catching up

right i havent posted in what 3 weeks
thats due to the piss poor internet connection round here
right so here goes
ummm 4th december friday
we bob n myself finally got the vale inside so we could lift out the gearbox
it took what 6 hours to get the sodding thing out
the bolts holding it back onto the engine came out easily enough other than myself having to squeese in underneath
we then started lifting it out using a pull lift attatched to the front lifting plate and the chains from the hoist above the funky in 4 road on the back
it started to come out easily enough untill it started hitting the bottom of the bulkhead which is halfway down the length of the loco
we thaught we could get away with just cutting a little of this off but nope
we cut some off with just a grinder and then bending the corners up but nope
we got the gearbox stuck so had to drop it down and then take the gas axe to it
eventually we got it out after much swearing head scratching and cups of tea
that weekend i headed up to durham and me and sofia finished
that night i only drove back to bangor and hung out with mikey he was great about it but his floor is fucking hard and my neck got cricked lol
on the monday was back in work
got the greaaat job of steam cleaning the vales bogies which i did in the rain and wind yay
we then had to sort out the moelwyns fan which was blowing air out instead of sucking it in
just swapped the wires round and jobs a good un
then we packed wool into the pony trucks axle boxes
ummm the harlech came in and the waterpump was buggered so we ordered a new one and sorted out the breaks on it
tuesday we had to head on out to dinas to fix their funky
it wasnt making any air pressure
umm it was due to the air release valve being assembled upside down and so it was letting the air leak out
so we took the valve apart and put it back the right way up
we also noticed that alot of oil was coming out from the bottom of the transmission
we just thaught a seal was gone on it
on the wednesday we had to go back to dinas again to help chris and tom with the carriage exam
me and bob inspected the transmission again and topped up the oil level in it
then we did the carriage exam just checking break pins bushes etc
we checked the funkys transmission again and uhoh
things arent good the transmission needs to come off and be reconditioned
we also noticed that there was a problem with the brakes on the porthmadog end bogie
so needed to take a pin out and weld the arm back on as it was rotating but not actually pushing the break pads in
on the thursday we tried to fit the new waterpump but uhoh it was the wrong one so we sent the old one back with the wrong one so hopefully they would get it right the next time we started to strip down the vales bogies just taking pins out and what not
then it was off to manchester for janets 50th
was good to see erica
on the way back i hung with dan jones he's gone through something similar right now with the girls and it was good to see him and hang out
bloody mission to find his house though lol
this week ive had a couple of days 'playing'
monday i was just cleaning up the works for xmas but also i took the keep plates off of the vales bogies ready for the wheelsets to be dropped out
on tuesday peter and myself lifted the bogie and dropped the wheelsets out we kinda tried it and managed to leave a couple of bolts through so with the a frame i was lifting not just the frames but the wheelsets as well so it was a little heavy
but we realised this and so yeh got the frames off and rolled the wheels out and lowered the bogies onto the trestles
then started to take the wheelset transmission cover off
wednesday
started up the top with dave lampert shunting the stock and tal out onto the mainline waiting for the merddin to come up
then had to ride back to port on the tal
then i fired the up and down with richard hanlon and paul davies
thursday
i fired from tyb up on the first up and then all the rest of the day
kinda burnt my arm on a firehole door a bit but ahh well
friday was happy xmas day at work
we rocked up late and then cleared up the works till 11 then we went over to port and had dirty greasy breakfast then hit the bar
around 12 hours later i finally got home
and yeh thats what ive been up too

