Dwarf Eggs

Recently the wash room in the mess coach has had a bit of a makeover.   It had been noticed that abusers of the mess coach have an approach to removing hand cleanser that is reminiscent of what dogs do to dry themselves after getting wet, hand cleanser thereby being sprayed liberally all over the place.  To stop the paintwork from getting too scruffy, Mike Wathen has been engaged to install nice, easy to wipe clean tiles behind the wash basins and once that was done, neat dispensers of  hand cleanser have been attached to the walls above them.  We now have two different varieties of hand cleanser. On the wall on the right as you go in, is a variety that if I can use a Star Trek analogy, is of a type where phasers have not so much been set to "stun" as set to "give them a stern talking to".  On the wall on the left is a variety of hand cleanser where the phasers were set to "terminate with extreme prejudice".

"Stern talking to" hand cleanser

"Takes no prisoners" hand cleanser!

Having recently commenced on my own little engineering project (non-railway related.... I do have a life outside of the GWSR you know), I had need of obtaining some suitably potent hand cleanser myself.  I added it to the shopping list that I keep on my not so smart phone.  My phone thinks that it knows rather better than me and insists on trying to correct my spelling.  On this occasion, it decided to auto-correct the brand name of the hand cleansing product concerned to "Dwarf Eggs".   The intricacies of dwarf reproduction had hitherto eluded me, I had rashly assumed that it involved birds & bees, the birds probably being of the stork variety.  I can't imagine how shocked Snow White must have been, when she opened the fridge for the ingredients of an omelette, only to find that a baby dwarf had hatched out.

Anyway, I digress.  Saturday dawned once more and the biggest job taking place was the dismantling of Foremarke Hall.  As usual, a fair sized team of people was busying themselves extricating various assemblies.  The tough one was the superheater header.  It was bolted onto a shelf at the back of the smokebox and also to the tube plate.  The bolts to the shelf were easy enough to get at, the bolts attaching it to the tube plate though, were pretty much in a completely inaccessible spot behind the superheater header.  Attempts were made using conventional hand tools to undo the bolts, but they simply wouldn't budge.  No end of colourful Anglo Saxon expressions had any effect either. Eventually John fired up the oxy-acetylene gear and gave them some of the "terminate with extreme prejudice" treatment.  

John gives up on giving it a "stern talking to"

We ran out of oxygen at one point, Phil fetched some more:

Phil takes away the empties

Once the superheater header was freed of the bolts that were holding it captive and was just resting on the shelf, we then had to get it out of the smoke box.  This was no mean feat, it's a fairly sizable chunk of cast iron... you'd probably notice if you dropped it on your foot.  Somebody came up with the bright idea of partially reinserting a couple of the superheater elements and then levering it off of its shelf onto the elements.  After that it would just be a case of pushing it far enough to be able to get it onto the forks of our fork lift truck... simples!   Well, yes, getting the superheater elements in place was a piece of cake, what followed most definitely wasn't.

Levering it off of the shelf onto the superheater elements

Getting it off of the shelf and onto the elements was considered to be a success worthy of a tea break, it was now detached and had conspicuously failed to drop to the floor of the smoke box or crush anybody.  So far so good.

After a bit of a concerted pushing and pulling effort, we got the superheater header to the front of the smokebox, those who pushed needed to access the smoke box through the hole where the chimney used to be.

Sean going up the chimney.

There was one more problem though:

It was too wide to fit through the smoke box door

Much more colourful Anglo Saxon was employed, all to no avail.  Eventually we ended up suspending it from the roof of the smoke box, removing the superheater elements that it had been resting on, rotating it through 90 degrees and then getting the fork lift in to extricate it.

Success!

We were on a roll now. The next job was to start getting the tubes out:

John, gas-axes the superheater tubes in the smoke box

After a few of the large tubes had been cut in the smoke box, John went off to the firebox to cut them through at that end.  It was a case of wait in the smoke box for the other end to be cut, and when enough had been bashed through to get a purchase on with mole grips, pull the tubes out.

