Saturday 30 th January

Attendance: 3

This weekend was going to be very busy, as on the last working weekend on 16 th & 17 th of Jan no actual work was done on either loco due to a number of other factors, so those that attended this weekends working party were looking to make up for lost time, but first off we were expecting a visit by a guy from a local firm to look at some bits of the Co-bo and Class 15 which were planning to send away for shot blasting, the guy arrived at 09:30 on the dot and Adam and Jason had to pull the tarp back over the Cab of D8233 to show him the bits that would need doing, then he was showed the Co-bo roof sections which have been propped up against the fence since they were removed from D5705 last February. At this point Adam remembered that the body side radiator grille panels might also need shot blasting so he went down to the Co-bo tent to fetch the one that we had removed previously, the guy made notes of what needed doing and was confident that his firm could do the job we needed so he departed, but before the tarp could be pulled back over D8233 Jason wanted to take out the remaining windows so with Adams help it was quickly done and the tarp re-secured over the loco.

The order of business after that was to go down to the Co-bo tent and do some reinforcement work, recent snow and heavy rain over the Xmas & new year period had caused sagging in the roof panels and the weight of water from some of the larger sags had bent some of the alloy tent frame poles, so some replacement steel tubing had been bought to swap them with, now as this would be difficult with the weight of the canvas tarp over the tent frame, Jason had made a custom tool to make the job easier, By using this spreader bar the frame could be pushed apart just enough so that the old poles to be removed and the new poles slotted in, while Adam & Jason were doing this Chris Tatton arrived to lend a hand, that allowed Jason to get on with the other task of fashioning the bamboo cane lattice frames in the roof sections, these will hold up the roof tarps and prevent them from sagging, this in turn should prevent water from collecting in the roof tarps and hopefully stop anymore water sags, with that done and the bent poles replaced the tent was zipped up and the guys went for lunch.

During the days leading up to this weekend it had been decided that some work on Class 14 D9531 should be attempted as it has now been moved into the Baron St loco works and will only be permitted to remain there while visible progress is being made, so as well as the work on D5705 & D8233 the volunteers were asked if they could spend Saturday afternoon working on D9531 and tackle the task of fitting up the fuel & coolant pipe work to the replacement power unit to do this they first went down to Paddy the Irish Thumper power car on the loco stack to collect some pipes and parts, then they went to D9531 in the shed, Adam & Chris worked on re-fitting coolant hose that was out of alignment while Jason set about re-fitting the fuel filter and feed pipe, At around 15:30 we had a visitor, Les Tappenden had come down to drop off some stuff for D9531 & D5705, first he returned the radiator tank that had needed a new element mounting flange welding in, that's now done and looks as good as new, the other radiator tank which has hole and ugly patch weld on has been sent away for rectification work, he stuck around for a while to look at some things on the 14 before departing, Chris had to leave about this time too and that left Jason & Adam to finish up their work on D9531.

After that was done they returned to the support coach where Adam had some Co-bo painting to finish up this included the gloss painting one of the radiator side frames on the floor and leaving it to dry and then he did a little touching up of the gloss paint on the cab bulkhead door and with that we were done, it had been a very good day with work done on no less than 3 different locos and most of the days objectives successfully completed no to mention the tent repairs so a big pat on the back for all concerned :)

Sunday 31 st January

Attendance: 2

After all the chaos of Saturday, today would be a lot more straight forward, Jason would be working on D8233 mainly to catch up for the lack of work done during the last weekend and that would leave Adam free to carry on with his jobs on the ‘Object', but most of the morning was again taken up with jobs on D9531, Jason went over to the loco early on to look it over and take some reference shots then he went down to Paddy again to see if he had overlooked some bits they had missed but could not see anything, When Adam arrived he had a cuppa and then needed to gloss paint the other side of the radiator side frame that he had painted the day before this he did in the paint cabin, after that it was time for breakfast at Greggs and then on the return dropped in on Castlecroft as they needed to check the “weltrol” wagon and back spares room for some bits, Unfortunately they did find any of the bits they had been looking for except for a pipe union that they used to connect up a pipe up to the Hydrostatic pump on the front of the engine on the 14, after this they returned to the support coach and back to working on the other locos.

After another cup of tea Adam went into the Co-bo and made a start on needle gunning the lower section of the genny bulkhead which is fitted around the lower half of the generator and is permanently welded into place, so Adam could not remove it like the upper sections which could be taken away to be worked on, Instead he had to work on it in situ, so he set up the compressor and airline and got to work, on the R/H side there was a small conduit pipe that passes through the frame, along the floor and then goes up onto the top of the brake frame, this was sort of in his way and he asked Jason for advice on what to do with it, Jason had a look and said that he could dismantle it piece by piece and cut and pull out the old wiring contained within, this he did and then was able to carry on his work, Jason meanwhile was working away in the Class 15 removing the remaining batons and cab fittings on the B end cab bulkhead.

Meanwhile in the Co-Bo Adam had finished gunning & drelling of the lower genny bulkhead section and was now making a start on the primer painting, some areas were a bit oily so he needed to use some thinners and a rag to degrease the area, he also had gone around the frames of the two side doors and drelled and primed them too, and on the opposite side of the R/H door frame where he had previously removed that conduit that was in his way he had gunned around the edge of the deck plate and also covered it with some primer, with that done Adam returned to the support coach.

While there he began the task of rebuilding the cab bulkhead door which is now fully glossed, he fitted the wooden block that is used to hold the track circuit clips to one side of the door then he refitted the handle and locking mechanism, he then cleaned up the hinges which are made from solid brass and will not be painted rather remain as polished metal, when Jason came back in they reorganised the Co-bo parts shelf to make room for another of the radiator side frames to be placed there until its needed for assembly of the radiators, that drew the days activities to a close, with only Adam concentrating on working the Co-bo today progress was limited but as always the work goes on and with work on D8233 taking precedence for the next couple of months the Co-bo will take the back seat for now, but big things are planned for later on this year as things are shaping up to see big leaps forward on the restoration of both the locos in our care.

The next working weekend on D5705 is 27/28 February. If you wish to lend a hand please contact Chris Tatton

Above : Adam begins the task of needle gunning the lower genny bulkhead plate. © C15PS