Saturday 30 th June

Attendance 3:

The day started off with Adam continuing on with the Needle gunning of the Bo bogie frame. Rob Mason had previously needle gunned the outside of the frame at one end and down one side when it was still on its wheel sets so Adam made a start on the inside of the frame in the same areas. After about an hour Dave turned up and asked if there was anything he could help with. Now that there were two people it was decided to remove the last few items from the bogie frame.

First up Adam and Dave removed the central bolster hangers. There is a hanger on each side of the bogie to support the bolster. This is made up from two arms that hang down with a horizontal piece that connects them up. To remove the hangers two pins needed to be removed one pin on each of the hanging arms. Each if the pins were held in place by a long bolt so the bolts were removed and the pins were removed allowing the hangers to drop down. This was carried out on both sides and the hangers were extracted from within the bogie frame.

Next they moved onto removing the two lateral traction motor linkages. This was simply a case of undoing a nut on the end of a pin, the nut was hand tight but locked in place with a locking washer. The washer was prised away from the nut then the nut removed. Dave hammered the pin out while the linkage was supported by Adam. With one done the same process was carried out for the second linkage.

And finally the last items that required removing were the main traction motor linkages. The nut on the end of the pin was removed and using a hammer Dave tried to knock the pin out. However it didn't budge. Various different options were tried but still no movement so with help from Malcolm a bottle jack was tried. This was placed horizontally and with some packing in place the bottle jack was pumped up. The pin started to move…. After a few minutes the pin dropped out and the Linkage was removed.

The same process was applied to the second pin and the jack was pumped up and nothing happened, more pressure was applied and still nothing. It was decided that the bottle jack wasn't up to the job so a larger more powerful bottle jack was sourced and put into place. This was pumped up and still nothing. A lot of pressure was being placed onto the end of the pin. Malcolm then tried disturbing the pin with the pressure applied using a sledge hammer, the end of the pin and the bracket were targeted with the hammer but still no movement. Following a discussion it has been decided to leave the linkage in place, it works as it should and the preparation of the bogie frame can be completed with the linkage in place. Trying to get the second pin out had taken most of the afternoon and so Dave called it a day and Malcolm had other jobs to complete so Adam spent the last hour or so Needle gunning then tidied up and called it a day.

Sunday 1 st July

Attendance 3:

The plan for today was to get stuck into the Needle gunning. Adam turned up first and so continued where he had left off from the day before. A short time later Rob arrived followed closely by Phil Cribbin who had started volunteering with the ELR diesel department the previous day. Phil was given a demonstration on how the Needle gun worked and was then given a section of the frame for him to tackle. Rob set up the second Needle gun and made a start where Adam had been working while Adam made a start on scraping off deposits of old brake dust and general muck to ease the Needle gunning process. The rest of the morning was spent in this way.

In the afternoon following a spot of lunch Adam made a start on drelling some of the areas that had been Needle gunned in preparation of painting and this continued on until mid-afternoon. Rob stopped needle gunning and wiped down the drelled surfaces to clear them of dust and oil/grease. Phil was also finishing off the area that he had been needle gunning and the drelling was completed. Phil and Adam then made a start applying anti-corrosive primer to the areas that had been wiped down by Rob. This kept everyone busy for an hour or so and once completed it was decided to call it a day. A quick tidy up was undertaken of the work area and then the three of them headed off in different directions.

Monday 2nd July

Attendance 1:

Rob Mason spent the day continuing on from the previous day needle gunning and drelling the Bo bogie frame. He made a start on the central section around the area where the bolster was located. This kept him busy for most of the day. Once he had given the metal work a wipe down it was then given a coat of green anti-corrosive primer.

The bogie is about two thirds done now so hopefully with one final push this will bring to an end the needle gunning of the bogie frame. However there are all the other parts of the bogie to overhaul like the equalizing beams and the brake rigging. These will all be treated to needle gunning and drelling and then given a few coats of paint. This will keep the volunteers busy for the next few months then we can start reassembling the bogie.

If you wish to lend a hand please contact Chris Tatton