Using a scaffolding pole to align the tube with the tube plate so that it could be bashed through from the far end.

I was a bit surprised to discover that although Foremarke Hall's boiler had been emptied soon after she was taken out of traffic back in December, that the boiler still contained a fair amount of wet sludge, much of which seemed to cling to the tubes as they came out. 

After a few tubes were out... John at work in the firebox, as seen from the smoke box....

....and then the sparks flew again.

Once we'd got the top row of large tubes mostly out, we had a go at a few of the flue tubes as well:

More cutting in the smoke box.

Part way through, and before the light completely disappeared, I tried to arrange a shot of some of the merry band of people present along with the first few tubes that we'd removed, but they all ran away at the suggestion.  I sneakily grabbed one a little later when they weren't looking:

L-R, Neil, John, Steve & Will, with the first three tubes

And finally, I spotted this on the flickr photo sharing website a week or so ago and thought it would be quite nice to include it here.  Thank you very much to Sally Metcalfe, who kindly granted me the permission to reproduce it:

Meetings - The Practical Alternative to Work

What can I tell you about the steam loco dept's annual general meeting on Saturday?  Well I can certainly say, without the slightest fear of contradiction, that the seats were supremely uncomfortable.  There was absolutely no danger of anybody nodding off to sleep.  Representatives from Guantanamo Bay were on hand to evaluate the use of the seats as a viable alternative to water boarding.  They seemed suitably impressed with the results.  

Mark Young is now officially our new chairman, though in reality he has already been doing the job for a few months as Ian had stepped down early.  The highlight of the meeting for me is the section on the status of all the locomotives on site, I made some notes:

7903, Foremarke Hall:  The strip down for overhaul continues.  The blower ring never did separate from the chimney and eventually the chimney was removed with the blower ring still attached.  Dismantling is progressing well.  Later on in the afternoon, Dan and I spent a while extricating the studs to which the safety valves had been attached.  They'd been there for ten years and had no intention of giving in without a fight.

Where the safety valves should be

Dan coercing one of the studs to come out

Job done

 Unfortunately one of the studs sheared off and will need to be drilled out later.

Neil and Tim (in the smokebox) were working on pressing out the smoke box retaining bolts.  They weren't keen to move either.

Neil on the outside, Tim just visible on the inside

2807:    The ash pan modifications and new safety valve springs had been done, a new regulator valve is still to be fitted.  She remains at Tyseley having her horn guides worked on and is expected to be back in May, in time for the gala.  Something that I wasn't aware of is the WWI commenced on 28/07/1914, so exactly 100 years later they are intending to hold a 2807 supporters day event.

During the afternoon, Bruce, Gilbert and Paul were to be found working on the brakes on 2807's tender (which remains at Toddington):

L-R, Bruce, Gilbert and Paul

8274:    Few problems encountered during the year, a new grate of the same materials as is fitted to 2807 and 7903 is to be fitted.

44027:   A very long written report was presented by Paul, which can be summarised as she is progressing well, the bottom end largely done and she is hoped to be in steam next year.  A recent update as to their progress can be found on their blog.

4270:     Passed in frame steam test, "She'll be done when she's done".
I took a few photos in the cab, she now has a floor, most of a backhead and some of her controls installed since last I looked:

4270's cab floor

Most of the backhead and some controls

The cab layout of 4270 is very similar to that of 5542, except that it's rather roomier.

 35006, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co:   No report received however it transpired that several members of her team were jacking up the tender water tank a bit to allow the underside to be painted:

"Not to be moved"... well not not be moved horizontally anyway.

Once again, a recent update can be found on the main GWSR website.

7820, Dinmore Manor:  Things are progressing very well.  She'll appear at Toddington in unlined BR black with a borrowed black tender sometime in March if all goes to plan.  She'll go into lined BR green later in the year.

