June 2015 Engineering Report
Permanent Way
As usual there was much tidying up and finishing off work to complete after another successful Spring Outdoor Week. The works back road point was ballasted and packed; as part of the future plans for the yard it has been set up a little farther from the workshops and at a lower level than the one it has replaced. This will enable the track leading to the workshop to be levelled, rather than falling towards the workshop as it does at present and would also allow the erection of a shed over this track at some future date.
Work was also carried out ballasting and levelling of the Quarry Siding Loop to Guest House point, ballast was dropped at Six Bends and on Cynfal, both locations were levelled up and tamped to reduce the length of the speed restrictions, although some work is still needed to both stretches. The excavator was recovered from Quarry Siding and was used to unload the wagons of spoil created when the loop point there was dug out prior to relaying. A long-term temporary fishplate had to be made up to cope with the meeting of different rail sections on Cynfal Bank and a lot of the arisings from the tree surgery carried out during the week and since have been collected together, some of the logs have been sold off locally, bringing in useful revenue.
There has been the usual attention to gauge maintenance and other routine work, as highlighted by the regular track inspections; loose fastenings were replaced in the Wharf main line approach point, heel block bolts were tightened or renewed at Pendre and sleepers have been trued up between milepost 2¾ and Brynglas. A length of fencing between Pendre and Ty Mawr bridge was damaged when a small tree blew over and it was replaced once the tree had been cleared, whilst some fencing has required patching as the spring lambs find weak spots; as always there are still others to attend to. Grass has been strimmed at Rhydyronen and elsewhere to keep the Railway looking tidy, whilst the gang were diverted to put up large tents at Dolgoch and Wharf for use in the first of the 150th celebrations, then called back on the Saturday to tie the Wharf one down and recover the Dolgoch one from a tree; fortunately the borrowed tents seemed to survive the experience without suffering any damage. Loco No. 8 and a boflat were despatched up the Railway on the 13th May to attend to a few sheep holes and collect the weedkilling equipment ready for this year’s lineside spraying.
Unfortunately a gentleman who had been travelling on the passenger train fell over at Nant Gwernol and ended up under the front of Loco No. 6 as it was moving forward to run round its train. He was not seriously injured, but it was not considered wise to try and move the engine and with the emergency services summoned and the difficulties of access at Nant Gwernol to deal with, the works train was taken on up to Abergynolwyn, loaded with jacks and assorted emergency services personnel and taken on to Nant Gwernol where it collected the passenger train and casualty then brought them back, followed later by the steam locomotive. An unusual day with a good outcome, but the fencing work is still waiting.
Steam Locomotives
Loco No. 1, Talyllyn, is back in traffic. The drain cocks were refitted as mentioned in the last report; during testing a slight knock was noticed on the fireman’s side and a badly worn bush was discovered in the valve gear. This was replaced but the intermittent knock persisted, finally being traced to the cylinder, where the front clearance is a little smaller than it should be and the piston was able to gently tap the end cover briefly as the engine surged on its springing. Both of the front cylinder covers are very thick so more clearance was machined into the left hand one, curing the problem.
After last year’s failure it was considered wise to check the fastening of the piston on its rod while the cover was off and the driver’s side front cover was also removed to check the security of that piston too, but both were fine. The driver’s side crosshead has been running a little warm and checks showed uneven wear so this was corrected by adjusting the shims and machining the slide bar, curing the problem. While the locomotive was working a train with Loco No. 2 during over the early May Bank Holiday a small piece of the fireman’s side mechanical lubricator drive came loose and fell off; a replacement was quickly made and fitted.
Loco No. 2, Dolgoch, is in traffic and running well, by and large needing only routine attention. The air pump was removed for a photographic charter, but when it was refitted the old supply pipework was accidentally snapped, requiring some skilled attention before the locomotive could be used again. The pump itself became troublesome, stalling and refusing to re-start rather too frequently; after several strip downs a new control valve was fitted, which seems to have improved its operation.
Loco No. 3, Sir Haydn, made a public return to the Railway and is in store at Pendre. The ashpan has been removed, along with some other parts, but it is not intended to begin any real dismantling until after the 150th Anniversary photo call mentioned in the last report.
