Wednesday
Jun082011

Well, a great day with real progress.   Not very noticeble outside but very much inside the car.  Jim Ian and I were the team today.   Ian finished off some top coating of suspension parts this morning and Jim spent the day installing screens and also starting on the seat rails.  The front rails looked excellent with their legs and he managed to get the cut out for the end of the rail cut into one of the screens. 

I spent the day hanging the first of the doors at B end.  First of all we had to take a little bit off the top of the door to make it fit, then after testing it I had to take the axles out of the runners and drill them for split pins at the right position.  This wasn't easy but I managed to use Bernard's lathe to do it, using the tool post to hold the axle while the drill rotated in the chuck. Here is one of the wheels mounted on its hanger prior to drilling.

Elliot Engineering have made a very good job of these runners and axles. The hanger has been cast new by Dennis Harper Ltd. of Bradford from a pattern made by Heritage Patterns of Lockwood.

Once the axles had been drilled these were refitted with Loctite and the washers and split pins fitted to retain them.  The the door was hung.

Here is the side door runner assembly that is only in cast iron as it's not normally visible.

The complete door looks like this.

 We worked out that there was last a sliding door in the tram in October 1901 when it was withdrawn.  The doors then had hinges fitted.  Some work was done on the other door which should be fitted next week.  All in all a very satisfactory days work.

Thursday
Jun022011

A very warm day but Thursday and not Wednesday.  However more detailing work got done.  I spent most of the day putting the first step unit together and then trial fitting it to the stringers.  The first job was to make yet another drilling template, this time for the stringers.   Anyway after a couple of hours work and some head scratching the first until was assembled and screwed in to place.

You can see brass screws used for the temporary fix.  The real thing will use Black japanned ones. This trial assembly threw up a couple of minor issues with detailing that needed to be addressed so after dismantling the step I sorted those and then routed the upper edge of the roof nosing at B end. 

Jime spent the day fitting support boards for the window sills that go under the number boards and then started to round off the rest of the roof nosing.  Ian spent the day painting various suspension items that needed a coat of gloss and then scraping the underside of the canopy bends.  All small jobs but very neccessary.  Hopefully next week we will get the doors hung and the catenary rods fitted.

Thursday
May262011

Well, a very good week with a lot done but not a lot to show.  We actually had two work days as on Tuesday, Andy Bailey, a volunteer at Crich, came up to scrape the bearings in. This was a skill beyond any of us and was fascinating to watch.  We broght the underframe out of the top garage, laid the spare length of track and rolled the first wheelset out.  The bearings were cleaned of their protective coating and then coated in engineers blue.

The bearing was then put onto it while the blue was still wet and rubbed round.

The resulting pattern was then looked at.

The bearing was then put in the vice and scraped.

This process was repeated until the blue area was an even oval strecthing the whole length of the bearing.  The bearing was then numbered with the serial number of the wheel next to it.

Meanwhile Stephen and I worked on the body.  I spent the day trial fitting the doors and sorting put the door tracks.  These needed some interesting woodwork but now work.  Stephen spent the day marking out and planing more support strips to go at the back of the steps.

We are very grateful to Andy for coming up to sort the bearings out. 

Today Jim and I spent the day detailing the interior.  Jim worked on the boards that go between the screens above the doors.  These are now marked and ready for the arches to be cut out.  I started by running a die nut along the threads on the catenary rods and then drilled the pattresses that they run through above the screens.  These had been cast and polished for us in Bradford.  The afternoon was spent sorting out the various holes in the screens that need cutting to allow the catenary rods to come through to the pattresses and then the brackets on the monitor ribs.  All will make sense when we get them installed and I can show some pictures.  However the trial fit of the door revealed that I had mis-measured for the upper runner pulleys and these are going to have to be reduced by 4mm. on their diameter to allow the doors to work.  Once the doors are hung then we can install the catenary rods.  Then the screens can be fitted and the interior will look very different.  All in all a very good week.

Thursday
May192011

Another Thursday rather than Wednesday for various reasons but a good day.  Jim spent the day making the arched boards that join the two screens above the doors.  These are cut from spare oak boards that were bought for the stairs.  These were cut and then the joints made.  Hopefully by next week the arches will be cut out.   I spent the first part of the morning drilling the catenary rod brackets that we had cast some time ago. 

This ensured that the holes will be perpendicular to the curved monitor ribs.  The jig took half an hour to make but made the job very easy.    I then started fitting the sliding door gear at B end.  The new wheels fitted nicely but various bits of woodwork need making to finish the job.  These should be finished next week so that the doors can be fitted.  Once the doors are fitted the screens can be permanently fixed and we can start on the seat frames. 

Stephen spent the afternoon shaping more parts for the staircases.  Today's job was the upright supports that go behind the risers.

Away from the tram more patterns have been made for the pattresses that take the catenary rods through the screens.  These are now at a brass foundry and should  be ready for fitting next week. All in all another steady day of progress.

 

 

Thursday
May122011

Well, today it was a not so cold Thursday as I was away yesterday.  However Jim and I got on with quite a bit.  Jim had varnished the interior screens and fitted both the fixed ones with the number 107 on them. Initially they went in but we found that they needed a noggin behind them to keep them stable so some old roof stick was pressed into service to accommodate the curves on the corner pillar.

Here you can see the noggin mounted on the corner pillar to stffen the screen,

Then the screen was screwed into place and the opposite door screen dry fitted.  The effect is great,

It really is coming on.  As soon as we get the doors fitted we can fit the screen then build the seat frames.

I spent the day assembling stair treads and this is the pile of them with the supporting battens fitted,

In the afternoon Stephen and I cut out the risers and made a trial fitting of one of them.  The vertical battens to hold the risers were cut and I've got 26 more of them to shape next week.  Hopefully it won't be too long before the stairs appear.