser as to why the oil should have run out so quickly (i.e. after each single trip), unless … did the driver realise that the level will fall rapidly to the level of the top of the constrictor, and then very slowly thereafter?  Maybe he thought that the pot always needed to be full above the constrictor top?  Who knows?!

During a couple of slack periods, John G and I managed to restock the Flag & Whistle (they having sold five boot scrapers) and do a little more on the production line.

2807 is on Fire & Drive duty on Fridays during October.  She's not rostered to be in public service now until next year.

Roger

Maintenance Update (con rod, valve, concrete)

Thursday 17th
I popped down to Todders to cut some wedges for fitting brushes to boot scrapers.  I don't like using the band saw when other people are wandering in & out (for safety reasons).  Thomas had just arrived.

Saturday 19th
I was on crossing duty at Winchcombe during today's Thomas event.  I was greatly impressed with the smoothness of 2807 when buffering up to the coaches to couple up.  The new pilot valve works a treat!  Paul showed me exactly where the steam leak is by the Y-splitter leading to the condensing coil.  It's on the bend in the copper pipe.

Bruce went to Todders and did some work on 3850.  One of the brake tender blocks was loose, and had slipped outwards, resulting in the block wearing and leaving a significant outer edge of metal that was now rubbing on the outside of the wheel.  Bruce removed the brake block; cut off the excess metal, and ground the block down to allow the block to work properly (for a while!).  Thereafter, Bruce helped in the loco shed, where they were laying metal mesh in preparation for concrete being laid on Monday.

Dixie popped in briefly (to collect something) and went on to Winchcombe to work on the siphon.

Monday 21st
It rained!  I couldn't do anything in the garden or go for a bike ride, so I went to Todders instead.  No electricity!  Off all day … so I went home again.

In checking the Issues Register, I was horrified to see on the top page No.71 [on Wednesday it was only up to no. 56] … However, I was relieved to discover that young Jon W was too tired at the end of his shift to notice the two blank pages preceding.  Hence there are only two new issues:

56 [JC] Blowing 215 psi.  {We know the safety valves lift at 215 instead of 225; they have done all year.  No action is proposed}

71 [JW] RH big end losing all oil each trip. Req a whole can each trip.

It was plain to see, as 2807 was over the old pit, that there was a significant pool of oil on the concrete apron beneath the con rod big end.  Drips clearly being from con rod, not coupling rod.  This is a bit of a blow.

Tuesday 22nd
I had a bit of a bit of a fright as I rolled into Todders car park, seeing a dirty filthy 28xx on the head of the train in Platform 1 … until I saw the smokebox number plate 3850.

Wednesday 23rd
2807 had been moved into the yard, and positioned such that the RHS big end was almost top dead centre … and hence impossible to get at the oil pot!  Nevertheless, I managed to poke my little finger in, and (sure enough) there was practically no oil in there.  This is a puzzle.  The pot contains a vertical tube with a flow restrictor within it.  When you fill the pot full, oil will flow relatively rapidly down the tube, until the level drops to that of the top of the tube. Thereafter only the motion of the con rod will cause oil to splash around in the pot and some will then drop down the tube.  Maybe I should have filled it up today and seen if the level drops when the loco is stationary?

Bruce and John T removed the RHS injector steam valve, and then polished its bottom.  It had been reported that steam passed by the valve, and you can tell from the photo that there was an area at the bottom of the face that was corroded.  They fixed this (with Carpo's cutter) and reassembled it all.

John T later cleaned a couple of rail chairs and cut bolts off a few more.

John G spent the entire day painting rail chairs.

I assembled about 10 boot scrapers and re-stocked the F&W (they'd sold two over the Thomas weekend).

Out of the kindness of his heart, Bruce helped sweep out the new concrete floor in the loco shed.

PS
You may not be aware of the award bestowed upon us all at the GWSR: the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service.  There is a video of the highlights of the ceremony, commencing with a few shots of 2807.

