Monday 27/12/2010
On account of everyone having prior commitments this Saturday, Monday was found to be a convenient alternative to show up and get a bit done.
The X loco battery box fabrication continued as usual.
The WG restoration progressed as normal.
The U engine's rods had the bushes removed from the drivers side rods, and measured to check for roundness and wear, with poor results. (Many bushes will need replacement.) After measuring the rod centres, this measurement was checked against the axle centres. Sadly there was found to be a difference between sides. The only cause for this has to be an issue with the main axle bearings.
To lift and remove the wheel set, access will be required to the underside, which means putting over the pit in the shed. The only item in the shed that can live outside without a lot of work, is No. 21 after a minor amount of work. Also a couple of tenders and an open wagon were occupying the siding outside the shed. These were pushed by hand by everyone available, to adjacent sidings.
To finish off the afternoon, 21's body reassembly began. Once back together, it'll be used to shunt the U loco back into the shed, and will live just outside, in close proximity to the batteries, to enable starting if required.
Saturday 25/12/2010
Christmas day. Merry Christmas to all!
Saturday 18/12/2010
One side of the U engines side rods got cleaned to enable accurate measurement of the wear.
The WG restoration progressed as normal.
The X loco battery box fabrication also continued as usual.
Elsewhere in the shed John K. set about sandblasting a heap of x loco and ACS car parts.
Saturday 11/12/2010
The U loco had the drivers side rods also removed for repair. The bronze bushes were pushed out, cleaned, and inspected, but some other bushes found in some surplus transformer wheels were found to be a close replacement, only requiring minor machining to make them fit.
WG9 got some more paint stripped, and is now very close to being repainted, and this is likely to only be a week or so away. James has dedicated many hours of a weekend and even during the week to this project, and these WG's require the majority of the work focused on the bodies, because over time, the bodies rot, or work their way loose. Mechanically they're really quite simple and turning a bunch of bits into something operational doesn't tend to take long at all.
The road works have started to take a new direction, due to the amount of water determined to sit in the ruts. The wetter areas are receiving a layer of chunky gravel - built up thick, and at a slope to help drainage, with a final layer of coal ash to solidify the whole foundation.
The grass mowing was continued around the various bad sections of the yard.
A minor fault was repaired on the control panel for the Calvary genset.
Saturday 4/12/2010
The Y loco engine was inspected to try and find the source of the knock. The engine covers were removed, and the internals inspected while the engine was barred over. There wasn't any visible issues but signs point to poor compression. The plan of action will be to overhaul the injectors and restart. Failing that, we'll remove the heads and inspect the cylinders and rings. For the moment though, it has been shelved until further notice pending completion of a few other priority jobs.
The restoration of WG9 progressed as normal.
The X loco battery box work also continued as normal.
The U engine, having being previously identified as having sloppy bushes in the side rods on both sides. The decision was made to remove the rods for repair, leaving us without a serviceable loco. By the end of the day the fireman side rods were removed, with the drivers side still to be done.
The road toward the rear of the yard got some more work filling in the holes with the still ample supply of coal ash.
The grass also got mowed and some brush cutting around the yard- in an attempt to keep on top of it, in this weather.
Saturday 27/11/2010
The majority of today's crew went to work mowing and brush cutting the yard, and filling pot holes on the rear access road with coal ash.
Late afternoon, was spent removing some more paint from WG 9 with heat guns.
Inside the station, a few final touches were made to the paint work on the door frames.
Saturday 20/11/2010
This weekend we held a Working bee to paint the station. The eaves around the outside, the doors and the canopy supports have been painted in a deep burgundy. The internal walls have been painted in Bombay Ivory, and the men's toilet painted in deep cream the same as the fence.
At the end of the day, the whole station had been done except the front and rear eaves.
Outside of painting, a button and siren were installed on the platform, as a visitor button to alert the crew working in the yard of their presence, so a member can attend and put them through the visitor induction.
Saturday 13/11/2010
The Calvary genset had the exhaust system finished off. With it breathing better, it was ran for a good half hour to blow out the cobwebs. The engine sounds a lot better after a good run, and when we've got some spare time, we'll connect a load bank to test it under load.
The rear road around back corner got another truckload of coal ash shovelled into the dip which was compacted with one of our members four-wheel drives.
WG 9's restoration continued with the majority of the remaining paint removed.
The X loco battery box fabrication continued, and now the new frame is about to bolted in.
Quite an effort was put into mowing and brush cutting this weekend. This time of year the grass gets a bit much to keep on top of, and some areas require mowing every weekend.
ACS2 got some more paint applied to the doors and door frame.
The tap on the Temprite failed during the week, and so the last job of the afternoon before tea and biscuits, was to make a quick temporary connection with a couple of thoroughly cleaned air/water connections to provide a good flow.
Saturday 6/11/2010
Today quite a lot of work was achieved towards the restoration of WG9 as an operational museum piece. Great progress is being made on multiple fronts including: replacement of body panels, paint stripping of both the timber body and various fittings, and broken window removal.
Another section of fence got painted and slowly but surely is coming along.
The completion of the barge flashing on the eastern end of the carriage shed was also another milestone worthy of marking up on the chalkboard.
The genset had a few final connections made, enabling us to start this essential piece of equipment.
A few other minor tasks were completed during the week, such as the fuel line connecting, and the exhaust being measured for fabrication of the final length to the outside of the container, (which is still to be manufactured).
Saturday 30/10/2010
The main project for today was cleaning out the green shipping container, to better utilise the space. The bulkhead was removed and most of it's contents were redistributed to various other storage locations in an effort to centralise common items.
The parts washer had a few minor repairs this morn to fix a leak found to be responsible for the kerosene losses we've been experiencing recently.
The X loco received the usual attention.
