Saturday Workday- 30th April

A bit of Admin to begin with: ARHS management has designated 3 projects to carry us through to the end of the year, namely;
- Returning our 2 CPH Railmotors to the mainline
- Restoration of our 12 wheel MCE Carriage
- Overhaul of our 1878 pride and joy, Locomotive 1210
Our volunteers are a committed bunch (Case in point, 6029s restoration) and we're fairly confident we will see these projects come to fruition by years end.

A damp morning in Kingston but the sun emerged later to reward the volunteers.  The big plan for the day was to get 1210 to 'lift ready' status.  Gavin, Andy Heys and others have been gradually stripping back the locomotive over the past 12 months in the shed but some of the more niggling jobs required access from underneath the locomotive so the 44 was kicked over and the loco moved over the pit.
En-route, a stop was made to remove the compressor from the side of the smokebox with the assistance of the forklift.  This component is fairly 'work weary' and require a fair amount of love and attention to bring it back up to standard.

Once on the pit, Gavin squeezed into the firebox to begin removing the fire grate.  1210s firehole door is not the biggest and its a good judge of who's wife cooks the best meals.  A fair amount of coal had been liberally applied to the firebox whilst the engine has been on display so this had to be disposed of first.  1210 is fitted with mod-con Waugh firegrate, as is found in 38 and 60 class locomotives and this makes the task of removing the grate relatively easy.   Underneath the engine, our asset manager Ben was stripping off the blowdown mechanism, disconnecting the damper ram airlines and removing the ashpan flushers (Another mod con) so the firebox will clear the frames when lifted.  With these tasks complete, attention moved to the smokebox end where the remaining bolts securing the boiler to the frame were cut.  The boiler now should be ready to come out and Ben will be arranging a visit from the crane in the coming weeks.

Elsewhere in the yard, John was working away on applying a new surface to the roof of CPH 27.  This, along with the painting of CPH 37 and the installation of ICE Radio Equipment are the main items to be addressed before they can venture onto the network.  Further back in the shed, AL 1040 was continuing its long restoration at Bob Halls hands.

Our track manager Gordon disappeared with a flat top trolley early on and was not seen until after lunch.  He was attending to trackwork on the North Shunt with a few helpers.  Also working outside the gates was Engineering Manager Alan who was completing some contract work on CFCLAs wagons.

Another successful day!