Saturday 2nd January

Attendance 2:

After the morning greetings and a cup of tea the first task and what proved to be the only task of the day was to carry out some repairs to the CoBo tent that contained the Crossley engine. Over the previous couple of weeks a lot of snow has fallen in the Manchester area and then there had been high winds. This had caused some structural damage and a couple of the bars that form the framework required replacing.

Once the cuppa had been drunk Adam and Jason firstly went into the tent to assess what bar were damaged and needed to be replaced. They then searched out and brought all of the spare bars together to make sure there were enough. As it happened there was just enough to make the repairs. Then a plan of attack was made on how to go about repairing the tent and the required tools were collected.

A couple of smaller bars were bent in the roof section of the tent so it was decided to start on these. Using a special stretcher device that Jason had made previously, this was used to stretch open the frame a little so that the offending bars could be removed. The spreader consisted of some threaded bar and a nut placed in a tube. As the threaded bar was pushed out by turning the nut the bars of the tent spread slightly allow the removal of the offending bar. This was repeated until the bars were replaced.

They then moved on to the main area of damage. 3 upright bars had snapped or bent and had caused the tent to partially collapse at one end. Adam and Jason set about dismantling that end of the tent. Firstly the end canvas was removed and then the piece of canvass that went over the top of the tent was carefully removed. With the framework now exposed it was a simple case of dismantling the affected area of framework. The frame was then rebuilt replacing the snapped or damaged bars which didn't take very long.

With the frame built back up the main canvass was pulled back over the frame, lined up correctly and then stitched back to the rest of the tent canvass. Then the last part was the end canvass, the day was drawing short by this time and the air temperature was dropping quickly but Adam and Jason got the end canvass into place quickly and this was then stitched to the rest of the tent. After tightening up the guide ropes and making sure everything was correct the day came to a close.....

Sunday 3rd January

Attendance 6:

The first job of the day Adam and Jason loaded their cars up with the bogie springs which had been painted in black gloss by Chris Guntrip in the previous couple of weeks and these were taken up to Castlecroft. When they arrived they were met By Phil Cribbin and Al who was volunteering for the first time. The springs were unloaded from the cars and placed safely out of the way on the wagon next to the bogie frame ready for when the Bo bogie is put back together.

Adam disappeared off to get some supplies of paint to a local DIY supermarket while Jason, Phil and Al made a start on degreasing and drelling the axle boxes. The first two axle boxes were removed from the axles keeping them well apart so that they couldn't be mixed up. Then using a degreasing solution these were given a good wipe down to remove deposits of oily muck. Jason then made a start on drelling one of the Axle boxes. Adam returned with the supplies of paint. Then he joined Phil and Al in removing the final two axle boxes and then it was decided to take a break for lunch.....

Following lunch Steve Smith joined the team as he had been working on the western and soon afterwards Chris Guntrip arrived. Adam and Jason started on work on the last two Axle boxes, degreasing them and then drelling them back to bare metal. The degreasing took quite a long time as there was years and years of oily muck and this was in awkward to reach places.

Meanwhile Chris Guntrip continued on with the brake rigging. He retrieved a section of the rigging that was a pivot point. This he stripped down into the various parts and spent the afternoon drelling it back to bare metal. The brake rigging is a time consuming job. Each section needs to be broken down, the muck removed and then drelled. Care needs to be taken not to get parts mixed up so only a few bits are done at a time. It is hoped that some of the completed parts can be refitted to the bogie frame in the near future.

There are plans for the Co bogie to have the traction motors removed and sent away. Steve, Phil and Al started on a job to allow this to happen. They made a start on making sure all of the bolts can be removed easily. This entailed them cracking off the bolts and then nipping them back up to stop any damage occurring when the bogie is moved. A lot of the bolts needed to be cleaned up so that a socket would fit over the bolt head. This kept them busy for the rest of the afternoon and will need to be finished off at the next working weekend.

Adam and Jason finished off the drelling of the Axle boxes so applied Green anti corrosive primer to the back surface of the Axle boxes. Jason cleaned up one journal at a time and then the axle boxes were refitted. Jason and Adam completed the painting of the Axle boxes.

Chris Guntrip had finished the drelling of the piece of brake rigging he had been working on but as time was getting on it was time to start clearing up. These will be painted at during the next working weekend. Everyone tidied up the equipment they had been using and called it a day.....

If you wish to lend a hand please contact Adam Booth