In my last report I referred to a three day event that we were due to attend at Sheffield Botanical Gardens. This event turned out to be both successful and enjoyable. Our loco behaved faultlessly throughout the three days except perhaps for the odd gland requiring adjustment but our passenger coach did give us a few problems. Members may not be aware but the bogies on this coach were designed to be very flexible such that one side of each bogie could move, in the vertical plane, independently of the other side. This design has proved to be extremely beneficial in that the portable track can be laid on undulating ground with only a minimum of packing being required before running commences. After many years of use, wear in the bogies allowed the frames to move laterally to each other and in effect cause the axles and wheels to run on the slew. This caused a number of minor derailments before the problem was identified and temporarily corrected. Passenger hauling did not stop whilst these repairs were being undertaken as we still had the brake car available for passenger use. You will recall that this event was held on three evenings leading up to Christmas and an area of the park was lit up appropriately. The queue for the miniature railway was continuous as passengers waited their turn to enter the large tent which was our boarding station. I know from many comments that our ride was very much appreciated by both the public and organisers alike and we have already been asked to attend the event next Christmas. The construction of the new copper boiler for the Wren continues and we have still not ruled out it being completed for the start of the running season. The barrel and outer wrapper are complete with all their bushes, (including the large dome bush), and the inner firebox is fitted together with three sides of the foundation ring, crown stays and tubes. All the holes for the side stays have been drilled through the inner and outer wrappers and the fitting of these stays is likely to be the next job. A number of trees have been pruned or removed. The apple tree, which always shed a considerable number of apples, has been heavily pruned and several bushes on the outside of the perimeter wall, which were being used by children as ladders to get onto the wall have been chopped down. I hasten to add that this has been done with Local Authority approval. The loop extension has made solid progress since my last report. Both points are now completed and the first one is already installed. Just over half of the new track has been laid and a number of track sections are built up ready to lay once the last stretch of concrete pad has been put in, which will happen in the next few days. It is not that we have run out of concrete pad on which to install these built up sections of track but we do not want to be carrying concrete over completed track. A start has been made putting in curb edging by the side of the new track but this has been temporarily suspended as other aspects of the work are more pressing. A small amount of soil has been back filled against these edges to give what will be the finished contour to this area. There is no reason to doubt now that the new loop will be complete by the start of the coming season but the earthworks will not be completed for several months I am sure. A good case can be made for not hauling passengers along this new length of track until all the cosmetic work has been completed but given all the effort and expense that has gone into the project so far the urge to run on it will be difficult to resist. The committee took the decision a couple of months back that the braking arrangements on two of our existing vehicles needed attention. Our ground level coaches are not currently braked nor in the short term will they be, but in the light of gradients of the new track something needed to be done to prevent a runaway. Tests had shown that although the “band and drum” brake on our brake car was very efficient it could cause the wheels to lock and allow the vehicle to slide down the gradient particularly if the vehicle was travelling at a faster than normal speed and the brake was applied abruptly. By a simple arrangement of sprocket and chain the unbraked axles are now coupled to the braked axles and the braking force is effectively doubled. The modification is not quite ready for testing so we wait to see the results. The second job was to fit brakes to a second coach of our raised track set in order that the set could be split and still retain a braked coach on each train. The work is not quite finished but we have used the opportunity to modify our existing design by fitting larger rubber brake pads to all eight wheels and making modifications to the cable pulley compensating mechanism. It is planned that this coach will also have a ratchet brake or a pinned brake lever of some kind to prevent the set running away when disconnected from the loco. Until now we have had to improvise a chock of some kind which was far from ideal. Last but not least we have increased the strength of the springs on our diesel loco. We never quite got the centre of balance right with the diesel loco and as a result it always wanted to sit low at its back end. The springs were, and still are, non adjustable coil springs so it was not possible to simply adjust the tension to correct the fault. Two new higher strength springs have been fitted to each of the rear wheels and one higher strength spring fitted to each of the leading wheels. The remaining springs are the original ones. This should level the loco up whilst not necessarily equalising the load on each axle. The question of whether or not to extend the frames and fit a pony truck is being considered. This is not primarily anything to do with the springing, though it would move the battery forward a few inches, but more to reduce the heavy abrasive wear to the outside leading front wheel which we experienced when pulling heavy loads over extended periods of time at the Rotherham Show. As usual, I would like to thank all members who have contributed to the Societies activities, whether mentioned above or not, for their continued support.
