I've commented to many that Restoration is sexy but maintenance isn't. Restoration has drive as there is a goal to achieve whereas maintenance is a thing you have to do just to stand still.
Leading up to February 2016, there were six years of anticipation driving myself and former co-owner Nigel Dickinson to bring Joyce back to steam. Then there were six years of relatively trouble-free operation, a lot of learning and plenty of fun and fascination for Joyce's visiting admirers.
Topping off the fun in June 2022 was a 'Mini-break' to attend the S&D steam gala at the Gloucester-Warwickshire Steam Railway. Joyce was a real star and particularly enjoyed by the footplate crews. Even for big galas such as this one, the hired-in locos are generally at least vaguely similar in shape. Joyce caused a consternation with her vertical boiler upright in the cab. She was the most different loco ever to visit the GWSR.
Returning to Midsomer Norton after the gala, I was laid-up with COVID and out of action and Joyce was behaving very strangely. It was proving difficult to keep steam pressure and there was an ominous roaring noise coming from somewhere around the boiler.
Once recovered from COVID, I did a number of test firings to isolate the source of the noise. Hoping to find a nice simple fault such as the new fusible plug leaking, the problem turned out not to be a boiler leak as someone suggested but a pin-hole in Joyce's superheater coil.
It was soon obvious that this was going to be more challenging than any task during restoration.
I began by consulting Justin and Grant at J R Goold Steam Ltd and boiler maker Mendip Steam Restoration Ltd. These two small companies have done much difficult work for me in the past but could not help with this job. I later learned that the difficulty was not with the fabrication of the superheater but the forming of the coils.
Tube bending was outside the scope of Mendip Steam's activities; however,
J R Goold were regular producers of Sentinel boiler superheaters. The problem for them was that most Sentinel boilers are sized to supply steam for a Sentinel steam waggon's single engine whereas Joyce has a much bigger boiler to supply her two engines and there are only two Joyce-type boilers in the UK. Whilst it is economic to be kitted out for producing substantial numbers of the smaller superheaters, for only two larger ones, it just isn't feasible. So I was left with a difficult problem. Midsomer Norton's workshop facilities are not capable of doing this type of steam work so I had no choice but to look elsewhere.
Martin Staniforth, owner and restorer of Sentinel 9622, the other double-engined loco, told me he had used a tube bending company in Oldham called Atlas Tube Bending Ltd to make him a new set of superheater coils. It was obvious to me therefore that this was the company to use as they already had prior experience of the work. I later discovered that Atlas had done many more Sentinel superheater coils for single-engined locos. But Atlas were in Oldham, over 200 miles from me, and I didn't fancy the prospect of dealing with a company so far away.
At this point, Barrie Papworth, Midsomer Norton's Chief Mechanical Engineer, recommended Allan Schofield of Railway Boiler Services Ltd to me. RBS were based in Moston, Manchester, 3.5 miles away from Atlas - a seemingly obvious opportunity.
The old superheater assembly was transferred to RBS at the end of October 2022 so a quote could be produced. I met Allan at the Moston RBS premises on October 31st 2022 and discussed the job. All seemed reasonable so I formalised my requirements and Allan responded with a quote for the work. We agreed that WhatsApp would be a good way to communicate.
Allan advised me to take the cast clamp option and that was my choice. Later the cost of the superheater tubing was added at £1547 making a total of £9745.87.
I accepted the quote for the work involved and the associated costs. Whilst I was a little less formal than I can be with requirements, to date my experience with steam engineers has been that the contractor knows the work better than the customer and gets on with the job so super-formality is not generally necessary for fairly simple jobs such as this. All the work was itemised and costed in the quote.
All seemed good. Joyce would be running again for the 2023 season.
Leading up to February 2016, there were six years of anticipation driving myself and former co-owner Nigel Dickinson to bring Joyce back to steam. Then there were six years of relatively trouble-free operation, a lot of learning and plenty of fun and fascination for Joyce's visiting admirers.
Topping off the fun in June 2022 was a 'Mini-break' to attend the S&D steam gala at the Gloucester-Warwickshire Steam Railway. Joyce was a real star and particularly enjoyed by the footplate crews. Even for big galas such as this one, the hired-in locos are generally at least vaguely similar in shape. Joyce caused a consternation with her vertical boiler upright in the cab. She was the most different loco ever to visit the GWSR.
