WATER WATER WATER – BOILER FULL!

Since the last update there has been a MAJOR event facilitated by Alan and Shaun – they sealed the major leaks in the water feed lines enabling an unfortunate few to find the one or two leaks in the front tank next work day. The rear tank seems to be holding up well and no leaks have been seen (there was at least 2 foot of water in both tanks on Saturday 23 Nov).
The inventory of leaks so far is:

• Injectors – slow drip from driver’s side 
• Rear tank – driver’s side rear drain, slow drip
•  Rear tank – fireman’s side filling flange fitting for adding water from auxiliary tank cars, very slow leak 
• Front tank – rear or tank facing smoke box door, constant steady drip 
• Front tank – driver’s side constant drip, now sealed Isolation valve – major leak when the valve changed from closed to open. 
• Front tank balance pipe join with rear tank balance pipe (just above the isolation valve) minor drip. 

So the recent work means the Boiler is now full – see photos of water gauges showing the water as it moved up the glass – YIPPEE HYDRAULIC TEST SOON! (We removed the safety glass that normally surrounds the gauge to better show the level in the photos). So getting wet has never been more enjoyable!



Painting and cleaning the underside of the rear tank with the standard black livery proceeds using several karma sutra positions and a few new ones with brushes mounted on poles to facilitate some of the more awkward locations. The rear bunker has received some much needed black paint and there remains only the last half of it to be scraped, undercoated and painted.

Random spots of undercoat have started appearing over the boiler, front tank and other less noticed places as the team move around the locomotive locating missed items. Seemingly annoying and disfiguring these spots are none-the-less necessary to ensure completeness of the painting job.

Other major works completed in the last few weeks have been the installation of the blower valve assembly and the air compressor starting valve. Both of these are essential items but more so is the front end regulator, the valves of which which are now almost all fully lapped in.

The stoker cab controls have been remounted and the steam feed pipes replaced with “new” recycled pipes and these have now been fitted and adjusted. The last pipe connecting the stoker motor and the control valve is still to be located. All in all a very exciting and rewarding few weeks for the team of volunteers where that sense of completion and smell of steam and coal are tangibly close!

Next work day is Saturday the 7 December – see you there!