Another major cfitting is prepared for assembly

The original buffer housings (the Red bit) were all damaged beyond safe use, so new castings had to be made and machined to size. Then the large springs were also broken, so these too had to be manufactured to an estimated specification. New hold-fast bolts were also made and slowly the buffers were assembled and made ready to be mounted on brand new 'Buffer Beams'. May be I shall be able to post a picture of this work in the near future. Helping Trevor with some of these simpler tasks has shown me just how careful and methodically he prepares each procedure. His experience and understanding of this type of work is really quite extraordinary.

Wheels at last

It might be thought that it would be a straight forward job to lift the engine up by crane and just role the wheels into position and lower away. Not a bit of it, We did not have a crane big enough to lift the weight, so the engine was lifted up and the front only and the first pair of wheels set onto the rails and rolled into position. The main bearings need a little persuasion to bed down correctly, but at least the gear teeth meshed very nicely. Then the rear was jacked up and the remaining legs removed. Again the rear set of wheels were carefully rolled into position and with a little cunning and carefully applied 'brute force' the wheels were coaxed into a position which allowed the bearings to line up AND the gear teeth to pull themselves into the proper mesh. Some way now needed to be devised so that Trevor could move this heavy assembly in and out of the shed when needed with out having to strain his back any more than he already has. As more and more parts are fitted to the engine basic 'crow-bar' action is not an option.

SIRAPITE: progress

After a successful boiler and fire-box installation, SIRAPITE now receives it's new Smoke-box. Although there is still a long way to go, some resemblance to a steam engine is beginning to emerge.

The LongShop Museum in Leiston, Suffolk should be quite proud of the progress being made.

A Doctor in the Family

I have been meaning to add a 'post' for some time now, but I've been distracted by so much happening during my semi-conscious hours. Sounds and pictures of a Traction Engine being tested for 'valve timing', selecting and printing photographs for the annual 'Thanks to volunteers' at the Long Shop Museum, treating myself to a few new 'tech toys' for Christmas. Then having to learn how to use them! Several other chores come to mind, but will over look for the purpose of this entry.

Being at the Long Shop the other day however, gave me a chance to look at the more social side of the Museum rather than the Engineering side that I usually indulge in. I knew off Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, but had not really followed up on her life., but having dressed-up as Frank Garrett for a Schools 'Apprentice Day' event a while back....The children are given a period costume work experience at the Museum for a day. No cars allowed, nor computers to be seen. Discipline and doffing of caps absolutely essential..... the beaming faces showed that they loved it.

Sorry, one of my 'red-herrings' getting in there. Elizabeth was of a tenacious personality, and having set her mind to becoming a Medical Doctor, in fact the very FIRST woman MD in the UK, my mind thoughts turned to my Niece who is a GP. Thus I was reading the booklet as pictured. It was within this narrative that I found a rather weak, but none the less valid link to the Garrett psyche. The Royal Free Hospital in London eventually established a Medical School admitting women to London University degree courses, the year was 1878. The link? Well The Royal Free was were I worked for the Medical Research Council for several years as an electronics design engineer, developing aids for both theater and ward monitoring, as well as a few research projects. True my base was at the Hampstead branch (before the current building was erected, ie. at the original 'Fever Hospital'. But I did travel quite a lot between there and Grays Inn Road, as well as the National Hospital for Neurology, Queens Square. There were also visits to The Maida Vale Hospital. These tenuous links may not mean very much, but it does feel comfortable to share various associations with the past, and who knows, maybe the future. It was from working at the Royal Free that I moved on to become closely linked -work wise- to the lady who started the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. For after she left the BBC, she set-up her own composing studio in Kent, where she set about investigating new ways to create music by electronic means. But that must be for a future BLOG.

Long Shop Museum: A personal artefact.

Scanned from an original Display Card. I am not sure when it was manufactured, but the colour and type of card makes me believe that it could have been more than a hundred years ago. When I next go to the Museum, I will have to try and do some more research on the matter. This card is 24 cm width in real size: i.e. about 9 and 3/8ths of an inch.