2874:   (Not to be confused with 2807 or 8274).  She has arrived and restoration will commence once Dinmore Manor is finished.  The weather had been pretty foul all day, but as there was a nice break in the clouds just before sunset, I couldn't resist grabbing a couple of photos of our newest arrival:

I won't let the sun go down on me

Reflecting on days gone by.

Mark mentioned that all of our locomotive owning groups would be extremely welcoming of new volunteers to assist in the restoration/maintenance of our steam fleet.  Should you be interested in volunteering at the GWSR in any department, then the details of how to go about it and what to expect can be found on our website.

Aside from the working locos etc, Andy gave a few notes on the upcoming gala in May (24th - 26th).  The theme will be 'Back to Black' and it is intended that the majority of the locos running will be in black livery.  The first guest loco has now been confirmed as being Black Five, 45379 from our friends at the Mid-Hants Railway:

45379 leads 34007, Wadebridge on the Mid Hants Railway

And finally, we had an award ceremony of sorts. The "Percy Pig, hog-of-the-year" for the engineman who has completed the greatest number of turns in the 2013 season. The award was presented by Steve to John who had managed more turns than anybody else (sorry, I've forgotten how many it was now). Mark Young kindly provided me with this photo.

Steve presents John with his certificate

Welcome 2874

Howard has forwarded me a couple of photos of Tim & Dave at work last Wednesday, who along with Howard finished off painting the containers that face the car park into a fetching shade of brown.  Hopefully now that they are finished, the local graffiti artists can be encouraged to find something better to do with their time than deface them.  Unless of course the graffiti artist concerned is Banksy, in which case we could sell the containers complete with graffiti for an extortionate sum of money.

Hard at work

Dave (left) & Tim, Howard was behind the camera

Paul Richardson has very kindly sent through the following photos of Kev pressure washing the 8F on Wednesday.  Judging by the cleanliness of everything, I expect these are 'after' rather than 'before' shots:

Somewhere under the 8F

Somewhere else under the 8F

A squeaky clean exterior of the 8F

 Not quite everything scrubbed up as well as it might have done though, Kev looked far from clean afterwards:

Kev... in need of a shower.

On to Saturday, plenty more things were going on.  The main piece of work once more was stripping down Foremarke Hall ready for going to Tyseley for her overhaul.

Her superheater elements had been removed on Wednesday

I started off by helping several people remove Foremarke Hall's backhead cladding.  We had been advised that it would come off in just a few parts.  John insisted that the section from the warming plate upwards for instance should be removable as a single piece.  Well, John was right, but it wasn't anywhere near as easy as he had made it sound. Eventually we managed to get the lot off:

Backhead cladding removed

Tim mentioned that Foremarke Hall didn't look anywhere near so good without her cladding.  Somebody else (name withheld to protect the guilty) said "Much like my wife".  Once again I had my handy journalist's tape recorder running to keep track of what was said.  I'm sure that a large well-stuffed brown envelope will be coming my way shortly to prevent the recording getting into the wrong hands. 

I spent much of the rest of the day pressure washing the items that were salvaged from Foremarke Hall as a large team of people bashed/gas axed/cursed carefully removed them.  A selection of the items are shown here:

Regulator assembly

Paul stripping the hydrostatic lubricator

Back head cladding

Ejector and other bits

Just to prove that it is possible to operate a pressure washer and take a photo:

Pressure washing the backhead cladding

You'll be pleased to know that I largely managed to keep myself clean too, unlike Kev on Wednesday.

Not quite everything went to plan though, the blower ring didn't want to separate from the chimney.  No end of cursing cajoling hitting with big hammers or heating would persuade the two to part company.  It will have to be left until Wednesday to be finished off:

Steve and Will at work on the blower ring in the smoke box

The anaconda wrestling team from last week were back in action again:

Ian, Paul and George with the anaconda

I got roped into this myself at one point.  What they were trying to do was get a replacement DMU connecting corridor cover onto the three wire formers that would give it its shape.  The wire formers had been generously lubricated with washing up liquid of all things to help the cover slide on.  Come the first day in service during a rain storm and the DMU carriages will be filled with soap suds and surprised passengers.

