This weekend was a surprise to some of us – cold but sunny. The day kicked off well with a number of targets set for completion. It was also pleasing to see visitors walking around and asking questions and mirroring the enthusiasm that the team have in seeing the first match being thrown in! We also welcome a new first timer John to the team.
Task one for the day was to continue drilling out and inserting new studs into the foundation ring of the boiler. As many may remember the boiler we are using is not 6029’s original boiler and it had received a number of modifications in its previous life. This meant that the original studs had been removed and/or cut off. As you may expect, there are a large number of studs that need to be replaced and doing this requires you to lie on your back and then drill out the studs above our head. Andy has worked out he gets the best results by using 3 stages of drilling and one of threading to make good each stud – how many are there to do? At time of going to press, this is a number greater than 10 and most likely closer to 30. Does someone want to guess? Even better, does someone want to help? There are few who can say they have laid under a Garrett and survived! Seriously, this task is important and if you would like to show off your ability to accurately drill heavy metal please come along and have a go. We cannot fit the grate or ashpan to the boiler until this task is completed.