fabrication such an aggrevation

the past few days have been finishing the niggly little jobs on the moelwyn
its all together final few problems sorted
like when we tried to start it for the first time it just wouldnt go the fuel pump leaked a few hoses and stuff leaked and that was on friday evening so we just left it till monday
monday morning bright and early and theres me and bob trying to bumb start the moelwyn with the arrgg
it was interesting hurtling up and down the yard with a ww1 diseal behing my drawbar
then when that was started and ran up and down we considered the sort of missing pony truck and how to make it work
before it was too long and didnt really steer the chasis into corners so we decided to shorten it
this involved making a new crash bar to mount the pivot on as the old pivot was mounted in between the 2 driven wheels and that had resulted in the problem
so to fabricate the new crash bar all i did was cut the brackets off the old crash bar then grind them to the same height and so that the tops were both level
after this it was a case of getting a new peice of channel that was about 3 inches wide and find a point that the channel missed the wheels and the gearbox as there wasnt alot of space there
then i cut a coupld of peices of inch plate and drilled the hole for the pin in the pair and then bob welded them on
we then cut the old pony truck drawbar shorter and welded the eye back on and dropped the pin thru and bobs your uncle one uber pony truck
then today thursday we started work on our next loco
its bogies need some loving and the transmission is shagged
so today we got the loco ready for the transmission to be dropped out so we took doors off the top end of the loco and then the door frames and the the roof
all outside in the freezing wind and rain
but luckily we have a diago to help us :) altho dylan was wearing his silly hunters hat you know one with ears and all he reminded me of dan from the goofy movie lol
then we started taking bits off
i just ran around getting spanners screwdrivers sockets etc and then sorted out the various parts that were coming out of the poor vale
exhausts breathers and then me and pete made some lifting brackets to be fitted to the gearbox to lift it out
then we undid the bolts holding the gearbox onto the engine and called it aday and went home
well off to durham this weekend so ill try to write something on monday

another week

right ho chaps
these week has been all about the moelwyn
we have finished putting it all back together except for the pony truck
we fabricated a new fuel tank and also a new pressurised filler cap for the coolant header tank
so we were drilling lots of holes bending lots of stip metal to construct various brackets for various parts putting new hoses and jubillie clips on the hoses
i used a hole saw for the first time to drill the hole in the bonnet for the fuel filler cap
i also spent alot of the time tidying up welds on the fuel tank and other fabricated brackets and what not
this week we also brought the funky back from the dark side
it came back on a lorry so bob pete and myself were the welcome home party
we had to take down the railings outside the spoon so the articulated lorry could get in
and later on in the week we took the bogies out from underneath which was the case of taking about 2 dozen bolts out then just jacking the vale up and the vales in the air and the bogies are on the deck
simples!
went and saw mikey play his victor the violin in bangor on saturday night was very good
very loud!

fridays dust

so thursday was a hell of a day
it was raining and gale force winds were sweeping through the lodge
but at least in the morning i was warm inside while i layed a fire in M/E then it was time to get wet while i got it up to blowing off
this was to test that both saftey valves worked
they did
afterwards it was just get in get dry carry on with the moelwyn which is what we did
we had to fabircate a new bracket for the pivot on the gear selector linkage so lots of time was spent cutting and cleaning up bits of metal with the grinder
the finished job was beautiful lol
so friday morning was the day of the M/E's live steam boiler test so someone had to get it in steam and guess who it was yeh me
within 30 mins of getting to work i was soaked through and cold again a pattern has emerged
but after it was blowing off i could go in and get dry fewwwwww
after that it was just a case of carrying on with the moelwyn
we fitted a spangly new cooling fan and wired it in before lunch
and then continued with modifying the various brackets for the loco so that all the components for the engine can be taken off without being released from the body work first
then me and monkey boy removed the fuel and header tanks from the bodywork to see how new ones could be made
after this i had to cut the old lugs that secured the old radiotor cover to the frame of the loco
then tidied up the metal as i had been a little over enthusiastic with the old angle grinder
then it was home time
well not really it was time to go to aber to get drunk with harry saville
he was broken in good time
then my car broke and so it returned to minffordd on the back of a AA lorry with a new alternator waiting to be fitted so thats what i did today (sunday ) with help from dylan
and it was blodddy raining
i know now that ford means fixed on rainy days garh
peace out a town!