It's that time of year again, when the grass starts getting out of control, and Dennis has been diligently attacking the crop with the mower.
Next project was the installation of the diesel genset inside. The battery cables have been re-run, the control cables reconnected, and the fuel tank installed.
The barge flashing arrived a couple of weeks ago, and today a concerted effort was made installing it on the western end.
During the afternoon, a couple of members set about digging out the end of the platform, to return the land to a more pleasing contour.
Saturday 23/10/2010
The boys have found enough parts to rebuild a McKenzie and Holland lamp shade for the platform to replace the old spotlights. Eventually it is envisioned that we'll install poles down the platform with more lamps to improve the visual effect, both during the day and of a night.
During last weeks shunting operations, the U engine was found to have worn bushings on the side rods. A few investigatory inspections were undertaken to discover the extent of repairs required. This loco is still safe to operate, and repairs will most likely be carried out when either the X or Y is returned to service.
The wye points got one step closer to completion with the installation of the check rails.
The ABL roof got some more stripping as usual.
The X loco work continued around the battery boxes, and more work was done in preparation for painting.
The rear access road got some more ash spread and coal ash also got spread around the wye points for ballast.
Finally the valves from the air compressor head from the Y loco, were removed after many months of trying different methods. Repairs can now be undertaken.
Saturday 16/10/2010
The U engine's fluid coupling was suspected of being the main cause of frequent stalling when putting into gear. During the week the replacement oil was sourced, and first thing this morning, it was driven to the top of the freshly laid track, to take advantage of the hollow sty of sleepers.
An empty drum with the top removed was placed between sleepers and the loco driven over it to line up with the drain hole. Once the oil had been changed, the loco was driven off, and the waste drum retrieved. Unfortunately, the loco still seems to have a tendency to stall, and further investigation will be required.
The new battery box floor on the X loco has now been fully welded in, and the checker plate is now replaced down the side of the running board by the battery box. The new frame is also beginning to be manufactured.
During the preparation of the U engine, a water leak was discovered in the cab coming from the cab heater bypass line. This was promptly repaired and the radiator re-filled.
The ABL roof paint stripping saga continued as normal.
Another window in ACS2 was resealed and once finished, Paul continued rebuilding the rear access road with more wheelbarrow loads of coal ash.
Late afternoon saw the U engine restarted to perform a few shunting movements. The KG was first removed from the coal road, and the OT tank was removed next. The OT was on the wrong end of the loco for the tanks intended use, so it had to be moved by walking bar over the points so the U could collect it. The OT was placed at the bottom of the Wye leg, and the KG was returned to the coal road.
Saturday 9/10/2010
A few of the crew set to work packing the formation built the previous weekend with more coal ash, as it all settled down during the week. The point sleepers also got a bit of packing as they were layed directly on top of the damaged formation.
A few others did a spot more tracklaying and completed another 40 feet. This is now long enough to get the OT tank wagon close enough for the burn off.
ACS2 had a bit more spray painting done in the centre articulated section.
The X loco battery box had more welding as per usual.
Once the formation was finished, the guys set about rebuilding the roadway to the rear of the yard, which has been damaged by vehicles attempting to use it after the recent poor weather.
During the afternoon, a few members continued on with the task of painting the fence and the external station features.
During a lull in proceedings the tap washers throughout station building were replaced due to the majority starting to leak.
Saturday 2/10/2010
The X loco battery box floor got a lot more attention and visible progress is being made, as the floor has now been welded in, and the frame work will quickly follow.
Most of the crew was kept busy laying more track for the Wye. Last Sunday a couple of us spent a few hours in the afternoon levelling the next 40 feet of the apex formation up to the point where the back fence used to be, before the boundary extension. We also layed 20 sleepers and put a single 40 foot length of St Mary's rail in place on top.
The first task for this morning was to get a second length of rail and drag it into location, next to the existing length.
Next some transition fishplates were sourced from the stockpile and utilised to bolt the two new lengths onto the points. The points are a medium weight-63lb set, whereas the old St Mary's rail is only 45lb.
While one crew carried out the drilling and spiking of the sleepers, another crew started repairing the next section of formation that was dug out by the fencing contractors. The first part was filled with part of our ample supply of coal ash, while the deeper, centre section was raised by building a sty of second-hand sleepers.
To level the sty and fine tune the stack to the correct height, more coal ash was shovelled underneath as an adjustable bed. The last section was also backfilled with more coal ash, the same as the first.
The sty still needs some fine tuning, before more track can be layed. Once the track is down, the rest of the sty will be filled to solidify the whole structure.
Saturday 25/9/2010
For some unknown reason, only a small few members actually showed up today. Surely our members in our active membership couldn't possibly be watching football!
The workers actually on deck, spent the whole of the day finishing off the track levelling on the eastern leg of the wye. The track machine got quite the workout, being used extensively for track raising and also as a movable weight to resettle the track back into the bed, once the sleepers had been undermined, or packed.
The last of the 63lb steel sleepers already laid on the apex of the wye, were removed and now the next job is to level the rest of the formation that was damaged by dragging rail, and the work by the fencing contractors. This will require the loading of a few bulk bags full of coal ash from our ample supply, then even spreading with the Hi-ab on the Acco.
Hopefully this, and some quick track laying will be completed in the next few weeks, so then the OT can be filled and pushed up to the end of the apex as a precaution for a proposed burning of the old fence palings at the end of October.
During the afternoon, our President showed up and ran the lawnmower (purchased recently with funding,) over the entire yard.
Saturday 18/9/2010
The final job left at Calvary with regards to the diesel genset project, was to retrieve the fuel tank out from the old boiler house, as final demolition is due to start Monday. It was still partially full of fuel, and so 40L was transferred into a 44 gallon drum, and then all the remaining components of the fuel system were removed and loaded onto our presidents ute.
