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