Again work is continuing on the bogies with yet more grime removal. Stuart and Paul experienced the joys of broken stud removal. Typically these studs are rusted in solid and the only way to remove them is by drilling them out and re threading by means by of a tap. No not something that is attached to a sink, rather the tool that cuts the thread. The centre has to be accurately marked and centre popped. A small pilot drill is applied and then the tapping size drill is last to go through. A small picking chisel extracts the remanding thread and the tap is screwed through by means of the tap wrench. Sounds easy but its not, as it is very easy to drill off centre and a slight change of angle can be disastrous. Fortunately Stuart served his apprentiship with the Victorian Railways at it Newport workshops. Stuart advised that it had been some time since he had done this type of work however with only one broken drill by days end this was judged as a good result. Stuart shared his skills with Paul and as a result both are now qualified as stud extractors or words to that effect! One can picture them as bouncers at a night club extracting studs. After they were finished with the studs the bogie was given its fist coat of black paint.
After cooking the BBQ Barry set to the leading head stock by use of the electric grinder and wire brush. As usual most of the old paint flakes ended up on Barry but the headstock now looks great.
Alan cut out the rusted centre bowl from the from the leading inner bogie. This should delight our bogie guys Kyle and John as both had the day off due to other commitments. Safe to come back guys, jobs done! In truth both have done a magnificent job so far, and a day off now and then is well deserved.
A big thankyou to all who organised the fund raiser trip to Kandos on Saturday the 20th of February. Thanks also to all who supported the project by purchasing tickets. Last but not least a thankyou to 3801 LTD for making their carriage available, it was a great day out.
The next workday will be Saturday the 6th of March.
Alan
