Wednesday 24 February 2016

Testing Times (1)

Tuesday 23rd February 2016 was an important day - the day an inspector called. In this case Peter Hawkins the boiler inspector.

It had been a busy few weeks leading up to this but essential to be ready for action on the S&D 50th anniversary of the line closure on March 6th 1966.

There were various tests: A general inspection of paperwork covering materials used, certificates of conformity and calibration; a hydraulic test to 1.5x working pressure (412.5 psi) to check boiler fittings were attached properly; a maxed-out steam accumulation test to abuse the boiler and check the safety valves could cope; a test of the ability to keep the boiler filled with water under maximum output conditions.

Giving the clouds a shock!
If you are wondering what Sentinel 7109 sounds like when being steam tested, try this video clip: (Higher def. on YouTube)
We also tried a less formal haulage test on the 1 in 53 gradient as in the following video clip (Higher def. on YouTube):
There are interesting times ahead!

(And it passed the tests too!).

3 comments:

  1. Andy, there are not enough superlatives to describe your (and others) wonderful, hard dedicated work to bring this fantastic little locomotive back to life.
    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. If only I knew who 'Anonymous' was?

      Delete
  2. My son and I visited MSN yesterday and saw "Joyce" running splendidly by the side of the "trip train". Thank you for breathing new life into such a wonderful little engine.

    ReplyDelete

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