here we are again

hey im back
not been too well since my last post
a touch of the ol freshers flu yay :S
so yeh woah last week i was just working on the moelwyn
and thats looking fab engine in gearbox on
pretty much all the exterioir systems like radiator cooling fan exhauster and what not bolted on
and heck its looking like a prettty mean machine
ruddy said he would let me take it for a spin when it was done which is going to be coool
ok this week
monday and today were well annoying days
merrdddin had its dry boiler exam this afternoon so peter and myself have been getting it ready for this for the past couple of days
so ive been in and out of those bloody fireboxes at what seems like 60hz lol
so yeh jobs done to get it ready were
clean out smokeboxes + remove the baffles and spark arrestors
the baffles are difficult at the bottom end thanks to the flipping ejector so muh swearing was done at this before the smoke box reliquished it
also cleaning the fireboxes and ashpans out
and taking the firebox doors off and then a certain someone (yep me) had to go in and retrive the brick arches which all had sort of fused together thanks to all the impurities in the coal and whatnot attatching themselves to the bottom so one hammer and chisel later and the arches were free
but bloody hell it was dustier than the wild west in those fireboxes and tbh im a little tall for them i sorta have to sit on me arse with me head bent forward very comfffy
then steam cleaning the smokeboxes and fireboxes oh yay
so me and pete spent most of monday gettingsoaked and frozen
oh yeh we also did a boiler wash out at this point too
then we shoved the loco inside and proceeded to takeout all the boiler wash out plugs and fusible plugs
one of the fusibles was a right little fighter and we ended up getting chris and a gas axe to warm him up to get him out
we also had to take off the gauge glasses and the pressure gauge
the pressure gauge was carted off to be calibrated by wol
and we got new gauge glasses as we maybe kinda sorta broke one
we then fitted new smokebox door packing to make sure that there was a good seal and replaced the joints on the blowers
then we whipped off the top of the domes and the safety valves and broke the safety valves down and gave them a good clean
then the nice boiler inspector came round and well inspected and im assuming that everythings fine as weve started to put things back on and the management hasnt said that were wrong to do that so hopefully thats all gravvvvveeeey baby
welll amys here now and falling alseep so i think im going to go put her to bed so nighty nights
x

in on and under

well today ive been in engines on them and under them
the under was underneath the cric which has a poorly driveshaft
so took off the breakgear and dropped the driveshaft off at the engine end and them at the gearbox
we then realised that the bolts were to say a little slack
so slack that some of the bolt heads had been sliding into the beginning of the hole despite the spacers put inside the hole
so we are getting more spacers made up to fit the outside of the bolts and this will cure the driveshaft bouncing around

the in a loco was fitting a new brick arch into the square
luckily for me richard cleared the broken arch out and even cleaned out the firebox before i was told to get in as im the smallest person, hip and shoulder wise, in the works
it was a sninch to get into the box this time ( i had put in the previous archs into the square and had learned how to get in and out the hard way by getting stuck so flo had to pull me out)
then when i was comfortable marik chucked in the new arch and i stuck it into the right place then smacked some spacers in down the sides of the arches next to the firebox sides and bobs your uncle one new brick arch in the sqaure

on was just on the arrrg doing some shunting good times

another thing done today was the fitting of moelwyns gearbox to the engine after dylan had sorted the thrust plate thing

nice easy job

anyway im off to bed night

wow its been ages

so its been ages since i blogged
so here goes
last week was hectic
we finished rebushing merdin and got it in steam and its steaming like a wiii-atch its going incredibly well
then it was all hands to the decks to finish off the 4 isle of man bogies
this saw most of the works staff putting in the overtime on thursday and friday
and even saw myself doing riveting
which is a pretty hot job as the rivet is heated up till its glowing whitey yellow then inserted into the holes in the plates that you are riveting together
then with two air riveters you hammer the ends of the still red hot rivet over and then there you go you have riveted it together yay
others jobs i did included turning bolt heads down so they were thinner on the little lathe
it was my first time on the lathe and with the thick end of 40 bolts to do i got a bit of practice
my tution was sort of theo this is the lathe
pull this lever it starts
pull this one it stops
this handle moves it in one axis this in another
take 152 thou of an inch off each head
why aren't you doing it
and so i can sort of use a lathe
i did alot of grinding on them too
on friday morning (deadline day for the bogies) we had one bogie 3/4's complete and 3 no where near and as it had taken us 3 days to get to this stage with one so the odds were against us
but we stormed through them with the last one ending up being put together pretty much by me hugh and emma untill we got to the point where we needed diago (the jcb) to continue at which point dylan and bob took over
so by 5 pm on friday 4 IOM bogies were complete and 1 was on its way to be weighed
job done tools down off to the pub

