News of the Steam Reverser overhaul

An update from Ben Dingley

Ben has been busy but has found time to let us know what he has been up to with the overhaul of the Steam Reverser.  In a previous post it was seen that a new steam side piston was being turned.  Since that post Ben has turned up the top cap which sits on top of this piston to retain the rings.  The piston rings have been ordered with help from Sheffield Park Loco workshop.

The top cap for the steam side piston (all pictures by Ben Dingley)

Den and Ian Furguson have lapped in the steam valve using engineers blue to show high or low spots.  This follows the machining of the valve and grinding of the port face sometime ago.

Starting to lap in the steam valve

The steam valve and faces having been tried using "Engineers Blue"

The steam valve has now been reassembled and the control links fitted onto the new valve rod. This controls the flow of steam and whether the piston goes up or down which in turn sets the engine in forward or back gear. 

The reassembled steam vale (minus a couple of nuts!)

The cover box you can see in the picture below in red oxide will now be returned to the railway for painting into top coat in the same manner and to the same standard as the cylinder covers seen in an earlier post.

The assembled steam valve with a test fitting of the cover prior to being painted

Ben has cleaned up all the screws which hold the cylinder cladding covers that have been seen in earlier posts.

The screws cleaned up and trial fitted to the cylinders

Over the summer Ben was lucky enough to find the valve which controls the hydraulic cylinder. This had been missing since the project began and was an important find, thanks to the workshop for helping with this. This was cleaned in the shot blaster and reunited with the rest of the reverser.

The control valve from the hydraulic cylinder having been cleaned and reassembled

The dismantled valve showing the thread which needed to be restored

The valve had a damaged thread which was gently filed using a thread file to restore its profile. This took time and was a carefully done so as not to damage the thread further and to ensure it fitted together well.

The screw thread file used the number "11" refers to the "teeth per inch"

Having got the thread sorted, attention was turned to checking the valve was seated probably using more engineers blue. We were lucky here and there was no excessive wear the valve seated well and this has now been reassembled.  

The valve having been tried using engineers blue

The studs which hold the hydraulic valve onto the cylinder were missing, owing to the valve being removed many years ago so Ben is now turning up 4 new studs to replace these.

the four studs being tried in the cylinder casting

Please look out for more updates and other posts on the blog and on Facebook

Thanks for reading this far.

Clive D. Emsley
Chairman - The Fenchurch Fund
Project Manager - PROJECT 27
A Sub-Committee of the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society
www.bluebell-railway.co.uk
http://wainrightsfinestsecr27.blogspot.co.uk/

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