News, 26 January 2024
News, 26 January 2024
A high-activity shift this week, with a shunt and plenty of lifting.
Whilst we are months off refitting the auxiliary machines permanently we needed to left them into position to alleviate my constant fear of something being missed and having to use the immortal phrase, "Well, it fits on the drawing..."
It's a double shunt to get the loco under the hoist at Barrow Hill, one loco to pull it off the road and another to push it into position - the loco being too long to fit on the turntable with the shunt loco as well.
It wasn't that long ago that we had to use humans to push the loco into position so we are making progress.
The cleaned and painted (in undercoat) compressor table is seen beside the loco prior to lifting in.
A hour later the table, the top compressor and both exhausters were lifted into their proposed location. There are two compressors on the loco, the other one mounts directly to the floor under the table. The exhausters (on the right in the photo below) bolt direct to the floor.
Note the three doors into the cab, only the centre one will be in use when the loco is finished, hence the exhauster nearest the cab being at right angles to its mate - fitting it in the same orientation would restrict access through the door.
As if to prove my point of a trial fit, the compressor table is 180 degrees out - the oil dipstick / filler point is against the bodyside in this photo which is a silly idea. If only I'd noticed it before this photo was taken.
On the original Baby Deltics this space was occupied by the boiler. The exhausters were at the other end of the loco and the compressor was under the cooler group (where the photographer is standing). As we're not having a boiler these essential auxiliary machines can go here where they are far more accessible for maintenance and you're not going to smash your knees and shins every time you walk through the loco.
Also dropped into position was one of the radiators, held temporarily in position in the photo below by gravity and a yellow ratchet strap.
The ducting and the remains of the cooler group only exist as pixels at present so this exercise was essential to avoid a visit from Uncle Cock-Up later in the build.
Broadly speaking the cooler group will look like the screenshot below, seen from the same perspective as the photo above.