ACS2 had another window repaired, and Paul was also busy investigating ways and means to keep local vandals out of our carriages. During the week we had a break-in to ACS3. Entry was gained through a window, which are quite small so, being school holidays, it must have been kids. While in the carriage, they smashed one of the etched and frosted cafeteria windows, which were very ornate, and would be rather expensive to replace with one the same.
During the afternoon, the track around the eastern leg of the wye began to be levelled, which mostly requires lowering. This is being achieved by lifting the track with the track machine, then digging underneath the exposed sleepers in front of the machine with shovels and mattocks.
Saturday 11/9/2010
The majority of manpower today was utilised sorting through the rest of the 2nd hand sleepers, and relocating onto 2 WG flat trolleys ready for installation in the apex of the wye.
One of the trolleys pushed back into service for the purpose of local sleeper shuttling, was the WG flat previously intended to be fitted with a finger mower and a small petrol engine. Our own OH&S policy canned that idea, and with the current spraying/maintenance regime of the railways, the machine is pretty-well redundant anyway.
Of the 400, only about 100 are re-usable, (200 ft of track,) and this should push the wye apex to about the buffer stop in the bank.
ABL paint stripping on the roof vents, which is the final major paintwork to be removed from the bodywork.
The donation for this week, was a 1/3rd of a drum of kerosene for the parts washer. The parts washer itself is home grown, from a 44 gallon drum (with top removed), a 2nd hand post-mix pump and an old sink.
The design, however, needs redesigning, because due to the large surface area in the holding drum, there's too much evaporation. A sealed drum will have to be sourced, along with pipe work and a valve to plumb between the sink drain and the sealed drum.Saturday 4/9/2010
The winter rains have finally come, now that it's spring, this made work outside rather unpleasant. Inside, the new floor of the X loco's driver-side battery box got straightened, and coerced into place.
The EE van tidying continued, but progress was restricted due to shelving backing that had gone missing during the week.
The ABL paint removing continued as scheduled.
The ACS has another window removed, repaired and reinstalled.
The rain, combined with the hole left by the fence-contractors, created a large, deep puddle at the back of the yard. Subsequently, the culvert had all restrictions removed with a mattock, which greatly improved flow and drainage.
The final task for the day, after the rain had backed off, was Sleeper sorting. The truck load of sleepers recently bought from DIER and the RMU, contains a large quantity of dud sleepers, and when you consider we asked for 2nd hand sleepers that were reusable, it seems there has been a break down in communications. Thankfully this situation is being resolved, so now we are in the process of sorting through the load, keeping the reusable ones and the duds will be replaced at a later date. The future of the duds is as yet unknown. We are considering selling them as garden sleepers and using the money to buy more from DIER to make up the remainder of the sleepers we require to finish the wye and perhaps even enough to make repairs around the yard and further...
Saturday 29/8/2010
During the week notice was given by the Calvary hospital that the diesel genset up for disposal was O.K. to remove ASAP. ("Must be gone by the end of, not the weekend coming, but the one after!") So after a rushed round of inductions, OH&S briefings, and other assorted paperwork, a small group was granted access to site, and work commenced removing auxiliary components such as the batteries, battery box, and switchboard. Finally the genset was setup on rollers ready for repositioning for the final push out through the front door.
Back at the depot, EEE8 had some long overdue preventative maintenance, receiving new axle box covers, from spares located during the recent yard clean-ups. A few others, recovered from the EEE, were exchanged with odd bods on DB14 and A142.
21 even got some love, as Aaron and Kim set to work doing some light cleaning, Kim around the lower areas, and Aaron cleaning the roof, which has collected quite a lot of dust from sitting in the shed since acquisition in 2000.
X18 also had some more preparation work in readiness for painting.
Saturday 22/8/2010
Today was the federal election, and there was also a model train expo at Glenorchy, so as a result, there was only a small turnout at New Norfolk.
The EE van, having been under utilised for many years, started receiving a tidy-up to better use the space with it's existing contents, and make room for more.
The X loco. had more painting preparation around the "B" end.
ACS2 also had another window removed, repaired, and re-installed.
Saturday 14/8/2010
This week we had a rather generous donation of good, heavy-duty 2nd hand batteries donated, with the intention of creating a set of new cells for No.21. Upon closer inspection, most were found to have badly corroded positive terminals, some of which actually snapped off in our hands! After the batteries were sorted through, only one bank of 24v was left. Given the questionable lifespan remaining on these few batteries left, a less intense use was found. The new location for them will be the ABL under restoration, which saw more work progressing this week.
The X loco had the usual attention in both projects of painting and battery box fabrication.
The ACS window repair continued as usual, and Paul is well on his way renewing the seals down the southern side.
The QJ bogie pin has had it's retainer pin manufactured and installed, and now this wagon can finally have it's defect form signed off, which has been outstanding since 2001.
After the recent deluge during the week, all the dry grass around the yard was considered safe to torch. So a few small controlled fires were lit in a hazard reduction burn. The yard also has been continued to be tidied-up, and the eastern end of the yard saw some particular attention today.
The track machine's battery had been on charge all week, and initial attempts at starting proved fruitless. This prompted a quick rebuild of the starter motor solenoid, and although results were inconclusive, the engine started fine. Time will tell if the problem has been rectified or not.
Saturday 7/8/2010
During the week the reticulated air system for the loco shed made another major leap forward, with the acquisition of the majority of the remaining required fittings and the remainder of the pipe work. The fittings have been prepared and installation will commence on a day with less patronage, and a bit more room to work.
The ABL paint stripping continued as usual, and is growing ever nearer to completion. It's dedication like this from the same few members that keep our railway moving forward. If you know anyone who has even half this level of enthusiasm and has an interest in railways (no matter how vague), suggest they come along and join up!
