March 2015 Engineering Report
Permanent Way
The full time gang spent much of January on building work as detailed later in this report. In November and December the work left outstanding after Autumn Outdoor Week was completed, involving quite a few days of jacking tamping and ballasting between Dolgoch and Quarry Siding and on Big Bend below Nant Gwernol station, whilst the stone blower was used to attend to joints in Dolgoch station. Various other jobs highlighted by the routine inspections were also completed, then the end of the building work was marked by another spell of tamping, this time to correct a dip in the south side rail just at the top end of Pendre straight.
One of the long PW weekends was spent in lifting and re-timbering the ash road point at Pendre where the gauge was widening over the acceptable tolerances as the rail fastenings became loose in the old sleepers. To prepare for Spring Outdoor Week, which had just begun as this report was being written, the Quarry Siding loop to siding point was stripped out, rails were detached from the sleepers under the Pendre Works back road points and several lengths of rail were collected from the stacks and run up to Cynfal.
The flail has also been out during November and December cutting back hedges on the lower sections of the line. The gang removed the old softwood gate from Hendy Halt as it was falling apart. It has been taken away so another can be made, this time using oak, for a longer life. To keep the access secure whilst trains were running a very effective temporary gate was made up using an old pallet. Time was also found to clear a lot of boscage from the line and to move the various items of booking office furniture back into Dolgoch station following the successful Santa train operation, whilst the flangeways at Quarry Siding and Forestry crossing were found to be full of debris and had to be dug out before the Christmas service.
Steam Locomotives
Loco No. 1, Talyllyn, passed both cold and in-steam boiler exams and is ready for use, but lacks an air pump at present, as a photographic charter has been booked for mid-March and the organisers have asked for this and the air hoses to be removed. The drain cocks were removed to make loading and unloading from the low loader for last year’s trip to Warley easier; these have been overhauled and are now being refitted. The story of the repainting is no doubt told elsewhere in this issue; this has not had a great effect on the Engineering Department, but the side and connecting rods had to be removed to allow the painters to paint and line out the wheels and the plates had to be removed.
Loco No. 2, Dolgoch, has also passed both winter boiler exams and has been in use on the February half term service. The side and connecting rods etc. had to be removed, as was the case with Loco No. 1, to allow the painters to complete their work.
Loco No. 3, Sir Haydn, will be returning to the Railway within the next few days after a very successful appearance at the Camping & Caravan Exhibition at the NEC, on the way back from the Engine House on the Severn Valley. There are plans for some photographs to be taken so it is not intended to start work on the locomotive immediately, but a "budget" estimate for the likely cost of the boiler repair works has been sought, which should give a better focus to the fundraising efforts, with a realistic final target for us to aim for.
Loco No. 4, Edward Thomas, was used over Christmas and during half term week and was running well. The annual boiler exams are now due, so the locomotive has been drained and the boiler is being prepared for the first of these, the cold examination. There is no major other work planned for completion on the locomotive this winter, so hopefully it should not be out of traffic for too long.
Loco No. 6, Douglas, was also used over Christmas. The boilers on this locomotive and Loco No. 4 were drained at the end of the season, then left dry until just before they were needed, when the boilers were refilled and quickly pressure tested. In January the boiler was drained again, then opened up for a cold exam, which it passed, so it has been re-assembled and steam tested to our satisfaction; a formal test will take place in the presence of the boiler inspector shortly. The engine was being lit up for service on 20th December when the driver’s daily examination revealed that all was not well with the rear spring. The locomotive was jacked up, revealing that the spring buckle had cracked through and separated from the top pivot pin bracket, although all the parts were still in place. The spring was changed for a spare and will be sent off for repairs shortly.
Loco No. 7, Tom Rolt, has been jacked up and all the wheels have been removed for reprofiling. The tyres are getting smaller and another skim of the driving wheels in say five years’ time, before they wear too badly, might give us a further ten years of use, but then the tyres will need replacing. The axleboxes are in better condition than anticipated so will probably scrape in, without re-metaling. The rear truck assembly was removed along with the wheels and taken apart to look for any wear or damage. The play in the bearings was checked over before the wheels were re-profiled, whilst the rest of the assembly also seems to be in good order and the whole unit has been re-assembled ready for re-fitting. The wear surfaces on the underside of the locomotive and the top of the truck were slightly scored, so grease groves were cut into the locomotive surface to allow the grease to spread out better.
Once the axlebox work is finished the loco can be lowered back down and the rod bushes and sideplay attended to; at least one bush will require re-metalling due to damage to the white-metal bearing surface. The boiler is ready for a cold exam, which hopefully can be completed when Loco No. 4 is examined and Loco No. 6 steam tested. There is a long standing error in the length of the driver’s side connecting rod, which is ¼" longer than it should be. This does not cause any problems when the locomotive is running, but should really be eliminated if time can be found to attend to it.
