Last weekend's ELR Gala threw up a few challenges for the team. We met on Friday night at Bury to test the new systems we have installed over the past few months. Adrian Meakin and his team had the loco ready for testing, with a nice glowing fire and 150psi on the clock. We started the air pump, and within seconds it was clear we had a leak. Gary Shannon crawled in and traced it to a new fitting on the "wet tank" outlet. A couple of attempts to secure it failed so we had to remove the whole pipe - tricky over a pit with plenty of light but damn near impossible outside with torches and no pit, but we managed.
It was a faulty cone fitting so we had to remove it and braze on a new one with more struggling to refit the pipe. Then another test and another leak but much smaller this time (you can't hear the little ones till you fix the big ones). This one was in the steel pipe from the compressor head to the aftercooler. There are a number of joints which I welded, two of them had a pin hole in them. Devastated, we removed this pipe too, calling time on the night's activities at 9.30 pm. We still had to move the engine after explaining we would not be ready first thing in the morning. The three of us trudged into the Trackside at 10pm and instantly cheered up!
An early start saw us waiting for one of Riley's welders to turn up to repair the pipe as the ELR's machine burst into flames welding our tender tank the week before. A two hour wait and no sign of Riley's man meant I would have to weld it again. Of course, we had to obtain permission to use one of Riley's machines so another wait then! Now with the new spirit of cooperation we enjoy, not only can we use Riley's welding machine, but also his benches and grinder!
Obviously I carried out my best weld ever, and when we tested it, first with dye penetrant fluid, then on the engine, no leaks were found.
So, ready to go then? No, not quite. A full brake test found a steam leak from the small ejector vacuum pipe inside the 'S' bend between the duplex valve and the boiler trunking, half way up the left side of the firebox. Investigation found the pipe to be fractured due to fatigue. This pipe is very long and expands around 3/4 inch in length when you open the steam valve, all of the expansion is taken up in the 'S' bend, just a matter of time then. With little hope of having a suitable length of 7/8 inch steam pipe, joints and cone fittings, we had to fail the engine. It was late morning, and none of us having had any breakfast, we were pretty low by this time. While I went off in search of food, Gary and Liam went in search of copper pipe and fittings which amazingly they found!
Next job with the loco in the shed, smoking it out, Liam removed the rearmost trunking section (not pleasant when it's just been beautifully painted) to find a joint section, about a foot in from the offending bend, with this split with some oxy-acetylene, a new section could be made. We bent the new pipe to match, brazed the new cone on, which is required to screw the pipe end to the duplex valve. Derek Turner machined the joint coupling on the lathe, and when this was finished, Gary and I brazed the new pipe on in situ, wobbling around on ladders, half way up the boiler. A quick test with steam proved the repair to be sound Another half hour fiddling saw the trunking back on. A further half hour saw our loco off shed and away to take the 16.05pm train to Ramsbottom. A fantastic sight and a fantastic effort, thanks to all involved.
Simon Holroyd, Deputy CME
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