The X loco's restoration is still in full swing and various jobs are being all worked on at once. The drivers battery box fabrication is coming along, and now the new floor has been cut and both the drains have been made and welded in place.
The X loco painting preparation project is coming along. Geoff is alway chipping away at it between work on the ACS and auxiliary projects like towing the forklift out of the dirt when it gets bogged.
The X's main starter contactor panel rebuild is almost complete. Over the last few weeks it's been completely stripped, all the contactors dismantled, cleaned, painted and reassembled, and the contacts bedded back in. The final job to be done, is resolder the studs on the rear of the panel. As the rear isn't accessible for tightening once installed.
The U class shunter's exhauster is continuing to be rebuilt. The new bearings are being produced by our machinist and many gaskets have been cut in readiness to put back together.
The ACS windows are still being removed and resealed and Paul is now down to the final few. A few years ago all the windowsills were sanded and varnished, however due to the many leaks most of this hard work has returned to it's previous poor condition.
The track formation for the western leg of the wye was cleared out with the forklift late in the afternoon. Track will probably start to be re-laid when the opportunity arises. The top half of the Eastern leg still needs finishing, with a fair amount of packing and ballasting still to be completed.
The Yard also had the usual clearing work done. Much of the loose grass was disposed of in the fire drum and any larger patches of dry grass, including the coal road embankment, were torched in a controlled manner.
Being the first Saturday of the month, a cooked meal was provided by James. This week was roast beef rolls with gravy.
Saturday 31/7/2010
This week the Y loco sanding valves received some more attention.
The X loco's battery box restoration progressed immensely, and now the drivers side box is ready to have the new floor welded in.
The ABL paint stripping continued on the roof as usual.
The ACS cars got a general tidy up. Quite a bit of work was done window cleaning and vacuuming. These jobs although low priority, are still important to keep their appearance suitable to show visitors and to prevent further deterioration.
Elsewhere the Yard tidy up continued as normal.
Friday 30/7/2010
400 sleepers arrived and were unloaded. These were offered and purchased for $3.50 ea, but will have to be sorted through to sort out the good from the bad.
During the week, an emergency fridge appreciation meeting was called for Westerway on Friday evening. While there, a small broken window was removed and measured for replacement.
A few wall boards that were missing were also replaced in the small back room. Upon removing some of the old joint cover strips, one piece was found to be a remnant from the original timber consignments used in the building's original construction. It even still had a railway packing slip attached, marked "Russell" (the original name for the town of Westerway).
Saturday 24/7/2010
The ABL had some more stripping done on the roof area.
The ACS had work done on the windows and some Geoff did some painting in the door frames.
The drill press was modified to have an extra switch for a reversing function.
Multiple attempts were made to start various locos with little to no success. The Y has a damp generator, so a heater was placed under the main gen. to dry it out a bit.
No. 21 has had it's starting contactor replaced with a reconditioned spare and it too was tried to be started with no success. 21's problem was traced to a large voltage drop through the jumper leads connecting X18's batteries and 21's charging socket.x18's batteries are being used as a remote set of starting cells, and setup next to the battery charging centre.
As a last attempt to get something running, we grabbed the batteries from U5 (on charge in the "battery charging centre") and attempted to start the recently acquired 6LW in the back shed. The starting circuit runs on 24v and the control and charging only on 12v, so for starting purposes, the cover was removed from the starter motor, and the contactor manually driven, with the batteries setup in a 24v (as opposed to the normal 12v) configuration.
The engine, although having not run for 18 months, turned over quite easily. The fuel was pumped through manually, and primed. Additionally a water hose was temporarily connected for cooling purposes. The engine blew white smoke but although close, unfortunately wouldn't quite start.
Saturday 17/7/2010
The whole of today was spent doing a station tidy up, in readiness for the TATRAIL meeting on Sunday. We also have a BBQ planned for the day and to assist in preparation, a few of us stayed the night, to provide a more efficient setup on the Sunday morning.
Sunday 11/7/2010
Today was a designated celebration for a milestone in the V engine restoration project. A donated Gardner 8L3, originally out of a V engine arrived at around 1100hrs with a large crowd observing. This was organised as a joint venture between our current railway president Craig Farrell and ex-MHA Mr David Llewellyn.
The engine was unloaded off the tip tray by about 1200hrs and covered with a large, heavy, oversized "KODAK" tarpaulin.
We'd like to say A big thank you to Mr Kevin Richards for the donation of the engine and also Mr David Llewellyn for his hard work done for us and the valley in the past. Another Tasmanian political celebrity, Mr Dick Adams MLC, was also in attendance.
The catering for today was supplied by The Hewitt's and James. This consisted of a fully catered BBQ with salads and for dessert a large selection of sour cherry cake, carrot cake, black forest cake, strawberry cheese cake, toblerone cheese cake, fruit cake, and also a tiramisu.
Saturday 10/7/2010
The main objective of today's efforts was to finish the shed clean-up to a standard that allows easy visitor access. This became a sudden high priority as tomorrow we have a BBQ lunch planned for ex-MHA David Llewellyn, and quite a few visitors are expected to tour the facilities tomorrow.
During the cleanup, the batteries recently removed from X18 were shifted from their current location to a set of timber shelves donated (with a set of storage batteries) by Hydro Tasmania. (The batteries were found in poor condition, and during the week were sent to scrap.) X18's batteries will be setup in a 24V arrangement so they can be used to start the PVH and then simply unplug it, and drive it away.
To make this engine serviceable, (apart from batteries) this engine needs the a couple of panels bolting back on, the starter cables rethreading through the conduits, and possibly a new starter relay, ( of which we have the cables and two spare relays in stock.)
The yard also had a minor tidy up and a few trailer load of coal ash spread around the north-western end of the loco shed to help in achieving our goal of public presentation.
