Made
an early start to Christmas holiday period last year, starting daily running
the week before Christmas to correspond with the local school holidays.
Had traditionally started Boxing Day being the day we first opened to the
public on a regular basis.
Was probably the day after Boxing Day that Ted noticed that Little Toot was starting to thump a bit. On closer inspection found the rear driver on RH side was moving back & forth quite a bit. From previous inspection of bearings month before, suspected the axle journal was getting a bit too rough and had eaten out the white metal bearing creating the excessive slope. So rushed round and got some steel for a new axle and a supply of white metal. I drove for the Sunday & Monday of new year holidays while Ted machined up the new axle and set-up to do the job. Pulled Little Toot out of service 3.45pm on Monday to strip down. I thought that changing the axle would be the most difficult part of job. However we did have to use the 25 ton ram to get one of the wheels off, balancing the ram in the temporary 10 ton wheel press frame.
Had more difficulty in doing the white metal bearings. As in the heat
of summer it was difficult to find suitable clay, to block off the oil
holes and stop the white metal from pouring straight back out again.
Once the axle and bearings were done, found actual problem to be the
broken or loose bolts holding the horn to the frame. The bolts were replaced,
Little Toot put back together and steamed up, ready for service by 3:15pm
Tuesday. After the holiday running the RH main crank pin was replaced as
was found to rock in wheel under load and was probably the initial cause
of the horns coming loose. The cast funnel has been fitted and this has
greatly reduced the back pressure making Little Toot a lot more lively.
A Penberthy injector has been fitted as was having problems with the Buffalo
injectors on sunny days. The feed water in side tanks getting up to 25OC
& 30OC on the sunny side. The Penberthy handles the extremes a lot
better. Have started building up flanges with weld rather than fully machining
to bring back to form. The steel we are using for tyres is suitable for
welding and it seems to be working satisfactorily. Work has started on
a Diesel / petrol Loco making up wheels & axles but have a wheel stuck
in the wrong place and need the 25 ton wheel press. Work has also started
on a second Steam Loco with castings for axle boxes and the leading pony
truck under construction. Have sorted out the design for the wheel press
and have started making up parts. Currently waiting for the ram mount,
wheel mount and press table to be made up at my workplace but they are
quite busy at the moment with a pick up in demand for Postdrivers &
Mowers. The press is designed to be set-up horizontally as a wheel press
or vertically as ordinary workshop press.
As some of you may have already seen in YARN, we had a major derailment on April 10th caused by Vandals placing stones on the track. Little Toot was completely derailed and it took nearly 2 hours to rerail. Initially jacked the loco back up level then slid some temporary track under Little Toot, so that she could be eased back to the main line. No major damage to Loco or track was found but at a later date it was found that the fusible plug had been singed and a sand pipe had been crushed. On 6th June we had our first injury accident were a young child had his head out of the caboose window facing backwards. His head was struck by the tunnel and swung round into the window edge, causing a cut requiring 5 stitches. It seems the supervising adult did not comprehend the importance of the warnings and notices. We have since upgraded our genuine NZR Railcar notices to an A4 size pictorial notice and fitted solid windows to caboose except for the door window. The T.A.I.C. has carried out a preliminary investigation.
The Budgie paddock platform has been completed and gets used for charters
and other odd events. Ted has built a typical NZR style shed for the animal
food which has been placed by the extension siding. Have completed the
task of upgrading and greasing joints on 20lb rail all ready to start over
again. Have started using a open gear lubricant (Malleus GL95) for fishplates,
doesn't wash off easily but takes a while to put on. The major track event
has been the installation of 2 new turnouts. One for a Way & Works
siding going towards the back of the restaurant. The other for entrance
to station loop. Have started digging out pit for turntable. A fair bit
of drainage work has been done, drain under track between two new turnouts,
No 2 Budgie paddock drain under track at NE end of platform.
Came across
details in American Live Steam magazine for switch stands which were exactly
what Ted wanted for our turnouts. Proceeded to manufacture 6 of these and
have 3 currently installed on Way & Works Siding, Loop entrance and
budgie paddock extension siding.
Major earthworks have been done around the Restaurant, filling in the
hollow in front of the decking up to the same level as decking and paving
it for an outside dinning area. Also the most important part, creating
a space for the Way & works siding. On other side of restaurant, car
park has been extended but is still to be covered in concrete or tar-seal.
A illuminated OPEN sign has been made up for the restaurant and put up
above the office window.
Have purchased a new company car, a 2nd hand Jap import. A lot neater and tidier with lots more space in the back for railway bits & pieces. Have done a number of improvements to the grounds, a new bush walk track wide enough for the ride on mower. Still require a wider bridge to get across the creek. The object being to get the mower from one side of the property to the other. This will also make it easier for pushchairs etc. to get around the property. A few more direction signs have been put in around the bush walk & garden walk. The windmill pump has had a new pump rod fitted. The track below the tennis court has had the drainage improved. A child's horse swing has been added to the Budgie paddock along with a few more animal cages.
Who needs a Y2K bug for your computer to crap out? A few power cuts will stuff up the BIOS settings, preventing the printers from printing easy as pie. Ring the PC Direct helpline just to get to the front of the queue when the EFTPOS machine cuts in. In the interim had to get a Fax machine. Finally get through to PC Direct a few weeks later to find the helpline warranty period has run out and there is a queue to get any repairs done. Purchased a UPS and got a local computer company to replace the Hard drive but still could not print. Had to take back to PC Direct to finally sort out. Is now working OK and have actually just added a scanner so that we can put pictures up on to the web page.
Our Marketing consultant has recommended that we add a Web page to our marketing plan. So have splashed out on a domain name, ( www.rail.co.nz ) which is currently being redirected to a temporary free xtra site. Was looking at getting a local Internet company 'Webmark' to do a full site for Christmas but due to a lack of funds will have to put this off till next year. Have updated our brochure with an up to date photo of Little Toot. Have put more emphasis on Family Fun as being the benefit after doing a marketing course last year.
The Whangaparaoa
Business Association is setting up to run Day Trips from Auckland to the
Hibiscus coast / Warkworth area, including us on the itinerary. So there
is a possibility we could be running Mon. - Fri. between 10am & 11am
provided there are sufficient numbers on the trip. So we desperately need
to get another Loco operational. The trips are planned to start mid November.
Have committed to run the steam loco for Friday as well as the normal Saturday
& Sunday running.