Tuesday 17 January 2017

Full of the Joys of New Springs

As an extension of last week's entry I have some photos from my blog companion Chris Blake who happened to be around on Wednesday 11th January. I was unable to be there with my camera as I was on a short holiday so a big thank you to Chris for these.

 In the Steam Department we do not always rely on steam power; for the practical moving of steam locos around the shed and yard there are two 0-6-0 diesel shunters - a Class 04 (11230) that's most often seen in use and also a Yorkshire Engine Co. example, no. 372, known as 'Des'.

 From time to time these small but mighty powerhouses require a little love and attention just like their bigger coal-fired stablemates - and on Wednesday it was Des' turn to be looked at by various members of the steam dept.

 It needed all of its springs replacing as they were old, broken and generally a bit tired. The Wednesday Gang were organised and had all of the new springs lined up and ready to go:
Ready to Spring into Action: New leaf springs on the pit road
It seems it would help to be a bit of an acrobat while working underneath Des. There's not much room, as the photo below suggests!
Martin peers through the feet of John
New spring in place, ready for fitting...
As the old saying goes - many hands make light work!

Meanwhile Ian and others continued work on fettling Foremarke Hall's ash pan doors. The last blog featured a link to a short video on them opening and shutting but here are some additional photos to complement it showing the doors in open, half open and fully shut positions:

Open...
...shut.
...halfway...
Elsewhere, Brian G, John G and John T were working on 2807, freeing up the valve gear and cleaning off the build-up of dirt on the valve head to aid a smoother movement inside the valve chamber.


Hard at Work!
Finally on Wednesday, there was the job of preparing Dinmore Manor's and 2807's tenders for their yearly two or three coats of bitumen paint. A challenging job in the winter - I remember doing the same job last year with Cliff F and in the lower temperatures it meant many trips back and forth to the mess coach in search of warm water to soften the paint up! Still, as it is generally a job for two there is always plenty of time for conversation whilst painting to make it a little more pleasant.

I'm unsure as to who exactly is in the photographs painting the inside of this tender but one thing is for sure, when finished it will be protected for another year from the weather, the coal, and the fireman's pep pipe!






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8 comments:

  1. St Blazey 192518 January 2017 at 12:39

    Would have thought that maintaining the diesel mech. shunters would have been the preserve of the Diesel Dept. Good blog post though. Regards, Paul.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Donna18 January 2017 at 16:31

    Hi Paul, thank you for your comments on this and the other blogs, I appreciate them very much.

    You are probably right, but perhaps there was no one on hand from that dept to do the job, or help out with it, on that day at that time. I'm purely speculating though - I will find out and get back to you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous18 January 2017 at 18:52

    The Diesel Dept are helping out the owners on all things diesel-electric but the Steam Dept have taken on the springs as this task is very similar to changing springs on a steam loco (ie heavy, dirty, difficult). It's a joint effort for a loco that is used by both Departments.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. St Blazey 192519 January 2017 at 00:32

      Thanks for the reply. Now it all adds up. Regards, Paul.

      Delete
  4. Ian B19 January 2017 at 20:03

    It may be of interest to note that the DMU "department" was founded by steam department members, and indeed some volunteers who joined to work with DMUs have subsequently qualified as steam footplate crew. We call it versatility ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous20 January 2017 at 08:28

    As the co-owner of 372 I want to publicly thank the steam department for their hard work in getting the springs changed. As has been mentioned the loco has worked hard for both steam and diesel departments for 18 years, 372 is a strong and reliable loco and the work carried out will improve its usability!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. St Blazey 192522 January 2017 at 11:35

      Have I trodden on anybody's corns? If so, I certainly didn't mean to. Just trying to get a perspective from a long way away. Too far for a quick visit. Regards, Paul.

      Delete
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    ReplyDelete

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