April 2025

The April C2 working party was supposed to be a four day event, starting on Thursday and running through to Sunday, with Andrew, Daves 1 and 2 and Chris intending to be present. That was the plan, but the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways can always be relied upon to spring a surprise on us.

Andrew started work by cleaning up the new drawbar. The cut edges benefitted from attention with a flap wheel, and the same tool was used to remove mill scale from the other surfaces. Next, the drawbar was lifted onto one of the Asquith radial arm drills to drill and ream the hole at the locomotive end of drawbar.

The hole at the tender end of the drawbar is larger, so we had it profile cut a little undersize. It needs to be a precise diameter to accept a pushed in bush, so needed to be bored out (it's too big for a reamer). Andrew and Chris therefore moved the drawbar to one of the milling machines. Dave 1 had bored the hole in the original drawbar, so was able to offer some advice on setting up the boring head in the milling machine. Getting a good surface finish in the hole was a bit of a challenge but, with persistence, Andrew achieved good results and the hole was bored to exactly the correct diameter.

Meanwhile, Dave 1 asked Robco's advice on how to machine hexagonal heads on the fitted bolts made at the previous working party. Robco recommended using the indexing head and a milling machine. Since Dave had never used an indexing head, Robco showed him how it works. Dewi also offered advice, which was most welcome. Using his newly gained knowledge, Dave milled the bolt heads on the Archdale mill (a machine he had not used before). With the hexagonal sections formed, the bolts were transferred to one of the DSG lathes to turn a chamfer on the corners to complete the bolts.

On Saturday we intended to continue work in the machine shop, but...

Like most of the UK, Wales had a spell of glorious sunshine in the week leading up to the working party. Coupled to several months with almost no rain, the hillsides are tinder dry and created a significant fire risk. It was therefore decreed that steam locomotives would not be allowed to operate over the weekend. This required that all available diesel locomotives be used, and suitably qualified drivers needed to be found at very short notice. Andrew fitted the bill, and so was asked to drive a train from Porthmadog to Caernarfon and back. Since this would have left Dave 1 working on his own for most of the day (which isn't as much fun as working with others), Dave asked if he could go along for a ride. Permission was granted, and so Andrew, Bobby and Dave spent the day enjoying the scenery of Snowdonia from the cab of the Vale of Ffestiniog diesel locomotive.

Dave 2 arrived at Boston Lodge late on Saturday afternoon, to find the C2 working party on pause. He therefore offered his services to the Wooden Wagon Federation who are restoring a wooden 4-ton coal wagon in the Carriage Works next door to the C2 Shed. Removing corroded steel bolts from oak chassis members is a far from easy task, requiring heavy duty drilling and the use of a sledge hammer.

Andrew and Chris had to leave on Saturday evening, but James joined Dave 1 on Sunday, while Dave 2 continued assisting the WWF.

The two slidebar front packing pieces that Zoe had made needed to be machined to a precise thickness. One at a time (they are different thicknesses), Dave 1 set the packing pieces up in a vice on the Archdale mill, and carefully reduced each to the required thickness.

With the slidebar packing pieces and the fitted bolts now completed, we believe we are now ready to fit the slidebars. However, before doing so, we'll give the matter careful thought to ensure we've done all the jobs which will be easier done before fitting the slidebars.

James was tasked with fitting the bushes to the drawbar. The plastic bush at the locomotive end was fairly easy to push into place, using the drawbar pin to guide it and a G-clamp to apply the necessary force.

A greater force was required to push the spherical rubber bush into the tender end of the drawbar, which required the use of the hydraulic press. James found some suitable pieces of steel tube which could be used to apply force to the edges of the bush, and to support the end of the drawbar. Dave 1 helped him to lift the drawbar onto the hydraulic press and to set up the press tools. With everything in place, the hydraulic press forced the bush into the drawbar without any fuss. We now only need to weld the damper brackets to the drawbar and to paint it for it to be complete.

A final task for James was to repair the crank which operates the regulator inside the dome. The crank is held onto the regulator control shaft using a grub screw or similar, but the threaded hole was very badly worn with almost no thread remaining. James therefore drilled the hole out to remove the damage and then ran an M12 tap through it to form a new thread.

So, while the weekend definitely did not go to plan, we achieved our objectives and had great fun too!