05 June 2004

Some work on Camelot today.  For some time there have been some steam leaks from around the cylinders and valvegear, so the opportunity was being taken to remove parts where steam was escaping and to reseat them, renewing the gaskets as required

I got to take off one of the cylinder drain valves, which was a nightmare due to the positioning of the valve relative to cylinder, and also the lack of room around the studs to get a spanner near them, let alone get any leverage!  After finally getting the thing off, I then had to make a couple of gaskets up from scratch out of a sheet of packing material, using a couple of punches and lead working surface

A view inside the front of the cylinder

Progress on Bluebell: frames...

...and boiler are now separated