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Tea break while jacking up the boiler prior to rolling the frames under. |
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The boiler almost down on the frames. |
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Jacking up the boiler before rolling the frames under. This operation was done entirely by hand using four 25 ton screw jacks. |
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Will it fit through the pigsties? Rolling the frame under the boiler. At this point we trusted that one of Wellington's earthquakes would not choose this moment to rattle through. |
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Getting ready to install the boiler. The frames are temporarily supported on carriage bogies so that they can be pushed under the boiler when it is jacked up high enough. |
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The boiler during repair. After considerable patching in the firebox, the foundation ring rivets have been replaced and the backhead stays are about to be installed. Note the "Boiler Empty" sign placed by some wag on the side of the firebox. |
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Spot facing bolt holes in the new motion bracket prior to bolting the gear frames in place. |
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One of the four new valve liners in place in the right hand steam chest. |
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Removing the cannon box from the leading driving wheels so that the bearings can be inspected. |
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Replacing the cannon box on a driving wheel set after the new bearings were installed. |
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A completed wheelset ready to be installed in a tender bogie frame. |
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The four sets of driving wheels. The cannon boxes have been removed ready for inspection of the roller bearings. It was discovered that all of the bearings had cracked races, or were worn beyond long term use, and were replaced with new bearings. To do this one wheel was pressed off of each axle, the old bearings pulled off, the new bearings pre-heated and slid in to place, and the wheels pressed back on the axles. The crank pins were then re-ground in a quartering machine to ensure their correct angular position. |
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Boxing up the roller bearings on a tender bogie wheel axlebox. |
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The first time Ja1271 was steamed up after restoration. The engine is still incomplete at this stage. The drum on the funnel has an air blower that is used to keep smoke out of the cab until enough steam pressure is available to work the steam blower. The hose attached to the main reservoir supplies air from the shed compressor and allows the air operated fire door to be worked during steaming up. |
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The finished article; Ja1271 on duty at an Open Day at Paekakariki. The engine had already run a very successful four day excursion in the South Island. It should be noted that the locomotive is painted the traditional New Zealand Railways gloss black; the blue tinge is merely the reflection of a glorious New Zealand blue summer sky. |
Updated 25 Oct 2007