15th June 2009

Dave Young, fresh from his holidays, set to with some work on the steam roller, including the gauge glass fittings and injector steam valve. When I came to drain the boiler, the tap failed to work. Much head scratching and removal of the plug and still no water (I should add that the engine was cold!). In the end we removed the whole fitting and the problem was revealed – the tap has been filled with silver solder and plugged. Further investigation revealed the plug to be worn and a hydraulic test showed an earlier repair had pin-hole fissures through it, which must have led to the tap always passing steam and water.
Davy will tidy up and dress the area before drilling out the holes and re-soldering. Hopefully this will cure the problem we anticipate must have been there.

Below: The drain tap.

Below: A close up of the tap body, revealing the tiny pin hole fissures…

Below: The refurbished gauge glass cocks and fittings. The taper cocks are not idea as they cannot be packed as they wear.

Below: We also located some wood (Meranti – a hardwood) in the offcuts heap and cut these to size so Dave Young can make up a water trough for the horse drawn water cart. Note the weather – only hours later we were dealing with floods and storms!