But Not Too welcoming

Saturday saw the steam loco dept's AGM.   The great and the good of the steam loco dept's management committee gathered together to report on what had happened last year and what will hopefully be happening during 2015.  There were also reports from the various loco owning groups and a few other items/speakers.  The highlight for me was when Ed spoke about the new volunteers that had recently been recruited and encouraged us to be very welcoming to them, but not too welcoming though as one of them is his girlfriend.

There were also "Percy Pig" awards for the footplatemen who had hogged the most turns during 2014.  The runner up was Clive:

Clive(l) receives his certificate from Chairman, Mark.

 For the second year running, John was the winner. 

John receives his certificate from Mark

 At this rate, John will need to move to a larger house in order to have enough wall space to frame and hang all his certificates.

There was a slot in the proceedings for somebody to speak about the gala.  As all the other gala committee members were absent (well in theory they were all absent, Paul appeared anyway), yours truly got stitched up with that one.   Although invitations have been sent out, there are as yet no confirmations of visiting locos, in spite of what you may have read in one of the railway magazines.  The gala for the coming year will be in its usual end of May bank holiday weekend slot (23rd - 25th) and will have a particular theme.  Here is a clue:

Hmmm!

More details will of course be revealed on this blog as things become confirmed.  If we get the locos that we have asked for, it will be a fantastic line up.  Watch this space and keep the gala weekend free in your diaries.

The upheaval at Toddington station is still ongoing, but it is starting to take shape again.  As of Saturday, new ballast had been laid in the platforms, and new wooden sleepers and track were being laid in platform 1.  The Permanent Way gang are doing a great job.

Track retuning to platform 1

 The boiler tubes on steam locos clog up with soot after a while, which obviously impairs the ability of the boiler to raise steam.  They need regular sweeping just like house chimneys do, well at least they do for people who still have coal fires at home.  One of the least popular jobs on a steam loco is cleaning out the boiler tubes.  Usually these days it is done with compressed air blown through a lance inserted into the tubes.  Hit a particularly badly blocked tube and the result is that you get a high pressure face full of soot.  Dust masks and goggles are a must for doing this job, followed by several hours in the bath/shower when you get home.  The 2807 group as it turns out had a cunning plan.

The 2807 group plotting

 Just visible in the above shot is Roger, who is inside the firebox.   Here is a better view of him.   Roger has a length of copper pipe which he is inserting into each tube, connected to a flexible hose.  You will note that the brick arch is missing, usually you would be perched on top of it for this kind of operation.

Roger in 2807's firebox

 There were copper pipe extensions available to allow him to get to the far end of the boiler tubes:

Copper pipe extension waiting in the wings

 The cunning part of the plan, was that rather than using an air line blowing through the tubes, they had a vacuum cleaner sucking the soot out. 

Vacuum cleaner

 I am wary of putting this information out here on the blog as there is a very real danger that some of our better halves may see this and run away with the idea that we have skills from the railway that could be used in a domestic setting.  Real men of course have no idea what a vacuum cleaner might be, much less how to use one.  It is a risk that I shall take though.  I expect to be much chastised for revealing this next time I show my face at the railway.

Just some of the soot extracted from 2807's boiler tubes

 There isn't much call for riveting as far as domestic chores are concerned, so I think that I'm moving onto safer ground here.  There wasn't much sign of activity on Dinmore Manor's tender on Saturday, but work had been progressing with riveting some of the sections together during the week.

Rivets awaiting use on Saturday

Riveting plates together midweek, photo courtesy of Mike Solloway

 Dinmore Manor was being readied for her trip to the Great Central Railway to star in their gala.  There is a lot that needs doing to be ready for that.  For a start, spare springs need to be sent up with the loco, in case one needs replacing.  Locomotive springs are not particularly lightweight items:

Mark and Clive fetch a spare spring.

 The tender needs separating from the loco, which involves draining the tender of water, disconnecting water pipes, steam heat pipes and vacuum brake pipes as well as the physical connections.

Cliff separating 7820 from her (well, OK, 9017's) tender.

 There was still some unfinished business left over from setting up Dinmore Manor's valve timing.  Last week the eccentrics had been shimmed up to get the valve events occurring at the right time, this now meant that some of the split pins could no longer fit in the holes that they had come out of.  The solution was to get the nuts turned down a little on a lathe so that the split pins would fit again.

Nut, lock nut, no split pins though

 Rod in the machine shop kindly turned the nuts down by the required amount:

Rod at work

Shaving off 20 thousands of an inch at a time.

Mike refits the nuts and split pins

All present and correct again

 As mentioned last week, the hanging link brackets needed painting.  I did that bit myself, but although I took a 'before' photo, I seem to have omitted the 'after' photo.... you just can't get the staff.

Hanging link bracket before painting.

Once again, painting is one of those tasks that our better halves may well think we should be undertaking in our domestic lives, I'm back on thin ice again now.

The last thing to do was to put onto the tender the spare chimney that had once graced 7820 during the early days of her first boiler ticket in preservation and which prior to that had been on a Hall class loco.  It has been sold for use on Pitchfork Pitchford Hall which is currently being restored on the GCR.

If you thought springs were heavy....

Landing the chimney on the tender.

 I have noticed that an upcoming auction has listed amongst the items for sale, a chimney from 5009, Shrewsbury Castle.  I quite fancy the idea of replacing the chimney on my house with it.  If I could find a brass safety valve bonnet to go up there and perhaps a pair of GWR whistles too, it would all look stunning.  The prospect of collecting the chimney from the vendor many miles away and somehow elevating it onto my roof is rather too daunting though. 

And finally,  7820, Dinmore Manor arrived on Monday at Quorn & Woodhouse on the Great Central Railway.

Arriving on the GCR,  Photo courtesy of Mike Solloway

 She'll be running at the their gala and on selected dates over the next few weeks.