Loco No. 4, Edward Thomas, passed both cold and in-steam examinations and is back in regular use. The ashpan door linkage and its pivot pins wore to a point where the door could not be relied upon to stay closed in use, so the linkages were lengthened by welding, restoring the over centre locking action.
The air brake feed valve on this locomotive differs from all the other steam engines as it was the first locomotive to be fitted with an air pump and train brake control equipment and the Westinghouse feed valves we subsequently acquired were not available. In order to provide the supply of air at 70 p.s.i. needed for the brakes an (expensive) industrial valve was purchased. This has been completely satisfactory in service for many years, but it began to leak through this year, causing the train brake pressure to rise until it was too high. It was stripped down and cleaned out; it seems a very well made valve and is now performing correctly again, but it does not appear to be manufactured any more so may have to be replaced with a standard one if it fails again.
Loco No. 6, Douglas, passed a formal steam test on 9th March and has been in use since. The grease feed to the left hand expansion link pivot caused problems, with grease appearing around the outside of the bush, not the pin, suggesting a blockage somewhere. The grease way was cleaned out and the nipple replaced; although no fault was found the lubricant now seems to be behaving correctly and the locomotive is running very well.
Loco No. 7, Tom Rolt, returned to traffic, just in time for the early May Bank Holiday. The driving wheelset brasses scraped in as planned and were refitted to the axleboxes, allowing the locomotive to be lowered onto its wheelsets, the motion to be refitted and the boiler to be steam tested, before a short period of running in. Many of the grease nipples on the rear truck and its control gear were found to be defective as the locomotive was reassembled, so these were replaced or cleaned out.
Diesel Locomotives
Loco No. 5, Midlander, is running well and starts easily; it seems to have lost its comfortable home in the South Shed, so is being used more for various tasks.
Loco No. 8, Merseysider, continues to run well and starts more easily in the warmer spring weather. It has a small engine oil leak which may well be another rocker cover problem, but the air cooling blows any oil everywhere making the locating of a leak a difficult job.
Loco No. 9, Alf, is also running well.
Loco No. 11, Trecwn, is making progress. The engine knock was traced to a damaged piston, which was replaced after the engine had been partially stripped. It has been test run and sounds very good, with the exhaust much cleaner than before. The engine is otherwise in very good order and does not show signs of much wear, so should be a reliable performer. The clutch lever has been removed and is being replaced with a large aluminium disc, machined to fit, which should not catch in driver’s clothing as they stand up, but still be easy to operate when the loco needs to move.
Loco No. 12, St Cadfan, is still at Alan Keef’s as this report is being written, but the work has been completed and the locomotive will be returning to the Railway as soon as economic transport is available.
Carriage and Wagon
The open coaches received their winter brake overhauls, as planned, although two were trapped in the Guest House until the work on the loop point was completed. One of the new ex-London Underground triple valves was modified, as mentioned in the last report. After satisfactory bench testing it was fitted to a carriage, but no further work has been completed on the other valves yet; fortunately the older triple valves are still working well. The modified valve is also working well and we look forward to fitting more of these much lower maintenance valves later in the year.
The marine-ply body panels on the south side of open carriage 11 are each stiffened at their base with a length of timber, which is itself fastened to the panel uprights. As such this length of timber has no structural significance, but one had rotted badly spoiling the appearance of the carriage, so it has been replaced. Open 13 needed a bit more extensive work to its body after rot was found in the upright timber and panel in the northwest corner, requiring new sections of timber and a replacement panel. Carriage 20 is approaching completion; the roof edges have been cut back and re-fibre glassed, all the body panels have been refitted and painting is well advanced, although the work on one of the double saloon doors has not yet been finished. Carriage 22 is also progressing, but more slowly, although as work concludes on No 20 it will become the focus of activity. Another four-wheel MOD wagon chassis has been brought up to Pendre where work on converting it for our use has resumed. The brake gear has been modified and this and the chassis are being thoroughly painted by working parties from the Young Members Group.
Building and Civil Engineering
The west end window in Abergynolwyn blockpost was replaced by a contractor as scheduled. It is a pane shorter than the old one, which had been partially obscured by the porch, whilst the new one butts up to this structure. Some making good of the opening was required which was completed by the Railway’s staff, then the scaffolding was moved to the east end of the building. Some rotten roof timber was cut out and replaced, then the barge boards there were replaced using the same style of UPVC planks already fitted to the west end and porch. The decorative finial at this end was badly decayed so a replacement has been machined up from durable hardwood and this is ready for fitting, following which the window will be given a quick spruce up and the scaffolding returned to store.
