The seat frames, windscreen wiper motor brackets and heater grilles have been sand blasted during the week so Brad and me have started to prime them with red oxide paint.
Brad has also been doing some further painting inside the engine room including the DSD and AWS Exhaust Valves and associated pipework.
The FV3 Auto Air Brake Valve arrived back from overhaul during the week, this being the last outstanding major component to be fitted to the loco.
I fitted it into position in No.1 cab complete with new transition seals between it and the baseplate and ran the compressor.
First thing I noticed was a bit of an air blow from the vent hole, similar to that experienced prior to overhaul but could have just been a problem with my new seals so continued with things.
Once 100psi main res pressure was attained, I moved the handle around to the RUNNING position but could not achieve an Air Train Pipe (ATP) pressure of more than about 30psi.
I tried turning the adjustment screw but could not alter the pressure up or down. These were similar to the problems experienced before the valve was sent away so this was rather dissappointing to say the least!
However, it occurred to me that there could be something wrong with the installation that was causing the difficulties.
So I confirmed that as far as was practical full main res pressure was available to the valve and asked John to give a second opinion in case I was missing something obvious but he concurred with my view that all seemed to be in order.
In fact, with the cunning use of a large washer and some O rings, we managed to apply a pipe from an external compressor to the ATP hole in the valve base and successfully got over 50psi train pipe pressure by that means which seemed to eliminate a fault on the loco.
Therefore, on Monday morning I called the company that had dealt with the overhaul and explained the problems I was experiencing.
I was asked how many new transition seals I had fitted to which I answered two, the large main res and ATP ones.
Wrong answer apparently!
There is a third very small rubber washer that has to be fitted and which is frequently lost or omitted, typically causing problems similar to those I had described.
So next time I will try again by fitting the missing washer and hopefully the valve will be ok and just needed a bit of "understanding"!
