34081 overhaul progress

February 29th.
"Another really great day (half in my case) with no less than seventeen turning up including a new lad, Ashley, on his first day. Pat Waring delivered a load of non calorific chocolate for our team to consume. In the spirit of friendliness they scoffed the lot before I arrived and then polished off a Stollen cake in the afternoon. Still, they are hard working, growing lads. Pat is the widow of Eddie Waring, a regular driver of 92 Squadron.
Today the centre cylinder top was finished with its second green primer coat and all studs fitted. Just needs the fireclay now - a great job, well done!
The chain adjustment bracket was freed and now moves easily in both it's planes.
John Haydon has found a very easy method to remove the oil pump from the base of the sump - he's got Tony to do it! The wonders of RAF management in action.
Roger, whilst cleaning the oil bath top, found a 3" long crack which is easily repairable. It doesn't seem to have been caused by stress but more likely mechanical damage.
Excellent progress is being made on the insides of the frames by Roland as is the sump preparation by Doc.
The bogie wheels are about ready to be sent away so we moved them under the rear of the chassis, cleaned the whole of the area they occupied and air lifted the front driving axle into the vacant space. There is enough room to move the wheel half a revolution back and forth to make cleaning easier. Now we have this room, each wheel can be fully serviced in turn. We must remember to clearly label the axle and wheel side of this wheel set. The others are identified by the chain drive sprocket and the rear by the speedo drive attachment holes on the LH crank.
The RHS journal of the driving axle is having attention to its journal to remove the slight taper that been produced in the last 30,000 miles of service. This work is being done using a set of " scrapers" set in a frame around the journal and then laboriously turned by hand. It is easier with two people so who better than Barry and Alan who are now joined at the hip! By constant measurement and adjustment the journal should finish up with a constant diameter. The journal bearing can then be remetalled and scraped to suit the new diameter.
Again through the kindness of Roland we now have a brass wire brush which is fixed to the bench grinder (kindly donated by Steve Dando). The grinder is now attached to the bench and is giving Mick hours of endless pleasure cleaning up the various nuts and bolts for reuse.
Kevin was invisible for most of the day stuck between the LHS cylinder and slidebars cleaning the chassis. All this very close attention to detail will show up in the overall appearance.
We had a major clean up of the oil contaminated card floor covering and will in future use corrugate as it's more absorbent and easier to handle.
Had a suggestion regarding using the two storey building as a 92 Squadron Mess hut. At the moment we have so many people that, a) We have to take it in shifts with the non 92 chaps and b) we don't have enough seats.
So I approached the NVR regarding it's future use and was pleased to be told that it's John Whitby's responsibility. Now we have quite a hold over John so I expect an arrangement will be reached for what could be an excellent solution to the current overcrowding problem - a nice problem to have by the way.

Kings.

 

Very remiss of me but I forgot to mention the regular Tuesday gang who work on components off site. This brings the number of volunteers working on the loco on a regular basis to over 35. Not bad for a single loco.

 

The increase in volunteer numbers since our return to the NVR has been remarkable. We started with five regulars and it's grown from there. Obviously not all of them are working at the same time but it does mean we can have around 15 working on every Wednesday gang, 4-5 on every Tuesday gang at our off site facilities and looks like we'll have a similar turnout for the new Saturday gang. During the strip down there has been plenty of work to keep them occupied cleaning, painting and refurbishing. The reassembly will not absorb so many volunteers as not everything can be bolted back on at once but we do have a tender to overhaul too so that should keep a fair few occupied.