Diesel Locomotives
Loco No. 5, Midlander, is running well, although it is normally stored out of the weather in the south shed, so is not first choice when a diesel is required. It has been extracted for use during Spring Outdoor Week and is in for a less relaxing few days.
Loco No. 8, Merseysider, continues to run well, although it is getting harder to start on colder mornings, an exhaust manifold joint is leaking again, so we need to find a better substitute, similar to the old asbestos joints originally fitted. A small hose blew off the air horn supply and drained the air system whilst the locomotive was in use, but it made it back to Pendre where the connection was remade.
Loco No. 9, Alf, continues to run well and reliably; the old starter motor has not yet been sent off for rebuilding.
Loco No. 11, Trecwn, has not yet returned to use, some work is still being carried out on the engine to try and identify the source of the knock, whilst some slight modifications to the controls are required to avoid the drive clutch being engaged accidentally.
Loco No 12, St Cadfan, is making slow but steady progress at Alan Keef’s works.
Carriage and Wagon
Van 6 frames are slowly rotting away and the body is looking increasingly scruffy, so some fairly substantial work will be needed on this vehicle in a year or so. To keep it running through this significant 150th year the longitudinal tie bars needed some attention. These have a nut and washer on each end; the washers had rusted away allowing the nut to cut into the buffer beams, so these have been undone, then tightened back up using squares of 6mm steel plate as washers, which should take the coupling loads when the vehicle is in use. Two planks in the northwest side had swollen and sprung away from the uprights, so these were clamped and screwed back in place.
Work is proceeding on carriage 20; new interior and exterior panels have been fitted to more than half of the body. The seats have been screwed down in the non-saloon section and the double doors have been refitted to the saloon, but the join between the doors lacks a weather rebate, so more work will be required on these. Some rot was discovered to the joints behind the middle panel on the north side; this panel has doors hung on both sides of it and the increased stress caused by this may have caused the joints to move and let in water. The wastage is not serious and will fill, but small steel brackets have been made to fit in the corners of this panel and strengthen the joints. The roof requires some repairs and the new fibreglass materials have been delayed, but are promised within a day or two, so exterior painting should be starting soon. Carriage 22 has joined 20 in the paint shop and is also progressing. The doors have been re-hung, all the missing fixed windows have been replaced, with toughened glass, although the little used one in the south side of the guard’s compartment has been replaced with a plain plywood panel. After an offer to make the exterior panels up and save the cost of getting them pre-cut, the previous plan was abandoned and sheets of marine ply are now in stock ready to cut these from.
The rest of the passenger stock, with the exception of the opens, have had their winter brake overhauls. Carriages 10, 18, 19 & 21 were experimentally fitted with diaphragm triple valves, ex London Underground, which offer a lot of benefits in reduced maintenance; unfortunately they did not behave correctly and had to be hurriedly removed again. The internal chokes are being modified and trials on the test rig are promising, so the experiment will be repeated shortly before the Railway opens for daily running. The 10RB transporter wagon has been rescued from its slumbers, the axleboxes have been checked over and it has been modified & provided with ramps so it can be used to transport a new excavator we have purchased. It may even get painted for the first time in its life.
Building and Civil Engineering
As briefly mentioned above there has been quite a bit of activity repairing and modifying the Company’s property. Both of the cafes have seen quite a bit of attention; The old surface mounted wiring in the kitchen area at Abergynolwyn was removed and conduit cut into the walls, recessed boxes were fitted for all the sockets and some high spots were removed from the walls, creating an unbelievable amount of dust, then the walls were tiled to match the work carried out last spring. After Christmas the work on the electrical sockets was extended to the public area, which was subsequently repainted, whilst the café staff toilet was refurbished and tiled, a new mirror and toilet cistern were installed and the plumbing in there was re-routed, to eliminate redundant pipe runs left over from various rebuilding projects.
At Wharf the dwarf wall which ran behind the servery was demolished, the floor covering was made good, the servery opening was walled up and painted over, the tray rack was removed and worktops were altered as some of the equipment was moved around. The old serving counter and shutter has been left in place, for the time being, allowing the modifications to be reversed should the new arrangements not work out. In the kitchen the extractor ducts have had their usual winter clean out. The smaller oven extractor pipe, although it had its own fan, fed into the main hood, then the air was pulled up by another fan mounted up in the roof. This reduced the volume of air and fumes extracted by this larger hood from above the deep fat fryers and main cooker hob and reduced its effectiveness. It has been removed from the main hood and diverted through the ceiling void, emerging through a short vertical duct behind the external air conditioning units.
While this work was progressing the gang were asked to remove the booking office ticket windows to improve communication with passengers, as explaining the intricacies of Gift Aid has sometimes been problematic with the glass forming a barrier to speech. Plain bolt-in panels have been provided for times when the windows are not open, but these do not give a very good impression, or much of a welcome, to passengers and others who arrive outside of train times, so it is intended to provide areas of glazing in these.
