Weeks commencing 25 January, 1 February and 8 February 2021
The loco buckeye coupling has been transported to our coach repair contractors to be certified with our coach buckeyes. The loco one has been repaired at York and passed gauging, but our contractor will be able to supply independent certification. The buckeye was collected by the NYMR who were taking coach parts to the contractors. It was very good of them to call in and transport the buckeye for us.
On the subject of the coach, the quotation for the design stage of the CET system has been reviewed with our TOC, and an order has been placed on the design contractors. We are now officially on the Network Rail list of coaches to be fitted.
The trailing Cartazzi horn liners have now been fitted to the horns and are ready for welding in place. There was quite a bit of old weld to grind out to let the full length of the liner fit. It appears the old liners may have had shorter legs on the inboard sides.
With the liners completed the right repaired outer Cartazzi hornstay is now being fitted. Where it had been welded the weld had partially closed one of the hornstay bolt holes. These holes are 16″ long and the obstruction was about half way in. A tool was made to hold abrasive and the weld obstruction removed. The ends of the hornstay had been re-machined flat and parallel after welding so the faces on the loco, which show some corrosion and wear, are being made to fit the hornstay. The hornstay was checked with a height gauge on the workshop surface table and the ends are very good.
The Cartazzi bearings are with contractors and are being machined. The first off was brought in to York and was checked against the journal disc and appears to be a good fit. Enough material is being left on to allow final scraping to suit the wheelset journal.
The cotters for the upper ends of the new Cartazzi hangers are being fitted.
In the office quite a bit of work has been done on job documentation. The piping systems job record draft is with the Piping Team for filling out and comment.
Another batch of 3/8 pipe ends have been made and are now at York.
The steel steam pipes have been taken from York and are due to be delivered to contractors next week. The insurance company have now agreed that we don’t require a new contract for this job, which saves us a lot of money. However, they have reviewed the draft documents supplied by the contractors and have queried the standard detailed in the welder’s qualifications, though the standard is listed as current by the British Standard Institute. The certificate is also issued by a reputable independent organisation organisation and is within date.
Part of the plan for transporting the pipes to contractors is to collect the steel sheet for the new cladding during the same trip. This is now ready for collection so that’s worked out OK. This is quite a relief as I was waiting for the supplier to say they couldn’t get the material like others I asked to quote for this job.
At York the loco brake hangers have progressed well. The boring of the upper ends has been completed and bushes are now being machined.
The leading outside valve crossheads are completed and the jig for mounting the middle has been made. The crosshead will be machined after the valve cover and guides are assembled as measurements remain to be taken of the assembly.
Material has been purchased for the new blower mountings that fit with the blastpipe nozzles on the chimney.
One of the speed plaques has been stripped back to metal and prepared for repainting.
The tender and cab floors has been measured for new boarding and the order has now been placed for the wood. Some areas in the tender are covered with plates and templates are now being made so the plates can be made.
Our method for the replacement of the main intermediate drawbar has been approved and the material has been ordered. It will require machining and it is planned to do this with volunteer labour as far as possible. Not easy at it is nearly 4 feet long. Some tooling will have to be bought to do this but the cost is small compared to using a contractor.