Thursday 27 July 2017

Maintenance Update (trip, hook, trip, PAT)

Saturday 22nd
2807 was in service, so there was little for us to do. I had planned on needle-gunning rail chairs before the rain set in. However ….

Bruce & I arrived to discover that there was no electricity to the van, and the floor was rather wet. The wet could have been the fridge defrosting, of course. Eventually, we obtained the key to the distribution box and discovered that the trip had tripped. It insisted on tripping, regardless of which items were plugged in and switched on. Basically, this supplies power to our fridge, microwave, kettle and light. So, Bruce grovelled around under & behind the table, only to discover that the four-way socket was sopping wet! He took it apart to dry it, but discovered that it was “past its sell-by date” and decided to replace it completely. He zoomed off and obtained a replacement from Screwfix, and we fitted the new one and tidied up the cabling to everything. All was hunky-dory.

I managed to needle-gun and wire-brush four rail chairs in between showers. The heaviest shower, at midday, demonstrated exactly why the socket was wet - rain was being driven through a window that was ajar! This time, though, Bruce had fitted the new socket onto the wall, so it remained perfectly dry.

Well, that is almost all that we achieved for the day! Gil did divert away from the siphon restoration and call in at Todders with a view to making a hook for holding siphon doors open. This proved too difficult without having a furnace to hand.

Wednesday 26th
With 2807 being in service and the weather being drizzly, there was little enthusiasm to do much! The most productive was John G, who painted the tops of seven rail chairs. I applied a top coat to just two. Bruce made a shim for one of the wedges that stabilise the boiler between the frames. The wedges wear a bit, as the expansion and contraction of the boiler moves them to and fro by about half an inch. Brian was here, too. Gil & Fred passed through on their way to Winchcombe.

I had called in at Winchcombe on the way to Todders (and hence missed Gil & Fred). The café had sold a couple of boot scrapers; Bill was taking a tea break (sat outside the café). He was saying how they are running out of things to do on the siphon - it must be nearing completion!


I called in there on my way home, but the siphon was deserted - everybody had buzzed off!
It is looking good, though.

We discussed many things at Todders (over cups of tea) during the day. Brian has been in discussion with Llangollen with a view to 2807 paying them a visit from October to early January. If you saw the list of locos lined up for Old Oak Common’s open day in September, you will have seen 2807 and Foremarke Hall both on the list. GWSR cannot release both locos for a weekend, and although 2807 would be more sensible as it would add variety (i.e. rather than them having two Halls) it seems that this view is not shared universally.

Brian & Bruce decided to take a well-deserved trip behind 2807, while John finished the last rail chair, and I packed up ready to leave.


However, just as I had locked up, the PAT (Portable Appliance Test) team arrived! So, I opened up again to give them access to the fridge, kettle, toaster, microwave, radiators and vacuum cleaner. The toaster failed and was condemned. The kettle got knocked over, spilling water over my boots. They changed the plug on the fridge; otherwise all was well.

I don’t know what you think, but 2807 running with a red lamp on the front just looks plain wrong to me! It looks as though it’s going backwards.


2807 is due for a rest during August, so there may be more things to report then.


Roger

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