Entries by Nigel Bennett

Sitting in a hotel room overlooking a very windswept Wellington harbour this is about the most poignant blog entry I have ever had to make.  After a few days of silence the e-mail has been red hot in the last few hours and the messages contain extreme highs and lows.

The key news items are that 1630 was steamed today and passed its FRA inspection but on the same day we heard of the passing of Bill Chyna, a wonderful guy and a stalwart of the department for as long as most of us can remember.  I have received input from many people but I do not think I can do better than the following note from Collin:

“Today we, as a group, experienced a loss and a triumph of emotional extremes.

This morning Bill Chyna passed away. Bill had celebrated his seventy fourth birthday Saturday and was said to have enjoyed the event, spending time with family and friends. He was eating cake, so what is not to be happy about?.  Bill spent fifteen years with us, and I cannot remember a major decision he was not a part of; a project he did not contribute to. Bill was the first guy I took direction from-the beginning of many orders!-on the first day I came out to the shop. Bill's understanding of electronics and wiring proved to be an invaluable skill as we set up equipment, repaired broken tools and generally moved projects forward. Bill had an understanding of how things work that comes only with decades of experience. I recently visited Bill at Marianjoy Rehabilitation Center where he was undergoing physical therapy. He was in great spirits and probed with questions of what we were doing on 1630, how we were doing it and what our timeline was. I returned the favor by peppering Bill with questions of home repair projects on which he had considerable knowledge. Bill's passing will create a large hole in our team that will be challenging to fill.

As we will always remember him

and on what proved to be his last day in the shop

1630 was steamed up today and passed by our FRA inspector. While much work remains to be done Brian, Jason & Tom gagged and tested the safety valves, performed the orifice test and ran the locomotive back and forth to the satisfaction of the officials present. The hard work contributed by all of you over the past few years got us to this point, plain and simple. Over this winter we need to keep up the pace to complete the job but we are well positioned to enter the 2014 season full steam ahead.

The sight we have been waiting for

I think we can all say that it is a curiosity of steam that drew us out to the museum in the first place. But over time it is the people who make the whole thing worthwhile and keep us coming back. Please keep Bill's family in your thoughts and prayers.”

Well said Collin.

Nigel

A great deal of work was done in the steam shop during the week and over the weekend.  Unfortunately, on Saturday, we hit a snag that may hold us up significantly.

The information this week is provided by Phil and Brian as I am far away on vacation.  Thanks guys.

On 1630, Brian Davies is now working full time and, with JD, Jerry, Cameron, Jeff, Jason and others all spending time working with him during the week the locomotive has seen a lot of changes:

·         The air system was all back together with the exception of the compressor by Friday.  After a few fits, the brakes work!

·         Mike was working to finish that on Saturday ready for testing.  Later in the day the house air was hooked up and the air pump was tested.  At first the high pressure steam side moved once and then it froze up. The stuffing boxes were loosened and oil was put on the pistons. A second attempt was made. It worked beautifully. So, it was good to see that something be confirmed as done and working on the locomotive.

Mike puts finishing touched to the air pump

·         All of the sheet metal in the cab is on.  Some screws still need to be added.  With the exception of attaching and plumbing the stoker jet manifold, the cab is basically complete!!  Even the electric is hooked back up pending testing.

The cab is now largely complete

·         Cylinder cocks have been cleaned and inspected, and a new pipe nipple installed after one broke.  They should be good to go. 

·         Jim and Brian are added the last little bits of insulation around about the last foot of flexible stays on either side of the wrapper sheet. 

·         Sheet metal, minus the bands, was completed across the barrel. 

·         On Saturday much of the banding was fitted.

·         The final normal hydro was performed yesterday to hammer stay bolts. This proved good so no issues with these. 

·         The blow down muffler was installed.

·         Preparations have been made for the steam test including:

o   Setting up a large steam valve on the pipe coming off of the auxiliary dome lid to allow a gauge to be fitted for testing the safety valves; and

o   Making two gags that will allow individual valves to be held closed to allow the others to be tested.

Gags ready for steam testing

·         Unfortunately the key objective on Saturday, which was to apply hydro pressure to the front end to test the sealing of the super heater elements into the header, ran in to significant problems.  This relies upon pressurizing the whole front end (cylinders, valve chambers, exhaust passages etc. with water to about 50 psi).  This involves minimizing water leakage thru a whole lot of areas, such as the piston glands, that are not wholly tight under steam and are a lot more problematic using water.

·         A large team spent the morning preparing for the test and the first filling was carried out in the afternoon.  This indicated a lot of leakage around the piston and valve glands as well as the junction where the exhaust steam from the air compressor and stoker enter the cylinder casting. 

·         Water was them lowered so fixes could be made to seal the water better.   While some progress was made on the glands it was found that the exhaust steam connection, which is in a really awkward place under the boiler, could not be sealed in a way that allowed a pressure of anything like 50 psi to be achieved.  This is a complex threaded assembly on which the threads proved to be damaged.

·         To progress the test it will now be necessary to machine a replacement part.  At the same time further work will be done on the packing glands of the piston and valve rods.  After this we can again try to pressurize the front end and test the sealing of the super heater elements.

On 428:

·         Tom has finished most of the machining on the wedges.  All that is left to do is to drill several hole in them so that they can be adjusted when they are put on the locomotive.  Brian and Cameron made a mount that will align for the drilling of these holes.

Brian and Cameron work on the template

·         The mounting brackets for 428's air compressor received a coat of paint.

In other areas:

·         Stu, Bob, and Jane worked on painting the planer. It looks quite remarkable now that it has green paint on it. Bob also worked on assembly of some more small pipes.

Stu works on the planer

Jane paints what now looks much more like a working machine