Earlier in the week it was reported that Dinmore Manor's left hand cylinder cover was leaking steam and the damper door was not opening fully. Foremark Hall was the loco in service today and was in front of Dinmore but once she had enough steam Foremark was used to shunt Dinmore out of the shed so we could get to work.
The first thing needed to be removed from the loco was the cladding. This was just held on by a couple of machine screws and a bolt. The next job was to remove the nuts holding the cover in place. These were quite tight and were a little more reluctant at being undone.
Once the nuts were all off we found the cylinder cover was stuck fast and there wasn't anyway to get a bar in to lever it away from the face. A puller was needed to be made which the 28xx group assisted with and whilst they were making it we gave the loco a good clean.
Once the cover was off there was no clear reason as to why it was leaking. To help make the cover seal there are 2 rings of copper wire which all looked ok and no sign of damage or wear. The copper rings are annealed and when the nuts are tightened the copper squashes against the 2 faces to create a seal. We took each piece of copper out gave it a quick file to remove any high spots. Then re-annealed it to make it soft so it would squash when we tightened it. The loco is due back in service next week and is being tested on Tuesday.
Just as I was leaving Foremark Hall had returned from the days service and was being prepared on the pit for the Fish and Chip Special that evening.
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