Thursday 16 April 2015

Maintenance Update (failed, fixed, failed)

Friday 10th
I knew it was going to happen, but I still have a twinge of sadness - Maurice has definitely left home.  The food I put down for him on Wednesday was still in his little bowl.

2807 was in service on a Fire & Drive.  Seemed to be going OK.  Carpo also told me that he had decided to keep her in service for Saturday.

I really went down to restock the railway shop with some of our teddy bears (the Winchcombe Wendy one seems to be everyone's favourite!).  However, while there I applied Deproma to the tops of the three black-bottomed-chairs.  Then there will be nine ready for their enamel coat on Saturday.

Saturday 11th
Daphne gave Bruce permission to come down for a couple of hours, so he helped me by applying the top coat to the rail chairs.

2807 was chuffing up & down happily, so there was not a lot that people could do - hence I'd suggested they go to Winchcombe and help on the siphon work.

Meanwhile, I tackled some exceedingly clagged-up chairs, and managed only to de-grease four by 2.30 pm.  Bruce had gone by then.  Mike W came and ate lunch in the TPO, but then went to help with P&O (they hope to light a fire on Thursday).

Sunday 12th
2807 was in service again.  I did a spot of painting for a short while, but really went down to count up how many teddy bears we still have.

Tuesday 14th
Carpo reported: " Bad news Roger I'm afraid. The joint twixt safety valve and delivery clack has lasted all of about 4 steamings and has failed again today although the crew managed to nerdle the engine through the day."

Wednesday 15th
Gil & Bruce, assisted by Jeff & John P from Loco Dept, set about solving the problem of why the first gasket lasted four years and the second one only four days.  As the loco was in steam yesterday, it was a shade too warm to work on it initially (not to mention the pressure on the 'clock').


In due course, they removed the clack box from the left-hand side of the safety valve block and retired to the TPO for an inspection.  Bruce started cleaning up the face and it was soon clear that it was not exactly flat!  It was slightly dished, in fact, plus a bit of a dent and a scratch.  So, he and John P spent a while with the diamond scrapey-thing making the surface smooth and flat.


John G & I decided to look at Issue 14, that reported the LH pony running warm.  The loco was not over a pit, so I grovelled I the dirt and John passed tools to & fro.  Draining a small amount of liquid from both axleboxes revealed no water in there (which, of course, there shouldn't be!) only oil.  So we have no idea why it should run warm.  Maybe it was the sunshine?

For most of the rest of the day, John G and I repaired one of the trolleys.  They get (ab)used a lot, and the wooden planks were in a sorry state.  In fact, one piece of plywood had stood up to wear better than real wood.  By chance, there was a heap of plywood planking by the wood store - which is no good for fire lighting.  So we made good use of it!

Once all of the clack box faces were clean and smart, it was refitted by Bruce, Gil & Jeff.  Carpo inspected it and declared Thursday as steam-test day.  Jamie (Loco Dept) is in on Thursday morning and will light a steam-raising fire, so all we needed was someone to light a warming fire tonight ….

Bruce & I had a quick look at the leaky J-cock on the RH side of the smokebox.  Something is loose, but it is hard to be sure exactly what needs doing … and it was still a bit warm inside the smokebox! Anyway, time was running out.

… John assisted me in starting a fire.  By 4.40 pm we decided to adjourn, and I would pop back about 6.30 and bank up the fire.  It is important to only light a small fire when the loco is already hot, otherwise it could easily raise steam during the night and blow-off.  Apart from annoying any neighbours, it could then cause the water level in the boiler to drop to a dangerously low level.

Thursday 16th
FAILED AGAIN!  Water pouring out of the clack box joint.  Yesterday's fix clearly didn't.

Service days
2807 was rostered to be in service every Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday until the end of the month.  However, this leak will wipe out this weekend.  Otherwise, Wednesdays are good for fixing things!

Speaking with Andrew M (P&O), their planned steaming test for Thursday has been postponed to
Sunday.


Roger

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