so the monday morning after the friday before and we walked into 4 road of the erecting shop and we beheld a mighty mess
so pretty much up untill lunch me marik and richard ( THE MEERKAT)
cleared up
then after lunch me dylan and martin cleared up outside with diago
so the workshops are ridiculously tidy now ready for the next big push which is getting the moelwyn running again and linda back on her wheels

t

the weekend and friday

well well people its been a mentally busy time
4 days worth to update so here comes a biggie
im going to work backwards so i can try to remember the other stuff lol
sunday
was gigabash weekend
we (myself butler dad diljoe marhall david ((megans dad)) and john towers and a coupe of others)
were continuing with work on the building started on kids week 2008 (by yours truely diljoe matty b and marshall with howard)
and heck we laid a few blocks around a pallet full the others had progressed so much without me on saturday that come sunday morning the amount of scaffolding on site quadrupled it was crazy how much o the stuff we put up there
this took up around half the morning for about 3 of us while butler dilj marshall and david continued the block laying and ran up 2 courses inside and out on the rear and right hand wall
then after lunch the dream team of butler with theo supplying blocks mortar spirit levels lump hammers (and also doing the pointing) ragggged up another 2 courses on the back wall one inside one outside well after john and whizz had cracked butler in the nuts with a scaffold pole accidently of course
we also had a nice malteaser break when rachhey and megan turned up with malteasers and started playing catch with us
so yeh a fantastic day

saturday was gravvy train day
gravity train for those who arent in the know (wink)
awoke on saturday morning after a nice lie in of 30 mins woop
saw it was sunny so went outside and fudge it was cold
like someone said minus 4 or something crazy
so yeh ended up at the lodge in full batting gear (bib n brace shirt tie donkey jacket and the must have accessory a wolly hat ) and then was told get on that wagon your being propelled out of the yard and then up to dduallt
ok so this isnt going to be too bad i thaught but heck no it was freeeezing the palmerston sounded good despite the slipping but it did chuck out mahooosive amounts of smuts everywere
one poor guy in the first wagon had (had is definatly in the past tense) a white shirt before he started
guesses on the colour afterwards on a postcard please lol
so got to dduallt then we were informed by bonks that the loco and trainwouldnt fit into the loop so that the loco would uncouple and we would hand shunt 3o + slate wagons uphill
much sweating and cursing the p-way later palmerston ran round
just in time to couple onto the cric on the down train
which macey had kindly organised to provide us with 20 + hotchocolates so thankyou buffet stewards :)
we then waited for the earl to go up before we ran down
it was lovel and sunny at ddualt though so none of us really wanted to roll down at 15 mph through the shady woods but we did
and it was freezing
later in the day we repeated but it was a little warmer
it was great fun despite the cold and the unrestricted views and banter were just great so i would deffinatly do one again although im glad i dont have doc lubes job

friday
friday dad was here so i had sorted out a turn on the ricket for him
he nearly made me late for work but i chivied him along so just got there in time then i introduced him to the ladsand showed him were his loco was and then he was as happy as a pig in muck well actually happier i think he ended up having a great day so that made me feel great for giving him that experience
brb going for a pee a mo
so yeh friday was a good day
we had put the merddin back on its wheels on thursday but hadnt had time to put the smokebox components back in or the main steam pipe or adjust the brakes
so all of those were done
the steam pipe went on a piece of piss in comparison to taking it off although having to stretch up your arm with the air gun while your face/head is being smushed into the oily greasy valve gear definitly isnt fun but it went on and was tightend up so thats all good
when taking the smokebox apart the blower ring was an absolute bi atch as many of the bolts threads were all rusted up and knackerd so i had decied to use new ones but couldnt find enough new nuts so old ones were used after cleaning them up
after this we started taking the top end bogie apart
dropped off the flexible steam pipe and got covered in nice rusty water good times
and took off the lubricator as well as taking the blower ring and inca temple out of the smokebox
other jobs jobbed on friday was the moelwyn was put back on its wheels so it can now be shunted around
this was an easy job as bob had already attatched the axleboxes to the wheelsets so all we had to do was get the cranes over the loco hoist it up roll the weels into place and drop the loco on
after that was done we rolled it over the pit and i put the keeps back on underneath and that was it job done clear up tools and then afterworker weekend started

