The running season may now have finished but that doesn’t mean that the railway has gone into hibernation. The fallen trees across the line in three places have now been cut up and cleared and dehumidifiers have been drying out the machine shop after the flood waters receded. The completion of this work means that the worst of the effects of Storm Darragh have now been dealt with.
Loco No. 10 has had her bunker cleaned out, and both the tank and boiler drained. At the start of December she successfully passed her steam test and so she is now going to have a period of rest before a busy season next year.
Preparations are underway for the 2nd 10-year overhaul of Loco No. 7. The Talyllyn Railway has kindly loaned two boiler cradle wagons to support and facilitate movement of the boiler once it has been lifted off the frames. Work will begin on the dismantling of No. 7 at the end of December when volunteers will be stripping the engine down in Maespoeth shed under the aegis of the railway’s chief mechanical engineer, Trefor Davies.
The boiler tubes will be removed in order to prepare for the ultrasonic testing of the boiler metal and welds as well as checking the integrity of the firebox. The frames will be lifted and the wheelsets dropped out. The wheels are going to be re-profiled by the Vale of Rheidol workshops and they will also be making new crank pins. The Vale of Rheidol are also making a new smoke box out of stainless steel similar to the one they made for No. 4 on the Talyllyn Railway. New white metal bearings for the loco are being made in-house at Maespoeth.
With the boiler and cab removed from the loco, there will then be the opportunity to clean and degrease the frames and the motion, prior to repainting. The boiler will be re-tubed and the whole reassembled, before the loco undergoes extensive testing in order to receive another 10-year boiler ticket.
N.B. The photograph at the top of this Press Release and those inside the engine shed shown below are of the 10-year overhaul of Number 7 during November 2014.
