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Youth squad work on Ivan during May, June and July 2007

Restoration of our GNR(I) Brake Van (known to its friends as Ivan) is continuing with the RPSI Youth Squad. We now have 8 regular members, the oldest is 32, the youngest is 16. We always could use another pair of hands, so if this sort of work interests you - come and join us!
This restoration job is extremely thorough, with elements of preservation (in particular the de-scaling and painting of the entire underframe), conservation (we are re-using as many components as possible, including some internal timber not affected by fire damage) and restoration (all simpathetically carried out based on original drawings and photographs of the van before it was dismantled).
With a number of steam operations in May, little work was carried out on the brake van. Here's what happened from May to July.
If you don't know who IVAN is click here. If you'd like to help us then click here.

Sunday 3rd June 2007
	With Uni exams out of the way, attention returns to IVAN. The landside ballast tanks are nearly cleared out of their cargo of damp swarf and decomposing cast iron.
Adam shovels more swarf into a barrow for scrap. Beyond IVAN can be seen the pile of Dundalk scrap that we reckon can be reincarcerated once the ballast tanks are given a coat of Hammerite.
	Adam and Mark celebrate the clearing of the ballast tanks. The push is now on to reassemble the Larne end brake gear and safety loops to allow IVAN to move into the carriage shed. The ballast tanks yielded a final total of 125 brake blocks, 5 big ends, parts of platform seats and luggage racks, pull chains for passenger brake application, 3 carriage door locks, gears, drilled plates, innumerable smashed axlebox parts and 5 tons of swarf.

Tuesday 5th June 2007
All 4 of us were a bit busy to take any pictures, but work included -	- 6 / 8 safety loops derusted so they can be painted once they are welded on - The two safety loops bent in the derailment were straightened - Start made on getting auxilliary rubber spring parts freed up and dismantled - Start made on getting auxilliary spring rubbers sorted into scrap and reuseable groups - Last two spring leaves reshaped and retempered, ready for reassembly once spring holding yoke is completed - Last piece of Dk Van Dyke's brake gear dismantled - Aisling timber wood quote progressed - Larne end floor lifted to allow derusting in the last five boxes - More needlegunning under the landside ballast tanks - More derusting in the last five underfloor boxes
Thursday 7th June 2007
	Member John Richardson has kindly loaned us his brakevan stove to copy for IVAN. Here Edward tries desperately to convince himself he's cold enough to require warming up! It was very hot in direct sunlight on this day.
New vacuum pipes have been delivered so IVAN can be fitted with a through pipe.
	The Belfast end drawhook has been refitted, with the (new) protoypically badly fitting drawbar pins. We can't believe they're meant to be like that either.
More rust chipping and painting, this time at the Larne end.
	A huge amount of shotblasting was performed by a helpful shotblaster. Here James has just finished painting the beautifully cleaned components.
Mark continued the undefloor painting.
	Edward and James worked to adapt the springs to fit IVAN's axleboxes.
Some cleaned parts reay for paint! The brake cross beams are nearly ready to be fitted.

