Up, Up & Away...
Hi all. Well, what a hard day indeed, yet very interesting, eye-opening and worthwhile. Today began at 7:30am as I left home in the Saxo in search of the beautiful LNER B1 No1306 "Mayflower". This loco; based at Shackerstone for the last four years or so; has been at a railway works in Birmingham for a few weeks, undergoing a heavy bottom-end overhaul. (No address' or names to protect the loco and owner). This overhaul was to include tyre-turning, axlebox work, ashpan repairs, rod maintainence and a few minor jobs on the side. Whilst 1306 was at Shack, I have spent many days on her footplate. Therefore, I was today invited to lend a hand in the engine's overhaul. I felt that I owed at least one day to the engine; afterall, I have had some fantastic experiences on her footplate. At just gone 8am, I arrived in Birmingham and discovered the location of the B1. There she was, rods removed yet paintwork shining; ever the impressive! 
Today was hard work, but we did many things. The day started with sawing some packing; quite alot of packing in fact! The main plan for the day was to lift the engine off her wheels. Therefore, we had to move the massive jacks around, using a forklift and some rather impressive Gantry Cranes. With the jacks in position, we then had to add packing so that the beams would be able to take the weight evenly. At the front end however, there was a problem. The magnet for the old mainline equipment was preventing the jack-beam from getting low enough for packing to be put in. The Gantry crane? No problem! With a 30-ton capacity crane you can pretty much do anything! Connected to the frame lifters, the crane easily lifted the B1 a few inches into the air. Packing in, we dropped her back down. It was then time to get underneath...
If you look at the image above you can see the gaps between the wheels, with limited clearance. We all had to clamber between the wheels to access the springs inside. Lucky the brake rigging had been removed! The spring nuts, pins and underkeep's had to be removed, as well as the springs themselves. This was a very strenuous job, carried out in the confined space between the axles. I must admit, I was very tired when I got home; very tired! The work was very heavy; so is the characteristic of big engines! Below, the right leading wheel stands clear of rods... 
I left the B1 at around 5:30pm ready for the short run back down the M6 to home. When I left, the last two springs were just about to come off. Sure enough, I was later sent an image of the B1 with no wheels and also lacking a bogie! Well done to all involved and I wish my friends at 1306 all the luck with the rest of the overhaul. Thanks for reading folks. Goodnight...
Today was hard work, but we did many things. The day started with sawing some packing; quite alot of packing in fact! The main plan for the day was to lift the engine off her wheels. Therefore, we had to move the massive jacks around, using a forklift and some rather impressive Gantry Cranes. With the jacks in position, we then had to add packing so that the beams would be able to take the weight evenly. At the front end however, there was a problem. The magnet for the old mainline equipment was preventing the jack-beam from getting low enough for packing to be put in. The Gantry crane? No problem! With a 30-ton capacity crane you can pretty much do anything! Connected to the frame lifters, the crane easily lifted the B1 a few inches into the air. Packing in, we dropped her back down. It was then time to get underneath...
If you look at the image above you can see the gaps between the wheels, with limited clearance. We all had to clamber between the wheels to access the springs inside. Lucky the brake rigging had been removed! The spring nuts, pins and underkeep's had to be removed, as well as the springs themselves. This was a very strenuous job, carried out in the confined space between the axles. I must admit, I was very tired when I got home; very tired! The work was very heavy; so is the characteristic of big engines! Below, the right leading wheel stands clear of rods... 
I left the B1 at around 5:30pm ready for the short run back down the M6 to home. When I left, the last two springs were just about to come off. Sure enough, I was later sent an image of the B1 with no wheels and also lacking a bogie! Well done to all involved and I wish my friends at 1306 all the luck with the rest of the overhaul. Thanks for reading folks. Goodnight...
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