Three Wheels on my Wagon

An anonymous correspondent has furnished me with a collection of photos from the Wednesday gang's activities this week.  A call had been made to get together a group of people to assist with a bit more concreting of road 6 in the David Page shed:

The concrete mixer lorry making a delivery...

...soon being expertly poured and levelled...

...not a bad day's work

 There were other tasks in hand too, 3850's pony truck still had the ATC (Automatic Train Control) shoe brackets attached to the axle boxes.  The brackets wanted separating from the axle boxes, and the whole lot wanted cleaning before putting into storage.

3850's axle boxes, with by this point only one of the two ATC shoe brackets still attached.

Keith (l), Martin (r) and my anonymous correspondent engaged in this task

Keith steam cleaned the axle boxes.

 The water pressure cleaner appears not to have been built to the same exacting standards as our Swindon built products.

Three wheels on my wagon!

 A certain well known social media website has made much today of the fact that 2807 had a failed tube at during the NYMR gala a few weeks ago.  Students of this blog will know from the last post here that the offending tube was removed on the 22nd of October. A new one has been installed and the boiler had a  successful hydraulic test on Thursday. The owning group have now moved on to a variety of cosmetic tasks.

Brian wire brushing and filling the cab beading prior to a touch up of paint

 Several souls have enquired as to the exact nature of the difference between the Churchward wheels (that were running under 3850... a Collett loco) and the Collett wheels (that were under 2874, a Churchward loco).  Well, the wheel swap has taken place, so here are a couple of close ups to help:

2874, now with Churchward pattern wheels

Below is the Churchward pattern wheel, note that the axle and wheel centre protrude by an inch or so.

Churchward wheel

Whereas for the Collett wheels, destined to be used under 3850, the axle and wheel centre are flush.

Collett pattern wheels

Moving on to Saturday, the race trains were operating.  As there are very few available turns in November, the 3 trips on Saturday (morning, takes the race goers to Cheltenham Race Course (CRC), lunch time fish & chip & evening, fetch the race goers back) were spread between 3 crews. I had the pleasure of firing the first trip of the day, taking the horse racing enthusiasts to CRC. 

We didn't start out the day with too much coal

 I wasn't at all bothered about the lack of coal in the tender, there was plenty for me to do the one round trip. The later firemen might well be concerned though.  We have a new machine for loading the coal, and only a few people are passed out to use it so far. Training will doubtless soon catch up, but for now we needed to wait until after our trip before somebody passed to operate the coal loader was available to help.

Dinmore Manor ready to depart to the races

 I was particularly pleased to be on Dinmore Manor again, as according to my records (Yes, I'm the sort of sad muppet who keeps track of these things), it was my first firing turn on her since 4th April last year.  On that occasion, my driver was Jeff, who by coincidence was my driver again now.

 The journey both ways was uneventful and as ever, it was fun passing the cars queueing to get into CRC's car park.

Jeff (l) and cleaner, Roger

No hold-ups for us.

 Should you wish to avoid the usual car park queues and travel in style to the races, then you know what to do next time.

Some of the race goers were as enthusiastic for steam as they were for horses...

...Roger obliged by helping with the souvenir photos

 An unexpected pleasure on the way back was a footplate passenger, Julia, who not only volunteers as part of the On Train Catering team, but also manages the volunteer accommodation bookings.

Jeff & Julia on Dinmore Manor's footplate

Safely back at Toddington

 Once back at Toddington, we handed over to the next crew, Phil & Tina.  Tina was rather dubious about whether or not I had left her with enough coal for her round trip.

Tina contemplates the coal crisis

 Fortunately a driver for the coal loader was found and the crisis averted.

Dinmore Manor on the ash pit, about to be coaled, Roger valiantly attempts to bring me a cup of tea whilst trying to remain out of camera shot.

 Tender restocked with coal, Dinmore Manor sets off with the lunchtime fish & chip special:

Curiously sporting a "Cheltenham Spa Express headboard rather than "Cheltenham Fryer"

 It was noted that the lunchtime crew avoided having to either light up or dispose the loco, rather a nice turn to have had.

The results of contracting a local grit blasting firm to blast & prime various components for 3850 has proved to be much quicker than doing it the hard way with needle guns and paint brushes:

An example of their handiwork, 3850's smoke box door & chimney, grit blasted & primed

 The grit blasting exercise has proved to be so successful with a number of smaller parts, that the same approach is to be taken with the wheels and frames.  To this end, David and Tony spent a while on Saturday preparing the wheels for grit blasting by masking off the bearing surfaces.

Tony (l) and David preparing what are now 3850's wheels for grit blasting.

 It might have been nice to have grit blasted 3850's boiler too, but it's not clear to me how that would have worked in relation to the heads of the copper stays around the firebox, which wouldn't want want grit blasting and would be difficult to mask.  We've started the old fashioned way, so we'll finish that way:

Pete needle gunning 3850's boiler

 One of the extremely hard to remove (I know, I tried) expansion plates has also miraculously come free.  I have no idea who did it or how, but I'm sure that it wasn't easy.

All it needs now is needle gunning, wire brushing & priming...

...so that's what it got.

 A bit of good news regarding 3850's boiler, was that it had been believed that the front section had worn too thin for further use.  A preliminary check by the boiler inspector has revealed that it could well be repairable, so that section too is being needle gunned, wire brushed & primed:

Progress on the front section of the barrel

Foremarke Hall has stopped now for winter maintenance, I'm not entirely sure what the issue was with its reverser, but it has been sent to Tyseley for attention.

A big hole where the screw reverser should be

 Don't worry, she'll be back in traffic for the start of the new season in March.

I noted that the parachute tank in the yard now has the drain stand installed.

Drain in place

Both 2807 and 4270 have recently returned from visiting other railways recently (NYMR and SVR respectively).  Previously both were facing south (in common with all our other ex-GWR locos).  Now both have returned facing north

It's hard to tell, but 4270 is behind 35006 and facing the same way

Continuing on from the concrete pour on Wednesday, a further section of road 6 in the David Page shed has been prepared for concreting by Tim, Eleanor & Jamie.

Steel reinforcement being set up for the next concrete pour

And finally, the GWSR has no trains running on the last weekend of November (the Santa Specials commence in December), so you can have no feelings of guilt about going to other outside events.  Should you happen to find your way to the Warley Model Railway Show, the Dinmore Manor group will have a display stand and will be selling amongst other things some rather nice wooden replica cab side number plates of 3850.

Replica 3850 cab side number plate

Yours truly will be manning the stand on Saturday 27th, do come up and say hello if you're passing by.