thursday
thursday was a cucial day for pete and me
we had get the merddin back onto its bogie by the end of the day as we had been told that it had to be back on before friday
we started off the day with a load of shunting and generally shifting and sorting things in the erecting shop so that we had enough room to actually roll the bogie in under the loco and lower the loco onto it
then it was a case of getting chris and tom to help lower the loco on its 'wings' (strong points used for jacking it up or down )
we packed the jacks using old sleepers
then lifted the loco
rolled the bogie under then when we were roughly in the right place and after pete had shifted the bridle rod several times we put the thick rubber pad on and lowered the loco onto the bogie
the springs gave some alarming sounds when the weight of the loco was on them though
we then spent the rest of the day putting / checking that all the bits were in the right place and the loco would actually move

right i think thats it i may backdate and add stuff if i remember
right me and dad are going for a pint adios amigos
x

the past 2 days

hey so in the last 2 days loads has happened
we haeve made a ridiculous amount of progress
everything is coming together and the bottom end bogie is pretty much ready to go back under the loco
so we have rebushed everything and have reassembled everything and had a few problems along the way as you do
so yesterday was mainly doing the bushes that were meant to have turned on monday but didnt till tuesday
so putting them in grinding round the edges then drilling them for grease holes and then using petes funky little air drill with an attatchment so you can grind a groove into the bush from the hole so that the grease will spread
we did around half of these before there was a problem with the earl so pete and bob dissappeared
so i went and helped gary out on 138's boiler
the cladding on that is all on so it was time to work on the smokebox
so the main steam pipes to the cyliners are in a pretty sorry state on the ends and with them being garret ones they don't have a joint but they do have a washer come spacer that is tapered to meet the taper on the either side
they are pulled tight with nuts and bolts
dinas had just gas axed through these bolts and so along with the rust were in a sorry sorry state
so spent a good hour or so just taking the bolts out of the pipes
then i got some new nuts to put the pipes in losely
the threads on the bolts were a little shagged though so i ran a die up them to just clean them up a bit
that pretty much finished the day
today has been pretty good
me and pete absoultely raged through the jobs today
was a really good day
we dry assembled everything but we were having a little trouble with the bushing on the valve gear hanger
then pin it was sitting on wasnt particularly round and had several burs on it so much emry cloth later it fitted
with a hammer and a wee bit of grease
so then came the job of refiting everything back in me being in the pit and pete above
and god those pits are filthy
it was going well untill we realised that we hadnt lifted the top ecentric strap on the firemans side so we had to undo everything and lift it out and refit
did that then put the drivers side in
then was a case of use the crane to lift the lot and slide in the new main pin which the rest of the valve gear sits on
this went in very easily so we left it in put the tapered pin in through the middle to stop it moving about and then drill the holes at the ends for the split pins
and that was that
one bogie rebushed and back together except for a couple of bits so tomorow its time to put it back under the ME
so yeh a good couple of days
t
the main

back to work

right
so back at work after a manic durham weekend
monday getting up i realllly wasnt feeling it
but i got to work and it was good to be back if im honest
today me and pete continued with our session on merdins bottom end bogie
we were rebushing the valve gear
i knocked out the old bushes on the lifting links
and then inserted the new bushes in
they were too short to use one but too long to use 2
so had to grind them down to fit
then the plan was ream them out and then fit the new pins
butttt
we assumed that the pins would be the same size
and they wernt
so we messed around reaming the bushes larger and larger and then just decided that we would get the pins made smaller
so then we just had to knock out the bushes reream and then refit
but luckily it was all hunky dorey
so yeh this evening im cooking for me dave and amy
then maybe a pint or something not sure yet but yeh
till tomorrow

