Evening all. Tonight "Achilles" made another visit to its home track at Ryton Pools as the club held its final summer evening steam up of 2023. Wednesday nights are usually a working night but during the summer the second Wednesday is designated a steam up, if the weather plays ball that is! I loaded "Achilles" up early this morning and took her to work with me in the back of the car as it was easier than heading home through the rush hour traffic. The engine had been put back together and given a good clean following the last steaming at home which proved the recent repairs to be a success...
After a warm drive home along the A45, I arrived at the base of CMES a little after 17:00 which is quite a while prior to the 18:30 start time! However, again, it was easier than battling through the rush hour traffic. It also gave me time to unload the engine and get everything set up, as well as sitting on the bench and enjoying my sandwiches in the peace and quiet of the country park setting on this fine evening...
By the time people started to arrive a little before 18:30 I'd already filled the engine with water, oiled around and set everything up ready to show the engine the lighter. Therefore, as soon as the power came on, I got a blaze going in the firebox...
I did think I'd be alone in my steaming tonight (which isn't unusual) but thankfully Jim also came along with his lovely 5" gauge Stirling Single. "Achilles", having had a head start, was ready first and we were soon on the run up rail with a CMES truck behind ready to run. The sun provided a lovely orange glow to proceedings...
By the time we'd done half a dozen laps or so the Stirling Single joined us on the track. Just like its full size counterpart, this engine had an impressive turn of speed and romped around the sunlit track at quite a pace. Here, Jim and the Single climb the 1 in 70 section of the bank with the Ryton woods in the background...
The challenge for the rest of the evening for the smaller wheeled "Achilles" was to keep ahead of the flying Single! Throughout the run the tank engine proved no issue and everything that had been worked on over the past few weeks worked a treat. Even the coal (which I've had issues with in recent years) seemed to go well, at least for the first hour. The engine ran around the track beautifully with the needle on the mark and a full boiler. In fact the biggest issue was preventing priming as we were running the water a touch high to keep her quiet! But, again, no complaints on that score...
Here, "Achilles" waits at a quiet Ryton Halt before we set off again...
Leaving Ryton Halt, I took this video clip which covers the run from the station to the far end of the track where you perform a 180-degree loop around a wooded bund. As you can see "Achilles" gets a fair trot on and has no trouble with steam...
As you can tell, with just myself and Jim on the track, there was plenty of time to stop and grab a photograph or two. "Achilles" blows off near the bendy beam...
The only minor irritation from the evening was that the lubricator seemed to be sticking now and again. These days I run it on the lowest of its four settings and never really have trouble with it but I think it now needs a bit of attention as it seems to stop intermittently. Other than that, I couldn't fault the engine at all. All I can hope is that old Ken will be looking down and think we did alright on tonight's run. I still think of him when we run the engine, not only for his kindness but his generosity. For those that don't know, "Achilles" was given to me by Ken who was a very active club member at CMES from the Stoneleigh years. I was gifted the engine by Ken in 2011 and since then (along with many friends) I've attempted to lovingly bring it back to good condition after years of track running. Thanks to the records kept within this blog I can show the engine through its various workstreams. Here she is as acquired in July 2011...
After running her to get used to her for 12 months or so, the winter of 2012-2013 was used to do some mechanical renewals on the engine. The chassis was re-bushed with new bronze bearings and new crossheads were provided...
Following a successful 2013 season the engine was stripped for a full repaint during the approaching winter of 2013-2014. As part of this repaint it was discovered that the rear set of axleboxes were beyond life expired, so these were replaced before the rear axle was painted. Here she is in her stripped down state...
After a few ups and downs the engine was outshopped in May 2014...
I was happy with the results of the paint job but, as always, the fickle finger of fate wasn't far away and the engine suffered a failed superheater during her first run back at the track. The superheater was repaired and the engine brought back to running condition again later in 2014, running successfully and she was reunited with Ken during September. Safe to say, he was pleased with the engine...
During 2015 the boiler was popped out again so that the double acting water pumps could be replaced. These had become very worn during their 30 years of service and by now no amount of packing would stop them passing...
During the water pump works we also replaced the cladding which had been the engines dented original since I'd got her. The dented cladding was replaced with brand new stuff and the engine returned to a complete state again in December 2015. As I say, anything and everything about this engine can be found in this blog somewhere if anyone were to be interested in reading it. As you can probably tell, we've had quite a journey! However, I now believe that, thanks to our collective efforts, we've got this old engine in the best condition she's been in since she was new. She runs well, steams well and the water pumps all work properly again. I'm proud of what we've achieved and the run at Ryton tonight could only reinforce these beliefs. Here, "Achilles" blows down at Ryton this evening after a successful outing, ready for home...
And just like that we were back in the safety of the workshop (that currently looks like an explosion in a tool shop!) ready for a clean down and a rest...
Thank you all for reading report No83 on "Achilles". I hope it has been interesting and informative, showing what we've done over the past 12 years. I'm unsure at the moment when she'll be out again but lets hope it won't be too long. Cheers all, Sam...
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