A6071 Tank Wagon: April 2013

Tuesday, 30 April 2013

Tuesday 30.4.13

After a busy weekend with the Gala, work was concentrated on two areas.

Keith seems to enjoy cleaning all the parts for the handbrake, and today he made good progress cleaning two tension bars. They seem easy to clean, however originally they had a very thin protective layer which is difficult to come off. Keith had good patience on these as the two were looking smooth before lunch. Once these were cleaned, he primed them using the usual red primer and left them in the safety of the van to dry.

My main area of work was once again on the spokes on the north west axle. The best way to clean these is with a drill and a screwdriver. It took roughly an hour to clean these. These were then painted and now the whole wheel is sitting in primer, looking rather eye catching currently red.Looking at the picture you can see what I mean. The main connection between the wheels will be tackled soon, however from trying last year, there is a very thick substance which we know will destroy the brushes.

Attacking the spokes took less time then I thought, so after lunch I started attacking the fourth and final wheel. As per usual I started at the back and will finish towards the hub. The main outer tyre cleaned up easy. Moving to the hub itself revealed another date stamp, one that has yet to be mentioned in this blog.

The south end wheel set is from 1927, as seen from the date stamp above. The north end dates from 1948. And it is different in appearance to. The spokes on the south are at a slight angle, with a different pattern in-between. The axle boxes themselves are different in appearance, only if you look at them closely mind.

Once the hub was cleaned, work then concentrated upon the back side of the spokes. This uncovered another great surprise, although if you have read mainline magazine, you will notice it is nothing new to me. This is the thickness of the dirt that comes off. In some places, it is an inch thick. You can imagine the state I looked when I came out from underneath the wagon. Only half the backs have been cleaned due to time. This whole section that has been cleaned, is currently sitting in our old friend, Red primer. This can be seen below.

Before any of the above took place, we had re-fitted the axle tie bar to the east side. This was painted a couple of months ago in gloss and looked lovely. shame it had chips once we had finished re-attaching it. However we were expecting this, so once it was tightened up, and we had our good friend out, we decided we would prime all the chipped paint areas, including any parts of the brake rigging which has been unfortunate in loosing paint. This progress can be seen below.

A busy gala resulted in a busy day, progress is being noticeable, a couple of visitors did comment on the paint scheme during the gala. More progress could be possible with more volunteers. So if you would like to help do get in touch.

Sunday, 28 April 2013

Giant leap for the axle boxes

A busy week for the group this week. Work again concentrated on two areas, undercoating the south end of the barrel, and the continuation of cleaning the wheel. 2/3rds of the wheel has now been cleaned, the only area to be completed is the small gap between the spokes, more of a screwdriver and brush job. This should be completed this coming Tuesday.

Because the weather has been nice for the past two sessions (Saturday and Tuesday) it has allowed undercoating of the axle boxes to commence. These really have leaped forward. We will wait to gloss these until the fourth wheel has be cleaned and undercoated. Below is the current view of the west side, showing both axle boxes sitting in there lovely charcoal undercoat.

The above photo is a closer shot of the wheel and new painted axle box. It will make a nice sight once both areas sit in gloss black.

The above shot shows the freshly painted section that was hidden by the brakes. This has been cleaned, primed and undercoated by Keith on a Saturday session. The rest of the area was cleaned last year, as can be seen by the appearance of black gloss. This will be glossed when we have a big gloss session, hopefully by the end of may most of the west side will be in gloss.

This weekend has seen the arrival of a new gala at the GC. The Swithland Steam gala was a brilliant day out, seeing shunting of wagons in the yard, windcutters up the Mountsorrel Branch as well as a freight train running the line, (not on the saturday due to a derailment at Quorn, unfortunately the freight was removed to cater for passenger movement) With the gala however meant that no work was undertaken, so expect an update Tuesday evening on progress, yes I do mean Tuesday as well.

Sunday, 21 April 2013

Glorious Sunshine

This weeks blog is being written a couple of days after work took place.

Last Saturday, Keith made good progress on the south west axle box. It was the only one left to be cleaned and primed. This also included the spring and a back section that was missed with the brakes attached. The photo below shows this work completed.

