D8098
The month began with a session on D8098 checking the loco over and giving the clean air compartment a clean.
D5830
What a month September 2022 has been for D5830. At the beginning of the month all the time spent unbolting the roof, disconnecting pipework and various components meant on the 1st September we had a crane come to Ruddington and lift the 4 roof panels off with no issues onto an awaiting wagon. Straight away the roof sections were inspected and repairs began with cutting out of rotten sections of metal, new pieces formed and welded in. The intention once the major roof repairs are complete is to grit blast the roof sections to see if there are any further area’s that need cutting out for replacement and then we will turn our attention to painting them before they get refitted to the loco. The gutters between the roof sections have been removed, these are life expired and will be replaced.
While some volunteers were working on the roof sections other’s started on the loco giving the power unit, radiator compartment and surrounding areas a good steam clean to make it a nicer working environment ready to start stripping down the power unit. An interesting find when cleaning the power unit was the inscription ‘type 2’ on the side of the power unit from BR days. Our resident welder converted a table frame to a be a piston holder for when the pistons are taken out of the power unit or as it’s become known, the toast rack.
Late September the whole team focus on the power unit strip down, beginning with removal of the exhaust system, then the cylinder head strip down, which compiled of removing the rocker gear, injector fuel lines and drip trays, intermediate covers, compression stems, brackets for pipe work and coolant hoses. The injectors were then removed, followed cylinder heads by the overhead crane onto pallets. We then cleaned the carbon off the top of the cylinder liners with a wire wheel to make it easier to remove the pistons. The inspection covers on the side of the power unit were then removed, the split pins that stop the nuts undoing for the bolts that hold the big end caps on the conrod were removed (this took a lot longer than planned). The piston heads have threaded holes for lifting equipment to attach to the pistons to lift them in and out, these had to have the threads cleaned out then we could attach lifting equipment and lifted out the first 4 pistons out with the overhead crane, 8 left to go.
