Part 21: Ashpan door cylinder, and axlebox covers—January 2002

Ashpan Door Cylinder

To make life a little easier for the crew, the ashpan doors, of which there are three, are operated by an air cylinder, rather than the more traditional "1 Fireman Power". Obviously the cylinder needs to be fixed to the frame, so the magnetic base drill was put to use to drill the mounting holes.

Drilling the mounting holes for the Ashpan Door Cylinder

Silver axlebox covers

It has been a long standing thing with John Lyas, that he does not like axle boxes picked out in bright colours. Thus he has been less than keen on the silver axle boxes that adorned NM25 when we got it out of the park.

To stir John up, the Wednesday night volunteers got to work early last volunteer night and encased the axle box covers in aluminium foil. It took three trips past the boxes before they were noticed!

The silver-foiled axlebox

This photo shows one of the aluminised boxes, together with a beautifully machined 2tpi square form thread and nut for the tender hand brake. This was machined as a volunteer job by John Buckingham. Some people reckon they have it made with three tenors. We have twice as many Johns! There is boss John Lyas, fitter John Pudney, boiler maker John Willis, volunteers John Southwell, John Buckingham and occasionally John Wilson and Jonathan Thompson.