Saturday 16th February 2013

New boiler cladding being cut for the area around the safety valve, the heavily corroded old section being used as a template for the new sheet.

    In the machine shop, work continues on the machining of new bushes for the brake beams

Also in the machine shop, the pivot points at the top and bottom of the brake hangers are being fit with grease nipples to improve the lubrication regime when the locomotive re-enters service. The brake gear operates in a hostile environment and regular greasing should assist in preventing the ingress of water and cast iron dust from the brake blocks.

The brake beams are having the life expired wear pads removed in readiness for new pads to be welded in place.

Saturday 2nd February 2013

The connecting rods are cleaned and initial polishing work is undertaken. Shortly the bushes will be pressed out for re-metalling and the thrust faces built up on the rod faces.

Some serious work is undertaken on refurbishing the thread on one of the trailing wheelset spring hanger bolts

Three refurbished spring hangers bolts are reunited with the rocker plates and bell housings containing the rubber pads and stainless steel support washers

With the lubrication pipes refitted, insulation material has been cut and applied to the cylinder casting

                                      Finally the cylinder cladding is refitted to the casting

The hand pump and pressure gauge have been made ready for some pressure testing of live steam components

The two live steam injectors are tested by blanking all the flanged connections and then pumping pressurised water into the injector to a final test pressure of 300 pounds per square inch. Both injectors passed the test.

Dinmore Manors return to steam.

You may have heard or seen rumours that Dinmore Manor has been signed up by a UK Heritage Railway. DMLL are presently in discussion with a number of interested parties and are following up options for the hire of  7820 from the Summer of 2013 onwards.  As soon as we have any agreements in place we shall tell our shareholders and the media via our own newsletter and websites.

Dinmore Manor Locomotive Limited 30 Jan 2013

Refitting of Drain Cocks 26.01.13

The firemans side cylinder and steam chest drain cocks refitted to the mounting plate and assembled to the cylinder mounting studs. The operating rod and pushers have been added after mounting of the drain cocks

More parts undergo refurbishment.

The first parts of the refurbished cylinder cladding are fitted before the bogie goes back in.

The coupling rods have been dug out of storage and are being cleaned off.

New felt pads being cut for all of the lubrication points.

Main steam fountain cleaned down ready for inspection of all threads and seats new packing for all the spindles will also be installed.

A start is made of refitting the slide bars.

Slide bars in place ready for measuring which in turn will allow machining of the cross head white metal.

The quadrant (expansion) links are cleaned and having been ground and fitted with remetalled die blocks are prepared for paint prior to installation.

The repainted fire iron tunnel is now resting back in place on the frames.

More parts lurking in the container, some ready for fitting some still requireing attention.

Refitting the weighbar shaft.

The following set of photos show the installation of the weighbar shaft into the frames and represent the start of the installation of all the valve motion.

First job to make sure the bushes are spot on and the grease will be distributed along the shaft where it is required.

With the bearings on the ends of the shaft everything is suspended from the gantry and lowered into the holes in the frames.

One end is slid right through the frame hole to allow the opposing end to drop down inside the frames.

The entire aseembly is then slid back to centarlise it in the frames.

Lastly a bit of final adjustment to get the fitted bolts into the frames and the locking rings secured on the shaft.

Expansion Links

Expansion Links and Suspension Links ready to be refitted to the Weighbar Shaft