Roger

Maintenance Update (vacuum, siphon, Dame)

Friday 11th
John P [Fireman} reported:
"Bruce asked me to carry out some checks on 2807 steam heat rear pipe connections today as I was on Fire & Drive. This is to report back that the clasp connection and pipe clamp is correctly aligned for attachment and links up to the Chocolate and Cream coach stock easily. We briefly tested the pipework under pressure and there were no steam leaks at the fixed pipework gasket joint.

The Condenser coil in the cab is leaking and it does appear to be a pin hole near where the pipe bends away from the union. It is not a problem as the "T" cock allows the other circuit  to be used. The hole is tiny but steam and oil can be seen to exude if you look hard enough or are lucky to catch it in the right lighting situation.

We had to replace the gauge glass tube and rubbers today as it started to leak heavily on our second run from Cheltenham to Gotherington. Replaced in the station at Gotherington and no further problems.

As usual 2807 performed very well throughout the day and all the F&D participants went away very happy."

Saturday 12th
Gilbert reported:
" Jamie has reported loss of vacuum today. I asked him if it was the coaching stock, but he said No, it happened when running light engine."

Stuart came down from Lancashire and found Fred, Gil and Geof in the siphon van at Winchcombe. He says: "The strange triangle held by Gil is one of the parts being manufactured that fits on a door interior and allows access to the opening lever from the outside.  The chaps were also doing some filling and painting of the exterior new panels and internal vent slats."

Monday 14th
Bruce reported:
" I went to the Queens Award for Volunteers presentation today, John T was there also.

It seemed to go Ok despite the rain showers.  I didn't see the Queen though but Timothy West and Prue were there.

While I was there I looked at the roster. 2807 is on the service train on Tue, Wed and Thur followed by Fire and Drive on Fri, she is also rostered for Thomas on Sat and Sun.

There was a report last week that the right side clack was leaking. This has been crossed out by Mark Y and changed to the right side injector valve leaking.  We know about this as it has been leaking slightly all year and we already have it on our 'to do' list."

Tuesday 15th
Email from Maxine: " Dame Janet [i.e. Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, Dame Janet Trotter DBE] has expressed an interest in a foot scraper, dated 1943. Can you let me know if this will be possible."

Wednesday 16th
Fred, Gil, Ray and Bill were all beavering away on the siphon van restoration at Winchcombe.

Gil actually started the day at Todders with Bruce.  They were examining the pony truck on the newly-arrived 38xx in the yard.  Apparently its 'ticket' expires at the end of this month.  They went in search of drawings, too.

Dixie finished off finding electrical cables and tagging them all.  Then he joined me in cleaning (more) rail chairs.  He decided to get one as a present for his brother, whose birth date was May 1945.  Well, talk about luck!  We do have a May 1945 rail chair, so we cleaned it up.

John G got stuck into painting rail chairs.  He'd completed 10 tops (in enamel) plus 6 bottoms by end of play.

At the end of the afternoon, we had lost Bruce.  We thought he might have gone home (someone heard mention of him going to do a drawing); but it transpired that he was "helping" the department chaps in the shed finishing off some of the flooring.  It doesn't look like "our" shed, now that 3/4 of the floor is covered in concrete!  :-)

Issues logged for 2807:
52 [correction by MY]: Not clack.  Slight blow-by on steam valve to RHS injector.
   {We knew about that - see "Monday", above}

54 [JC]: Steam leak on back of Y-splitter on fountain.
   {I'm sure this was reported before?  … and it turned out to be the condensing coil?}

55 [JC]: LHS piston gland blowing.

56 [JC]: Vac train pipe losing vac when light engine, res[ervoir] at 22"
   {This happened once before.  It seems to be a random event, happening once or twice per year.  It could even be a poorly-connected vacuum hose after uncoupling.  No action proposed.}

Loco Roster
2807 is rostered for every day up to Sunday 20th Sept.


