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

Jul 20, 2011

Sunday 17 July 2011

The brake system rebuild continued today with work on the main reservoir piping. This included the one inch steel pipes that deliver compressed air from the main reservoirs to the brake stand and the distributing valve. Most of the pipes are in good condition and they only required a clean up and a coat of paint. One small section of pipe that is about 2 foot long is missing and if we cant find it we will make it new... Murphy's law will ensure that the missing pipe will re surface once the job is done.

Andy continued with the fitting out of the large bore injector feed pipes and by days end all of the drives side was completed and looking like new. Tony cleaned up the water balance pipe isolating vale and associated fittings. The only outstanding large bore pipe on the drivers side pipe is the feed lines from the injector to the clack vales on the top of the boiler.

The stoker trough that is attached under the coal bunker is in very poor condition and will required a complete rebuild. Most of the afternoon was dedicated to extracting the 24 one inch BSW bolts that attach the front of the stoker trough to the coal bunker. No amount of force would remove them so the oxy torch was deployed and about two hours later the team tried to drop out the assembly. Despite our best efforts it resisted and with the fading light, it was decided to make a tactical retreat and leave it until the next work day.



Another project going on behind the scenes is the overhaul of the Westinghouse cross compound air compressor. It was stripped down and assessed in 2009 and although in reasonable condition it was decided to give this vital piece of equipment the gold plate(aka Rolls Royce) treatment. Since then, the piston rods have been hard chromed and ground to size. The cylinder assembly and shuttle valve head were sent to a specialist contractor and line bored back to specification, and a complete set of piston rings was recently delivered and fitted with excellent results. The pistons now move up and down the bores with a good running seal.



New gaskets have been ordered and when delivered they will be fitted in no time. That will leave only an air function test before fitting the complete unit to the smoke box.

Alan Gardner

Jul 12, 2011

Saturday 2 July 2011

The brake system rebuild is progressing as a high priority. The distributing valve has been fitted up to the auxiliary/relay chamber followed by the dead engine isolating cock. The 3 & 4 independent brake control pipes that run from the distributing vale to the cab were found to be in poor condition and will have to be replaced.

In general terms the brake system rebuild is almost complete with only a few pipes still to be refitted. The project manager spent most of the day tracing pipes under the cab floor. Not any easy task as this space is fast filling up. Paul Nowland has been working at home on the automatic, independent brake valves and the feed valves. Thanks to Paul the brake system rebuild has progressed at a fast pace.



The two main reservoirs have been passed by the boiler inspector and will be fitted into place shortly. Once the reservoirs are in place, the system will be charged up and testing will follow soon after.

As the cab floor is not yet in place and access is readily available, the six inch water feed pipes and elbows that run under the foot plate have been refitted and the painters have finished off the area before the floor is fitted. The new replacement sub floor plate was painted and the mounting brackets for the equalising reservoir were fitted ready for final assembly.

Graeme Kidgell continued to fit up the boiler feed pipes and the injectors including the associated handles that control the water flow. The boiler feed pipes are very large, heavy and awkward to fit, in some cases it requires four people to persuade the pipes into their proper position.



In terms of the projects critical path, we are working hard to complete the tasks that will enable us steam test the boiler in the near future. This includes, but is not limited to, the injectors and their pipe work, safety valves(rebuilt but not fitted), fire grate, ash pan and finishing the smoke box fit out. We will also look at the stoker trough in the coal bunker as this has renewed and refitted before we can fit the coal bunker/water tank.

While all of this has been happening, you can see from some of Howard Moffat's photo's, that progress is also being made on other locos in the fleet. Work continues on 4468's body frame repairs, the cab of 4807 has received some attention and a few mucked in and got stuck into the brakes on 3016...

Alan Gardner