Wednesday 28^th December 2004 was a significant day in the story of “SIR B’s” overhaul as the locomotive’s frames were moved into the Middleton Railway’s Moor Road workshops for overhaul to start.

For all the usual “festive” reasons, work on the frames did not actually start until Sunday 9^th January, when preparation work began.  Old steam locomotives are not that different from old coaches when it comes to actually overhauling them – you can guarantee that whatever happens, there will ALWAYS be more work than you bargained for!  So it is with “SIR B”, who proved the rule during the dismantling stage some months ago, when, on removing the valve gear, an eccentric strap simply broke in two!  On Sunday 9^th January, the “gremlin” struck again. 

When the engine was dismantled, the front buffer beam was also removed, as we were well aware that a new oak beam was required and indeed is currently being sourced.  To save space, it was laid on top of the frames.  Now,  the job was to prepare the cylinder casting for inspection and repair and that is exactly where the buffer beam had been placed!  So, with Andrew Parsley in command, we set to and planned the movement of the buffer beam.  Simple enough job – just lift it out of the way.  Well, actually no!  The frames are resting on sleepers [standard practice], but someone used a long one and it blocked access for our lifting frame.  OK, we’ll slide it along the buffer beam.  Err, no – to do that we have to do some dismantling of both buffer beam and loco!  At this point, we did what all people do in times of crisis, we had a cuppa!

With spirits renewed, we actually settled on “Plan B” – remove enough bits to slide the thing out of the way.  This entailed removing the operating lever for the cylinder drains – very easy.  Then we had to remove the buffers themselves – relatively easily achieved by judicious use of the favourite workshop tool, warmolene – an oxy-acetyline burner to warm the bolts before they will move!  The drawhook , however, proved very difficult.  It is secured to the buffer beam by means of a massive bolt and then a combination of metal & rubber washers to give it the essential  flexibility of movement when hauling trains.  This nut did NOT want to move and it took some considerable time before it could be persuaded to do so.  It was at this point that our gremlin took us by surprise.  During all this activity, we moved the buffer beam around and whilst doing so, chunks of rotten wood began falling off the two wooden “dumb buffers”  which would have been used in the contracting stage of the loco’s  life.  Plainly, these are suffering from age and we may need to replace them.  Oddly, the rear two look in much better condition which could point to either those two were newer than the front pair, or the front pair are actually newer, but replaced with an inferior wood!  Either way, the front two dumb buffers now need a dose of looking at!

After much persuasion, we managed to get the buffer beam out of the way and begin work on the cylinder casting.  We are well aware that the top of this casting is, to say the least “well worn” and an early, full, examination is thought to be the right way to proceed.  Having sealed the two oil entry points with a plug to prevent any dust & rust falling into the cylinders,  work has begun  to  clear all the old concrete and rusty metal from the block so that it can be fully examined.  It’s quite obvious from the right hand side of the block, that it has seen better days.  The flange for the main steam pipe is a most extraordinary thing – at some stage in its life it has been turned 45 degrees to allow a better joint to be made, and it is now in quite a state.  As with all things, there WILL be a way round this and our engineers will come up with a suitable solution. 

The following weekend was spent dismantling the buffer beam more completely, to allow a new oak beam to be fitted, which was where another of those gremlins suddenly appeared!  Some months previously, we provided measurements for a new oak buffer beam to replace the old one, which we knew was in need of replacement.   MRT engineer Andrew Parsley, with assistance from VCT Chairman Trevor England measured the wooden beam and the order was placed.  When the buffer beam was finally dismantled, we discovered to our horror that there were tenons on each end of the wooden beam, whose length had not been catered for!  Fortunately, there is a way around this, which will be applied in due course, but the exercise does again prove that nothing is ever quite what it seems when restoring old locomotives!!