Poorly Peckett & A Right Shunt...

Hi everyone. Well, I'm 20 now. 'Yes', it was my 20th Birthday yesterday. Dear me, how the years have flown by. Even this blog is now 3.5 years old! Anyhow, today I was at Shackerstone again. The plan was to Steam Test the Peckett "Sir Gomer" following its visit to Cholsey. However, after checking her over it was clear that she was a failure. With regulator open, there was steam escaping from beneath the smokebox floor (bad news!). So, having failed the engine we dropped the pressure as much as possible and then a few of the guys dived in to the smokebox and began smashing up the concrete floor. This floor must be at least 6-7" thick - what a task. But, they did it! They then discovered that a gasket in the main steam pipe had failed, thus releasing all of the steam we saw. In fact, the gasket had blown out at least a 1/4 of its overall size and therefore was leaking badly - it was bound to cause trouble! Whilst the guys sorted this problem out, myself & Adrian were outside doing a massive shunt with both the Class 02 and Class 73 diesels. The main objective was to release 4 of the wagons from the packed north end sidings and then take them to Market Bosworth for temporary stabling. It took us all day, as well as taking 2 coaches off the main train rake too. I finally left Shackerstone at 5pm after a long & tiring day. But, we did some good work. As well as the gasket, "Sir Gomer" also has lubrication and eccentric problems. These will be rectified over the closed season so that the loco can take part in the 2012 Steam Gala. Evening all, Sam...