October update

by Pete Maddicks

Saturday 1st. Only two on site today Tony H, and myself. It was the Saturday of the Diesel gala, so no steam, but lots of rain! Tony was first on site and he found that part of the roof canvas had blown off and water had got into the far end of the van. We will have to get a full group together and fit a new one.

Monday 3rd. Well today started off well, Dave Mc, Tony H, Charles L and Bob L. In the boiler shop. Dave and Charles grinding the small tubes to length. Bob and Tony painting the boiler barrel with a special heat resisting paint. Steve T and I fitted the driver’s side 10mm injector and we then had lunch. We then got the new sheet out to put on the van, but first I went to get some rope from the builders merchants. On the way back I was taken ill and ended up in A&E in Telford. I will not be at Bridgnorth for a while, but Tony will keep you updated on the progress.

The boys got the new cover on the van, so the van will be okay for the winter.

Well, the bad luck continued, Tony was keeping a record of the progress on his phone and it got wet. Therefore Saturday 8th to Monday 17th is going to rely on memory. During this time most of the work has been on the boiler. Expanding the tubes in the smokebox.

For the rest of the the update I am indebted to Tony H. (Who now has a new phone)!

Saturday 22nd. Dave Mc, Kevin S, Simon B and Steve M. Apart from Steve everyone was working in the boiler shop expanding tubes in the smokebox. By the end of the day most had been done.

Monday 26th. Peter D, Steve T and Tony H on site today. Tony and Steve put the feed pipe back on that had been taken off two weeks ago. They also connected the one side to the 10mm injector. The overflow pipe was found after a frantic search in the fruit D and fitted to the 10mm injector. Peter was working in the boiler shop fitting the slide plates.

Saturday 29th. Kevin S, Steve M, Si B. and Tony H on site today. Kevin and Tony looked at cleaning up the 8mm injector. It is quite old and more black on the outside than a brass casting. We decided to take it to the bosch to see if it would clean up. After a hour of wire brushing and scraping it looks a lot better as you will see in the photo. Si arrived on the first train from Kidderminster, so Kevin and Si went to the boilershop to carry on beading over small tubes in the smokebox. Steve gave the front cylinder cladding a coat of black paint. Tony sorted out all the fittings for the 8mm injector. Just need the foot valve to complete the job.

Monday 31st. Charles L, Peter D, Si B, Steve T and Tony H today. Charles, Peter and Si carried on beading over the small tubes in the firebox. Tony and Steve managed to clean up the 8mm injector even more. Then they temporarily fitted onto the locomotive.

We were asked if we would remove the bunker from the frames of the Isle of Man loco frames. Charles made a start on doing this and it was soon realised that it would take a lot of heat to move the majority of these bolts.