After 3 days of intense brain work at the Norfolk Archives in Norwich, it was time to head back up to the shops at Weybourne Station today. It was a bright sunny day with a cool breeze as 4-6-0 Black Five "George Stephenson" was ready to pull the 10:30 train up to Holt.
While waiting for departure, I listened in on the conversation between the engine driver for that shift and one of the owners of Black Five on how they had re-tubed the boiler and installed new stay bolts in the firebox. We both then hopped on the train and stood in the vestibule all the way up to Weybourne Station. I had a chance to ask the owner how he used oxy-acetylene torches to collapse the boiler tubes from inside the firebox without blowing steel off of the backhead, then how he used a tractor to pull each tube out through the front plate in the smokebox, then how each tube was installed, swaged, and then rounded. A very educational conversation it was (at least for me it was).
It was clean-up time as I pushed a vac down the rails in the back of the C&W shop sucking up sawdust and crud. Around 11:00 I took a quick trip out to the yard with Nigel to look at the container flat. Fifteen minutes later we were stringing out air hoses from the shop down to the con-flat and I was needle-gunning the rust and crud off of the steel. After lunch I went back at it again, finishing off with a twisted wire-wheel on a 4 1/2" Delta angle grinder to get it down to bare steel. I managed to only get about 6' of the outside steel done which wasn't too bad as it took some time to get the air hoses and extension cords strung out, locate the needle gun, angle grinder and wire wheel and to get started. I finished off the day with a coat of rust inhibitor. This stuff is fantastic as it contains an acid that gets rid of any remaining rust.
At 3 o'clock it was tea time which made for a very refreshing break. As I mentioned to the lads, I've drunk more tea in the last 4 weeks than I have in the previous 40 years.
As I was finishing up, Black Five came into the yard after finishing her runs for the day. As soon as she had cleared the switches, the Quad Arts were moved onto the main line and taken down to Sheringham for their trips in tomorrow's "Mixed Gala".
I had a quick shower at the shops to get rid of the grit and grime. Then it was time to head back to Sheringham. On my way out, I saw that Ivor (is it pronounced "Eye-vor" or is it "Eee-vor"?) the Engine had arrived so I took a couple of photos. Wouldn't it be nice to have that engine in your back yard? Ivor and his friend, Jones the Steam, will be featured next weekend. This will be quite popular with the younger set as they will be able to get up real close to the engines. They're almost as popular as Thomas the Tank Engine. Phil, Allistair, André and their chum were talking so I joined in the conversation for a bit and took their photo. These lads had been working on their diesels all week installing turbo-chargers, adding a 3rd coat of paint, or fixing up cab doors.
On getting back to Sheringham, I was going to have some lobster but then remembered I should do some laundry as I'm off to Dorchester next Monday and I'm out of fresh clothes. So, it was up the hill to Camberley House, down the hill to the launderette, then back up the hill to Camberley. It wasn't the hill so much but those last 3 flights of stairs up to my room. I had changed my T-shirt at the launderette but it was soaked when I got back up to my room from all that hill climbing.
We're back to the shops tomorrow and then to Letheringsett if it's nice on Sunday for a pilgrimage to Stephen Moore's pit hole.
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