Roger Johnson kindly sent me this report from his Wednesday trip to Wishaw.
An intrepid team
comprising Keith Gurr ; Ray Hughes ; and Roger J yesterday resumed work on
the dismantled footbridge .
Ray has been following the
blog for some time and is the newest recruit to join our common cause .
Interestingly Ray has a significant Honeybourne line connection in that he
was a fireman based at Stratford Shed for over ten years prior to the end
of steam , and has fond memories of working freights on the Cheltenham and
other now long closed lines in the Warwickshire/Gloucester area .[ Jo
is on the case ]
Key activities included
the cleaning up of the material removed from the roof of the main span
last month .De-nailed timber and cabling that could be salvaged were stored in
the dedicated steel container. Trunking ; lights ; and fixings were put in the
scrap pile .Sounds simple but a round trip from the main span to the container
is some 500 yards.
Early afternoon the GWR's
civil engineering consultant visited the site in order to make further
assessments on the areas of steel work requiring strengthening or flanged
sections cutting out .
After lunch paint chipping
commenced concentrating upon the areas of the worst rust in the
main span , in advance of the removal of the timber flooring and protective non
slip sheeting .
Late in the day a problem was
identified of trying to remove rusted 5/8inch nuts on the bolts that are
holding down the timbers steps in the redundant step sections .Certain
BAG members will have to have training in the use of oxyacetylene equipment in
order to remove these nuts as the use of mini angle grinders unlikely to be
pragmatic in terms of space available plus cost effectiveness . Unless
there is a Blog follower who is familiar with the safe use of such equipment
and could assist ? ''
Regards
Roger
1 comment:
Roger, in my early days as a practising engineer in the automotive business I remember we used something called a nut splitter to remove problem nuts. It was a device with jaws(a bit like a bolt-cutter) which clamped across the nut and closed with a screw or hydraulic actuator. Commercial vehicle (or railway) workshops may have these, or they might be hired?
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