34081 overhaul progress

Look forward to seeing them. Seeing her now is like turning the clock back 30 years. The big difference now is that we are indoors and have access to power. So, so different from when we jacked and packed the frames by hand to remove the driving wheels.

 

@Spamcan81
They will be from the last time she was at the NVR, but only after she was running.

 

Will be interesting to see them nonetheless.

 

Saturday 17th September saw a weekend work party for a change. Narrative by Kingsley Harris as usual.
"Great day yesterday.
Doc and Roland had been busy on the Delta.
Rowland, who has owned a garage and has also serviced lorries will bring some more mechanical expertise to the team and will be a regular Wednesday worker in perhaps 2 to 3 weeks time. His initial contribution yesterday was cleaning the Delta lateral control box of all the old grease. When the Delta is finally painted we can then test the delivery of the new nipples, repack with grease, bolt on the sliding dust cover (ready finished in the B&W) and then await the fitment of the axleboxes and wheels. I'll be getting the Marine type ply tomorrow so Barry can make the 2 wooden dirt excluders for the axle. The Delta can then be stored in its correct place under the chassis. That's why Al is stressing it is so important to really get stuck into the chassis.
I checked with Roger on Saturday to see if we could turn the chassis over. He said it was OK, so under the supervision of Al, Allan, 'I've got an NVQ in crane operation don't ya know' Collins turned the Delta upside down. A quick examination revealed nothing serious and also there is considerably less work to do as all the insides of the channels had been completed and also the amount of corrosion seems significantly less than expected. The Delta, after lowering onto the curved parts of the frame was supported on a trestle to make the work easier.
Rowland and Allan also removed the rear checker plate and supports for DOC to renew and also allow the chassis to be properly phossied.
I've made a start on getting the lube pipes into a fixture based on the holes in the base of the oil trays in the cab. It's a bit like threading spaghetti into a colander but upwards. We have to get all the pipes into the fixture. The functions are identical BUT they will only assemble one way and thus avoid undue stress on the whole assembly.
When Andy and I disassembled them in 2010 I took a photo of the box they are bolted to and numbered each pipe position and very astutely labelled them so there would be no problem in the future. However a combination of oil, rain and so forth removed virtually all the numbers so that's why we have a literal puzzle on out hands! When we have the pipes correctly located we then intend to take off one pipe at a time to clean up. Volunteers please? "

 

A bit late but I've been on holiday.
12th October 2011 by Kingsley Harris.
"Another very busy day with no less than 10 members working at various times.
Ambie undercoated the rear chassis floor brackets and then carried on cleaning the chassis above the front bogie leaving a Mount Etna like pile of crud.
John is still working on the reverser mechanism and went on to assist DOC in assessing the wear on the axle box guides.
Barry and Doc are nearing the end of the Delta wheel prep.
Kingsley braved the heights of the oil bath roof and got the pancake breathers loosely fitted (for storage) in their correct positions - each one was different!
Richard carried on gunning the rear RHS of the frame while Roland gunned the three coupling pin apertures prior to phossing.
Ryan worked on the front bogie and then gave DOC a hand to get the Delta axleboxes. Mick carried on shot blasting and painting.
Rhys was working on the front bogie before assisting DOC and Doc with the axle box move.
Don't let anyone fool you. If we were to achieve 20 people on any day they could all be kept very busy especially now with all the chassis, bogie and wheel graft needed. The tender remains untouched and that's a significant cleaning exercise in its own right so lets encourage more volunteers!
The biggest logistical problem we actually have is the size of the Mess Hut, a nice problem to have."

 

19th October. Narrative by Kingsley as usual.

"A cracking day with no less than 13 volunteers.
Two new starters Chris Birch and Tim Naisbitt joined us today. We know they will have a long and happy time with us in our efforts, in fact Chris will be coming down with me for a full day's work next Wed. Chris arrived mid afternoon so I showed him what's what and where but Tim, who came up with Allan C in the morning, spent his first day on the initiation ceremony of chassis scraping. Roger polished off the top coat of the underside of the Delta. The 'dogs' spring to mind. Once turned over, the top coat can be applied and the truck is then ready for the axle boxes and wheels. The only other details are fitting new grease nipples where required, fitting the 2 bearing blocks and keepers, packing the lateral spring control box with grease and fitting the new dust cover assembly.
Hopefully with the speed of the preparation evident on the rear sides and end of the chassis, it will be fully ready to have the Delta slid under and stored in place.
Rowland has cleaned up the two bundles of lube pipes that run to the 2 trays in the cab. This will ensure the chassis area can be prepped and painted without all the crud contaminating the good work being done.
The three tunnels in the drag box that Rowland was going to do yesterday need some plating, so prep work has stopped until all the additional parts are complete. It will the need to be phossied, primed twice, undercoated then top coated. If you see the amount of corrosion in these tunnels you will understand why they need so much detailed attention. Once the tunnels are complete and painted the whole rear can receive its second primer coat and then finished off. Ambie has top coated the four rear cab brackets that support the checker plate that supports the tender fall plate so once the rear is nicely dried, the brackets and new checker plate can be bolted back in place.
The next phase on the chassis is the prep of the most rearward underneath cross member. It's the section that has the outriggers. Again gunning and painting and when complete, the cab stretcher, all completely restored by DOC, can be craned onto the rear cross member.
Barry has continued gunning the Delta wheel set which is about ready for painting (after the axle journals have been checked) - wheels black all over with red axle shaft.
Mick has carried on undercoating the rear diaphragm plate prior to painting the red top coat. He has also primed the two outside front cylinder covers and prepped the retaining spacers for the bogie pivot.
Alan spent all day on top of the chassis clearing the accumulated mulch in the vicinity of the centre cylinder as witnessed by the crud on the cardboard (Thanks to all who supplied and brought up the cardboard, it will make cleaning up so much easier.) The real mess is towards the front end as Ambie's Mt Etna and Alan's Vesuvius piles of crud showed.
Roger, Doc and Richard were all very busy cleaning the chassis in the ashpan area. John Haydon agrees that a double primer up to that part of the chassis where the rivet/bolt line is would be beneficial.
The Steam Railway man turned up two hours early so was looked after by Doc and John, (Al was on a day off and DOC was on an emergency firing turn)
As I've said before there is so much to do, everyone who turns has can be kept busy. We are actually limited by the number of needle guns, however 3 guns in action is the maximum in that confined space due to noise considerations.
If I've missed any one off it was deliberate.
Kings"