 

Has been a while since I last posted an update. The cold weather has delayed the painting of frames etc. at Wasnford as condensation has been a problem. Work elsewhere has continued though on fabricating bits of the casing and renovating the cab.
Latest sit rep from Wansford yesterday.
"Cracking day today with yet again no less than fifteen hard working, tea swilling, cake munching reprobates turning up. Loads of different work was undertaken today as follows The front Wakefield lubricator bay has now been gunned and is virtually ready for phossing. The two bleed valves assemblies (six lines per assembly) are now being overhauled.
Good progress is being made underneath the front of the chassis. In light of the fact that the red paint looks very sound, we feel that thorough cleaning and a Lotoxane application will be a good basis for a red repainting. So we really are only left now with this very difficult area around the middle cylinder. Whilst relatively small in surface area, accessibility is very limited.
We decided that, as we had first class access, removal of the steam reverser unit for an examination and repaint would make sense. How this unit was removed with the boiler and drivers in place defeats us. Anyway the whole assembly is now ready for overhaul.
We swapped the leading and middle drivers around on the "assembly line". The leading ones were rubbed down, Lotoxaned and at last primed. Another coat next will give a good solid foundation for the two coats of paint.
The two large steam brake piston return springs were blasted with Aluminium Oxide grit. This is relatively mild and makes a first class job of cleaning up these springs. As these springs had been resting in water within the cylinders for several years, corrosion had set in. Any sharp edge corrosion can be gently eased out with a needle file.
The main bogie springs will be blasted using the standard grit.
The upturned bogie has been finally Lotoxaned and is now ready for priming.
The Delta frame has had the damaged areas reprimed as we are close now to the reassembly of axleboxes and wheels.
The sump has received its first pink undercoat whilst the cylinder heads need a further coat of primer and they will be complete.
The main brake drag beam has been second coated and is now complete.
Pat has surprised us yet again with her Fondant Fancies. Three of our team were injured in the rush to get their hands on them!

Kingsley"

 

As a now proud owner of a part of a boiler tube , having visited the Stotfold steam fair yesterday, can I ask a question? How long are tubes normally kept in a boiler? Are they routinely replaced mid term or do they normally last the length of the boiler ticket.

John

 

Good progress yesterday - report to follow - but sadly 34081 needs a new blast pipe. Problem is the pattern from which to cast a new one no longer exists. We can make a new pattern of course but that's a cool £6500 so donations please at Battle of Britain Locomotive Society

 

How long is a piece of string? Longevity of tubes depends on a number of factors. Sometimes you'll get a full term out of a set of tubes, sometimes you won't. I have a feeling we had to do some mid term replacement but will have to double check and get back to you.
Thanks for your support. I was helping man the stall on Sunday.

 

Are you seriously telling me that a pattern REALLY doesn't already exist? MHR, Herston other loco owners/groups/lines?

 

Enquiries so far have turned up nothing. We live in hope but will have to bite the bullet if needs be.

 

Im guessing this is why 34027s blast pipe was repaired rather than replaced. That is assuming a rebuilts blast pipe is the same as a flat tops.

 

34081's has been repaired before and highly unlikely to last another boiler ticket cycle. As for rebuilds and flat tops being the same, the rebuilds had a new middle cylinder installed and I'm wondering if the underside of the baseplate on the blast pipe would have been different. Would be nice to find out.

 

Well here's a photo of the one which was recently fitted to Sir Keith Park.

https://picasaweb.google.com/116839141471298057728/Restoration2012#5737568832725585154

 

Bit of an error in the caption. That is the blast pipe cap.

 

The official SR drawing, of which I have a copy in front of me, refers to that component as simply a blast pipe.

 

Strange, I could of sworn that the drawing title is Blastpipe & Cap. What is the number of the drawing that you are looking at?

 

W.5513. Title : Blast Pipe. Name of Part : Blast Pipe. Material : Cast Iron
Interesting to note that on the drawing order no.3383 refers to nos.21C171 to 21C190 as being West Country class and order no.3486 refers to nos.34091 to 34110 as being BofB class. Things worked out differently of course.

 

The blast pipe cap in the photo is not shown on W 5513. It is on drawing E 31501 and is shown as applicable to order no. 3383 amongst others, although the actual blastpipe on that drawing is, of course, not used on order 3383.

 

Have now checked and 34081's small tubes were replaced in 2004 before moving to the NNR. The large tubes lasted the full length of the boiler ticket.

 

Oh well. Thought the plan view showed the bit with the ejector nozzles but then again I'm a fishmonger, not an engineer.
Either way, W.5513 is the drawing of the bit we need.