Saturday 23rd

Attendance 9:

Today was the first day of lifting the various components off from the Bo bogie. While waiting for the bogie to be shunted into place Adam and Jason removed the axle casings from the traction motors. Jim and Graham Mortimer with the assistance from Dave worked on the dampers. These were still attached and threads were very rusty. With some perseverance, a large spanner and a large set of stiltsons they managed to remove one of the dampers leaving the bogie frame sitting at an angle. The other damper couldn't be removed due to restrictions on room available to work on it.

The shunt was carried out with the bogie being placed over the pit. Jim, Graham and Dave cracked on with removing the other damper. It was proving to be a bit stubborn so a long scaffolding bar was sourced to help provide leverage which worked and the damper was soon removed.

Meanwhile Adam and Jason removed the gear casings from the end of the traction motors. It contains a thick tar like substance called Motac. All of the bolts were undone and the bottom half of the gear casing was lowered to the floor and left there to allow any excess Motac to drip off the axle gear, the top half of the gear casing was put to one side. The gear casing on the other axle was dealt with in the same way.

Jason, Malcolm, Dave and Adam turned their attentions to the bearing cases. Jason removed a dust guard while the others made a start on the first bearing case. Two bolts were removed and the other two were loosened off, once somebody was under the bearing case to support it the remaining two bolts were removed. The bearing case was just about manageable for one person. This process was carried out for the other three bearing cases. With the bearing cases removed the motors were ready to be removed.

The back of the motor was supported by the crane so that the weight was off the pin in the main traction motor linkage, with the pressure off the pin was removed. The traction motor was lowered back down and once the motor was re-slung the crane lifted the motor off. It was done in such a way that the back of the motor (where the main linkage is located) lifted first so that the pinion gear disengaged the main gear on the axle. The traction motor was placed on the ground and then the second motor was removed in the same way.

The central bolster was removed, this was connected to the crane and was lifted out in a matter of a couple of minutes. This was put to one side. Jason then applied grease to the journals to protect them and then wrapped them in pallet wrap. Then the last job of the afternoon was to set up the crane for the main lift to take place the next day. Due to the weight of the frame the out riggers were pulled out and blocked so that the crane was more stable. With that job completed everything was tidied away until the next day…..

Sunday 24th

Attendance 5:

Today the plan was to complete the stripping down of the Bo bogie. Chris B made a start by shunting everything into place. Once completed the large chains were attached up to the bogie frame and also to the 10t crane. When everyone was happy Graham Thornton started the lift. At first one end started to lift off, the other end was sticking slightly but with a little more pressure applied the frame released from the wheel sets and swung free. The frame was placed gentle on to a 16t flat wagon from where it is to be worked on. Chris then shunted the wagon into Castlecroft shed.

Next up was to lift the equalizing beams from the wheel sets. These were lifted individually and then placed onto an engineer's trolley so that they can be moved about. The engineer's wagon was moved into the shed next to the 16t wagon.

nd finally the wheel sets were lifted and moved over from No3 road onto No 2 road one at a time. The wheels were then pushed into Castlecroft shed and placed next to the equalizing beams. The wheels will be cleaned up, checked over for defects and then painted in the near future ready for re-assembly. Chris B will be overhauling the wheel bearings at a later date on the wheels. It was midafternoon and with everything lifted and put into their relevant places it was decided to have a tidy up and call it a day.

If you wish to lend a hand please contact Chris Tatton