23rd – 24th July 2011

Saturday 23rd July

This was a Co-bo weekend but during this weekend Jason did do some work on D8233 mainly to address the reports of water leaking from the works roof and dropping onto the now exposed loco and making some of its vital parts wet, however for the majority of today Jason was working on the Co-bo D5705 along with Adam Booth, but after Adam departed and the Co-bo was locked up Jason was free to work on D8233, firstly he removed the tarp that had been used to cover up the No2 end body work section out in the yard, this had been blown off many times during strong winds and was now on the floor, Jason untangled it and cut it off and noticed that it would be a good fit for the Co-Bo roof sections on the floor nearby, so he took some time to swap the tarps over, the blue tarp that he removed was ripped but parts of it he would be able to cut out and use to cover up parts on D8233 but not until tomorrow, later on when Jason was taking the rubbish bag around to the skip he noticed Malcolm Kirkwood who was stripping spares off the old Coles 5 tom road crane, as it was going for scrap, Jason went over to have a quick chat with him and as the engine covers were off happened to notice the air reservoir tank for the pneumatic system on the crane, the size of it looked suitable as a replacement for one of the missing air tanks off D8233, Malc said to Jason that he was free to take what ever he wanted off the crane, so he quickly nipped back to the coach and fetched a tape measure and a large adjustable spanner.

Upon measuring the air tank he had a pleasant surprise, it was about 22”x 10” and on a class 15 the Vacuum Reservoir is 22.5”x 10” so this would make a perfect replacement for the missing Vac tank, So with Malc’s help Jason removed the tank and also assisted Malc in removing the radiator from the cranes engine bay, after this he thanks Malc for the help and took the tank back to paddy where he placed it into temporary storage, it will require some modifications to suit but it should be ideal for use as a Vac tank, all was not over for Jason however, he used the early evening time to detail paint the “Paxman” logos on the rocker boxes, using a fine modellers paint brush he set up in the sitting compartment and using a small pot of gloss black paint carefully hand painted all the logos on top of the rockers, when this was done it really was end of the day.      

Sunday 24th July

Today Jason was joined by Rob Mason who had a specific job in mind that he needed to do on the Co-bo, Jason was not needed for this so he was able to get onto D8233 and see what could be done about protecting it from drippage from above, but his first job was to re-fit all the brass wing nuts to the rocker boxes, using some bespoke fibre washers as oil seals on the top of the spindle shafts he attached the wing nuts using the circlip plies to attach the securing clips on the inside, when they were all back together it was onto the loco, Jason removed all the dust sheets from the generator set and exhausters as they had been a source of dampness from water dripping onto them, these he folded up and placed in the cab, he then found that the R/H side battery box door had been removed, but then he noticed that the remaining traction motor and battery cables had been untied so guessed that either Alan Lee or Steve Foster had been checking the job out for when the time comes to do the heavy cable replacement work, Jason climbed up onto the R/H sole bar and removed the sheet he had used to cover up the exposed rockers, he noticed that some flakes of paint that had been chipped off when the manifold was needle gunned were threatening to drop down into the rocker boxes, so Jason fetched the New Blue Vacuum cleaner he had bought to replace the old that had blown up recently and used it to suck up the paint flakes, after that was done he got out the Wood Pigeon gloss and painted the back of the inlet manifold, next he used the step ladder at the No2 end to carefully climb up onto the roof, while there he used black bin bags and insulation tape to seal up both of the exhaust ports and then he removed the two wooden frames that used to support the tarp over the open engine room roof hatch covers, he then again borrowed a wheel barrow and used it to transport the freshly painted rocker boxes around to the loco where they were place in a line on the L/H sole bar, after collecting the gaskets and some suitable sealant, he collected the rocker boxes one at a time, applied sealant to the lower gasket flange face and then gently applied the gasket pressing it down so that the sealant would grip it and hold each one in place, then carefully fitted and tightened down each rocker box until all were successfully refitted, by then it was lunch time so Jason stopped for lunch.

After lunch Jason took the ripped blue tarp that he had removed from the Co-Bo roof sections the day before and stuffed under the support coach, he took it unto the empty porter cabins in the car park, laid the trap out on the floor and then using a measurement he had made from one of the exhausters earlier in the day, marked out and cut two large tarp panels for the exhausters, then he cut another single larger panel then he cut the rest into smaller tarplets and disposed of the torn up remains, the three panels that he had cut he used to secure over the each of the exhausters either side of the loco, securing them with rope, then he went back onto the roof and used metal spring clamps to secure the other panel over the open roof hatch apertures, once that was done Jason work on D8233 for this weekend was done after which he went to assist Rob on the Co-Bo for the remainder of the afternoon.               

The next working weekend is September 3/4. If you wish to lend a hand please contact Chris Tatton