On our Latest News page we announced that longserving mechanical services fitter Ron Williams had retired afer 23 years service to SteamRanger, Throughout that period Ron had worked very closely with previous Loco Manager Ian Johnston and here are some insights into Ron and his career that Ian has compiled, to which we have added a few photos taken over the years.

In May 1981, Victorian steam locomotive K190 hauled a special enthusiasts' train from Melbourne to Adelaide, which in itself was truly a remarkable feat at a time when most steam facilities had disappeared. A lot of credit was due to the Victorians who along with SteamRanger's Dean Harvey, undertook a lot of intricate organising and planning to make the trip the great success that it was. K190 and its consist were based at SteamRanger's recently opened depot at Dry Creek and it was here that it was noted one of the younger Victorians was always busy servicing and literally "mothering" the K. This was my first encounter with this busy chap - Ron Williams, and we soon found we had many common threads in all things to do with steam locomotives. One interesting facet I found out was that Ron was the last steam apprentice trained in Victoria which meant he was a pretty rare breed. We had an instant rapport and I was intrigued by his application of their "red oil" to just about everything that moved on the K - it seemed to be given the status of an elixir from the Gods. History tells us that the visit of the K to Adelaide and subsequent visits by Steamrail R class locomotives were extraordinarily successful, in particular the many trips the Victorian locomotives hauled to various parts of SA. To say I was impressed by the work ethics of Ron and his attention to detail would be spot on.

In 1985 it was becoming very apparent that to maintain Dean's busy Tours Program, SteamRanger could no longer rely on volunteers working part time, mostly on weekends, to keep up with the servicing and maintenance required on locomotives and carriages. I suggested to Dean that we needed someone at the depot on a full time basis to attend to the more time consuming mechanical maintenance tasks. Routine servicing would in the main still be undertaken by the Saturday volunteers. This was a major proposal at the time because it involved considerable funds for wages and additional amenities and equipment at the depot to support a full time employee. It took some time to firstly convince Dean and then secondly to come up with a budget to support such a move. I also told Dean of my ideal candidate in Ron, which Dean supported from the start. After some toing and froing, Ron liked the idea of giving up being a diesel locomotive maintainer in Victoria to essentially work full time on steam with SteamRanger so in August of 1986, Ron moved to Adelaide and so began his long association with SteamRanger.

Ron's value was soon demonstrated with his deeper knowledge and expertise on steam plus his ability to relate to everyone within SteamRanger, including all budding volunteers. As would be expected, it took some months for Ron to learn about the many little differences between Victorian and SAR rollingstock. He did have early difficulties with the absolute lack of workshop equipment, even a simple item such as an angle grinder. Gradually many items were scrounged, borrowed and even purchased and these became the beginnings of the now well equipped workshop at Mt Barker. During the early days, Ron was well supported by an energetic group of retirees affectionately known as Dad's Army including regulars in Roy Stanley, Carl Sappiatzer, Max Biggins, Rusty Stanway, Tony Collins and Dean Smith.

Photo opposite: Ron and his jazz combo at a "Steam Up" festival at Mt Barker

Over the years, Ron has supervised literally thousands of different and complex tasks with some of the more major being; rebuilding 207's, 224's and 621's axleboxes; repairs to the main frames of 207, 224 and 251; retyring 520's leading drivers; rebuilding pony/ trailing trucks and tender bogies on 207, 520 and 621; rebuilding the motion on 207 (twice) and 520; new crankpin bushes for all locos; many new main piston and valve rings/liners for all locos; numerous boiler repair tasks including sections of boiler plates, stays, fusible plug holes, regulators, elements, boiler fittings and mountings; fitting of the new superheater header to 621. These are just a few examples of Ron's ability to work through tasks and fabricate parts and support equipment as work proceeded.

Ron's passion for steam was one of the main driving forces behind his dedication and nothing was impossible, it just may have taken a bit more time and funds to work through. He had an innate ability to size up a looming problem, consider the big picture, think sideways if necessary then come up with a solution which could be managed by SteamRanger's often limited resources.

   
Ron on his lathe machining a bogie centre Feb 2006 and measuring 621's smokebox tubeplate Jan 2009 - Photos: Ian Johnston

Ron spent time studying to successfully become proficient in both Air Brake fitting work and pressure vessel welding, as well as applying his talents to his trade of fitting and turning. He has been responsible for the efficient use of volunteer tradesmen, particularly in the machine shop, and for the training of volunteers to be valuable "trades assistants" to support him in his work. Ron made everyone feel at ease with his friendly nature and nothing was too much trouble in explaining what was required to be done. The work and results Ron has achieved over the 23 years has been a result of his tenacity and being fastidious in everything he undertook. A good example, is that after 50000 kms of running since Rx 207's driving axleboxes were rebuilt by Ron prior to 2000, when pulled down as part of the retyring work in 2008, the axleboxes were found to still be in almost perfect condition and good for another 50000 kms.