Roger

Maintenance Update (helicopter, Bachmann, flogged)

Saturday 5th
Only Dixie & I were working at Toddington.  Gil, Bill and others were at Winchcombe.  2807 was in service on Train 1.

Gil popped in, purely to give Dixie a job!  All of our electrical equipment has to have an identification tag attached to it - this was Dixie's job!  I had made a list of everything a few weeks ago, so at least he had a list to go by.  The cabinet with drills & angle-grinders in played up a bit.  The second drawer would not open!  Eventually, we took the top drawer out and I applied persuasion using a screwdriver and pair of pliers.  I think that's fixed it!

I was working away in the boot scraper factory.  Dixie assisted me in restocking the F&W plus putting some in the car boot for the Coffee Pot at Winchcombe.  Then we ambled over to the station to see 2807.  But … it was nowhere to be seen!  She should have been sitting in Platform 1 waiting to depart for Cheltenham … but she wasn't.  It transpired that someone* was flying about in a helicopter, taking videos of our line, and they wanted a steam train on the viaduct, so 2807 was sent onwards to Laverton (instead of the DMU).

It was pretty obvious when 2807 was approaching the viaduct (even though it is well out of sight of the station) because we could hear the bark as the driver opened her up!  I look forward to seeing the video.  She will have made a spectacular sight.

Anyway, there was a crowd of visitors from Bachmann.  Bob Mack came along (as Dixie & I admired "our" loco) with a name board.  "Who wants this?" he asked.  There was no response from the crew, so I climbed up onto the front, took it from Bob and fixed it to the smokebox.

We checked the pony and underkeep.  It was tepid; not hot.  Both sides were equally warm, so it looks as though our temporary fix of the leak is working.  Ian, the driver, said that he had not had to top the underkeep up, so far.  We did notice a wisp of steam from the RHS injector; so there must be a small steam leak in its steam valve seat.  However, there had been no recent issues logged.

Dixie was able to take a footplate ride (purely for ensuring all was well, obviously).  When he got back, he did report that all was well.   :-))   So, we finished off and clocked off.

Wednesday 9th
Today was a hive of activity.  But first the bad news: 2807 was red-carded for having a loose nut.  The nut is a castellated nut with split pin that holds the valve link rod to the rocking shaft.  There's a tapered pin through the two, with this nut on its end.  Unfortunately, the taper is not quite perfect …  Anyway, Driver PG spotted that the nut was loose.  It couldn't come off (because of the split pin) but it was causing the not-so-tapered pin to waggle about a bit.

Gil & Bruce, with assistance from John P [Loco Dept] and John T, removed said nut, checked it over, refitted it and applied some flogging to it.  An amusing arrangement of wood jammed the spanned onto the outer end, while the nut (on the inside) was flogged.

John G set-to on painting rail chairs.  He completed 8 tops and 2 bottoms.  We are doing BR(W) in Crimson Lake because this colour seems to be the "in" thing this year.  Don't quite understand why, but the crimson boot scrapers are selling like hot cakes.

John T left the floggers and cleaned up two LNWR rail chairs, before joining me on repairing one of our two trolleys.  I purloined planks of wood from the wood store, and John T & I removed the old wood, nuts & bolts from the dilapidated trolley top.  John G joined in, and the end result is something to be proud of!

Dixie spent the entire day finding electrical items that need tagging.  He'd got my list to work from, but actually finding things was taking the time.  They have a habit of moving about.

After lunch, Bruce & Gil noticed that the brakes on the loco & tender were wearing, and so they adjusted them.  Gil even went to the (quite unnecessary) trouble of reporting it as an issue, and then clearing it!

Apart from the Red Card, there are three new issues logged:
51 [PG]: Regulator leaking by.
52 [PG]: Driver side clack blowing by.
53 [GK]: Loco & tender brakes require adjustment.

Roster
Note that 2807 is in service from Friday through to Monday (11th to 14th Sept).
I believe she is also required for Friday 18th plus Thomas days: 19th & 20th.