 

Work on the boiler is progressing steadily but the insurance company is insisting on a lot of NDT. This of course costs money as well as time. Whether this NDT is necessary is open to debate of course. :whistle:

 

Not trying to wind anything up here, but could you say what those problems are?

Regards

 

Wednesday 23rd November.

"The new chap, Nathan, got straight to it by needle gunning the centre cylinder valve end covers.
I was just about to to start him off on needle gunning the left hand cylinder block, and then heard that DOC needed to remove the centre piston over the coming weekend so Nathan ''volunteered' to remove the 25 or so nuts holding the head in place. At 6 pm, the head was craned off so a good first day Nathan, thanks. I have checked and he will be back next week!!
Barry and Roger spent all day priming (or trying to) the Delta wheel set. The difficulty is again the crud that lurks in the pockets of the wheels not accepting the primer, and staining. At the close of play however, the whole assembly was primed. Perfectionists as they are, another coat of primer will go on next week alongwith the pink primer on the axle, prior to red top coat.
Whilst on wheels, the overhaul 'nasty' popped up with the opinion that an excessive and strange wear pattern on the bogie leading, right hand wheel may mean new tyres being necessary. We do have four tyre blanks. More on this when we know the wheel profile measurements.
Alan was gunning the three sump covers and was promptly moved outside due to the racket he was making. Nevertheless the covers are looking splendid in primer and will look even better next week after the undercoat of pretty pink!
Mick soldiered on with shot blasting and prepping of parts for the front bogie.
Doc spent all day sizing the brake rigging pins to establish wear/replacements. Much time was spent removing paint from the bearing surfaces before pins could be fitted.
Roland is still beavering away on the front bogie and presented us with a wall clock for the workshop ( I think to remind us of the tea break time.)
Chris has cleaned up and gunned the boiler support outriggers and phossied one ready for next week.
DOC has very cleanly welded in the replacement parts in the left hand drag box. Mike has wire brushed all three tunnels and after checking with DOC, phossied ready for primer next week.
Kings"

 

Wednesday 30th November.
"No less than fourteen volunteers today.
I'll list who did what just to illustrate the diversity of work to those unlucky people who can't get to work with us.
The list order is the same as everyone was sitting around the table (and of course now, standing) in the mess hut.
Mick spent all day painting various parts for the bogie and the valve heads.
Barry along with Roger finished off the Delta wheel priming completely and then for the last couple of hours made a start on the drivers, after we cleaned up the area where the Matterson lifting gear covers and control box were stored. They have been moved away so we have a clean area to now make dirty with wheel crud! Appeal for much more cardboard please, I'm glad to say we're using it at an increasing rate. They also were going to test the bogie spring rates but the test equipment was bu99ered!
Ambie initially oiled up some brand new exhaust expansion spinnings (that Al had acquired) and then soldiered on under the front of the chassis cleaning the crud away until she was defeated by the needle gun racket that Kevin and Nathan were making on both outside cylinder blocks.
Roland spent all day on the two chassis cut-outs. He's ground away all the high spots, radiussed the outsides and they are now primed and look as if they are meant to be there.
Nathan spent his half day gunning the left hand side cylinder block which Andy phossied in the evening.
Doc was very busy sorting/sizing all the brake hanger gear and pivots to see what new parts, pins and bushes may be required.
Alan entered his pink phase today by undercoating the three sump covers, the bogie keeper plate retaining bolts, the rear diaphragm and the centre slide bar cover.
Andy was tasked with starting the cleaning up of the red areas of the rear of the chassis and the oil bath enclosure sheets. This task is moving along very well with the added benefit that there is a deposit of red dust over everything - mostly Andy. Someone suggested he makes a nice redhead, but this not the document to discuss that further!
Kevin spent all day needle gunning the right hand side cylinder block, a job not made easy due to the frame/pipe work on the top of the casting.
DOC with his limited time today helped lower down the the two brake links that connect the steam brake cylinders to the draw beam. He also bought in two beautifully restored gauge glass lamp restored to original spec with the electric bulb fitment. Further discussions were had with John Haydon on the remedy for the damaged bogie tyre.
George Bostock, a new member, spent his first day priming the outstanding phossied areas on the rear chassis including the drag box tunnels.
Chris has finished all the prep work on the boiler support outriggers, one is now primed, the other phossied. This means that with exception of that outrigger and the front of the lower rear cross member, the entire rear double skinned portion of the chassis and the rear upright can have the black undercoat applied next week (7th) followed by the top coat (14th) the final day before the Christmas break - a lovely way to finish the year.
John was continuing with the steam reverser as well as helping out with queries/advice etc.
Let me say again, it's astonishing how the numbers have gradually increased during the year and is in the main due to the fact that everyone enjoys the work, the company and the fact that everyone will give a hand on any task.
Interestingly, we would have had at least three more yesterday, had it not been the unreasonableness of them having to work for a living! (Tim, Allan and Richard)
The website won't be update for around a month as our webmaster has very unreasonbly decided to take a holiday as far as you can get from England. Hope he has a good time and thanks for your help, Peter.
Great stuff and keep up the good work everyone.
Kings
PS. I've not heard about any fatalities from my Asda finest hand prepared sausage rolls or Ambies huge cakes!"

