Dunrobin Developments 5
1st August 2011
Duncan Ballard has sent through latest photos of the dismantling of Dunrobin’s boiler for closer examination…
Below: Drilling out the stays, a long and tedious job (and this is a small boiler!).
Below: In this view you can see some of the stays have been drilled, some have been removed (those beneath the expansion bracket which is the horizontal angle about a third of the way up the firebox side).
At some point, the bottoms of the two side tanks for water alongside the boiler on ‘Dunrobin’ had their bottoms filled with concrete to seal leaks?
Over winters the concrete had frozen, and cracked, and much of it was removed as loose.
Tank sidewalls are very thin in places, with only the green paint on the exterior holding the water in.
The edges of the long rectangular holes flame-cut in the tank tops, the covers now secured with bolts, are very sharp when reaching down into tanks.
‘Lads’ must have been used to go down inside, if necessary, in Victorian times? No one here would fit through the two round front openings.
The bottom of the smoke box below the exhaust nozzle above the valves and cylinders was all corroded from rust and chemical action of wet cinders, and too had been filled with concrete.
Bolts holding exhaust nozzle onto cylinder casting frail.
Thin tin heat shield plates on smoke box sides burned through at bottom ends and loose.
Getting cinders out below nozzle and in netting an awkward job.
Cinders had been left in wet around base of nozzle over winter many times in past.
A hole about 1 x 1 inch square blew out from steam pressure front top in right hand cylinder into smoke box when under steam.
Right steam cylinder sleeved and piston turned down to fit.
Lamp wick arrangement to oil big ends of main rods and valve gear eccentrics not the best plan.
A complex place to get at, with water tanks on frame, to say the least.
I used to climb under locomotive and squirt oil from oiler onto all big end and eccentric components on cranked axle, and onto slide bars, etc. abaft cylinders and valves.
Copper fire box tube sheet bulged towards fire door/cab account low water? Staybolts across water gap between rear tube sheet and bottom of boiler barrel replaced in copper as broken at some point.
Bottom row boiler tubes removed and replaced from copper spares in stock that came over with locomotive to accommodate this work.
Ferrous ferrules expanded into replaced copper tubes at fire end as per others.
Boiler backhead in cab. Metal around wash out plugs for top of crown sheet between water glasses metal seemed awfully THIN.
Left Injector had cracked, and leaked.
All four bearings in rear truck under coal bunker re-brassed as were worn.
Cab roof has lip and rain water collected is drained through small tubes into water tank in bottom of coal space. Water tube on left rear corner of cab leaks into coal.
‘Dunrobin’ was too small for the job it was on given 2.5% grade with 8-wheel British coach and was force-fired frequently.
Some Engineers ( Drivers ) carried water too low on upgrade to make steam, then turned on the Injectors as summit reached to bring water up as throttle shut and for the downgrade just after summit, fire then at full heat on grade.
Scary!
Apparently, when first used here c. 1969, they had a ‘runaway’ with train, as still on Vaccuum brakes.
Shortly after, Westinghouse Air Brake was applied to engine and 8-wheel coach as locomotive too light for job and no brakes on rear truck.
‘Dunrobin’ could not be depended on to hold back 8-wheel coach on wet/greasy rail if latter had no brakes.
Johnson Bar reverse nicer than a screw one.
Removing clinker out firebox door account poor coal a hot and onerous job.
Poor old thing!
All in all, a wonderful little jewel in the wrong place for a long time.
Glad it is back home.
Thank You.
CLC.
Hi CLC – you obviously have some experience of Dunrobin in Canada and we’d love to hear more about it. In time I’ll put more about the condition of the loco on the blog, but at present don’t want to prejudice the future tendering programme for the work. My view of the holes in the tank tops is that they are a preservation era creation and have certainly been put in quite crudely. Fortunately they aren’t too visible and are also quite useful. Feel free to post more memories as I am hoping to build a full picture of Dunrobin’s life in Canada and there is real value in collecting folks’ experiences.
Cheers
Paul