Toad (and Newt) in the Hole

Peter, my normal Wednesday correspondent has provided me with a number of photos of the activities of the steam loco dept last Wednesday.  For reasons that he didn't explain, he chose to include a photo of a much earlier form of transport, the ill fated Mary Rose, which sank off Portsmouth a long time ago, I'm sure Google will reveal much more about it if you search for it.

Mary Rose (photo courtesy of Peter Gutteridge)

 I can only assume that the timber used to build it came from ancient woodland that once bordered our line, or that it must have had on board some pioneering steam powered device for automatically loading the canon which inspired Churchward in his later designs.

Now that the winter maintenance season is nearly upon us, work is starting on some of the locos that are not scheduled to be used until the new season starts.  35006 was having its tender emptied of coal prior to the application of a coat of bitumastic paint in the coal space....

Either that or the fireman should have gone to Specsavers! (photo courtesy of Peter Gutteridge)

Some went through the door as well as the window (photo courtesy of Peter Gutteridge)

 The weigh scales have been giving suspicious readings lately, Gilbert has devised a new mounting bracket and the results have since become more consistent.

Gilbert fitting his new bracket (photo courtesy of Peter Gutteridge)

 Dinmore Manor (along with 2807) will be working the Santa specials from the beginning of December, so jobs that can be squeezed in before then are being attended to, one of which is the application of bitumastic paint in the coal space.  I seem to remember doing this job last year... or was it the year before?

Painting started (photo courtesy of Peter Gutteridge)

 Meanwhile, whilst 35006 was being de-coaled, Martin was underneath with the pressure washer.  His cunning plan was to hide under the loco to avoid getting wet from the rain outside.

Creating his own rainstorm under 35006 (photo courtesy of Peter Gutteridge)

Moving on to Saturday, it was time to bite the bullet with 3850's tender.  A number of brackets that had been left in place had proved to have made access into other areas practically impossible.  There was also a suspicion that rust had built up behind the brackets and that should be cleaned out and painted too. Unfortunately, the nuts and bolts that were securing them had got quite settled in their homes and weren't at all keen to move thank you very much. In fact it was worse than that, as the split pins holding some of them in place had been painted over, making a tough job next to impossible. As ever some heat was brought to bear, the split pins cut away and they eventually all gave in.

Mark applies some heat to the fireman's side vac cylinder mounting bracket

Split pins gone, and the nuts now loosened

 Needless to say the corresponding bolt heads were concealed in awkward to reach spots calling for some dexterity to get a spanner on the back to hold them still whilst undoing the nuts. 

A pipe mounting bracket that needed to come off...

...and another on the fireman's side

 Access to the bolts behind the driver's side vac cylinder mounting bracket was extremely limited, but fortunately the bolts didn't turn as the nuts were undone, the last person to install them had obviously had a hard enough time of it to go to the trouble of welding tabs in place to prevent them from turning. To that kind person, I am extremely grateful.

Driver's side vac cylinder mounting bracket

 Needless to say, in a few weeks time when we are ready to refit the brackets, we'll be looking at the above few photos to remind us which one fits where.

Martin took photos for the next DMLL working volunteers email

 Martin experienced a spot of bother emailing the working volunteers email this week, taking several attempts before getting the readable attachment to attach as desired.  Fortunately his skills with a paint brush outshines his skills with email.

Martin priming sundry 3850 items...

...Nigel wire brushing them earlier.

 Tim and Angela continued to remove the various brackets and hand rails attached to 2874's cab

Angela (L) & Tim

 76077 has not been forgotten about, Ade and Ben were giving it it's first boiler washout in at least 50 years

Ade manipulates the pressurised water, Ben cleans out the crud through the mud hole doors

 76077's buffers were in the shed for overhaul, first stop was to wire brush off the old paint.

Wire brushing off the buffers...

...then applying a little heat to encourage the back plate screws to free up

 At the end of the day another trailer load of items disappeared off to Loughborough to be reunited with 76077's frames.

And finally, four toads and a newt were rescued from the diesel pit on Saturday by Simon, a fifth toad managed to escape under its own power.  There was no news on the sobriety of the newt. Roger released them in a pond which would hopefully provide them with a more agreeable habitat.

Four toads and a newt, photo courtesy of Roger Molesworth