The Final Push to Get the Locos Ready for 2017

We are fast approaching the first weekend of the 2017 season and it's a race to the finish line to get all the locos boxed up, coaled, watered and steam tested ready for service on Saturday morning, 4th March. There was a flurry of activity around most of the locos on the last 3 main working days of winter maintenance.
Pete and John were working on cleaning up 4270's cylinder lubricator - as there was no water in the loco the remaining oil in the lubricator had sunk down to the bottom of the glass and had to be cleaned up prior to use. It's a fiddly little job but satisfying once it's done.

The cylinder lubricators prior to cleaning

...first, all the tops need to be removed...

...then a cloth and a piece of wire some specialist equipment is put inside the glass...

...swiftly twirled round to pick up the oil...

When they are all clean, a splash of anti-freeze is poured into each one...

...and then filled with water.

On go the tops

And all that is left to do is fill it up with oil and that's the lubricator ready to go

A little while later I noticed that Pete and John had migrated over to 2807 to do the exact same job on her lubricators, under the watchful eyes of Alex: 

Whilst up on the footplate of 4270 I noticed that the cover for the reverser cover had received a coat of grey primer and the handles for the dampers had also so received a nice piece of painted trim to fit around them:

4270 looking more refined every day!

Reverser cover - soon to be green I would have thought

Elsewhere, Chris was painting up the other, final parts for the floor of 4270, further in the aim of getting it as draught proof as possible. Not an easy job considering the relatively open nature of these old locomotives but anything that stops some of the draughts is better than nothing at all.

Chris paints up the final pieces from 4270's floor area

The finished piece

Not only has he been spraying 4270 parts but he's also been priming a new set of lamps in that same fetching shade of grey:

One beautifully painted lamp

While we are on the subject of refurbishing lamps, a few of these will not be painted in the usual white colour which is what our locos can normally be seen sporting while out and about. A couple of lamp sets will be painted red especially for 4270 and 2807. The reason for this is that initially on the Great Western Railway, locos were fitted with red painted lamps up until December 1936. As 4270 and 2807 are the oldest GWR locos here, being built in 1919 and 1905 respectively, they would have run with these red lamps in their earlier days. Even after the 1936 introduction of white lamps, there was still quite a few years of overlap where locos could be seen carrying both red and white examples. 

A glimpse outside of the shed into the miserable February weather showed an equally miserable looking 3850, having had all of the paint painstakingly scraped off her frames. 

3850 in the frame

Meanwhile, 3850's stablemate Dinmore Manor is having some cosmetic surgery so she looks her best for 2017. The buffer beam has been sanded down and had various imperfections smoothed out ready for a coat of red paint later on.

Dinmore Manor in the middle of cosmetic improvements 

Dinmore Teddy can't wait to get out there and get some soot
in his eyes

Work continues on the Broadway canopy; Clive, now that the Starfish is finished, is riveting with a small team. 

Broadway Canopy Progresses

On the 2807 it was discovered that the front draw hook moves a little so Brian and Gil were attempting to remove the top front panel on the running board so they could gain proper access to it so it can be fixed. It's a tight space with limited light and it was putting up a good fight!

Brian poses for the camera - a short break during an awkward task

On Saturday, the steam department was once again a hive activity, with all eyes on the finishing post in the rush to get everything ready. It was a race to see who could get boxed up, coaled and watered.

 Foremarke Hall was the first loco to be boxed up

Inside the shed I found Jamie busy working away on the packing on the rear of one of Dinmore's pistons. You can see the packing that he's put in just around the valve spindle, while two other pieces wait to be fitted just below. 

Jamie makes a precision cut

Packing in the packing material

There needs to be quite a few pieces of packing in there to make a good enough seal, and when they are inserted the joins need to be staggered by 120 degrees to minimise the possibility of steam leaking from behind. 

While the mechanical work is ongoing, the cleaners have been given a head start on this loco as the boiler cladding is having a wipe down in readiness for the weekend. Perhaps that will give enough time for one more cup of tea?

On the running board, her eccentric straps await fitment and it's not long before she is shunted out of the shed and put over the new pit so they can be fitted.

At the opposite end of the shed is Dinmore's new tender which is receiving a coat of gloss red from Ray and Eleanor.

35006 is also having some parts reassembled ready for testing at the end of the week - one of her injectors was found to be leaking due to a crack - this has now been welded up as you can see below and is ready to be refitted.

 Meanwhile Angela was overseeing the work on 4270 - the loco was having her valves refitted and the event had gathered almost a football team of people!

On 2807, the loco timing was almost ready to be commenced, which we will no doubt hear the results of soon. The valve cover end plates have also received new seals from John T, made from adhesive-backed extra thick PTFE tape.

Next week's posts will cover steam tests and the first day of the season (where post quality will also improve!)