Mr David Lidster spent most of the day cutting and removing waste timber, that has been stored at the rear of the yard, suitable only for firewood.
The new drill press received a new set of handles that Colin knocked up during the week.
WG9 had an engine and clutch installed, which has been gradually been transplanted from WG44. This WG should be close to operation condition with only minor job left to be to make this gang motor serviceable.
X18 Received the usual attention from Geoff, sanding around the "B" end.
Also worthy of mention, was the tree planting by Lyndon and Craig. Together they planted Pittostrums and Canadian maples.
There was also some work on the rehabilitation of the panel out of X18 that contains the starting contactors for starting.
Saturday 3/7/2010
The drill press was reassembled during the week and had difficulty starting the motor on the VSD. The fault was traced to a faulty VSD and was rectified by replacing the VSD with another in stock. To test it under load, it was used to drill a hole in a short length of rail with the auto feed working splendidly.
A few more fluoro fittings were modified for the new carriage shed.
The ABL had some more paint stripped on the roof, and any assistance offered would be much appreciated.
The shed was continued to be cleaned up and other cleanup work also went on around the yard.
The X loco had some more battery box work, and is now missing the complete floor.
Meanwhile the X loco. had some more painting preparation around the "B" end.
ACS2 had another window removed repaired and re-sealed.
Saturday 26/6/2010
During the week the drill press's feed box was dismantled and cleaned ready for reassembly.
Some more work was done today on the lights for the carriage shed, modifying the brackets to suit the new mountings.
A bit more was done on the shed grouting, and now there's only 8 more left to finish.
The ABL had some more stripping done on the roof area.
The Loco. shed has begun to be cleaned up for better access, and more efficient space utilisation.
The X loco had more work to the battery box and even the knife switch box has had it's electrical panel removed for a clean. At the same time it also had some painting preparation around the "B" end.
Meanwhile elsewhere, the yard got a bit of a cleanup, tidying up around the bottom end of the yard.
Saturday 19/6/2010
The X loco in the shed got back into full-swing. Work is mainly concentrating on the battery boxes which are one of the final parts of the bodywork needing attention.
The ABL had more paint stripping done over the course of the day, and ACS2 also had some more window repairs and painting also made some progress.
The carriage shed had more work done boxing up the grouting along the south side. Not enough time was available to mix and pour the grout, however, (weather permitting,) we should have half of the remainder poured next week.
A few latecomers took the initiative, and continued on with the Yard cleanup, and tidied up around the steam locos at the bottom end of the yard.
During the week the concrete plinth, poured last weekend had dried to a sufficient strength. This facilitated reassembly, starting with the base, column and table, the gearbox and drive, followed finally by the motor on top.
Being rather impressed with ourselves at it's dominating appearance, we decided to get in and connect electricity to it. This was done through a variable speed drive (VSD) and this allows finer speed control than would be otherwise available with the four speed gearbox.
Although the VSD can be varied between 0 and 120% (up to a maximum of 240%), a speed too far below normal operating speed could cause the motor to overheat and too far over could cause loss of power or even complete destruction. For this reason, the primary means of speed control is the gearbox, with the VSD only for fine control or the reverse function.
This drill was sourced by our late member David McDiarmid in the late nineties, and purchased from Sheridan Australia. It lived outside the yard in the open air for a few years and then moved into the loco shed when first constructed. It sat around for many years until Colin Kay, a relative new comer to the workshops, had the urge to restore it. It was soon in pieces and found to be in excellent condition for it's age.
The only remaining job to be done to make it fully functional, is to make a minor repair to the feed gearbox, which will re-enable the use of the automatic feed.
Saturday 12/6/2010
For this time of year, the weather was rather mild, especially considering some of the winters we've had in New Norfolk in the past.
Early morning we fired up Paul's petrol concrete mixer and poured the concrete plinth for the drill press in the Loco. shed. This plinth has been on the cards and boxed up ready to go for some time. Previously it has been delayed by lack of means, but in the interest of cleaning out the shed, along with having the mixer on site, it has now been finalised. It must be stressed however, that this slab is only temporary. Eventually the shed floor will get concreted up to rail height, to make it more accessible for any trolleys with wheels, vehicles, or even the forkliftAfter lunch the carriage shed uprights had the remaining grouting poured around the footings along the northern side. The whole southern side still needs doing, but to stop the grouting resting against the cladding, and causing it to rust, it'll be isolated by some scrap polyfoam next week.
The shed also had one of the donated florescent lights trial fitted to the centre of the shed, which was successfully achieved without bracketing and only some fairly minor modifications.
Elsewhere in the yard, the remains of some old timber was disposed of in the fire pot. (All in the interest of yard clearing of course.)
At the same time a few members were kept busy flat packing the walkway from the old Launceston diesel shop highroad, (which has now become the Inveresk convention centre.)
WG9 also had the engine raised, the engine mount removed and replaced with another that has had it's bushes replaced. In the initial effort to return WG9 to traffic it was found the original mounting bushes had badly deteriorated, causing a lot of movement and wear to the clutch and coupling to the engine. Once restored WG9 will once again become one of the prime members of the track maintenance fleet.
Saturday 5/6/2010
This weekend saw more ACS car preparation and painting, and the ABL got a bit more work on the roof.
The yard had most of the remainder of the scrap timber burnt and the pre-palletised spares relocated to vacant space on the other side of the yard. During the tidy-up, H2's smokebox door was temporarily put back on.
We also had another beautiful catered lunch again, this time from James. These are starting to become a regular occurrence, and are becoming a nice little fund-raiser to supplement our currently non-existent (due-to-lack-of-running-trains) income.
For an unusual change from the norm, we had a visit from a photographer and her models, wishing to do take a few artistic wedding shots, with an "industrial" background.