Roger

------------

* GWSR had hired the helicopter to take various photos of the line, specifically that between Laverton & Broadway (but also of an engine powering across the viaduct) to put in a new share appeal for next year, to help bridge the Broadway bit.

Maintenance Update (lunch, steam, braces)

Thursday 27th
I popped over to Tewkesbury to buy some more black gloss Deproma paint.  Back at Toddington, 2807 was sat on the bay platform road with a wisp of grey smoke drifting from her chimney.  Three new springs appear to have been delivered; 4270 was still sitting on its jacks in the yard.  I believe that two of its springs had broken last weekend.

Sunday 30th
Took the family for a train ride because it was raining.  It happened to be 2807.  The start pulling away from each station was so smooth that I just had to go and compliment the driver!  Honestly, you didn't realise that you'd started to move.  From Ray's GWSR blog, here's the story of Sunday:

"the bank holiday weekend Sunday was blessed with a typical bank holiday weather forecast, unremitting rain.  For a change, I was rostered for 4270 (my last 5 turns have been on 5542, so I was looking forward to something different).  Added to that, 4270 has a nice enclosed cab like 5542, we would laugh in the face of the storm that was to come.  On the Saturday I learned that 4270 had been failed with a broken spring and would be out of action until a new one had been sourced.  My steed for the Sunday would now be 2807.  For those of you who may be unfamiliar with our locomotives, just think of 5542 and 4270 as being like your average family car, whereas 2807 is more like a convertible that has lost its windscreen and roof, at least when running tender first.  Once that analogy has planted itself in your mind, take a moment to reflect upon which one you would prefer under the circumstances.  I feared that I would no longer be laughing in the face of the storm that was to come.   I packed an old trench coat into the boot of the car before setting off and hoped for the best.  As I was down for train 2 on the red timetable, I arrived an hour or so after Andy who had been rostered on 5542 on train 1.  No sooner had I emerged from my car, than I was met by a fluent stream of Anglo Saxon which when translated amounted to the fact that 5542 was in a bad way and that Andy would be requisitioning 2807 from me and running that on train one instead.  At that moment, my driver, Steve, arrived and after a bit more translation, we established that the grate on 5542 had partially collapsed and needed some remedial work before it could be used.  This was of course a challenge, could Steve succeed where Andy had not.  Well it turned out that he could, and after a complete rebuild of the grate we were good to go.".

Wednesday 2nd Sept
Gil, Fred, Ray & Bill were at Winchcombe working on the siphon van.  That is to say, I can vouch for them being there … eating their lunches!  I had an appointment in Cheltenham so couldn't get to the railway before 1pm.

Bruce said that Gil had come to Todders first thing with some nuts, bolts and a plate off the siphon.  He came to refurbish them.  Then he buzzed off back to Winchcombe.

At Todders, John G had painted 10 chairs in the production line during the morning, then ran out of things to do.

Bruce was still there when I arrived.  He said that last Saturday, Carriage & Wagon needed to do a steam heat test on one of the coaches, and as 2807 was around …. Ah! Steam heat … we hadn't fitted the valve & pipe to the tender yet.  With no on/off valve at the tender end, steam would have gushed out of the open-ended pipe!  So, Gil apparently temporarily fitted it quickly.  Today, Bruce finished off the task.  In particular, the locknuts on the on/off valve assembly were too thick, and hence blocked the holes for the split pins (= belt & braces approach).  So, Bruce skimmed the nuts down and fitted pins, too.  He bemoaned the fact that it was a long walk from the yard down to the loco, which was parked on the bay track at the station.

Thursday 3rd
I popped down to do lettering on the chairs, and checked the issues log for 2807 - no new issues (maybe they've run out of paper at last?).  I also checked the loco roster - 2807 is now to be in service this weekend. 4270 is still sitting on its jacks.  Apparently, the new springs need a bit of work doing on them to persuade them to fit.


Roger