Now to this weeks work. I made a good start on the north west wheel. The outer face and half the back face have been cleaned and primed. Also three spokes have been cleaned and primed. To complete, the whole wheel takes a good day, and does completely run down the brushes quickly. That's just cleaning. Painting again takes a good couple of hours, mainly due to so many spokes, and getting the brush into small spaces isn't easy either. This wheel will hopefully be completed next week, and then will be ready for painting in undercoat the week after. The picture below shows the outer face and the spokes that are currently sitting in primer.

Whilst the wheel was being attacked, Keith took good advantage of the sun and started applying undercoat to the barrel. The South face, and the south end of the west face have now had their undercoat applied, more was going to be applied this Saturday by Keith and will be discussed next update. Again this takes time as we want a smooth finish, and having to move the ladder also takes time. The overall finish did look smooth, and credit to Keith for taking on the challenge. The photo below shows the areas in which Keith has successfully undercoated.

Hopefully the weather this Tuesday will be the same as this past week, really sunny to allow more painting to commence. I may even stay later to complete more painting if it is really good weather. Work will be halted next weekend however due to the Swithland Steam Gala taking place, do look out for A6071, it is easily recognisable as it is currently in many different colours.

I will end this how I always do by asking willing volunteers to get in touch.

Tuesday, 9 April 2013

9.4.2013 behind the axle boxes

This will be a short piece this week, even though for us, a lot was accomplished taking in the consideration of working areas.

A lot of activity was happening in the yard today, with the GCR PW being in attendance for ballasting of the Mountsorrel Branch, it is nice to see a 37 appear hauling dogfish and a shark.

Keith has previously cleaned the lid at the top, this was re-cleaned (mainly due to not being primed at the time, light surface weathering needed taking off) and primed. This proved interesting as the inside had to be rested upon the lock to stop water gathering. This will be touched up, and under coated in due course.

With the west brakes being off, it has now become possible to clean behind the axle boxes. It is easier without the brakes being assembled, however the accessibility is still not brilliant. A drill with wire brush accessories was mainly used. This area was then primed. The axles will be tackled next before undercoating will begin. Each wheel takes about a day to clean, and about half a day to paint. So we are looking at possibly a month before these will be finished in gloss.

The parts that were cleaned last week have now been put in store. I'm still considering the best approach for painting these. It may well be constructed and painted in stages instead of painting before re-assembly. I have now taken the wheel and the main support home to clean, these will be with the other parts hopefully next week. Mean while the area in which they have come from needs to be cleaned.

Areas to be worked on:
Top of Barrel (Cleaned and painted)
Lid components (taken off, cleaned, painted)
Brake Components (cleaned, Painted)
West side axles (cleaned, Painted)
West side axle box (Cleaned, Painted)
East Barrel face (cleaned, Painted)
Axle tie bars to be re-attached

Once again we seem to have created many jobs, each at different stages. Determining which is more beneficial at the time, weather depending, is key to making sure its done, however each job can be done quicker if we had more support so please do get in touch.

Tuesday, 2 April 2013

2.4.13

After a week off due to commitments, work has resumed. And what a day to have. Sun shining, some heat in sun, and plenty of work to do.

Saturday Keith had cleaned and primed two of the four brake tension bars, as well as tightening all the bolts and pins on the east brake rigging.

Todays work has been more of completing areas that were missed when the sole bar was worked on. These being areas in which were unaccessible mainly due to the rigging.Other areas were the brake handle pivot support and the support for the cylinder housing, as seen in the picture below. These are now in primer and await being painted in undercoat. Hoperfully the weather will hold out.

Whilst I was working on these areas, Keith had assigned himself the task of cleaning the brake handle. Bigger job then he expected. It seems this one was more weathered then the previous one, possibly due to being on the wagon longer without use. Once cleaned it was moved on to the adjoining conflat and painted in primer, as seen below.

This evening has seen parts taken from the valve wheel, located at the top of the tank, cleaned. This has been done away from the site, allowing areas of A6071 to be done at different times. It also means, whilst work is being done on brakes, work is also still being done on the tank and the valve gear. Below is photo of the parts that have been cleaned. Two parts still need to be cleaned, the wheel and the main housing. These are currently located in the tool van, and will be taken home next week to be cleaned.

There is still plenty of work to be done, and still an end is in sight for the end of year. The date for running could be sooner with more help. Please do get in contact if you would like to help, either by volunteering or by donation.