Well, after a long morning of trying to loosen the slew motor… it’s out! And although there is damage to one tooth on the pinion, it’s hardly sufficient to stop it turning.
We suspect the damage is likely due to something floating around in the main ring, so we’ll go searching deeper to find the offender. It does also seem like a bearing might be on the way out somewhere in the slew motor. We’ll get that stripped down and fully checked over while it’s out.
It’ll still be at least another week without it, but with any luck, it’s not be too much longer.
While the digger works progressed, the gang turned to the ever exciting task of turnout cleaning, scraping, blowing and checking operation, nothing too exciting to report back thankfully.
As part of a small side excursion, the gang travelled into Castlemaine for a few hours to assist Brett in pouring a small slab inside the loco shed, onto which the air compressor will be located.
It turns out that for a quantity this small, there isn’t anyone in Castlemaine able to provide a truck load, so mixing by hand was the task of the day. A horrid job but at least it’s done now.
Tomorrow’s crew will meet at Maldon at 8am or Muckleford Yard from 8.30am, where we’ll continue with turnout cleaning and checking, likely followed by the same activity at Castlemaine.
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