Quick Update

Just a quick one this week.

Keith has finished cleaning out the inside of the tank, so much so there is an echo even when he is leaning out the tank. A photo will be attached next week showing how clean it now looks. He will be going in with a brush to just tidy up, then it will be inspected by Phil.

Work has continued on the steam valve. This has been cleaned and glossed, with the help of a spray can. Keith has been very busy as not only did he do the work inside the tank, he cleaned down the bolts for the steam valve.

Work for next week will focus on the main release pipe, and also a fitting exercise to see what bolts need to be ordered. If there is time, we may even start cleaning the east face.

A finish in site?

Last Wednesday work concentrated upon the axles. These have been cleaned, primed and undercoated. Whilst these were being cleaned, date stamps were found. The south Axle dates from 1927 where as the north axle is 1948. The south west wheel has now been undercoated as well. These are all going to be glossed on the same day, along with the north west wheel. Below is a photo of the newly undercoated south axle.

Copyright Tommy Lees 2013

Keith was busy on Saturday. All the west brake components have now been fully glossed and are now ready to be re-attached. These will be re-attached once he has finished cleaning the inside of the barrel. Whilst Keith had the gloss out, he also applied the first coat to the south end face of the barrel, now meaning THREE yes THREE sides are now in black gloss. The picture below was taken this morning before work commenced. 

Copyright Tommy Lees 2013

To today's report. Keith once again has been inside the barrel scraping the rust and dirt from inside. Its a big job and a real difference can be seen when looking in. He believes one more day inside and it should be clean, depending on results from inspection by Phil. The long term aim is to use A6071 as a water carrier for the engines, so the insides do have to be suitable. 

For me, work concentrated on taking the steam valve off the side of the tank. A few months back, Keith applied grease to release the nuts, making them easy to take off. The only reason it wasn't taken off then was it was tightly fitted. For a job that would take approximately 5 mintues from looking at it, it instead took an hour to free. Cleaning it up is going to be a big job. The main issue is that it is made out of brass like material, meaning using an angle grinder with wire brush is not a suitable method. Next week I will try cleaning it up with some Brasso. Below is a photo showing where the steam valve is attached.

Copyright Tommy Lees 2013

The main work is now focused on several areas again. The list of items to be done is growing, not shrinking and the list in summary is below.

• Clean and paint the west walkway
• Clean and paint the valve pipe (runs through the tank, only top half to be done)
• Gloss the west coast wheels, axles and axle boxes
• Clean and paint east side of barrel
• Clean up steam valve
• Attach wood blocks to brakes.
• Re-attach west side brakes
• Clean and paint the west ladder
• re-attach the east ladder
• second coat the barrel in gloss
• apply logos
• apply small writing
• attach new wagon plates
• re-assemble discharge pipes

Once all the above has been completed, then A6071 can enter service on the freight train and also be used by the GCR. If you would like to help us accomplish the list then please do email me on thomas_lees_21@hotmail.com. There are plenty of wagons for us to work on and the future of the GCR is looking bright, with a future for freight running over the 18 miles between Leicester and Nottingham. It will be like the 50's all over again, so come and join us.

6.8.2013

Hi Folks

Just a small update for today.

Keith has been busy in the last couple of weeks. All the small components have now received gloss on three sides, the fourth will be done on Saturday (mainly for ease of storage). Also the brake blocks and handle have also had three sides done, again these will be finished Saturday.

The fourth wheel is now fully in primer, awaiting undercoat. The plan is now to clean the main axles and prime these, then undercoat the axles and the wheel in one go. Then the two wheels, axles and axle boxes will then be in gloss.

Speaking of axles, these have started to be cleaned, however each one is only half done. Reason? Simple. Keith has been inside the tank again cleaning out the 40+ years off dirt and rust, which is being pushed out the main hole at the bottom. Not really practicable to clean these with dirt falling on me. However I have the next few days off work so I have a good chance to get these finished. Photos will also be up tomorrow, Including new stamps found.

Look out for more updates