Not a cool workday; Saturday 7 February 2009

Well, we have worked through the extremes of Canberra's weather, yesterday must have been near 40 degrees Celsius.

But Alan got off to an early start, still cussing whoever did the stationary boiler modifications..but most of that is now behind us, studs that had been removed from the foundation ring have now been replaced, preparatory to re-installing the ash pan. And other fire box fittings are being placed on the replacement boiler, but no thought of steaming yesterday as it was a total fire ban day.

Peter got up close and personal [and early] with some piping under the cab which carries steam to the stoker motor. Surprisingly, one line still contained water.

Ted Coulter drove the new air driven needlegun to paint that I applied way back in 1973/4[,there is a product endorsement sponsorship opportunity here]; Howard Moffat applied a coat of red [same product] to the front engine buffer beam casting and Vince and new worker Mike Ridley[welcome Mike] ground and scraped, and painted wheels and boiler cradle till the weather was just too hot. David Carroll grabbed what he thought might be the coolest task, operating the Steam cleaner, but his reward was to become very dirty. Just hope the can clean up before Valentine's day.

Next workday..Third Sunday, which is 21 February.

For those that have been following the project and the photos of the work taken by Howard, take a look at the photos taken today... In just two weeks the worksite has transformed, so much so that some may think they are no longer looking at a Garratt.

And a note from Alan

Critical path work 

Many jobs are being carryout in parallel as labour permits; however the highest priority work is classified as critical path. The term critical path in the sequence or order of work ensures that the overall project is completed in the most cost effective manner at the earliest completion date. With this type of project work specific tasks are carried out in parallel rather than sequentially. Thanks to the efforts of many people off site work is being completed and will be available for assembly as the project progress. To give and example the cab, power reverser, stoker engine are all offsite being overhauled as part of the boiler and cradle works. 

Onwards and forward

With all of the above in parallel tasks progressing the replacement boiler and the cradle will be the focus.  Within the next few months these two major components will be joined together in preparation for the final steam test. However funds are tight and before we can complete this major mile stone we will need to raise about $5,000, so could I ask you all to dig deep and ensure that we can steam 6029 sooner rather than later. For tax deductible donations go to the link at the top of this blog page. 

So if we can raise the funds we can complete the following.

Smoke box & boiler

1. Install the replacement floor.

2. Repair and fit super heater /smoke box cover.

3. Remove smoke box door plate 

4. Repair and install super heater header and fittings.

5. Fit all ash pan / foundation ring mounting studs.

6. Fit all cleading sheets and insulation to blackhead.

Boiler cradle 

1. Strip clean and repair frame as required 

2. Make and fit additional cradle support stands 

3. Level main cradle 

So as you can see from the above if we can keep the attendance   up at the work day we will have a progressive and exciting year ahead. 

Alan Gardner  

Awsome Meccano

Most us played with Meccano when we were young, but this note and pics from England show some of what you really can do with Meccano!

Hi Alan,
I would like to submit some photographs of my recent construction of an Meccano model representation of  AD60 no. 6029 in 2.5ins gauge. The mid red and mid green is correct for Binns road, Liverpool, Lancs. Meccano of the period 1946 -1956/57 and entirely appropriate to the early fifties AD60 heavy freight batch articulated locomotives construction period in my native Lancahire at the Beyer Peacock works in West Gorton Manchester. 

I have fitted the laterboiler bogie brakes and the extended bunker.
I have purposely omitted the acoustic enhancement piping for alerting crews to warning detonators placed on track.

I offer it as encouragement to the volunteer team engaged on the project to have her in working condition by 2014 for the New South Wales Railway Centenary celebrations.

A true leviathan of steam weighing in at 260tons in working order.

Special Thanks:
A copy of this e-mail is sent to 'Meccanoman' Dave Taylor of Great Dunmow, Essex, UK, for his supply of various special items and to my dearest sister Elaine Fairhurst and her husband Harry of Mount Eliza, Victoria, Aus, for their support with literature and an DVD of 6029 in action.

Best of luck meanwhile with the project.

Tom Martland

Tom adds in a follow-up mail that the model is driven by a motor in the coal bunker space, and the driving wheels have a coupled braking arrangement...

A REMINDER

that our next workday at the Canberra Railway Museum is Saturday 7 February 2009; come earl if you wish as the weather man is promising a hot day. Bring water, a hat and suncream, and a cheap paintbrush.

Come one, come all..join in the fun...

Stop Press

We are delighted to report that the boiler cradle was lifted off the engine units this morning. Howard Moffat was on site and we should have the photos on the blog in the next few days.

This is a significant point in the project as it is quite literally full steam ahead to the next stage (steam test the boiler), after we have completed any repairs on the cradle we can then lower the boiler into position. Again if we can get a good turnout for the next few work days(please bring paint brush) we should be able to complete the preparation work to ensure we can meet this significant milestone.

A big thankyou to all who have helped up to this point and another big thankyou to Gavin who who comes along to our workdays as a volunteer. As you know, funds are tight and it is membership renewal time again.Could I ask you to dig deep and help us put 6029 back in traffic sooner rather than later.

Keep Steaming

Alan

Sunday 18 January

It is pleasing to report that the first workday for 2009 was well attended and in fact we achieved over 100 hours of work for the day. Preliminary work was completed to facilitate removal of the boiler cradle with the end result being a full set of stands to enable the cradle to be set up level and gain easy access to all of its nooks and crannies for inspection and repair. We anticipate lifting the cradle onto the stand in the next few weeks. Mike and Marc fitted the internal steam pipe into the boiler and it was pleasing to once again actually see components being fitted rather than taking them off. The next part of the steam circuit fit out will be the header and work has commenced with the assessment and associated repairs. Mike Potter once again made good use of the over head crane and the front tank has been moved into position to allow easy access for the anticipated weld repairs. With the fine weather conditions the painting of the hind engine unit commenced with excellent results. This also included the strip down and undercoating of the headstocks. The last job of the day was the removal of the injectors and associated piping off the boiler cradle.