During the night of 25th April Abergynolwyn station was broken into by person or persons unknown. They smashed open the Booking Office door damaging it and its frame beyond repair, and then damaged the ticket cabinet, broke into the blockpost by breaking the window in the door, the relay room by smashing the edge off the door and the café by forcing the end doors and then removing an internal window. They also broke into the Guard’s toilet by breaking a glazed panel in the door, broke the boarded over window in the café staff toilet and tried to remove the internal board, dislodging some of the newly installed tiles, but got no further with this window. After getting into the building they smashed the burglar alarm and its dialler unit, unfortunately before it had had time to telephone anyone. They also scattered the contents of the fridges and freezers, meaning the stock had to be written off and smashed the shop till, but as no cash is retained on the premises, so as far as we can tell, they got nothing for their efforts. Even so a day’s trading was lost and there was some work required to temporarily secure the building and of course all there is the actual repair work to complete, all of which is a cost to us. The door and frame on the Booking Office have been replaced, the Guard’s toilet door was rotting away and due for replacement anyway, so rather than repairing the glazing a new door has been purchased, glazed and painted but it still awaits fitting. The unwelcome extra work to repair the rest of the damage is still continuing, but it has been encouraging to receive lots of messages of support from local residents, members, other enthusiasts and visitors all outraged by the incident.
At the other end of the Railway the rail retaining walls on the ballast dock approach have been cut up, allowing the concrete posts behind them to be removed and the filling in of the cutting to commence, continuing the progress on improving the south side of the Wharf site. The main road over bridge at the east end of Wharf station has a concrete deck and the underside of this has been spalling, dropping small pieces of the concrete onto the track. Gwynedd Council sent engineers to survey it then organised contractors to cut out the failing concrete, treat any exposed reinforcing and use a filler to reinstate the surface, finishing the job off with a protective coating. This work was finished just before daily running began; the contractors they appointed were very helpful and co-operative, managing to work off one of our wagons, so the bridge opening could be cleared and used by a photographic charter and for our ballast workings when needed. Smaller jobs have included repairs to the aluminium floor strip around a manhole in the café kitchen and the hanging up of bunting to brighten up the station for the celebrations. Sadly much of this now needs replacing after several bad storms have torn it apart. The boiler problems in Llechfan were traced to a leaking pressure relief valve, which has been replaced and the system is now holding pressure.
The largest job at Wharf has been the complete refurbishment of the public toilet block, which is now a real asset to the Railway. Contractors were used so the work could be completed before the season began, although inevitably perhaps there was a slight overrun and the suppliers have still not provided the correct cubicle doors, but the contractor has provided some smart temporary ones. Apart from some minor staff involvement, mainly of the Company Electrician, the whole job has been carried out without distracting paid staff and volunteers from the many other tasks needing to be completed, a very satisfactory outcome.
At Pendre one of those other tasks has been the partial refurbishment of the mess room and washing area. In the mess room the old vinyl wall tiles have been removed, the walls prepared for ceramic tiling, then an attractive mixture of grey and black tiles has been used to cover the walls up to shoulder height. The old home-made mess room sink unit was removed and a new purpose built stainless steel unit fitted, plumbing was modified, a new cooker and fridge purchased and various small defects in the wall and ceiling plasterwork filled and painted over. Work has moved onto the washing area where the old basins have been removed, new ones ordered and some of the re-tiling has been completed. The drainage serving the building had to be modified, both outside the mess room and outside the washing area to allow the drains from the sink and the hand basins to go out through the wall to grids, rather than the existing system which used "sealed" connections inside the building. The appearance of both areas has been transformed and it is to be hoped that users will appreciate the improvement and continue to keep them clean and tidy.
A crack was noticed in the north carriage shed roof and repaired, whilst quotes are being sought to completely re-clad and re-roof the west carriage shed, doing away with the failing asbestos sheets. Interestingly the asbestos sheets on the north shed are generally in better condition, despite being a good few years older.