Saturday 29/5/2010
This week saw the usual events like tidying up the yard, spreading coal ash, and work on the passenger carriages.
During the afternoon the gang shed got cleaned out and the all the Wisconsin spares were sorted into various groups.
Before the rains made the iron slippery, the iron was repaired on the end of the carriage shed roof. It sustained some damage during some recent strong winds that badly dislodged and bent the end sheets.
While the carriage shed was getting attention, we also began installing grouting around the bases of the shed uprights to produce cleaner looks.
Saturday 22/5/2010
Today saw more yard cleaning.
ACS2 got more bodywork done, and the ABL received more roof work.
As a special treat, today's lunchtime dessert was catered by James. He made a Tiramisu, and although I never had the pleasure of sampling it myself, I'm told it was exquisite.
This phenomenon has been occurring a bit recently. with the Davey's serving beef hotpot, and Lyndon (Mr dux of home-economics,) cooked curried sausages.
Saturday 15/5/2010
Extra bodies on deck today saw more coal ash loaded and spread. The delivery truck has finally stoped coming, and we have quite enough ash to fill all the low patches we're currently looking at filling.
ACS2 had some more body work done.
The yard also got a bit more tiding up done, and the pile is getting smaller by the week.
Saturday 8/5/2010
Yesterday evening the forklift got some tyre repairs enabling to be put back into service.
During the week, some local kids bent one of the signal levers on the eastern end of the platform, and now that they've been disconnected because the cables pose a "tripping hazard", they were removed and placed into storage
Most of the day was spent shovelling coal ash and spreading it around the yard. In particular, the area that received the most attention, were the dip beside the loco. shed, and the hole left by the signal levers.
To reduce the amount of shovelling, some bulk bags were donated, so they were filled manually, then lifted with the ACCO, and released where needed.
The yard also got a bit of a clean up; burning timber, and removing general rubbish.
Saturday 1/5/2010
A crew of roughly five, spent the entire day lifting and dragging rail around back of yard. This has given us more room around our large piles of coal ash that are filling the back of the yard. It's hoped in the next few weeks, that we can borrow some form of earth moving equipment, and spread it around where required.
The ABL had more work done on the roof, removing paint. The door panels received a spray of the new paint scheme, and is getting towards a full body coat.
A few more members spent the day tiding up the yard, by clearing, sorting, and burning more scrap timber
The V engine got some more paint to the running boards and buffer beams, and is starting to look quite splendid.
Saturday 24/4/2010
Today, with fairly average weather, the yard got a bit of a clean up. There was quite a lot of rotten scrap, and generally useless timber in poor condition scattered around the yard, so the decision was made to light up a few old fire drums and dispose of it all over the next couple of weekends.
During the "firing lessons" the top end of the yard was rearranged, and anything no longer required was either moved to the scrap heap, or disposed of.
The Y engine had a couple more air leaks attended to. Another sanding valve was re-lapped and some surrounding pipe work tightened and straightened.
Another of the ACS car windows was removed and resealed, with the help of David. A new potential local member.
The roof of the V engine received a coat of grey paint to match the new coat on the body, and a second coat will be applied next weekend.
To assist in the tidy up, the inside of the shed has started to be tidied up, and cleaned out. Everything not required in the immediate future, is in the process of being moved to more suitable accommodation.
Saturday 17/4/2010
During the week we received some donated coal ash, from the Boyer paper mill, for levelling roads, and general fill around the yard. This will also be used to repair the formation for the wye, which was damaged by the contractors who installed the new chain-link fence.
Some work was done in the afternoon, shovelling the coal ash, firstly into a members Ute, then back onto the formation of the new road for access to the rear of the yard.
Last Sunday another leak was repaired in the Y and the head of the compressor removed for inspection, only to find a damaged check valve which
will have to be removed and replaced. This fault has caused the compressor to be running at only 50% for some time. The Blower, compressor and exhauster motors had their brushes checked and had any carbon dust blown out.
A second coat of paint was sprayed on the V.
A few more track bolts were cleaned in preparation for the continuation of laying the wye.
ACS2 received some work on the body, having the cladding removed above the battery box on the northern side, and new steel sheet welded back in.
The eastern side still needs work but will be tackled at a later date.
In the afternoon we started 21 again, at the request of our visitors.
Saturday 10/4/2010
The ACS body had some new bits cut, ready to be welded in.
The rear of the yard was tidied up with the ACCO, and this area is now able to be more easily maintained in regards to vegetation management.
The ABL had some more paint stripped, as well as some paint applied to the rebuilt door.
The V loco. started receiving the top coat. The whole body was completed, and only the roof, handrails, running boards and motion are left to do.
Some more bolts were cleaned up ready for use in the Wye, and Colin has been taking them home and machining any that were incorrectly sized.
The Y loco had a few more leaks repaired, and there are only two minor leaks left within the compressor room.
Saturday 3/4/2010
Mathew used his truck to tidy up the yard a bit, and make some room for the western leg of the wye.
ACS2 and the ABL received the usual attention to the body and are progressing nicely.
ABL top coat door frame, and one of the door panels. The other door panel was put together with sikaflex
The yard was attacked with the lawn mower, and with all the nice weather, it's been a while since it needed doing and hopefully should be a while before it needs doing again.
The compressor shed had an extra outlet plumbed to the outside for extra convenience
And the points at the top end of the wye had the spring-loaded throwover restored (greased and straightened), and the last of the rails were drilled and spiked. The lever was attached and tested with temporary pins. With some minor adjustments it was finalised by drilling and pinning everything in place.
Saturday 27/3/2010
Yesterday a couple of members picked up the new spare 6LW from Tassal and space was made for it in the back shed.
