We had a rather frustrating day today, we did manage to get the fuel and hydraulic tanks free enough to get to what we’d hoped were the offending valves, however they were as good as new and most certainly not full of rubbish or stuck.

We then did so well that we reassembled all of the (mainly while it was still fresh in the memory!) and tested again with no noticeable difference, possibly a very minor improvement but that is probably just down to fresh oil. Certainly still not good enough to use.

Unfortunately this takes us back to the drawing board a bit, it’s either going to be a very serious issue inside the main control valve block or a very minor issue with one of the many aftermarket components – however none of that has drawings so it’s a very slow process of tracing hoses. Hopefully if we keep plodding on a few Monday / Tuesday’s for a while we’ll find it, it’s just going to take a while.

In unrelated matters, we’ll be working out on the track, just outside Maldon Yard on Thursday, changing fishplates in preparation for installing concrete sleepers. Meeting at Maldon at 8am or just out the way from about 8.05am onwards.

Well, we’ve now got parts on order for the Hyundai excavator, hopefully these will be with us in around a fortnight’s time, but they do need to come from overseas so it’s a little bit of luck as to the exact date. Its ended up being slightly cheaper to just buy the whole reduction box for the slew motor than the bits that are needed to fix it, so at least it’ll be a very quick re-assembly task now.

We’ve made the decision to capitalise on this down time to strip apart the takeuchi, with a good portion of work started today, inside the loco shed at Castlemaine, working under a roof with lighting is just a whole new concept and we can recommend it!

In the strip down process we’ve found a few other issues (such as perished radiator overflow hoses etc… ) that we’ll tend to while it’s in bits. We did find the Anti-Drift valve (a complicated piece of kit to stop the boom moving unless it’s told to.. which has about 10 components, several of which are the likely culprits) portion affixed to the control valve had a broken bolt, which had allowed for water to ingress and actually seize a small piston, we were hopeful of this being the issue, but it isn’t, however it will be a factor and is likely the reason for the failure of a relief valve which is of course directly below it… but can’t be accessed without now removing the fuel and hydraulic tanks!

So, we’ll be working through that issue tomorrow, removing more gear to get to the relief valves.

Because we will be focussing on this primarily tomorrow, there won’t be a formal workday. However, as always, you’re still welcome to join, but do expect there to be times that are very quiet. No doubt the workshop next door could use an extra pair of hands in the quieter moments.

Meeting at Castlemaine from 8.30am, however we will have proper workdays on the track on Thursday / Friday, as hopefully we’ll just be waiting for parts by then.

It’s beginning to look a lot like the real issue is in the reduction box, where the planetary gears look a little different to usual… at least these parts will hopefully be available, those investigations will begin first up on Monday.

It’s certainly done a nice job of it! The reason for the failure isn’t clear, however the machine is now 20 years old and has done a power of work… probably the main causes. The fact that we could still turn the slew enough to be able to get it straight for disassembly is a bit of a miracle!

While the workshop boys pulled apart the slew motor to give us the bad news, we tackled more of the turnout maintenance, working thoroughly through Muckleford and Castlemaine Yards.

Including tasks such as removing washed in debris from around the signal wire.

We’ve gone thoroughly over every turnout across the railway this week, with everything now running quite nicely.

Stay turned for details of workdays next week, we’ll likely begin pulling apart the little digger also, as we’re going to be sidelined a while with the big one out, we’ll work under the guidance of the workshop staff and begin the fun job of getting to the stuck valve, hopefully by the end of August we’ll be back in action with both machines, however we’ll not be too optimistic.

We’ll also use this down time to prepare thoroughly for the upcoming works, this will include such exciting tasks as stacking many more sleeper plates, but we’ll try break that up a little.

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.