A double glazed unit has been ordered to replace the west end window in Abergynolwyn Blockpost, which was rotting away, probably because it is difficult to access for painting. The new low maintenance window is due to be fitted early in March, so the Railway’s scaffolding was erected at this end of the building and the opportunity taken to remove the shabby old barge boards and replace them with UPVC planks, which look very smart. The water supply to Dolgoch failed towards the end of half term week, due to mud and debris blocking the intake pipe screen, but this was quickly cleared out.
At Pendre the "Great Little Drain" became blocked with tree roots and a section opposite the west carriage shed had to be dug out; the first job for the new excavator. Rather than simply fill the hole back in it has been converted to an access point using proprietary manhole components. There is still a less total, but still large, obstruction in this length to be dealt with. The gas boiler supplying the works central heating and hot water started cascading water over the floor and had to be shut down; it is currently waiting for a new heat exchanger. Some years ago the doorway leading through from the loco shed to the workshops was provided with a semi-opaque plastic strip curtain made from welding screen plastic. An accident occurred earlier in the year, fortunately without serious consequences, when some material was being brought into the works, whilst another person was walking out, neither individual involved was able to see the other until one was hit by the material being carried. As a result of this the curtain was removed; welding work was being screened by the large cupboard installed at the end of the bench anyway, so it appeared it was no longer needed. However when the colder weather arrived it was realised that the screen had a secondary purpose in keeping the workshops warm, so a new screen was made up, this time using clear plastic strip already held in stock.
Elsewhere at Wharf some windows in Llechfan have been re-glazed and repaired, new curtain rails have been purchased for the "Board Room" and the gas boiler has a fault, which is causing it to lose pressure and shut down, but the engineer has not yet been able to isolate the problem. In the main building the long out of use taps on the second sink in the upstairs gent’s toilet were replaced with smaller ones to match those fitted to the first sink. The vertical felt nailed to the Wharf publicity storage van blew off in a winter storm allowing damp to penetrate again, so this was renewed, pending a decision on the ultimate fate of this ‘vehicle’. An enjoyable seasonal job, undertaken again this year, is the hanging up of the Christmas lights, decorations and trees, mainly at Wharf, then the less happy task of taking them down again as January dawns.
Plant and Works
As hinted above, a small excavator has been purchased (above) and has already proved useful, although its first big test will be during Outdoor Week. It is a Wacker-Neuson 2503 manufactured in 2005, but in very good order. It is just able to fit through most of our bridges on the old 10RB transporter wagon, apart from the bridge over Tadpole Cutting, where clearances look as though they will be very tight and the machine may have to drive off the wagon, move through the opening & climb back on after the empty wagon has moved through the bridge. To go with it we also purchased a set of timber grapples, to alter and use for sleeper handling and a grading attachment for the bucket. The new diesel storage tank has been completely painted, the obsolete connections were removed and it was installed in place of the old one, which awaits recycling, using the JCB loader. It has since taken its first delivery of fuel; users should note that the delivery pipe is removable from the hand pump to improve security and it should not be left on the tank after use.
The lorry is proving very useful; the tipping gear control box was missing when it was collected and this has been repaired and refitted; a leak on the top of the fuel tank has been attended to and there is a fault in the electric throttle when the engine is ticking over which is awaiting replacement parts, but it is working well. As part of the winter steam loco boiler exams the two café tea boilers were brought to Pendre, stripped, inspected and steam tested, before being returned to the cafes. The Combo van passed its MOT; it needed two new tyres, but not much other work.
Electrical and S&T
New LED low-energy light fittings have been installed in the top corridors and outside on the first floor at Wharf, all replacing failing fittings installed when the new building was constructed. The outside light by the Guard’s Room entrance was also replaced, whilst that on the staff entrance door will be replaced shortly, with an automatic version. The light outside the electrical stores at Pendre was replaced with another led fitting, whilst the high level fitting on the east end of the North Carriage shed, known as the "Pendre sun" needed a replacement light level sensor. Some rewiring was needed at Wharf in connection with the work to the café and some of the kitchen fluorescent lights have been replaced, once again with energy efficient led versions and a similar fitting has been installed actually in the main extractor hood to light up the cooking area.
Up at Abergynolwyn the sockets have been rewired using the buried conduit installed by the Outdoor Gang, the fire alarm has been overhauled and the rewiring of the whole building is now approaching completion, with the removal of the two battered and scruffy old switch boxes from the food preparation area. The Catering Dept. have purchased some new red enamel lamp shades, of a very attractive, semi-industrial design for use in the public area and these have been installed for them. Other work has included the replacement of the signalling cable between Dolgoch and Quarry Siding, testing and moving around of the carriage heaters as necessary and the replacement of a faulty detector in Llechfan fire alarm, after it went off late one night and would not reset. Pendre’s internet connection has been moved over to fibre optic broadband, giving much improved speeds for data transmission. Unfortunately this is not possible at Wharf as the BT cables do not yet reach this part of the town.
Dave Scotson
