Two little jobs that I was please Trevor asked me to help with. First, to put new threads onto a pair of original cast brass oilers that he had found. These were in a very dirty state and had the incorrect size of thread to fit Sirapite's Trunk Guides. So I was able to machine these to the correct thread for the engine, and generally clean them up. Secondly I turned a new new back plate for the pressure gauge. This was made from a piece of Mahogany that I had stored away for the last twenty years from a time when I used to do a fair amount of restoration wood turning. The finish is given by pure Bees wax from hives I used to keep ages ago before Trevor was even a teenager!! No, I'm not giving a date.

Lots of Detailed parts are being fitted.

Come the early part of August 2009, and Sirapite has been slowly becoming more of a machine and less of a basic boiler and fire box unit. You will see that the Buffer beams have been fitted as have the running boards along side the wheels. On the upper deck much work has taken place in fitting the pistons (high and low pressure), the piston and connecting rods complete with the cross-heads and trunk guides. Work is in progress so as to be ready for the return of the crankshaft and fly-wheel which are being reground and re-engineered to bring them back to a truly 'As new' state' if not better. The work here is of such a high standard that this engine will last for well over another centuary, and with basic maintenance should provide fault free operation.

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.

Some catching-up to do!

Sand Blasting away the rust:

I see that the date this work took place was the 21st April 2009 . So much has happened since I last opened this Blog, that this all seems a difficult memory. I really must try and keep more up to date. Anyway, the engine was duly cleaned and the immediately under-coated with a metal primer paint. Because there were so many Nooks and crannies, this whole job stretched over two days . The time spent on doing a first-class job will repay for itself in the years to come in terms of not having to strip down the engine in order to cure obscure corrosion pockets.

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.

SIRAPITE: progress

My son (far left) with volunteers at work on restoring a small steam engine for the Long Shop Museum. This small Museum is situated in the town of Leiston, and hosts a wonderful mix of social and engineering history.

Does the name GARRETT ring a bell with anyone?

Much more on this project and the Long Shop will follow as I gain experience with blogging.