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.