Recent
News from Ropley Motive Power
Depot: showing work-in-progress of
interest to the steam railway
enthusiast
Reports
and photos by your webmaster,
or by others where acknowledged
Follow our restoring of
heritage steam engines
from Barry wrecks to high performance, mainline certified steam classics
| 16th
December 2006: #71000 Duke of Gloucester hauls Watercress Line Santa Special Photo (16th December
2006): Matt Allen
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| 12th
December 2006: Turned out the cause of Saturday's problem (9th Dec) with #71000 Duke of Gloucester was boiler tubes. Many flue-tubes and smoke-tubes needed expanding at the firebox end, and Andy and Gavin had done the flue-tubes and they were working on the smoke-tubes by mid afternoon and reckon the job may be finished tomorrow morning |
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| Myra had cleaned the motion of #73096 and was applying Ensis oil to stop the rods from rusting |  |
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This
ex-WD Hunslet tank No.75282 (built by Vulcan, 1945), recently
overhauled at Portland in the course of restoration,
has come to MHR for trials on its way back home to the Gwili Railway
It is an ex-NCB loco Photos (12th December
2006): Tony Wood
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NewsExpress
for latest news from all the UK heritage railways
Wagon
renovations
and restorations at MHR
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6th
December 2006: The Prairie was raising steam this morning (so that lubricators would operate) and it was taken to Alresford to await transport home to Somerset. Brian Simmons saw it loading at 3pm same day in Alresford |
Andy was marking
out Douglas's
firebox patch for riveting Heavy general overhaul of rebuilt
J94 #10 Douglas |
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| Coach
4977 has moved to Duncan's department for coach-end repairs and
painting. The wheeldrop shed is being painted inside and is looking bright and airy. Morley was steam-cleaning the pit walls ready for fresh white paint. On the same pit but outside, Frank and others were replacing brake blocks on #92212 |
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 Photos (6th December
2006): Tony Wood
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30th November
2006:
Four of the locos had chimneys
smoking today:
The Ivatt and the Std5 were having
their safety valve settings checked by boiler inspectors from our
insurers;
Bert's Black Five was having its safety valves set; and Bodmin
had a warming fire in readiness for service tomorrow.
It's good to be able to coal up without all that shunting to a coaling stage |
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| Brakes
were being assembled under the tender to MHRPS Black Five #45379 Fitting #45379's tender body to the frames |
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| At the front of #45379's frames, the riveting crew was at work: Movie (4MB) | Photos and movie (30th November 2006): Tony Wood |
| 26th November
2006: GWR Prairie in the Ropley MPD wheeldrop shed Photo (26th November
2006): Matt Allen
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23rd
November
2006: Keith Loughlin was raising steam on #73096 ready for safety-valve setting, so I got him to look out of the fireman's window. This loco has its formal boiler inspection next week. (The steam valves ahead of the cab are for the live- and exhaust-steam injectors, and that's one of the injector water valves just below Keith's feet) |
| #71000
Duke of Gloucester
is being stabled at Ropley between mainline runs |
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| Movie (15.9MB)
: setting the safety valves on Ivatt
#41312, also in preparation for a
formal boiler inspection. Andy Netherwood was showing the procedure to Gavin Neal, one of MHR's trainee boilersmiths; Keith was on the footplate controlling steam pressure More about safety valves |
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Engine in place in DMMU W51363
over the wheeldrop pit Bob Allen was putting in the remaining mounting bolts in the afternoon, but there's still a bit to do |
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Photos (21st November
2006): Henry O'Dwyer
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| From:
Colin Chambers Sent: 20 November 2006 16:48 Subject: crane Tony The attached photo is of a new slewing pinion for DS414. We have been waiting for it for about 12 months. Les has made up a new key and fitted it to the shaft this weekend. Hopefully we will fit it next weekend, crane jobs permitting. I'm told it's about 9" in
diameter ... tw
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| 19th November
2006: Ranger Nick had brought up a good shine on Bodmin on the day following the last of the 2006 scheduled RAT trains. (We are already booking RATs for 2007). Coach S4549 had had its steam heating tested (by steam from Bodmin) and is in service, though it will return to Ropley shed for work on the toilets before those can be brought into use. Photos (19th November
2006): Tony Wood
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| 15th November 2006:
Frames of Douglas lifted from the wheels, frames put on a wagon, and the wheels lifted onto a lorry to go to Rileys' for new tyres Movie of this operation (3.8MB) In the Boiler Department, Douglas's boiler was turned onto its other side to give better access for patching the left-hand side of the firebox wrapper Movie of the lift (3.5MB) |
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| From:
Richard Walker Sent: 13 November 2006 17:34 Subject: Photos Please find attached five photos of Ropley Loco out of sixty-six taken on the 10 November 2006. I like to call in on my way to my daughters, and always find all the persons on duty very helpful, very informative and knowledgeable, which is much appreciated by an ex-railwayman. Thank you for your hospitality R E Walker |
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| 7th November
2006: Mid-week P-Way gang were drilling sleepers and screwing down chairs in Ropley yard this morning. By late afternoon they'd gone, but ballast was all in place and the track was in service. Seems odd to see rails there clear of ash. |
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| Looks
as though Gavin has just about finished patching the ashpan of #73096 Photos (7th November
2006): Tony Wood
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Darren (one of
our Rangers) in the
wheeldrop helping to refit the rear truck axle to the visiting Prairie Photo (28th October
2006): Mark Drinkwater
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| 25th October 2006: Morley and others over the past few days have fitted up a new board for mounting spanners. This replaces the rack where finding the correct spanner was so frustrating | |
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| The
grate fingers have been removed from Std5 #73096 and Gavin
Neal
was cutting out corroded sections of the ashpan in
situ, preparing
the good metal for patching. "Did you get my good side?" he asked later. d:-) Photos
(25th October 2006): Tony Wood
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| 17th October
2006: #41312 and #73096 are both in the boiler shop at present. Std 5 #73096 needs a few jobs on leaking fittings, and the ashpan, firebars and hopper doors need some work. It'll then get a new brick arch. Ivatt #41312 has had its washout and is having its annual boiler exam a little early as it is not diagrammed to work for a month or so. The photos show Douglas's boiler where Andy has discovered two minor cracks which will be ground out and built up with weld before the new throatplate and doorplate sections are welded on. Photo (17th October
2006): Tony Wood
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Heavy general overhaul of rebuilt
J94 #10 Douglas
Just
follow links marked to access archives of
Latest News pages ...
Anything previous?
| Stannier
Black Five #45379*
... is under restoration *Photo:
Frank Boait
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If you are sight-impaired and have difficulty reading this webpage, please supply details in an e-mail to webmaster@watercressline.co.uk. Thank you.
Webmaster: tonywood@watercressline.co.uk
Copyright © 1997 -
2006: Tony Wood
http://www.watercressline.co.uk/tw
Title graphic: Henry O'Dwyer
| Photos (*movies) by tw to show the day-to-day work
of this busy MPD: Nov 2002 to date: FujiFilm FinePix 2800Zoom* (digital) Late 1998 to Nov 2002: FujiFilm DX8 (digital) 1998 and earlier: Minox 35ML (35mm) |
| The Watercress Line, The Railway
Station, Alresford, Hampshire, England, SO24 9JG Tel 01962 733810 Fax 01962 735448 tonywood@watercressline.co.uk www.watercressline.co.uk/tw |
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