Its been a while since I have said anything here, there has been a lot happening and a few storms have been weathered...
As this is the first update for 2016, we will cover some of the work done over summer on both 6029 and 3016 at the Canberra Railway Museum.
Both 6029 and 3016 had a long list of maintenance tasks to be performed, a list that would, as often happens, challenge both available resources and available time. 3016 had developed some excessive lateral clearance in the axle boxes through years of running, was in need of some maintenance to the air compressor and also needed to have the valve motion worked on to help correct some timing issues and wear in the eccentrics. 6029 had a list of its own, including new bushes in the rear connecting rods, some upgrades to the sanding system to meet the requirements for registration by Sydney Trains, fix the bent throttle pull rod and address an issue that was making the handbrake difficult to use. Multiple other issues were identified and addressed during this period as well.
As the work required on 3016 was by far the most time consuming, one of the first tasks was to get her off the wheels and as you can imagine, that is not an easy task when you don't have a workshop equipped like a 1950's railway workshop, so it was that the loco was lifted by two mobile cranes and set back down onto timber stands in the yard made from old and new sleepers. Looking at pictures, it reminds me of the flying train in Back to the Future Pt 3....
Having the wheels out meant that Ben and his assistants could get on with re-metalling the axle boxes and arranging to have the eccentric straps closed up and re-machined to take up years of wear. Some of the pictures show the process of preparing to pour the new white-metal bearings and to say that there is an art to this kind of work is perhaps an understatement... It is certainly a skill that few have these days.
Once the white metalling was completed, the axle-boxes were sent off to be machined to finished size and while waiting for them be returned, work on 6029 was started with the rods removed from the hind engine unit, the front tank was removed to allow some lubrication issues to be addressed, a problematic injector was removed and really, that is just the beginning. The fact that Ben and some of his helpers are still standing is a testament to their dedication to the task at hand.
Many of the images here show the team at work (some over different days) as we all race the clock to have the locomotives ready for the Festival of Steam and scheduled appearances in Sydney's Central Station.
Should you be interested in travelling on any of tours please go to - canberrarailwaymuseum.org
The next installment will be some pictures and info of the Garratts first tip into Central in some 35 years, along with the 30 class at Thirlmere's Festival of Steam in March
