Spring-Hangers, Frames and Weather Protection

Last Saturday we tried to fit one of the new springs



to the spring hangers attached to the underside of the sole-bar.



Unfortunately the new springs are of slightly thicker steel than the old ones and so the top leaf fouled the underside of the spring hangers. We have taken those two hangers off the frame and Andy will mill an eighth of an inch off the underside to clear the spring. If it works on that corner we'll take all of the hangers off and mill them too.

After fitting the spring on Saturday I set about straightening the side-member on the second side. I had a lot of help from Ryan, who's a young member of the railway and a useful addition to the staff.

The frame is almost complete now.



We spent a bit of time making up a cover to put over the frame to protect it from the weather.



But I heard later from Ollie that Mark, the carpenter, said we should take the cover off as it was trapping heat and causing the timber to dry out.

Ratchet Straps

Another day at the railway saw me fitting the side-members of the frame.

These are four by four-and-a-half inch timbers that run the full length of the frame providing the support for the side-planks and the end protection for the floor boards. They are heavy timber but not quite straight, being bowed up in the middle so I set about finding a way to pull them into line so that I could drill the holes to bolt them to the sole-bars.



I used the ratchet straps to pull the upward bow down to level and wedges to raise the part of the member that dipped below the required level. I ended up with this:



I went on with Roger's help to drill the holes for the half-inch coach bolts that will hold the members in place and the three-quarter inch tie-bars that run the full width of the wagon.

Drilling Steel and Wood

I've had a week off work and spent some of it at the railway.

Today I seemed to spend all the time drilling.



Using the radial-arm drill I drilled and countersank the bolt holes to attach the gusset-plates to the sole-bars. The radial-arm drill is a great machine and capable of very accurate work - and very inaccurate if you don't take your time.



After drilling the gusset-plates and a couple of square, flat washers for the tie-bars I went out to the wagon frame to prepare the end stanchions for attaching to the headstocks. It was a very simple job after the bulk of the radial-arm drill. When I'd drilled the first one we checked it to make sure I'd marked it up okay and got the holes in the right places. I had. So I drilled all four stanchions.



The side members for the frame that carry the side planks and form the protection for the ends of the floor planks have arrived and are ready for fixing. If you look carefully at the photo you can see that the side member is bowed up in the middle, so we're going to have to clamp it down straight before drilling the bolt holes and bolting it together. It should be all right. When Ollie stood on the top of the side member his weight was enough to take the bow out of it, so a little light clamping should be enough.

More Gusset-Plates



After a break last Saturday I went today to carry on work on the gusset-plates.

Andy had made a new jig for bending the plates and made five, four and a spare. He's made the first 90 degree bend in them and I now had to mark them up and to drill the holes for bolting them to the sole-bars.

Ollie working here to test fit the axle-guide. That grey L-shaped steel plate on top of the frame in front of Ollie is one of the gusset-plates. The fitting process is slow, well the way I do it is. I've numbered each plate and its assigned corner and checked the measurements before marking the bolt-holes. Mistakes are potentially expensive. The ones I've made so far haven't been too bad, and I'd like to avoid making more.

Meanwhile Ollie and Andy were working to make the tie-bars and prepare the frame to fit the axle-guides.

Here the capstan lathe, with the camera-shy Andy, is cutting the threads on the ends of the tie-bars.

I've got a cold that's been coming on for a few days, so I finished marking up the gusset-plates then came home. I'll go and drill the bolt holes on Friday.