weekend

ok so sorry that i havent posted for a few days
was in durham from thursday eve till yesterday evening
i got a lil pissed off at the average speed cameras on the a1 (m1) its a dual carrriage way so 70mph not stupid 50 mph grrr
seeing sofia
it was rather fantastic
had a great great time
i even had the time to hang out with clarky a couple of times
we had breakfast my first morning there
and then saturday night we broke clarky big style hehe
and i would like to say thanks to the thorp corridoor crew i had a great time

thursday mk 2

ok so sorry this is friday and yes im posting thursday's now

this is due to me being in durham with fi

and its a really nice place met her mates up here and they are a pretty great bunch although jack is a lil well umm he's jack

right so thursday

basically rocked up to work and me and pete started to take the vavle gear off the merdin

we already had the bogie over the pit so we just started to take it apart

we used the crane to lift the entire valve gear into the up postition on the lifting link

then we knocked the pin out after a little swearing and bending of copper pipes it was extracted

it was in a poor state so me n pete decided that a new one will be made

we then needed to drop off the links? see pic above

the top half came away easily as they were attatched to the pin

but the bottoms were a little more difficult due to the fact that on the outer ones there wasnt enough room between the link? and the frame to get the pin out

therefore we had to drop the entire lifting link off see right

this was the easiest way to do this and yeh it worked well

and that was all we got done today apart from knocking the old buhsings out and finding that we didnt have any new ones that fitted doh

thursday

right so im watching neighbours atm and writing this so i may kind of wander a little
ok today was another shit hot busy day
kicked off the day with a couple of cuppas as you do
as for the next few weeks we (pete and moi) are re bushing and pinning merdin's valve gear
so we had to take one of the power bogies off
the bottom end
thus i ended up in the smoke box agai taking out everything
blower ring, baffle, spark arrestor and the blast pipe
getting absolutely covered in soot and had another couple of cuppas while doing this
cuppa count 4
after this i had to go down teh'pit to take off the main steam pipe (which is flexible) so after being covered in soot i procedeeded to be covered in soot oil water and grease NICE!
then another film crew showed up
and so we went a tea break
cuppa count 5
next on the list was jack up merdin and shove it up into the errecting (haha) shop and then scoot the bogie out
this took a while and a fair bit of swearing
so we got the bogie out just before luch
as it was such nice weather here today we ate outside
after lunch dragged the bogie out with the arg and rambo'd it
then whacked it back in the shed
had a cuppa
and shoved the tal away and just cleared stuff up for a bit
todays been good havent missed sofia too much so thats cool and im rather excited as im going to see her tomorrow after work so yay 4 and a half hour drive to durham :)
peace out

starting up

ok so ive decided to start a blog
im thinking that its going to be just while im working on the world famous festiniog railway as im working there as a fitter
so ive already worked there for a month and have done some pretty cool stuff
ive done some welding , milling, angle grinding , general fitting of parts to the various loco's

today ive been working with pete and having a good laugh
we've had to do some general running repairs on the earl
we replaced a couple on nuts on the spindle on the valve gear
after we had done that we started to take merdin's top end injector apart as its been faulty lately
a little later while pete was woo'ing the german film crew that was shooting footage for some train porn programme thing
i whacked the clutch back on the moelwyn's engine while being filmed it was rather freaky i got a embaressed to be honest
the germans eventually left and we were left with a huge shunt
ended up having to light up the dave for tomorrow as we had decided that we couldnt send merdin yet
end result of pete lawson coming round during this is that im now spare fireman for tomorrow with jed eeeek
anyway im watching role models atm and just thinking sorry this is a massive post and rather long and windy but yeh im sure ill get better at this
thinking im gunna hit the pub later so au revoir