 

Article about this loco in the latest SR which arrived today. Some photos of the overhaul.

 

Goodo. An SR chap paid a visit a short while ago so good to see his efforts in print.

 

Nice to see that you are getting some long over due exposure!

 

Like other groups we beaver away without much fanfare. Impossible for the mags to give extensive reports on every loco but it's nice when you do get a mention.

 

Any publicity is always a good thing, and getting a mention/article in one of the mags every now and then jogs the memories of those who would have forgotten about her and hopefully reviving that interest with some hard earned cash!

 

15th December 2011.
"Another good turnout of fourteen (with myself and Ambie part time) delivering mince pies (too many some would say), flap jacks and fairy cakes, the latter which, not surprisingly were consumed rapidly.
I guess our average attendance on Wednesdays is about eleven, which far exceeds our expectation a year ago but which also means now we can plan the work much better. We also have only had one person leave over that time.
Barry believes he has around three or four experienced mechanical men who may also wish to join us in the New Year so our hours available keeps growing.
I missed the discussion in the B&W first thing but it seems that we will now we will be organising the work in a more 'efficient' manner which is really great.
I have been speaking to the C&W paint chaps, who would be more than willing to speak to us about painting, techniques etc. We will learn much from them.
Progress continuing on the following:
Gunning completed and phoss applied on RHS cylinder block. Next step green undercoat to both blocks.
Work continuing on removal of centre piston with one front slide bar fixing causing a problem.
Work continued on the front end chassis cleaning.
The rear sub frame cross member is having all the final crud removed prior to phossing and a re prime of the whole component.
The three drag box tunnels just need a further prime coat at the furthest inside areas prior to their finish coats.
The rear double skin frame section has been top coated and the first LHS chassis section up has been started.
The next LHS section is being prepped ready for paint.
The Delta wheel set just awaiting the final red top coat.
The three sump covers positively gleam. It's a pity they are stuck underneath where only the crews and maintenance people will see them!
Three people have a driving wheel each to prep. The winner gets to spent a weekend with Barry as he is the wheel grot expert.
The bogie spring beams are now being shot blasted as are the lateral bearing retaining rings for both Delta and bogie.
In summary, with the numbers we now have, we will make very good progress forward on the chassis so we will be ready for reassembly when the boiler returns.
Kings."

 

11th January 2012

"Another cracking day with around eleven work weary veterans turning up .The restored rear cab floor plate was put into place albeit with difficulty probably caused by some movement due to extensive welded repairs. It is however loosely in place with a full complement of nuts holding it down. It will not be tightened up to service condition until the cab is fitted.
The four tender fall plate support brackets were loosely assembled so the newly made checker plate can be fitted. All fixings will be painted before final assembly of course. We are using copper based grease on all threads to try to prevent seizure.
It was decided last week that it would be necessary to take the frames back as far as possible to a uniform surface suitable for painting. The whole chassis now will be treated in this manner, phossied, undercoated and then painted. Al advises that the driving axle box keeps can stay in place for prep and painting.
Work continues removing the old fireclay joint between the smokebox floor and the centre cylinder block.
Al has started to check the Delta truck horn guides.
Extra effort is being put on the two bogie axles and wheels to bring them up to primer status, prior to shipping away for tyre replacement. However the worst part of the job is the parts that can't be seen. The bottom of each of the wheel pockets contain years of crud. This, as Barry knows, takes a lot of time and effort to remove. The team are filling the uppermost pockets with paraffin to allow as much time for soaking. As the wheels are being moved during cleaning, the axles are being cleaned.
To save money Al is hoping, using the borer, to prepare the four tyre blanks. They can then, at the sub contractors, be fitted and the wheels turned.
Kingsley Harris"