One of the best things about winter is driving across the levels on a cold, bright, crisp sunny day, with just enough mist about to make it look 'pictureskew' as they say. Last Sunday (7th) saw an early start to try and sort out some faulty electrics in the engine house: something on the lighting circuit was causing the main earth circuit breaker to trip and this needed to be attended to before it got too dark. The previous week the fault had been traced to the six lights in the old boiler house but the lack of light and the need to acquire some parts put an end to any more work. Armed with megger and assorted tools, Adrian and Dave set to work to trace the fault. The junction box above the Lancashire boiler was opened by dint of hitting it with a heavy implement due to the screws holding the lid having corroded. Our suspicions that this might have been the source of the problem were unfounded as the inside was quite dry. The bundles of wires were separated out and traced and the next joint along the offending line opened to check. Finally, the fault was narrowed down to a single fitting. When this was removed the cause of the trouble was found: some damp sawdust sitting across the terminals of the lamp holder. Problem solved! Clean off terminals, put the fitting back and slap some silicone sealant into the hole to prevent any more water getting in. Test the line and all was okay, only it took slightly longer than that to do.

Another electrical problem diverted our attention for a while: the Simplex loco refused to start and we had to manually push it out of the engine house. Investigation of the fault revealed that no electric was getting to the starter switch. Ultimately the trouble was traced to an in-line fuse holder where some bright spark(!) had fitted a fuse which was too short for the holder. To get around this they had left a broken end cap of the previous fuse in place to act as a spacer. A rummage in the tool box produced a suitably sized and rated fuse and all was sweetness and light!

Some years ago the idea was mooted of having a compressor to run the engines in the main hall. Two compressors were mounted on a baseplate driven by the two cylinder Ruston diesel from the dynamo set. Before it was tried in anger though, the new steam line across the yard was put in and the main hall engines could now be run on steam. A couple of weeks ago, Ian mentioned that he had obtained a road-type compressor and wanted to try and see if it would be suitable for running the engines. On Sunday this yellow thing appeared on a trailer behind his Land Rover. An air hose was found and after a bit of work to plug off a couple of open ends a connection was made into the large blue air receiver in the main hall. The compressor was started and the pressure run up to about 60PSI. Then it was a case of seeing what and how many engines would run on air. The two turbines were run up, also the Tangye. The winch, Bellis compound and the other two inverted vertical engines were tried and it was found that pressure dropped quite quickly with more than one engine on, and the larger engines would only last a couple of minutes. The main problem was the hose connection, which restricted the flow through a 1/2" pipe. Something to sort out later.

Encouraged by the results, the Marshall boiler was shut off and the valve to the hall from the boiler opened, allowing air into the rest of the system. Down to the engine house and the Wills was quite happy ticking over at about 20PSI, the compressor could even make a bit of headway. Then the Easton & Amos was run. We didn't expect this to work but were able to get several revolutions out of it. Enough to show people how it works.

Now the principle has been established there is some more work to be done: the compressor needs some TLC to sort out some minor niggles and a larger connection is required onto the steam system, also some means of making sure steam doesn't feed back into the machine on steaming days. Hopefully, by next summer we'll be able to show visitors the engines working every Sunday, not just steaming days.

Andy

Previous news for 2008 is available for reading via the Archive section in the navigation bar, left.

All newspages for 2007, including December's issue, can be downloaded (zipfile)here

All newspages for 2006 can be downloaded (zipfile)here

Official Location Address: Westonzoyland Pumping Station, Hoopers Lane, Westonzoyland, nr. Bridgwater, Somerset TA7 0LS (Please do NOT send letters to this address, there is no letterbox!).
Website layout design copyright in footer below: