RN 220 - Weekly steam shed report - by Gert Jubileus - 30th July 2006 - 04 August 2006

SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE REPORT

This week the Feldbahn Locomotive arrived at Sandstone Estates and she was welcomed with white feathers of snow. We have tried to offload her but were interrupted with a heavy snowstorm and we had to postpone the offloading till Friday when the weather was more favourable although it was still freezing and the temperature far below zero degrees.
The Feldbahn was offloaded at Vailima and the rails were connected to the rail panel on the truck. The Hunslet Diesel locomotive was used and she was pulled down off the truck very slowly.

We then oiled the motion and cylinders inside before we pulled her back to the Steam Shed in Hoekfontein Main complex. Henk was the pilot on the Feldbahn and we stopped at several places on our way to take her to her new home. She really is a masterpiece and her restoration is astonishing, another locomotive that was saved from the scrap heap and another locomotive that is brought back to live by Sandstone Estates. They might be busy to cut locomotives up throughout South Africa, but every few months a phoenix arises from the ash and steams into a new preserved and secured career on the Sandstone Steam Railway. This locomotive is restored to her full glory and Lukas Nel and his team can be really proud on their achievements over the last couple of years. The Bloemfontein Team is the Legend that brings our locomotives back to life.
Below: Photos of the Feldbahn on her way to a new life on the Sandstone Steam railway. Once she thought that her life was over, but….

Safe and sound in her NEW HOME!

LOCOMOTIVES TO BLOEMFONTEIN
Two Locomotives were loaded this week and will depart for Bloemfontein early on Monday morning.
First we had to re-rail the locomotives in the back of the Wagon shed and then they were shunted out to enable us to load them at a suitable place.
Below Left: Arno and Henry busy re-railing the Illovo Sugar cane locomotive:
Below Right: Henk and Ben coupled the Locomotive to the Hunslet and pulled her up to be loaded.

All the available spares for these two locomotives were loaded onto pallets and these pallets as well as the cabs and boiler for the blue locomotive were loaded onto the low bed.

CLASS NGG 13 NUMBER 49
Number 49 received special attention to a leaking cone on the steam pipe behind the left rear cylinder. A very concealed space to work and special tools were used to rectify the problem. Below: front and side view photos of the cone joint and bolts almost impossible to reach without special tools.
THE BARCLAY:
This week the regulator gland, tarot spindle packing nuts and the ejector packing nuts were packed. The right side injector was removed and all the cones were cleaned. Below left: The Barclay injector Below right: Tarot spindles inside the cab of the Barclay.
CLASS NGG 16 NUMBER 153
New clinkerite packings were made for the four snifter valves and the snifter valves were fitted back to the locomotive. All eight Bypass valves were also fitted back and with the problems we found on these valves rectified, she will drift much easier and it also will prevent gasses to be sucked in by the cylinders from the smoke box. These valves must be kept in good working condition.
CLASS NGG 16 NUMBER 113.
Henry fitted new firebox doors to 113 this week. The old ones were worn out and occasionally got stuck when the doors were opened to fire the locomotive. He machined new pins for the doors to.
THE RATANGA LOCOMOTIVE: Henk made good progress with the restoration of the tender for this locomotive. He made a new buffer beam for the tender and is busy to make a Bell buffer for the rear end of the tender. The frame will be sandblasted in next week and will receive a undercoat. Once this is complete he will build a new bunker for the frame. Below: Photos taken of the restoration of the Ratanga Locomotive tender.
Below left: The Coupler compression spring. Below Right: A photo of the Bell Coupler.
SANDSTONE STEAM RAILWAY WAGON REPORT: WAGON 3210. Ben fitted a new release valve and new chamber pipes to this wagon this week, while Jacob painted the inside of the wagon with Battle Ship grey paint. Below left: Jacob painting the inside of 3210. Below Right: Ben fitted the new release valve.
AUTOMOBILES The restoration of the Peerless truck is marching on and Henry stripped the bonnet and front panels with fenders to sand them to perfection. The restoration will be complete by the end of next week and the Peerless truck will be ready to load onto a train wagon. Below: Photos of the Peerless restoration.
WOODEN CRATES Ben repaired all the available crates that we could find and they are going to be stencilled in next week. We now have eleven new crates that we can load onto our consists. In next week we are going to fill more sandbags that we can use for display purposes.
SIGNS AND DECALS: All the safety signs were stencilled on the backside this week and they will be fitted in next week. This helps a lot to make people aware of safety.
Class 26, the Red Devil near Behrshoek 7 June 1999. (Photo by Judy Odell)
PLANNING FOR NEXT WEEK:
1.) Stencilling of wooden crates 2.) Sand and varnish 3210. 3.) Finish restoration of Peerless Truck. 4.) Fit safety signboards. 5.) Sandblast Ratanga Tender and build new bunker. 6.) Restoration of BSA railcar. 7.) Hydraulic Fowler B5 8.) Clean all level crossings 9.) Clean coaches 10.) Roadworthy passenger coaches and adjusts brakes. 11.) Prepare locomotive for tour. 12.) Train tour Thursday. 13.) Steam test Feldbahn next Saturday 14.) Finish War Van inside and outside with Red Cross. 15.) Test Stationary engine. 16.) Assemble Cochran boiler and accessories. 17.) Fit doors to B wagon 2968 and finish restoration of it.