The carriage shed had some more minor tidy-up works attended to and the ABL had the concertinas and brackets removed for restoration, as well as continued stripping of the roof paint.
The track leading on to the points at the top of the wye were shifted and aligned for a gentle curve capable of taking large steam engines like our H's.
Some investigative work was done on one of the WG's to get some modern friction wheel material machined to replace the older compressed asbestos wheels.
The V had some more paint stripped and will be ready for painting soon.
ACS2 got some more preparation work done on the body and it too, is nearly ready for painting.
The Y also got some more air valves repaired.
Saturday 20/3/2010
With Mr Lidster on site, work commenced swapping the engine out of WG44 in WG9 only to find the vibration eliminators on the engine mounting bracket were worn to the point the engine was moving around in the engine bay just from engaging the clutch!
Many track bolts on site a brand new, how ever, the nuts supplied had an incorrect internal diameter, so our tamed machinist has set about turning down the bolts and deepening the threads.
The V engine also got some more paint stripped.
Saturday 13/3/2010
The Y loco's air leaks had some more attention, and it also had it's emergency water pump, and associated pipe work reinstalled.
The original pipe work has been on site, in storage, and was dismantled, cleaned up, and reused. This valve has never been on the loco during our ownership. The original pump was missing, but an identical second hand one was purchased at a market for $5.
The ABL had some more roof scraped.
And with a surplus of members on site today, the V engine, (the most prominent vehicle visible to the public from the platform,) was started to be scraped down, as we have had offers from some non-active members to come and spray paint it, for it's location as static display.
Some track bolts were cleaned up ready for more fishplates on the wye trackage. This has been progressing by a few members of an afternoon during the week, and is nearly ready for the installation of the new set of points.
The new mower had already been given a good run-in, and during the process, got a flat tyre. After repairs were made today, mowing commenced in various areas around the compound.
Some window frames received polishing and a bit of a tidy up, and other frames were removed and more water sealing continued.
Saturday 6/3/2010
During the week, the small few members present, decided to make it their goal, to restart PVH, No. 21.. Numerous attempts were made during the week, with various configurations of storage batteries, and a combination of X18's batteries. (Now removed for a battery box rebuild)
Finally, the problem was diagnosed to a bad connection on one of the cables from the stationary storage batteries, to the loco charging point.
With a little re-rigging of the cables, and a little assistance from the "jump start" function on the battery charger, the engine finally rotated, quick enough to fire, after 6 years of sitting idle!
Unfortunately movement wasn't possible due to an inconvenient configuration of steam loco tenders behind it, and the vast amount of crap being stored, on, under, and around the loco itself. It's envisioned that within a few weeks, it'll be possible to get it out and give it a run up and down the loop.
Elsewhere, ACS2 got another window removed, and ABL2 had more paint stripped, with attention being turned to the roof. Y2 also had a few more air leaks seen to, X18 received more attention in the cab area, and Mathew made a few new 3ϕ extension leads for the workshop
Thanks to some inquiries from James, Tassal donated a spare 6LW Gardner engine, suitable as a spare for the U engine.
Saturday 27/2/2010
With all the new trackwork pushing up the old Wye formation, and our current road access to the rear of the yard being on same, the road was slowly being encroached on.
To counteract this issue, we dug out, and installed concrete drain pipe into the culvert alongside the wye formation, to utilise the opposite side of the culvert (beside the coal road.) This was correctly setup with appropriate fall for drainage and backfilled with coal chips, too small to be burnt in a fire box.
This exercise took most of the day, with just enough time in the afternoon, to drag a couple more lengths of rail into place for to bring the western leg of the wye to the point where the frog for the set of points starts.
The work day was ended at the unusually early time of 1530, to allow enough time for socialising, railway films and the AGM at 1600
Saturday 20/2/2010
With a nice day and a nice clear wye leg, work commenced on the extension towards the back of the yard.
The track, when first layed by the work for the dole crew, all those years ago, was layed too far to the east, and off the original alignment.
The morning was spent realigning the existing track to the original alignment, and replacing a rail which was installed the wrong was around.
one section of rail, was rather stubborn, and reluctant to bend nicely. It was necessary to apply the crow to induce a curve into it. A crow, (for those who don't know,) is a heavy three point bending frame. As the central point is screwed in, the rail is pushed out between the two outer bars, that hook over the rail head.
By late afternoon, we were to the point of bolting on another couple of lengths of rail. The inside rail was bolted up temporarily as matching transition plates are getting hard to find in our stock piles, and some existing ones will have to be modified.
The need for transition plates came about as, to date the western leg of the wye was laid in 40lb rail. The remaining rail in stock is 45 or 60.
The inside rail was easy to pin down to the new stock of steel sleepers, and the outside rail, although not pined down, still bent around the curve as the inside rail was manoeuvred into position.
Saturday 13/2/2010
Whilst a number of the regulars continued with rolling stock repairs such as stripping paint off ABL2, repairing windows on ACS2 and fixing sanding valves on Y2, a crew decided to undertake a shunting exercise to clear the unfinished east leg of the wye to allow trackwork to recommence on extending the wye.
Locomotive U5 was prepared and started and with KG145 as a match truck, set about progressively dragging clear ES18 (the Grover van), The 'B' class underframe and the PC (H) underframe (loaded with E208) which were placed on the eastern end of #2 Carriage Road.
U5+KG145 then added FFC2 and went on to collect EE32 and then QJ5+ZJ23,which were shunted onto the old carriage road, joining the SF, EEE and other QJ. The last vehicle on the wye was CC253 which was shunted onto #1 Loco Shed Road in front of M1. Prior to removing the CC, the opportunity was taken to clear some of the junk along the wye formation, by loading it on the KG.
