Cold day in March

Cold day down in Swithland Yard, not only the cold going against the work though. Today, I was working by self. We always have plans if one of the group is away, mainly due to common sense, no power tools are to be used. Luckily there is enough work to do by self. This mainly is all small components on the top of the barrel, relating to the valve wheel on top.

So, once I had finished the usual railway tradition of having a brew, and also having a conversation with a member of S+T that had popped by, I started work on taking to bits all the valve gear. Its a pretty simple piece of apparatus. Photos were taken during the dismantling, to aid putting together again once cleaned and painted. All parts were also labelled, given a description stating the direction they go in and when they were taken off. The photo below is halfway through the dismantling. Best way to describe this is a 3D jigsaw, it builds up in different layers.

Copyright Tommy Lees 2013

The whole process of taking the valve to bits took roughly an hour. Whilst putting the items away, I decided that I should label all the bolts we have found. It sounds easy, however due to some bolts being stored for over a year, it was a case of going over the wagon to remember where they went. It has also become more easier to see how many bolts we need to order for areas that are missing. These areas that possibly require new bolts include the ladder for the east side, brackets under the barrel, one or two for the buffers (although I may have these after I ordered wrong ones for something else).

By lunch time, the cold had started taking its toll, and with little work further achievable by myself it was time to call it time, however it was a productive morning and now I have parts I can work on at home from next week.