34081 overhaul progress

Wednesday 16th May 2012.
"A significant day today as a start was made on the tender by Nathan (after all, he has volunteered to work on the inside so we thought it only fair to 'allow' him to start by taking the brake blocks off.) As the Summer is here (I'm writing this as its raining outside) we can hopefully spend progressively more time on the tender. The six wheels are in a filthy state and will need many, many hours to sort them out.
Back on the loco, the remaining two valve plungers have now been removed so a decision needs making regarding reaming out the bearings and metal spraying the plungers. It will depend on the wear found.
The sump received its second undercoat - a slightly more gay colour than the previous coat - well Doc thought so.
The three cylinder covers, the mudguards and the leading drivers are all primed. The wheels will be ready ready for their second primer coat next week followed by the two topcoats. The mudguards can have their first black coat next week.
Work has started on new metalwork for the front apron
Lots more small parts were primed and a start was made on grit blasting the bogie springs. The first spring was completed satisfactorily then the grit blaster packed up. After many hours of messing around using various solutions, none of which worked, Barry "bloody" Ansell came to the rescue by finding an obstruction the size of a small planet in the gun inlet pipe. Problem solved. Well done Bazza, you get to make the tea next week.
The white metalling of the Delta axle boxes has started and now need machining.
All in all an excellent day.
Kingsley."

Friday 18th May.
"Spent a few hours painting various components. My offer to make tea for anyone who helped me ensured I spent the day on my own.
Kingsley."

 

In response to the question over boiler tube longevity, there has been a discussion recently on the SVR forum of the benefits of the reverse osmosis plants installed on the railway in 2001. The results have been remarkable. This was posted by 'Bradleyman' on the forum on news of 42968 getting a 6 month boiler extension;

"The tubes & flues recently removed from 7802 were in very good condition over almost all of their length & suffered only from burning/erosion at the firebox & smokebox ends. These were put in during late 2001 & ran until new year 2011. The loco was stored mid 2007 to spring 2008 due to the floods but was otherwise in regular service.

The small tubes in 42968 were replaced mid ticket due to isolated defects in several of them causing severe but very localised pitting leading to failure. This will no doubt have assisted in getting an extension.

Prior to the RO plant installation tubes would last 4 to 6 years at best."

 

It has been some time since I last posted an update so time to recap on what has been going on.
The boiler gets ever closer to completion but costing ever more money, much more than we had budgeted for but you can't skimp on a boiler overhaul.
Whilst this has been going on the seemingly never ending job of cleaning the driving wheels has continued. The pockets in the BFB casting sure contain vast amounts of stubborn gunge but the team is getting there. Away from Wansford the air smoothed casing has been shot blasted and taken up to undercoat and work on the cab framing has also taken place. New sheeting will be needed for much of this as the old cabsides had sustained a fair bit of damage over the years. Countless small jobs have been undertaken so the myriad of small components are ready to be refitted when the time comes.
As a result of the cost overrun of the boiler, to keep us within budget we are planning to take a number of jobs in house that we were hoping to contract out. Doing it ourselves will be cheaper but will take longer as we will be relying on our volunteers to do it in their spare time. Fund raising continues of course and the more we raise the more jobs we can put back out to contract and speed up progress again.

 

It's been a while since my last update but that's because the past few months have mostly been a never ending round of cleaning and painting but there's now something more concrete to report. The cab has been refurbished, offered up to the frames and it slotted in first time. Not bad considering the work on the cab took place over fifty miles from the frame so our "Top Shed" team in deepest Beds is well pleased. It will come off again to allow the boiler to be lifted back in to place but we do know that it fits. News from the boiler smith is that all the plate work, stays etc. is complete and the tubes are going in prior to inspection of the finished article. After several weeks of "yes you can, no you can't" confusion from the Wansford office, we finally got the all clear to use the steam crane to lift the tender. This task was completed last week and we can now get on with the overhaul of that. Most likely to be another round of cleaning and painting as initial inspection indicates everything if fairly good condition otherwise.

Now for the fund raising plug. Next month sees our Grand Draw with prizes of £250, £125, £50, £35 and a jar of genuine 34081 rust. Tickets are available in books of 5, priced £5 per book. You have to be 18 or over to enter but if you fancy a flutter please send a cheque/P.O. made payable to The Battle Of Britain Locomotive Society and send it to BBLS Grand Draw, 67 Osprey Road, Biggleswade, Beds SG18 8HE. We'll need your name, address and/or phone number so we can fill in the counterfoils on your behalf in time for the draw on November 24th.

 

All happening at once.
The valve plungers have now returned from the metal sprayers/grinders and are spot on to original spec. Same company will now be looking at our centre piston rod. During its life 34081 gained GWR pattern outside slide bar lubricators. These have now been sold on to a GWR loco group and the funds used to purchase the original SR pattern ones. Only a small item that most people wouldn't notice but may as well have her looking proper. Both leading bogie and trailing truck are nearing completion and when they are ready we can give thought to rewheeling the chassis and commence the reassembly of the loco. Looks like 2013 could be an exciting year for us. In the meantime all the motion is receiving attention to make it all nice and shiny again.

