Welcome to the September update. I’m sorry that this is a few weeks late as I’ve been on holiday with a little bit of railways thrown in. I thought that there were no railways in Cyprus but I managed to find the only remaining Cyprus Government Railway (CGR) station.
So what’s been happening? The Tender has been lifted and the bogies run out. Work started on cleaning off the accumulated grime. The plan was to take the bogies outside for cleaning but the work on the shed roof and on other locos in the shed has precluded this. To enable work to continue the rear bogie was returned under the Tender so that work could continue. The front bogie frame was lifted and the wheelsets run out. . This front bogie frames cleaning will now continue.
The axleboxes have been removed from the wheel sets and measured. Some work has been identified to “true up” the horn faces. The wheel tyres have also been measured. The wheel sets will require a visit to the wheel lathe for attention to the flanges and a polish on the journals. The axlebox bearings will also require whitemetalling. The underside of the tender is being cleaned down ready for repainting.
Needle gunning is still progressing on the loco frames. This is very noisy and laborious work. Needle gunning is only the first stage in frame cleaning. The next stage is to wire brush off the surfaces to clean off any remaining paint before a coat of primer can be applied.
On the boiler, our boilersmith continues removing stays and set screws on the firebox.
The other key area for us is raising funds to support Sir Lamiel’s overhaul. Over recent months, our sales stand has been to the Loughborough Model Railway exhibition, Statfold Barn Railway museum open day and the GCR Autumn gala raising over £1000.
We are having a working weekend on 12th and 13th November. If you would like to come and get involved on the overhaul please contact us on comms@5305la.org.uk
Thank you for your support for the overhaul of Sir Lamiel.
Alan Berck-May
Chairman