6029 is owned by the Australian Railway Historical Society, ACT Division and the restoration is proudly supported by their tourist operations and by the generous donations of members and public supporters.
The society operates rail tours out of Canberra with our heritage fleet of steam and diesel locomotives and rolling stock every few weeks.
To travel in style on any of our tours, or to learn more about our collection and operations, go to Canberrarailwaymuseum.org

Feb 21, 2011

Sunday 20 February 2011

4-8-4 + 4-8-4. Theses numbers may not be significant to an bystander but to the 6029 team it is a significant milestone. After 14 months of hard dirty work we rolled under the last of the four bogie. As we are now proficient with Garratt bogies an initial trail fit took place to double check for clearance and alignment . A wise decision, as we found a problem with the bogie in place. The two outer driving wheels had no contact with the rail head by about 25 mm. Further investigation revealed that the brake adjusting pull rods were not backed off and consequently the brakes where holding the driving wheels clear of the rail. Both four inch AF adjusting screws were backed off and on the second lowering the wheels settled back in the correct orientation. Sighs of relief all round and the crew was very happy to step back an enjoy the fruits of their labor.



The hind units headstock and coupling area was stripped down for assessment but not before a nest of wasps were evicted from their home inside the casting crevices of the automatic coupling. The project manger was stung by one wasp who took exception to being moved out. After the wasps finally got the hint, Andy and Howard removed the coupling carrier plate, brake isolating cocks and with some persuasion, the automatic coupling. The short brake pipes from the isolating cocks to the first barrel unions will be replaced as they were in poor condition. The step on the right hand side of the head stock was straightened and repaired and in truth it has not been on the locomotive for many years. The damage sustained was due to a rough shunt many years ago. The hind unit draft package friction springs are being manufactured new by the local spring manufacture. Once the replacement springs are delivered the draft package and automatic coupling will re-fitted to the hind unit headstock.

Now that the bogies are in place the "A" team of Kyle and John completed the fit out of the brake and flexible hoses connecting to bogies to the engine units. Some of the pins and bushes on the brake hangers were replaced as the team was not happy with the sloppy fit. The flexible lube lines received a final visual inspection and as predicted all were in the correct place and are a good fit.

As a direct result of today’s work, we are now in a position to start planning the lowering the boiler cradle onto the engine units. Both pivots will be preset in accordance with the manufactures drawings. The pivots will be cleaned for the last time and then on goes the boiler cradle. We can now move onto this vital stage as we have recently received a significant donation from some of our supporters. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and because of your efforts, the next couple of months will see 6029 back together in three distinct pieces as an articulated locomotive. This will make the way clear for lowering the boiler into the cradle in the next month.

So its all go systems go for some exciting times ahead.

Keep steaming

Alan Gardner

Feb 7, 2011

Saturday February 5 2011

The last of the four bogies was the main focus of the days work. The team fitted the flexible lube lines in time for Ian to deliver the next two sets of Nathan four way lubricators. The completed bogie was then transferred behind the trailing engine unit in preparation for its installation. We had to pinch ourselves...yes we were there, all done. All four bogies are ready to grace the network metals again, well done team. The opportunity was taken to complete some long overdue housekeeping around the space occupied by the bogies for the past year.



Andy and Tony started the clean up around the hind engine unit and cylinders in preparation of the installation of the forth bogie. As predicted bucket loads of baked on cylinder oil and road grime are prevalent and we expect quite a few hours of toil here. The next couple of workdays should see this task completed with only the bogie to roll under.

As the bogie work is all but completed the boiler cradle leading pivot was the next job on the list. Graeme and Shaun fitted both halves of the very large bronze pivot castings. The reconditioned tension spring nuts were screwed down to the pre-set clearance. While we were working on the leading pivot, Marc and Paul removed the live steam ball joint that is situated just above the pivot casting. The two lube lines that supply oil from the mechanical lubricators were found to be completely broken off. The cavity that the ball joint sits in was completely block solid with congealed oil and again lots of crud was cleared away. Needless to say, the lube lines will be repaired to the usual standard and maybe the oil will again be delivered to where it is required.

The good news is that we are now almost ready to start the reassembly of the engine proper. The first job will be to lower the boiler cradle into position followed by the boiler soon after. Having said that, we now need to raise the funds to facilitate the crane hire. We are asking for everyone to chip in and in fact, $3,000 will see the mighty 60 class starting to look like the real deal again.

Our next workday is Sunday the 20th of February and if we get a good turn out of volunteers we will be almost ready for the big reassembly.

Alan Gardner