News received from Ron in Eveleigh is that he has almost finished painting the interior of the cab and work will start soon on the corrosion repairs as required.

Help needed:

As we are no moving in the assemble stages of the project we are asking for help to paint this 260 ton monster, no special skills necessary just a willingness to help out and put up with the projects managers silly jokes.

Alan Gardner

A message from Alan

Dear 6029 friends... 

Please note that our first workday for the year is this Sunday the 18^th  of Jan. We now have access to air tools on site and we can therefore move onto the fun jobs of painting and the like.  One fun tool that  we now have is the needle gun and from now on it will be in use on every workday. This will be very handy for the crud that the steam cleaner would not lift.

 This year we will continue with the fit out of the boiler and boiler cradle if we can get some good numbers of volunteers we anticipate having the new boiler in the cradle soon after Easter.  However towards the end of 2008 numbers on our workdays fell significantly the end result being a slow down in work. So again if you want to see the boiler in steam after Easter we need you NOW!!

 Please remember a lot of work now needs no trade skills, just a willingness to get dirty, do repetitive work, have a happy disposition, willingness to learn and paint stuff.    

 See you Sunday!

 Alan Gardner

Saturday the 6th of December

Once again  we enjoyed  a sunny Canberra  day working on Australia’s largest steam locomotive. Mark finalised the strip down of the old boiler by removing the last of the crinoline bands and the superheater support brackets. He then moved onto the tedious task of cutting out the last of the blanking plates out of the smoke box on the change over boiler. Howard and Barry started the assessment and preparation of the crinoline bands for the  fire box  cladding sheets. While under the firebox Alan spent all day on his back drilling out the broken off fire bar bracket studs. 38 have to be drilled out and re tapped to 7/8 BSW. When completed all the brakes can be fitted and in turn the fire grate will be installed. Further to this Bruce is machining a full set of bolts to facilitate the attachment of the ash pan to the fire box, thanks again Bruce.

Future work will now address the change over boiler and cradle. The  list of works is as follows.

 Drill and tap 3/8 x 7/8 BSW stud holes in foundation ring.

Lift boiler cradle off engine units and set up on ground.

·     Make new 2 x reach rod brackets and install.

·     Install remaining crinoline stand off’s.

·     Hand rail brackets, fit to boiler.

·     Assess and repair boiler cradle as required.

·     Repair smoke box wrapper as required.

·     Grind flush super heater bracket mounting plates.

·     Super heater mounting bolts,  make new.

·     Install smoke box floor and associated fittings.

·     Repair smoke box door hand wheel and dart bar.

·     Assess and repair super heater header and throttle  and associated  fittings as required.

·     Install main internal steam pipe.

·     Install super heater header and throttle vale.

·     Install blast pipe and nozzle.

·     Install Smoke stack.

·     Install boiler centring bracket  

·     Install all pipe work and fittings in smoke box

·     Lift boiler onto cradle.

·     Drill and fit all smoke box to cradle bolts

·     Install expansion  brackets

·     Install all boiler feed pipes and fittings.

·     Install fire grate.

·     Repair and install ash pan.

·     Steam test boiler.

We anticipate lifting the boiler cradle off before Christmas and set it up level on the ground to facilitate the assessment and subsequent repairs.

Alan Gardner

hey..look at me now..

Nearly three thousand hits, nearly two thousand unique hits..that is a lot of interest in our blog, and more importanly, a lot of interest in our project.

To every one, a big "thank you" your support is a great help to us.

NEXT WORK DAYS

Canberra Railway Museum

SATURDAY 6 December
SUNDAY 21 December

given that it is now getting warmer we will start at 0800, finish early..hats, water and suncream compulsory options!

Sandstone-Estates.com

If you are interested in the preservation movement in South Africa,  click here 

This a great site, that seems to have something for everyone!

Sunday 16th November

The day started bright and early at 7am as we had planed to complete some critical work on top of the change over boiler before the weather got to hot.  Now that we have repaired/ replace  most of the broken studs and fittings we have started to fit all of the brackets to the boiler. The preparation of the crinoline bands has started and at this stage we will be fitting the firebox area only. After the first steam test we will fit the cladding sheets as this will facilitate the fitting of the cab.  

Strip down of the old boiler is now almost complete as Mike , Mark and Howard removed the dry pipe and associated fittings. The Baker family removed the last of the fire bar support girders and brackets. When funds permit the old boiler will be sandblasted and primed to prevent damage to the outer surfaces. A preliminary inspection supports that fact that this boiler is repairable and when time permits we will begin the removal of the tubes to enable access to the inside of the boiler to assess the predicted damage. In the afternoon Howard  and Peter Gleeson mounted up the regulator pivot housing and associated bits. Mark continued to sort out all of the hand rail mountings as we will have to fit the hand rails to facilitate the fitting of the blower and controls for the steam test. Barry Peffer worked on the shelving for the container as he is still recovering from an operation he needs to avoid getting to dirty, great to see him back and on the mend. Our next workday will continue to see work on the change over boiler particularly at the smoke box end  as we need to finish removing all of the blanked off plates in preparation to fit the superheater header and regulator. And yes after the header is fitted and completed bring on the steam test. 

Alan Gardner