Saturday March 7, 2009.

A beautiful autumn day with mild temperatures was a welcome change from the summer scorchers we have experienced on previous work days. An early phone call from the guys at Eveleigh was pleasing to note as on this day work is progressing in parallel on many fronts all over NSW. The new smoke box floor is now fitted and the temporary attachment of the blast pipe will facilitate the final fit of the smoke stack. The superheater header is work continuing with the lapping in of the pilot and drifting valves. The clean down and assessment of the boiler cradle revealed no issues and a coat of grey primer was applied to the entire right hand side. The two main reservoirs were disassembled in preparation for internal inspection and hydrostatic test. Work continues on the hind unit and the headstock received its second coat of red paint.

Alan Gardner

While the work continued in Canberra, work is also being undertaken in Sydney at the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh. The guys from 3801 Limited have made some space, and along with a few of the Canberra regulars, are restoring the cab to its previous glory. Ron Denholm has done a great job of removing years of grime and corrosion, having spent many a day with the needle gun, and now we are starting to repair the damage of years in the open. There is a lot of corroded material to remove and replace, some pieces to be re manufactured, and some modifications to be done before it is reunited with the frame in Canberra

Sunday 22 February 2009 

The critical work path was the main focus of the day . Gavin almost competed the installation of the smoke box floor and the blast pipe can now be temporarily fitted to facilitate the final fitting of the smoke stack.  The old boiler cladding sheets were test fitted around the firebox area to facilitate the measuring up of new pieces. This work is being brought forward to ensure the cab can be lifted straight onto the boiler when delivered from Sydney. Howard, Michael and Barry continued with the cleaning and painting of the boiler cradle. Michael levelled the boiler cradle and it now sit true on the stands.   As usual Peter cooked a delightful lunch and gave the site a much need clean up.

Our next workday will be on  Saturday the 7th of March. Work will continue  on the cradle and replacement boiler. We still have to make up four timber supports for the boiler cradle to facilitate  the fitting of boiler onto the cradle. After this vital milestone is reached, the fit out of the feed water system and fire grate will commence, when completed  we will steam test the boiler.

Alan Gardner

A CORRECTION

Humbly, a correction..our next Canberra work day is Sunday 22 February 2009; and yes,it is out of pattern because whilst we all like 6029 working with her on Valentines day was seen by some to be an abberation!

Also, due to the kindness of our Sydney hosts, there will be a Cab work day at Eveliegh on Saturday 21 February.

Interested in a little Garratt history?

MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry) in Manchester, England, is celebrating 100 years since the development of one of the world’s most successful steam locomotives with a new archive display on Beyer-Garratts. Click Here for more information.

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