Once the CC was dropped off, the U and KG set off to the western end of the yard. Plans to move the OT, C & CCC off the coal road to take the KG up to the coal dump to unload (throw off) the load of junk had to be abandoned when the U, which was having "issues" couldn't shift the OT+C+CCC. Therefore the KG was left on the coal road to be dealt with at another time.
With the wye leg now clear, the opportunity to get stuck into some track work next week is now good to go.
Saturday 6/2/2010
During the week, we had a delivery of sleepers, that were owned by the local paper mill at boyer. Many sidings around the state were privately owned and some within the paper mill recently became surplus to requirements.
Our crew was put into heavy laborious work, carefully removing them from the pile and stacking them on pallets arranged by type. We were donated about 200 altogether, which will allow us to finish our wye, and repair any problem areas within the yard.
Some other members took it upon themselves to mow some more of the grass, which is rapidly becoming more and more unruly.
Of the rails that are already in place around the wye, the majority needs pulling around into a tighter curve. In anticipation of laying more track around the wye, 20 sleepers and 2 lengths of rail were roughly positioned ready for installation.
Elsewhere in the yard, later in the afternoon, some of the crew dispersed to strip more paint on the ABL and to perform more window repairs on the ACS.
During the day the forklift was utilised extensively and win between jobs, was used for doing a general yard tidy-up, rearranging pallets and other larger objects.
At some point during the day, one tyre on the forklift was damaged, so the final task for late afternoon was to replace the offending tyre, with the only spare onsite.
Saturday 30/1/2010
Today was a day of many varied tasks taking place.
The U engine was started to move the Y, allowing the track machine out and closer to the shed so it can be filled with fuel from Ex-EBR Loco No.21, which was filled with fuel but is currently unserviceable, so is being used as a fuel storage tank. The U engine has already been filled off it and there's still plenty left for future filling of other diesels that require it.
The proportional valve from the Y was completely disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled. but still has a small leak, although it is better than it was, the goal is to eliminate all leaks, so we'll have to have another look. The Y also had the engine starting valve removed and the same treatment as the proportional valve.
The yard crew also got some civil work done today. James did a spot of brush cutting during the morning, while Geoff and John relocated some of the pallets on the Wye formation.
The ABL had one of it's doors stripped down to the bare frame.
The X engine had another door jam created, and the door frames were cleaned up ready for the jams to go in. Additionally the cab received a general clean up ready for some cab fittings to be reinstalled.
The ACS had more window work performed and had last week's window re-installed, and another one removed.
Saturday 23/1/2010
This week saw another window come out of ACS2 and the previous one go back in. Paul is determined to give the same treatment to every window that's been leaking or starting to part from the frame.
ABL2 got a good crew again for body work and work is progressing nicely
The X engine got started getting some more work. Specifically, attention to cracked and rusted window frames. During the afternoon, Mat fabricated a new door jam to replace the originals, which were bent and twisted from the rust build-up behind them. The new jam was so accurate, that it was a perfect fit on either side of the cab. Quite a surprise considering how many times the various X engines had been in accidents
The Y is still receiving attention with the aim to remove all air leaks/ electrical problems/ water leaks/ and make it a more reliable loco. It had it's pipe work reinstalled (removed the previous weekend) and the proportional valve was removed and dismantled to fix another minor air leak and an additional non return valve was checked and reassembled.
Saturday 16/1/2010
More scraping of the ABL was again, the hot project of the day. A big welcome to our two new members, Andrew and Peter who assisted James, Aaron, John Kingston, and Frank with this ongoing task.
Geoff occupied the day with painting preparation work on ACS2 and Paul, more work on removing and repairing the window seals. The frames behind the windows are still in very good condition and don't need any repair work.
A couple of us had a look at the oil pressure switch in Y loco, which seemed to be causing a starting problem. The Lubricating oil doesn't get to pressure and cut out like it's supposed to before firing.
A pressure gauge was attached and oil pressure from the oil priming pump only gets to about 15 psi, instead of the usual 27 psi before starting. After starting pressure comes up to 60 psi as started in the manual. The filters on the loco were inspected and cleaned, but didn't solve the problem.
The problem is still not yet solved, and we shall need to consult the manual, which, fortunately we have on hand thanks to help in obtaining copies from the National Archives. The National Archives is set to be shut down and moved interstate. Many documents that are very valuable to all Tasmanian rail societies are stored in this facility, and if it goes, will be a major loss for Tasmania. Anyone wishing to assist should write to their local federal member for parliament.
Saturday 9/1/2010
Today saw a good turnout, but as the weather was scorching by early morning, external projects (such as steam engine reassembly) got canned.
The ABL had it's usual scraping and even had some extra hands to help from the normal crew.
Paul continued working on ACS2 and removed another leaking window. The seals behind have started to fail, so the whole frames are being gently removed, new seals made and fitted, and the window reinstalled.
Y2 got some attention in the compressor room from Lyndon and John. This loco. has always taken a long time to make air pressure, so a modification was made to allow an air hose to be plugged in and pressurise the system without the noise from the engine masking the noise from the leaks.
The air intercooler was found to have a big leak straight off the main receivers. This was removed, re-welded and put back in. However, surrounding pipe work has been found to be heavily clogged with oil, so efforts are underway to remove and clean them individually.
This issue would suggest the compressors rings need replacing, so we'll probably restore the spare larger Y engine compressor and install that in its place
Saturday 2/1/2010
The scraping of the ABL keeps progressing. The original green and cream paint requires chemical assistance as it is extremely tough, a credit to Waddington's coach building skills. The bare aluminium panels look quite smart.
The reassembly of steam locomotives (lying in bits from the asbestos removal) was begun, starting with H5. The cab is nearly complete and some fire box cladding and walkways have started going back on.
The station is in the process of getting a cleanout, as there is a lot of unnecessary paperwork, and generally useless rubbish that is no longer needed or functional.