 

Must be a fair task polishing up those chains! hwell:

 

All joking aside, if our team was asked to do it, they'd set to the task with a vengeance and not a word of complaint.

 

How about if you asked them to fit a brass safety valve cover and a copper cap chimney ?

 

They would happily come round your gaff and introduce you to the "Swindon suppository".

 

Trailing truck was re-wheeled last week and only a few bits and bobs to be reaffixed before it's ready to be reattached to the frames. Work on the leading bogie continues and that should be ready for re-wheeling before Christmas. Once both of these components are ready, the next push will be getting the frames and everything between them ready for a lift to enable the main drivers, trailing truck and leading bogie to be rolled into place and then we'll have a rolling chassis ready to receive the boiler. The aim is to have the boiler back on sometime around the end of March 2013 but plenty of work to be done before we can achieve this. We are just awaiting an ultrasonic check of all the boiler repairs and once the green light is received from the inspector, the tubes will go in.

 

Just downloaded your firefox persona off the website. Thats cheered my laptop up!

Glad to see the restoration is going well, fingers crossed i might get to the NVR in the not to distant future!


Chris

 

Wednesday 28/11/12
"Good turnout on a cold miserable day where the temperature had dropped to 2° IN the shed by 5.30pm.
We don't want a repeat of this year's 6 week loss of painting so will be investing in a small, 3KW heater.
Lots of activity concentrating on the front end of the chassis, the buffer beam and associated parts. This part of the overhaul has become the most difficult and onerous part of the overhaul (even worse than the driving wheels) due in the main to the difficulty in being physically able to get to the surfaces. The surfaces were also extremely dirty as it was likely they had not been cleaned at all in service.
The bogie final painting has started (albeit the underneath) and should be complete on 19 Dec.
Painting of the motion rods is proceeding well and they will also be complete by the same date.
New motion pins are being machined to allow assembly on the loco to start early in the New Year.
Cleaning of the coupling rods continues as a fill in task."

 

It's been a long while since I reported anything and that's because there's been nothing major to report. Lots of cleaning, prepping and painting along with the machining of many small components. One major step forward has been the purchase of an ash pan kit and our "Top Shed" team have been getting on with assembling that. While this has been going on the "Wednesday Gang" has been working towards the rewheeling of the chassis. The first stage of this was achieved on Wednesday with the rewheeling of the front bogie. Here's a pic of the frame being lifted into position.

34081-bogie by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

 

Away from our main Wansford site our "Top Shed" team has been beavering away on a number of components. Yesterday the largest piece so far was completed - the new ashpans created from a kit of parts supplied by the MHR. A cracking piece of work from a dedicated group of lads.

 

That's a pretty complex looking piece of kit considering its " just an ash pan"...

 

It's been a long time since I provided an update. A lot has been going on since I last posted on this subject. Almost all of the detailed preparation work on the loco components is complete and reassembly in earnest will start soon. All axle boxes on the frames are done, the trailing truck and leading bogie are ready and as soon as the inside rod and motion have been installed then we will re-wheel her. Boiler is due back very soon and as soon as we get a date for use of a crane that's coming in for another job, we'll give Chatham the nod. In the meantime a team is working on the casing and bringing that up to undercoat status while others are getting on with the tender. The wheels are proving real beggers to clean but we're getting there. Last week's "Wednesday gang" established a new record for people working on the loco at any one time - 19.

 

With the temperature in the shed at a heady 11ºC, we took the opportunity yesterday for some more painting today. A final topcoat to the frames, especially the areas that will be mostly hidden from view once the wheels are back on. Also receiving attention form our budding artists were the axle box keeps, tender axle box covers, oil troughs and tender wheels - some items top coated, others under coated. Final reworking of the centre big end has been completed so the centre rod is ready to be fitted. Some final stoning of the centre big end journal is needed though. Some 0.25" journal locking pegs were finished today ready for installation in the valve motion. So another good day and it wasn't even a Wednesday. Also received confirmation that the boiler will arrive on the 26th so fingers crossed there are no last minute hitches.

 

Another productive day at Wansford. The low temperature precluded any painting in the main shed but there was plenty to keep us busy. Fettling of the centre big end journal was completed while work continued on cleaning and prepping the inside of the casing for repair prior to repainting. Cleaning of the tender springs revealed three broken ones so that's another job that needs attending to. The "black and white" shed was much warmer so a team of five guys crammed in and got on with cleaning and painting several tender components. Looks like we'll be out of small components to refurbish within two to three weeks so the main reassembly edges even closer.
In the meantime I'd like to give a plug for our Grand Draw. Takes place on 30th November - first prize £250 - and tickets available in books of five (cost £5 per book). PM me if you'd like to buy some. You have to be 18 or over to take part.

 

Big day today. The boiler has returned to Wansford and was unloaded safely. Resting on a Weltrol for the moment until we're ready to lift it onto the frames and that day's not far away. We're feeling rather chuffed.

 

Even though not my favourite engine or type, its bound to be for someone else. Its nice to hear that the overhaul of another engine is coming on well and the team behind should be rightly proud and congratulated for their efforts thus far. Keep it up!