Tuesday 19th June 2007
We reassembled the Larne end brake gear, and attached the Belfast end safety loops.
Wednesday 20th June 2007
	This fork on the end of this long pull rod has splayed out. It was heated to red heat before being hammered back into shape.
Edward fits the last threaded pull rod and adds a split pin at the Larne end of the van.
	Phillip paints the recently refitted safety loops at the Belfast end.
David heats up the handrails so he can straighten them.
	A view inside one of the repainted boxes. There is room for a little more paint.
Safety loops and new pins fitted.
	The completed Larne end underfloor section.
Thursday 21st June 2007
As is often the case, a higher priority job came up. In this case, the youth team were asked to help replace oil pads underneath steam loco no.186, so Ivan had no work this day.
Saturday 23rd June 2007
	Time to refill the ballast tanks - this time without reams of moisture witholding swarf!
IVAN was moved out to be refilled with brakeblocks which had been stacked outside.
	Whitehead workers rallied to the cause! Many tons of ballast is being replaced.
These parts were a bit of a mystery. They came out of the ballast tanks and look like blanking plates - but for what?
	A perfect fit on 131's superheater! But it was worn out in 1945 - so it's little use now. Back in the ballast tank it went.
Tuesday 26th June 2007
	Reassembly of the spring we'd been tempering from Dk Van Dyke (a similar brake van owned by the Downpatrick and County Down Railway) got underway. The hydraulic hammer was used to compress the strap on to the leaves.
Mark was heating the strap up to red hot in the coke furnace.
	Previously he had painted one more box in the floor.
Philip, James and Edward have been working on fitting the vacuum through pipe. Here they are cutting a pipe to length.
	Next, the end is chamfered.
Then the pipe is fed into the pipe threading machine.
	Its four jaws thread the end of the pipe to allow connectors to be fitted.
Mark, amazed at the machine not consuming the pipe, holds it up with connectors successfully screwed to each end. Today's letter is the letter J!
Thursday 28th June 2007
	Mark got down to needlegunning and painting the top surfaces of many of the floor girders.
He also worked under the floor as well. There is less and less to do now!
	The middle part of the vacuum pipe has been assembled for a trial fitting.
The outer parts of the pipe will be slung underneath the main girders. Here Edward uncomfortably drills upwards. The string indicates the line of the pipe.
	A pipe holder upper half attached.
James trial fits the end of the pipe, with vacuum bag already attached.
	The torrential rain outside was starting to flood IVAN's pit.
The vacuum bag will be unobtrusively behind the buffer beam, similar to the arrangement on the Guinness engine.

Tuesday 3rd July 2007
	A busy day's work saw six members of the I team in action - first to arrive and last to leave were Ben, Edward and James. Adam cleaned and painted some spring hangar components, while Michael and Edward fitted the brake pipe. In this photo, Ben and James have completed the two ends of the brake pipe. Later on Phil arrived to lend a hand with whatever was happening.
Underneath the van, Edward and Michael were drilling upwards to fit the clips that the brake pipe secures into. Here they realise that they are halfway there.
	Later using the clips that he and Michael had fitted, Edward helped Ben secure the brake pipe into position. It takes a circuitious route under the ballast tanks.
At no point does the brake pipe become the lowest item of underframe equipment. It will need another two clips fitted under the ballast tanks to stop it from moving when the van is in motion, a valve to drain off water which may accumulate and of course it will need painted!
	Meanwhile in the workshop the little clips which secure the top four leaves together were fitted to the reconditioned spring. The only mechanical work required on this spring now is the fitting of a rod down the middle to keep the leaves aligned, and the rod will need to have its ends rivetted over!
Three of the four springs are now ready for refitting, although there are not enough spring hangars for them all yet! But we're working on it!
Wednesday 4th July 2007
	In a photo that would be more at home on his Bebo homepage, Mark poses while cleaning and painting roof girders. Part of James' spending spree for IVAN this week included the new wire brush for the grinder (the old one was more handle than bristle).
A view through the roof down to the now refilled ballast tanks.
Thursday 5th July 2007
	The master stove has been given a coat of red oxide primer to protect its shotblasted surfaces from the persistent rain and moisure that seems to blow into the shed at least three times a day. Above, Mark paints the second coat of primer. Below, Adam paints over the drips that Mark is dropping onto the black floor girders.
Using much heat, more spring hangars have been freed up. Despite having 15 to choose from, the youths are finding that getting a full set of eight in working order is a difficult job. Every single nut (with only one exception) has been in varying stages of seizure. Some can be persuaded to turn once more, while others had to be cut off altogether.
	Underneath the van, the last two clips securing the vacuum pipe in position have been made and secured in place. Holding a drill above one's head to drill through what feels like EN24 is not a task anyone would wish to repeat without a very good reason! Michael and Edward, the principal drillers, should feel justly proud of their efforts. Mark and Ben seem equally pleased.