Returning to Midsomer Norton after the gala, I was laid-up with COVID and out of action and Joyce was behaving very strangely. It was proving difficult to keep steam pressure and there was an ominous roaring noise coming from somewhere around the boiler.
Once recovered from COVID, I did a number of test firings to isolate the source of the noise. Hoping to find a nice simple fault such as the new fusible plug leaking, the problem turned out not to be a boiler leak as someone suggested but a pin-hole in Joyce's superheater coil.
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| The arrow shows the 1mm diameter hole in the second to inner coil. |
There were two options ahead:
1. To weld the hole and carry on.
2. Obtain a new superheater.
I chose the latter as removing the superheater assembly was not an easy task. Knowing the history of the superheater, I considered it likely that there would be more failures of a similar type. I did not want to leave a frequent failure problem to Joyce's future custodians. There was also a broken bracket and some of the support pieces looked very tired.
Being a high temperature, high pressure boiler item, I am not qualified to do this kind of work and a competent person or company would be required.
The Challenge:
I began by consulting Justin and Grant at J R Goold Steam Ltd and boiler maker Mendip Steam Restoration Ltd. These two small companies have done much difficult work for me in the past but could not help with this job. I later learned that the difficulty was not with the fabrication of the superheater but the forming of the coils.
Tube bending was outside the scope of Mendip Steam's activities; however,
J R Goold were regular producers of Sentinel boiler superheaters. The problem for them was that most Sentinel boilers are sized to supply steam for a Sentinel steam waggon's single engine whereas Joyce has a much bigger boiler to supply her two engines and there are only two Joyce-type boilers in the UK. Whilst it is economic to be kitted out for producing substantial numbers of the smaller superheaters, for only two larger ones, it just isn't feasible. So I was left with a difficult problem. Midsomer Norton's workshop facilities are not capable of doing this type of steam work so I had no choice but to look elsewhere.
Martin Staniforth, owner and restorer of Sentinel 9622, the other double-engined loco, told me he had used a tube bending company in Oldham called Atlas Tube Bending Ltd to make him a new set of superheater coils. It was obvious to me therefore that this was the company to use as they already had prior experience of the work. I later discovered that Atlas had done many more Sentinel superheater coils for single-engined locos. But Atlas were in Oldham, over 200 miles from me, and I didn't fancy the prospect of dealing with a company so far away.
At this point, Barrie Papworth, Midsomer Norton's Chief Mechanical Engineer, recommended Allan Schofield of Railway Boiler Services Ltd to me. RBS were based in Moston, Manchester, 3.5 miles away from Atlas - a seemingly obvious opportunity.
I began formal discussions with Allan on 21st September 2022 with a fairly broad customer requirement:
"What I really want is a complete new superheater fitted to the boiler top-plate including chimney units such that the whole assembly can be lowered into place with minimal fitting effort.
I'd like it by the end of February 2023 to allow us time for fitting etc.
Some thoughts/assumptions:
The superheater pipe end fittings would need to be reused.
Peter Hawkins [my boiler inspector] would need to witness a hydraulic test at 550psi."
Allan responded on 23rd September 2023:
"...the job, as you’ve described, looks pretty straight forward and the time scale very achievable."
That would mean delivery by the end of February 2023. It would leave a month at MSN to refit the chimney units to the boiler top plate and reassemble the boiler in time for the start of the 2023 running season.
So I was happy to go ahead and Allan agreed to take on the work. Although quoted costs were a lot more than I wanted, to have a one-stop-shop to produce the completed superheater was a very attractive proposition. Although having a contractor so far away seemed risky, I was not too concerned because our CME Barrie had personally recommended Allan.
The Beginning:
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| RBS Premises at Unit 21, Gill Street, Moston, Manchester in October 2022 |
Here is quote RBS104 that I accepted (Click the quote to enlarge):
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| Initial quote RBS104 |
I accepted the quote for the work involved and the associated costs. Whilst I was a little less formal than I can be with requirements, to date my experience with steam engineers has been that the contractor knows the work better than the customer and gets on with the job so super-formality is not generally necessary for fairly simple jobs such as this. All the work was itemised and costed in the quote.
All seemed good. Joyce would be running again for the 2023 season.
So why, I hear you ask, am I still waiting for the new superheater in mid-April 2024?
All will become clear in due course.
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