Waste Not, Want Not

Last week, the "Wednesday gang" received a request from the Operations Manger to attend to the lubrication of the axle boxes of the flat wagons that had been used to take the new rail up to the Broadway extension recently.  The wagons had been fetched up from Hunting Butts after a lengthy period of inactivity and now required some attention.  In particular, the axle boxes needed topping up with oil.  All 16 axle boxes involved have now been filled and the wagons declared fit for ferrying the next delivery of rail to the rail head when the time comes.

Some of the Wednesday gang at work on the axle boxes (photo courtesy of John Cruxon)

After that, the Wednesday gang cracked on with preparing road 6 for the next concrete pour.  Two areas inside & outside the shed were prepared for a concrete delivery on the 12th.  This is on top of the usual jobs of chopping up the lighting up wood & cleaning/maintaining the running fleet of locos.

Road 6, prepared for the next concrete pour

Finishing off concreting road 6 is important, as the commissioning of the lifting jacks is dependent on that being done first.

A combination of work, family events & holiday has meant that I haven't managed to be around on a Saturday for a few weeks now, so it was good to be able to catch up with what was going on last Saturday.  For a start, loco cleaning is a never ending task, Alex & Ian set to making Dinmore Manor sparkle again:

Ian (l) and Alex bringing back the shine to Dinmore Manor

In my absence, it came as no surprise that the steam loco dept has retained its reputation for prolific tea consumption.

Steve (l) & Phil demonstrating the art of tea drinking

Both pistons had been removed from 3850, along with a last few items from the brakes and suspension, which required cleaning with the pressure washer before putting away in the new container.  The pressure washer has proved to be a bit reluctant to play ball lately though, and in spite of the best efforts of a number of people, it continued to sulk.  A cold pressure wash is better than nothing, but still leaves a lot to be desired in terms of its ability to get things clean.

John tests the pressure washer

Phil & Steve join in trying to get it fixed

In the end, it was cold water only to clean 3850's vacuum pump

Dave decided to clean the pit step ladder with it anyway

There were quite a few heavy items that had been removed from 3850 over the last few weeks which needed to be removed from the shed and placed into one of the containers.

Ian hoists a piston onto a trolley, Sam steadies it

Keith with a cross head and cylinder cover about to be stashed away

(l-r) Sam, Keith & Tony shifting slide bars

Some items were a bit to big for manhandling and mechanical assistance was required.

I think this was the start of the linkage from the brake cylinder

The rear cylinder covers of GWR locos at least, pretty much never get removed, the piston usually being removed from the front where there is more access.  It is highly likely that the last time they were removed from 3850, was when it was still in BR service.  In this case, because we'll be replacing the cylinder block due to the large crack in it, everything fitted to it will need to be removed.

RH rear cylinder cover

The technique for removing rear cylinder covers, was to find an old length of sleeper, suspend it from the mobile hoist and then swing it back and forth through the cylinder to clout the cover.  It did the trick nicely.

Keith propels the sleeper through the cylinder and into the cover.

Once that was done, the next job was to finish prepping 3850 for being lifted off of its wheels.  The pony truck horn ties are amongst the small number of things left preventing that, so Keith & I set to removing the split pins and lock nuts in anticipation of that.

Keith removing split pins and lock nuts from the pony truck horn ties

35006 is now in its period of winter maintenance, the jobs that were identified during its period of running over the summer are now being dealt with.  Dave & John were to be found at work underneath it in the pit.

Dave (l) & John.

 The task for Saturday was to make a start on repairing the ash pan, some deformation has occurred which will need remedying.

In need of some therapy.

And finally, the recently erected water tank in the yard still hasn't had a drain fitted, a job for Saturday was to fabricate one:

Chris de-rusts what will become the top of the drain.

Two sections are welded together

With a backstop added and a drain pipe (actually a cut off section of flue tube from 3850's boiler), the whole thing starts to take shape.

Unfortunately Pete appears to have mistaken it for a hat

Some of the team responsible for getting it this far:

(l-r) Steve, Jamie, Phil & John

All that is left is to paint it and concrete it into the ground by the yard water tank.

The remainder of the flue tube has been pressed into service as an umbrella stand at the offices where Jonathan works.  Waste not, want not!

3850 custom umbrella stand (photo courtesy of Jonathan Perks)

It put me in mind of an old riddle:  "What goes up a chimney down, but not down a chimney up?".