Today's engine was Atlas again, but to mix things up a bit, I turned it around for a different perspective on things (and to avoid breathing its toxic gases when it powers uphill!) It ran mostly ok, one of the air hoses worked loose and fell off once, and towards the end of the afternoon it started making loud screeching noises as it entered the Abbey station. Inspection revealed that it had developed a hot axlebox, and needed to come out of service imediately. It turns out that the springs of the oily pad that presses against the axle to lubricate it have broken, and the axle hasn't had a supply of oil to keep it moving freely. It should be fairly simple to put right, but we have to take the entire axloebox off to access it, which could prove to be quite an involved process. So for now it is out of action.
But fear not, Druid to the rescue! Druid itself had problems early on today with its brakes, but this was put right easily enough. It's also looking rather shabby, having picked up some more scratches while being used for scrap collection.
Meanwile today, The sleepers were surveyed, to see which most deperately need replacing now the evenings are light enough to do some sleeper changes.
The Lawnmower takes a well deserved rest.
Justin and James have replaced this little bit of track off the turntable for one with a buffer stop on it. They have made a very tidy job of it too, It just needs some adjustment so that Vulcan can fit on the turntable again.
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