Tuesday 10th July 2007
	The vacuum pipe was painted in the charcoal grey undercoat, and the next day was painted gloss black.
Thursday 12th July 2007
	The Guinness engine was in action to shunt Ivan for the big spring refit day! Here, the unsteady van is brought to the heavylift area. No.90 came along for the ride. The new vacuum bags were secured on top of brake strechers.
The van needed careful positioning under the shear legs so that the chains could lift straight up past any obstructions.
	Bob, a man blessed with both an organising flair and the grunt to back it up, worked with the youths to get the springs in. Here he arranges the chains which will lift this end of the van.
The Guinness engine eased her little train forward so the chains would clear IVAN's roof girders. Phillip can be seen poised at the controls of the shear leg. He controlled the vertical movement of the van.
	Then the wooden blocks which had supported the van for six months or more were removed. Mark is brushing rust out of the gap where the spring will sit. The spring to be lifted in can be seen leaning against the shear leg's guide rail.
Phil and James strain to lift one end of the spring. Bob was lifting the other end by himself! We didn't weigh them to find what mass they were, but it took four men to lift them any distance.
	As Phillip looks on anxiously the spring is lifted part of the way into place.
Phil and James try and keep the spring upright. There is a flaw in the plan - it doesn't fit! And raising the van doesn't help either as the spring is jamming against the tops of the hornguides. The van it came from (Dk Van Dyke) had different hornguides . . .
	Bob's good idea No.1. Use a chain hoist and a strap to support the spring while it is manoevered.
Success! The new nuts and bolts are screwed together after a heavy application of grease to protect them from corrosion. The new fasteners go together very easily.
	The spring here is already under compression - wedged against the hornguides with the axlebox nowhere near to it! Bob considers his next move . . .
After a bit of a fuss to get the sling off, the first spring is back on! It has yet to exhibit the delightful reverse curves which it assummed while on Dk Van Dyke. This spring took 50 minutes to insert - longer than we had expected.
	Spring No.2 went in much quicker than expected. Here the gallant team of suspensioners prepare to move the van up for spring No.3 to be fitted.
James greased all moving components before they went in, using a handy table which seems to have taken residence next to the shear legs. Tools included two 1" ring spanners for the tops of the hangars and one each of 1.25" and 1.125" open ended spanners for the large adjusting nuts.
	Spring No.2, which was clearly marked as being for the RPSI when its original van was due to be scrapped. Lifting these springs in was not a clean task - the undercoat has been dirtied with grease and rust. This will need degreased before the topcoat goes on.
Bob's good idea No.2 - use two slings to lift the spring in - that way they can be easily removed! Edward mans the chainhoist, which this day last year was used to hoist IVAN to one side when he was being rerailed.
Bob's good idea No.3 - use a packing piece so the weight of the van can compress the spring. That took care of compressing the middle of the spring - but the ends still needed moved into place . . .
	After Bob used an enormous crowbar to bend the spring into shape, spring No.3 reluctantly moved into place. This spring took just over an hour to get in.
Spring No.4 was the one that had to be completely rebuilt with new leaves. Click here to see the spring when it was removed from the DCDR van. As such it had more "spring" than the others. Phil, Mark, Edward and Francis all look despondent. Meanwhile Bob was formulating his good idea No.4 . . .
	Men hard at work. Already this spring has taken more time than the others - and it's not in yet!
Bob's good idea No.4 was to use these little hydrualic jacks to force the ends of the springs down so the bolts could be fitted. One jack can be seen to the left of this picture.
	Seven happy men! The van is now back on its springs.
The Guinness engine, which had been doing some shunting while the van was being resprung, took IVAN for a test run.
	Bob and Edward held on tight as IVAN's newly suspended wheels negotiated the pointwork. They reported that the ride was smooth as far as vertical movement was concerned, but shuttling against the Guinness engine's big softly sprung buffers was a problem.
At the platform for the first time since restoration began, Edward as shunter prepares to give the signals for IVAN to move into the carriage shed.
	IVAN was propelled gingerly into the carriage shed as much film was exposed.
The Guinness engine paused for a moment -
	- to allow the magnificent seven to pose again with their resprung van.

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