Tyseley: Drain Cocks And Steam Rollers...

Hi all. Today was, yes you've guessed it, another volunteer Saturday at the former 84E. With most of the decorating now completed after a mad few months in the new house, I have a little more time to creep out in search of steam. When I arrived a little before 10:30 (I'm getting worse at these early starts by the week!), Phil was already lighting up his 1925-built Aveling & Porter steam roller "Louise". The engine was being made ready to have the canopy roof removed for repair and I think Phil was also doing a last hurrah kind of thing before some heavy winter maintenance ensues. Leaving the roller crackling away to herself, Phil showed me some jobs on 7029 "Clun Castle" that I could complete today. In the running shed area, 7029 was standing alongside elder sister 5043, who is now missing her outside steam pipes...

I was put to work cleaning up the drain cocks for 7029. The inside ones had been done already so I had to do the six from the outside. There are three mounted to each outside cylinder: two for the cylinder and one for the valve chest. I remember somebody once telling me that the middle one drained the center of the cylinder bore...

The drain cock casting has a screwed plug on the back which allows access to the inside. The front end has a spring with a spacer and split pin which holds the plunger in the closed position when the drain cocks are to be closed. The thread is for the drain cock pipework to be attached which then ejects the condensate forward of the cylinders. The drain cock linkage from the cab is connected so as to press the plunger inward to open the cocks. Here is a fully cleaned up drain cock, upside down of course. The mounting holes for the cylinder studs can be seen...

This kind of work is really just a light maintenance/house keeping task. Over time, the drains (particularly when engines sit for a while) can become clogged up and need a bit of a clean out and brush up. It's an easy job to do with a cuppa' to hand...

The finished result later in the day: three of the drains ready to refit...

If any built up dirt gets behind the plunger when the drain is open, then they will probably pass when they're closed. You don't want to be hissing around the network sounding like an old eight freight in the last days of the Midland region! With the drains refitted to 7029, I headed outside to see how the roller was getting on. The canopy roof had now been removed and the engine was going topless...

Phil kindly let me take the F-Type for a couple of laps of the car park, although I did insist he put it in bottom gear as I'm not entirely confident on these things. I could just see me ploughing it through a nearby parked car if it got away from me! Nevertheless, I managed to go round nicely without bashing into anything. When they settle down they're actually quite nice to drive. I would never say that you can step straight off a railway engine and onto one of these, or vice versa in fact. They are very different machines entirely, but interesting in their own way. I couldn't resist a few blasts on the Great Western whistle...still big kids at heart! With that it was pretty much time for home after a worthwhile little day at 84E. Cheers all, Sam...