News

From next month working bees will be held on the first Sunday of every month rather than Saturday. We have done this in the hope that more people will be available on Sundays rather than Saturdays when many people have to work. Therefore the next working be will be held on Sunday 4th November, 2012 at 8.30 A.M. Our main tasks will centre on the loco engine and cab interior of 1225.

The working bee today was a short one and involved finishing the removal of the Air Cleaner and gradually unbolting the first exhaust manifold casting to start working our way to the top of the first cylinders. Unfortunately we didn’t get as far as we wanted as we needed a rattle gun and an extension to get to a few of the bolts. Ready for September’s bee on the 1st. (Thanks to Dean Stalker for this report).

Today’s working bee involved a closer look at the engine on 1225. At the moment it is known that water is definitely in the engine of 1225, however the extent of the damage is hard to tell without the ability to get the heads off. So as a start, we took part of the exhaust manifold off of the 6th cylinder on the driver’s side and noticed immediately the lovely untouched black carbon lining … water hadn’t made it that far. So the thoughts are the water has gotten into the 1st / 2nd bank of cylinders … we won’t know until we finish taking the air cleaner off at the next working bee … to be continued. (Thanks to Dean Stalker for this report).

The first working bee for 2011 took place on Saturday 26th February. The cab of 1225 has been cleaned up of larger debris but still needs a vacuum cleaner through it. The resident 8-legged wildlife were exterminated with a thorough spraying from cab to hood. The turbos and exhaust manifold was also drained of water. (Info courtesy of Dean Stalker).

The Friday, 3rd December move went pretty much according to plan and 1225 now lives at Swanbank! Check out images and videos of the move below.

– Paul Henderson (29:51)

– Dean Stalker (39:08)

– Colin Power (7:17)

This Friday, 3rd December at 12 noon, will see train #7B02 haul 1225 from LMD at Redbank to QPSR at Swanbank. Arrival time at QPSR is expected to be around 12.50 p.m.