"Mayflower"s Coming Home...
Hey everyone. Welcome to the second post of today (too busy I am!). Here we go then...Well, after spotting the beautiful Stanier Pacific ("Lizzie") on the mainline, I headed back out onto the A444 and then up onto the M6 North. Destination?: Birmingham. The reason for this trip was to lend a hand on a certain Eastern Lady; the gorgeous LNER B1 No1306 "Mayflower". Regular readers will remember that the B1, usually based at our railway at Shackerstone, has been away in Birmingham for a few months undergoing a bottom-end overhaul. Last time I went to work on her was back in February, when we took off all of her under-keep's and prepared her for a lift (see seperate post). Throughout the bottom-end overhaul, many items have received attention. Jobs have included ashpan repairs, fitment of an ashpan washer, bogie wheel turning, driving wheel turning, rod repairs, replacement of seals and many other things. 1306 spent the January - March period without her tender, allowing essential repairs to be done without her '2nd half' in the way, as it were. However, the tender has been reunited with her for a few weeks now and has allowed a few test steamings on site; the last of which was undertaken yesterday. Arriving at 10:30am, I met up with the team before starting my first job; clearing out the smokebox. Below, the beautiful B1 dwarfs a couple of the support vans...
Parking certainly wasn't an issue in "Mayflower"s shop...its a shame we can't park this close to our engines at Shackerstone!...
Smokebox done, I was sent underneath the loco & tender to undo the various connections. These include the vacuum pipe, steam heat pipe, injector water feeds and another feed (maybe the steam brake?). There is then of course a strong pin which connects the drawbar to the loco, but you can't remove that without 'squeezing' the loco. This job done, if a little wet(!), I was shown my next task. This was right underneath the loco herself and, with the brake rigging and sand-pipes now refitted, the areas for entrance were a little, shall we say, small! This job was to fit new axlebox seals. The B1 axleboxes are fitted with seals, which circle the axle, and are clamped against the face of the axlebox. This stops the oil escaping around the edge of the axlebox, through the gap against the axle. This of course aids lubrication. Any oil that falls from the bottom of the axlebox lands in a tray; fitted below. Therefore, the seals just 'finish the job' as it were. As well as fitting the seals, I had to cut new ones to fit the dimension of the axles. For example, the bogie axles are much smaller than the driving axles. Anyhow, in between fitting, I managed to capture a frontal shot of "Mayflower"; isn't she beautiful?...
By 3pm, I had fitted all 10 of the seals. Other jobs going on included the cleaning of the cab and the fitting of the final part; the last sand-pipe. With my job done and all of my tools removed from underneath the engine, we prepared her for the 'split'. The loco had to be 'split' so that she could travel 'home' to Shackerstone on Wednesday. After all, the loco and tender have to travel on two seperate lorries; she's far too big for one! To split the engine, tension has to be taken off the drawbar so the pin can be removed. This was done by chocking 1306 on a few wheels and then buffering a diesel up to the tender. The diesel then squeezed the loco together whilst another member of the team 'pulled the pin' out. The tender then easily dropped away from the engine. "Easy"! Below, 1306 is split and is now, pretty much, ready for 'home'...
At 3:35pm, I left for home as I had a few jobs to do. I thanked the team and wished them well with the return of 1306 and of course her proving runs on Good Friday. I shall be acting as part of her 'support crew' at Shackerstone next Sunday & Monday. Guess What?: I'm looking forward to that! Thanks for reading everyone. I suppose I'd better catch an 'early night' tonight, I've gotta' be up to fire a certain green engine in the morning...Evening all...
Hey everyone. Welcome to the second post of today (too busy I am!). Here we go then...Well, after spotting the beautiful Stanier Pacific ("Lizzie") on the mainline, I headed back out onto the A444 and then up onto the M6 North. Destination?: Birmingham. The reason for this trip was to lend a hand on a certain Eastern Lady; the gorgeous LNER B1 No1306 "Mayflower". Regular readers will remember that the B1, usually based at our railway at Shackerstone, has been away in Birmingham for a few months undergoing a bottom-end overhaul. Last time I went to work on her was back in February, when we took off all of her under-keep's and prepared her for a lift (see seperate post). Throughout the bottom-end overhaul, many items have received attention. Jobs have included ashpan repairs, fitment of an ashpan washer, bogie wheel turning, driving wheel turning, rod repairs, replacement of seals and many other things. 1306 spent the January - March period without her tender, allowing essential repairs to be done without her '2nd half' in the way, as it were. However, the tender has been reunited with her for a few weeks now and has allowed a few test steamings on site; the last of which was undertaken yesterday. Arriving at 10:30am, I met up with the team before starting my first job; clearing out the smokebox. Below, the beautiful B1 dwarfs a couple of the support vans...
Parking certainly wasn't an issue in "Mayflower"s shop...its a shame we can't park this close to our engines at Shackerstone!...
Smokebox done, I was sent underneath the loco & tender to undo the various connections. These include the vacuum pipe, steam heat pipe, injector water feeds and another feed (maybe the steam brake?). There is then of course a strong pin which connects the drawbar to the loco, but you can't remove that without 'squeezing' the loco. This job done, if a little wet(!), I was shown my next task. This was right underneath the loco herself and, with the brake rigging and sand-pipes now refitted, the areas for entrance were a little, shall we say, small! This job was to fit new axlebox seals. The B1 axleboxes are fitted with seals, which circle the axle, and are clamped against the face of the axlebox. This stops the oil escaping around the edge of the axlebox, through the gap against the axle. This of course aids lubrication. Any oil that falls from the bottom of the axlebox lands in a tray; fitted below. Therefore, the seals just 'finish the job' as it were. As well as fitting the seals, I had to cut new ones to fit the dimension of the axles. For example, the bogie axles are much smaller than the driving axles. Anyhow, in between fitting, I managed to capture a frontal shot of "Mayflower"; isn't she beautiful?...
By 3pm, I had fitted all 10 of the seals. Other jobs going on included the cleaning of the cab and the fitting of the final part; the last sand-pipe. With my job done and all of my tools removed from underneath the engine, we prepared her for the 'split'. The loco had to be 'split' so that she could travel 'home' to Shackerstone on Wednesday. After all, the loco and tender have to travel on two seperate lorries; she's far too big for one! To split the engine, tension has to be taken off the drawbar so the pin can be removed. This was done by chocking 1306 on a few wheels and then buffering a diesel up to the tender. The diesel then squeezed the loco together whilst another member of the team 'pulled the pin' out. The tender then easily dropped away from the engine. "Easy"! Below, 1306 is split and is now, pretty much, ready for 'home'...
At 3:35pm, I left for home as I had a few jobs to do. I thanked the team and wished them well with the return of 1306 and of course her proving runs on Good Friday. I shall be acting as part of her 'support crew' at Shackerstone next Sunday & Monday. Guess What?: I'm looking forward to that! Thanks for reading everyone. I suppose I'd better catch an 'early night' tonight, I've gotta' be up to fire a certain green engine in the morning...Evening all...
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