Plant and Works
The lorry has continued to prove very useful, even being used to take a group of engineering staff to an open day at our lubricant supplier. It needed quite a bit of work on its clutch, which was carried out at the local garage who originally supplied it and it will shortly be going off for some minor bodywork repairs after it was backed into a rail stack at Wharf punching a hole in the driver’s door. The JCB loader had one badly worn tyre when we acquired it; this tyre failed completely, with a large split in the side so a replacement was purchased; the lifting chains had stretched slightly so the length has been corrected by removing a couple of links from each one.
The locomotive shed is being re-organised after some concerns were expressed by our safety auditor. To facilitate this the nut and bolt stores are being cleared out; a lot of unwanted items have been scrapped or otherwise disposed of and new racking has been purchased. As part of this project the workshop itself is under scrutiny and it is intended to move on some of the machine tools, replacing them with more modern and hopefully more flexible ones. As part of the work in the stores the main works compressor has been re-plumbed and moved slightly, allowing access to its air receiver inspection doors when required and permitting the new racking to be put up around and above it.
The annual weedkilling is approaching and a new petrol-engined water pump has been purchased and test run, after our experience last year when the existing one took a lot of time and attention to get working and even then was certainly not in the best of health. A new delivery of cast iron brake blocks for the steam locomotives and carriages has been received and will need drilling ready for use later in the season. The foundry have also supplied some buffer housing castings and the workshops has been busy machining these and fabricating new steel buffers to go with the housings. Once complete these will be needed for the MOD wagon mentioned earlier, the other bogie ex-navy flat wagon and Loco No. 3, whose existing fabricated buffer housings and buffers will be re-used on Loco No. 12.
The Matisa was brought in for attention; so far two new axles have been machined and fitted together with new bearings, after the existing bearings were found to have seized and damaged their axles, one axle housing has been straightened up and the short drive shaft has been replaced as the universal joints in the existing one were found to be completely broken apart and seized in the flanges. There has been a problem with the hydraulics of the north unit so the hydraulic oil has been drained and replaced, which may have helped to restore correct operation, but no further work has been possible on this yet.
The workshops also obtained and cut a stainless steel sheet to size for use in the Wharf kitchen, where the hot holding was no longer in daily use to hold cooked food, but was wanted for other uses and needed to have a removable flat top. In the course of this work the plasma cutter was found to be ailing and may need replacing if it is too old to service.
Electrical and S&T
The remainder of the old fittings in Wharf café kitchen were replaced with energy efficient led ones and the work on the exterior of the building was completed with the fitting of a new outside light, complete with movement sensor, above the staff entrance door. There have been problems at Wharf on busy days when one phase of the new building supply has tripped out causing problems for the kitchen and with some of the museum lighting. The loadings were monitored and it was discovered that when the building was wired up the kitchen electrics were not distributed around the three phases equally, leading to the overloading of one phase. The wiring was moved around in the distribution boards and it is hoped that this will have eliminated the problem. The Guard’s room tea boiler was reported to be out of order on more than one occasion, but whenever the department checked it was dispensing boiling water. Eventually the fault became more persistent and it was possible to trace the fault to the control circuit board; as there were other defects as well it was decided that a repair would not be economic and the boiler had to be replaced.
At Pendre the new cooker was wired in and new sockets provided for the fridge and possible future use at the other end of the sink unit, the water boiler was re-instated and connected up and new switchboards purchased for eventual installation as the refurbishment job progresses. The train heating socket on carriage 9 had to be replaced; possibly the plug was not pushed properly home one night and the socket became too hot, but whatever the cause it was distorted and would not accept a supply plug.
Up the Railway a small heater was installed and wired up in the Abergynolwyn café staff toilet to reduce problems with condensation and avoid frost damage in the future. There was also a few day’s work required to re-instate the burglar alarm after the break in and some time has been spent considering possible improvements to security, including a CCTV system linked to the internet via a broadband connection, which could be remotely accessed if the burglar alarm is activated.
On the S&T side there has been some routine maintenance, including a complete check of the Brynglas and Quarry Siding lever frame and associated rodding, the modification of the tie bar for the Pendre yard back road point and the replacement of the up train sensor at Dolgoch, which, when working, gives the blockman at Quarry Siding a warning that the train has left the station and is approaching the loop.
Dave Scotson
