Sunday 25th September

Attendance 3:

After the success of the lift the previous day it was back to the normal jobs today. With the CoBo in its new location it was decided that it would be worth re-jigging the power supply as the external power source was next to the opposite end to where the previous power supply entered the loco. However before this task was undertaken Adam, Jason and Andy Walton first had a couple of jobs to do. First up Adam refitted the giant nuts onto the bottom of the bogie pivots to protect the threads. Jason meanwhile got out the grease and coated the shiny metal that is where the bogies and the body met, the grease is to stop the metal from going rusty. Then next up Jason took one of the internal doors out the container and gave one side a coat of hemp gloss.

Next job was to refit the panniers to the Class 15. These had been painted in the CoBo container and so were transported round one at a time to the steam shed where the 15 is presently situated. The first pannier taken round was for the far side of the 15, this being fairly inaccessible so Adam and Andy lifted it up onto the sole bar and then walked it around to the far side of the loco. Jason had sourced a few nuts and bolts and so with a bit of persuasion the first bolt was pushed through a hole and the nut attached. It was noted that none of the other holes lined up. Andy decided to wedge himself in the pannier and using his feet he pushed the other end of the pannier and Adam managed to feed through another bolt. The panniers are only being fitted temporarily but this pannier is going to require some work to get it to fit properly, but that’s a job for a later date. The 2nd pannier was lifted into place and the bolt holes on this one lined up a lot better, a couple of bolts were placed through the holes and the nuts were added and tightened up.

With the panniers refitted it was time to move onto re-doing the electrical supply to the CoBo. A set of screwdrivers, a torch, wire snips and a set of ladders were collected and taken to where the loco is now situated. With it being sat on some body stands the loco is now considerably higher than when it was sat on its bogies, it is sitting about 5 foot above the ground which is why the ladders are required to gain access. While at the CoBo Adam and Jason had a look under the loco at a tank that had an inspection panel removed, it was assumed to be part of the fuel tank. The reason it was being looked at is the underneath is going to be sandblasted in the future and it would be a problem with getting sand in the fuel. But after some investigation it was discovered it was a water tank and was full of rust! So while Jason and Adam made a start of the wiring Andy scraped out as much rust as he was able to reach, he turned a lovely colour of Orange. It was messy work.

The plan for the wiring was to make two circuits, one down each side of the loco. Previously it had been a single circuit. The power cable was fed into the electrical cubicle through the floor using one of the old traction motor cable holes. The rest of the morning and some of the afternoon was spent cable tying the cable to the various conduits and then placing bulbs in the various holders. The system was tested and it all worked so that was complete. While this was going on Andy spent time pulling cables back through the electrical cubical that had been removed when it was painted.

With the wiring completed one final job was to give the CoBo a tidy up including hoovering out the electrical cubicle. All the various items were collected up from the shelving and placed into a container and then the area was given a good brushing down followed by a hoovering. A general clean-up was undertaken in the CoBo and when completed it was late afternoon. At this stage it was decided that it was a good time to finish and so a tidy up of all the tools used was undertake and this brought to an end a very exciting and productive weekend……….

If you wish to lend a hand please contact Chris Tatton