The clean up of the coupling rods and valve gear continues with the crew getting well organised with a production line set up. David starts of the process with the de-greaser and scraper to remove the residual hard grease and road grime. Next Howard gives each rod the once over with the eclectic powered wire bush flowed by David with the polishing wheels and the end result speaks for itself. When completed each rod is stored adjacent to the locomotive ready for final fitting.
Ian was seen under the boiler cradle installing the newly completed blow down muffler that is piped to the two blowdown valves either side of the boiler. Ian advises that he still has to disassemble the whole system for final painting and then re-fit.
Paul and Carl had to squeeze under the smoke box to re-fit the exhaust ball joint from the leading engine unit. The joint itself was spotlessly cleaned some time ago and after a re check it was again proved ok to fit. The four 7/8 BSW bolts were tightened and finished off with the split pins. While in this area they also had a go at fitting the live steam ball joint to the leading unit. With all of theses task now completed the team is looking forward to standing up straight in the smoke box, and because of their effort,s the fit out of the blast pipe and the live steam pipes can now start. Oh did we mention that we still have to hand lap all those lens rings before we can fit the pipes.
The leading tank was at long last moved out of storage by a crane contractor and placed on stands to allow for cleaning of the underside before fitting. While on the stands all of the plumbing that facilitates water feed and draining have been dusted off and trial fitted.
Our next work day in on Saturday the 3rd of March and if we get a good turn out we will prep the leading tank for final fitting soon after.
Alan Gardner
