July 2026

The July C2 working party occurred during the latest heatwave, which rather limited the work we were comfortable in carrying out. Hard physical work posed a real health risk in the hot weather, so we decided to carry out numerous lighter tasks, mostly measuring and painting.

Jack applied undercoat to the previously damaged areas of the motion brackets, as well as to other parts of the motion, such as the union links and associated pin collars. Within an hour the paint was dry!

Dave dug out the piston rod packing, which has been puzzling us for some time. Dave had started to create a drawing of the packing as was fitted to the locomotive when we bought it, but had realised that he didn't have all of the information. A few more measurements were taken to enable the drawing to be completed accurately.

Attention is now being turned to the pistons and valves, as it won't be too long before we want to fit them. For a start, Dave and Andrew measured the distance over the outer rings. They then measured the distance over the outer edges of the valve ports within the cylinder casting (not so easy, due to the lack of access). According to the drawings, these dimensions should match exactly. It would appear that the Chinese has gone to some effort to achieve the desired dimensions, as they did indeed match. We don't therefore feel the need to disassemble the valves any further.

To enable further measurement of the valve ring grooves, Andy prised off the old valve rings and Andrew took the valves to the grease eater to clean them up. Dave and Andrew could then measure the width and depth of each groove. This showed that there are two groups of dimensions, with some tolerance within each group. Whether we can design rings that will fit the existing grooves, or whether we need to re-machine the grooves will be decided by the calculations which Dave will carry out as 'homework'.

To remove any corrosion, Andy took the valves outside and used a wire wheel to give them a full clean up. Protection with spray on wax will hopefully keep them in good condition until they can be finally fitted into the valve openings in the cylinder castings.

With paint drying so quickly in the heat, Andrew and Dave were able to apply several coats of paint to various components. Andrew applied red paint to the areas of the motion brackets which Jack had undercoated and to the pin collars, while Dave applied white paint to the union links. Both red and white paint require several coats to cover properly, and this was achieved within just a couple of days.