Ian shelters from the rain under the anaconda.

The big news, was the arrival on site of ex-GWR 28XX class, 2874.  Howard sent me these three photos of her arrival on Wednesday:

2874 arrives on a low-loader

Fireman's side cylinder

A 'worse for the wear' cab side

So what can I tell you about 2874? Well as for the history, she is a sister to our own 2807 but built slightly later, entering traffic on 30th November 1918, shortly after the end of World War One.  Upon nationalisation of the railways in 1948, she was shedded at Banbury (84C) and finished her days at Neath (87A) being withdrawn on 31st May 1963.  In July 1963, she was sent to the legendary Barry Island Scrapyard and managed to remain there until August 1987, when she became the 191st loco to be saved for preservation from there.  I visited Barry Island Scrapyard in May 1978 (yup, and I'm still only 21), although I didn't take any photos of her at that time, Peter Brabham did though just a few years later.  Note that in the photo that I linked to there, 2874 has no tender.  She left Barry in August 1987 as one of five locos purchased by Terry Rippingale for restoration at the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway.  I have visited the P&BR a number of times over the years and have a few photos in my archives of her during that time:

A poor substitute for a brass cabside number and a small information panel

 Curiously the note on the side contradicts information elsewhere on the internet by claiming that she was withdrawn 19/05/63 and not 31/05/63.  Make of that what you will.

Note, she has now been paired up with a 3500 gallon tender

No buffers...

... and no motion either

As can readily be seen from the above photos, 2874 was never modified to have outside steam pipes, which is relatively uncommon amongst preserved ex-GWR locos, 4270 being one of the others.

No obvious restoration work took place on 2874 during her time at the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway.  On the 3rd of April, 2008, she was moved again, this time to new owners, the West Somerset Railway.  This was a short lived ownership, and she was then bought by her current owners Dinmore Manor LTD and was moved to their private location on 16th December 2009.  Now that Dinmore Manor is nearing the end of her current rebuild, the owning group has shipped her to Toddington for restoration to commence in earnest.

Needless to say I grabbed a number of photos of her during the course of Saturday. 

2874 in her new home.  Note, no tender.

The fireman's side piston rod wasn't disconnected from the cross head with care

 Whilst the motion on the fireman's side was completely missing, the driver's side had fared marginally better:

Not just the whole piston rod, but the cross head too

She even had the mortal remains of one of her coupling rods

2874

Not many cab fittings in the cab.

 I asked Dan if he thought we'd be passed out as firemen before she steamed again.  He thought we'd probably be passed out as drivers by then.

Dan tries out the driver's side of the cab for size.

She still possesses her reverser

Inside the firebox, no grate or brick arch.

The eccentric rods have gone AWOL

I don't think that's a standard Swindon issue safety valve bonnet

Inside the smoke box, some items are missing or hacked about, such as the petticoat, blower, ejector and parts of the superheater.  A surprising large amount was left though:

So that's where the steam pipes were hiding!

 I had hoped to catch up with Mark Young (as he's a member of the Dinmore Manor group) and quiz him about what's happened to the tender, how many of the missing bits do they have in storage and how many more still need to be acquired etc.  Sadly he wasn't around on Saturday, but I'll hopefully catch up with him in the next week or two and get some answers.  Watch this space.  Meanwhile, the links to other GWSR related websites on the right hand side of this blog have been updated to include, not only the newly started blog for the Cheltenham Racecourse platform 2 construction, but several more relating to Dinmore Manor and of course 2874's own blog. 

Edit:  According to the news section of the main GWSR website, the missing tender is currently restored and paired with 9351 on the West Somerset Railway. 

Later edit:  A photo in GWR service has been unearthed here.