Ron was quite a discerning chap and during the Dry Creek days he took a strong fancy to the very pleasant lass running SteamRanger's office when it was located in the city. Ron and Lorraine subsequently married and were blessed with a son in young Ryan and they have found their niche living in the Adelaide Hills. While Ron may have departed SteamRanger, he will still be handy to provide advice when requested.

   
Ron and Lorraine (621 trip to Melbourne May 1994) & Ron and Ryan at Mt Barker Depot(both photos Roger Currie)

During the past few years Ron has taken a liking to performing remedial massage and undertook some studies so as he could take up such work part time, particularly for his local footy club. At the same time Ron could feel that the many years of hard and heavy work, often cramped in fireboxes and smokeboxes, had taken its toll on his body and he now and then needed someone to give him a good remedial massage. This was part of the reasoning as to why he decided that the end of the 2008 financial year was a good time for a major change and to put more effort into establishing his massage business.

On Tuesday 30th June 2009, Ron's co-workers at Mt Barker depot held a sausage sizzle to farewell Ron and for depot volunteers to take time to express their appreciation and best wishes to Ron and reminisce about former times. As a memento from the depot chaps, a pensioned off Rx class steam pressure gauge was brought back to its gleaming brass glory, mounted on a wooden base and with a suitably inscribed brass plaque, presented to Ron. In response Ron thanked the many people he had worked with and said he was delighted with the gauge as it represented what he had striven for over many years - good steam pressure!

   
Co-workers at Mt Barker for Ron's farewell (Ian Johnston)

Essential as a strategic backup for our other steam locos, Rx224 has not been forgotten and rebuilding is beginning to advance lead by enthusiastic volunteer David Groves.

A donation of laser cutting services from Williams Laser Cutting and Fabrication and space in the main workshop area at Plympton Steel has been provided to construct the tenders to supplement our own workshop resources. Click on the company names above to visit their websites.

The plates, designed on a computer and then cut by one, fit together like a glove. The finish of the cuts are first class. David's design is loosely based on the new A1 tender design, recently commissioned in the UK (note their tender is speed rated at 90mph so should not be any problems with ours). The one piece longitudinal plates are slotted half way down from the top and the cross sections are slotted half way up from the bottom and the whole lot slots together like a card house except somewhat heavier. Stitch welding will then hold the structure together.

Tender construction is continuing at an extremely pleasing pace with input from experienced volunteer Peter Brown and additional assistance from some of Dave's work colleagues. The giant meccano set design permits assembly with ease, apart from the weight.

The base, internal structure of baffles, both sides and rear corners are all in place. Four qualified welders are currently performing the large task of completely welding the entire base plate to the side plates to form a water tight seal and both side plates to the internal baffle structure. All sides, front and back plates are now in place along with the coal shoot plate and coal drift plate. The top coal plate and water filler top plate has been installed after the completion of internal welding.

 

On other fronts, the four new driving wheel axle box horn blocks are being machined by Dinki Di engineering and hopefully are not too far from completion. It is planned to send all driving and pony wheels for machining in conjunction with machining of 207's wheels.


Latest Update

224's Tender Rebuild reached a significant milestone on Saturday 30th May!

The completed tender built at the premises and with the generous provision of facilities of Plympton Steel was delivered by them to Mt Barker Depot - all 7 tonnes of it! . The tender has taken some 150 hours to assemble which has been a tremendous effort by volunteers.

The structural design of the tender was carried out by David Groves with the aim of maintaining its heritage appearance. Influenced by earlier concepts from Bob Sexton, Ian Johnston and Ron Williams, David took the overall project lead and devoted many hours to the finally implemented design with assistance from a friend who helped him plan out the design details using modern CAD techniques.

When all the metal cutting was completed the resulting hardware components dropped exactly into place and fitted like a glove, aided by valuable assistance from Peter Brown. The materials for the tank were funded by a donation from Mitsubishi arranged some time ago by Dave. Work now commences to build a similar tender for Rx207.

Mechanical Services Manager, Craig Dunstan has provided a bit of an insight as to how the arrival of the tender all happened

• Everything went to plan and with very little fuss thanks to the kindness of Plympton Steel for providing the freighting and Fleurieu Cranes for the lifting . Oddly enough when David Groves redesigned the structure aided by a friend on C.A.D. using the material weights provided during supply, the weight was estimated at 5,600kgs. Much to the surprise of the crane driver during loading, the crane struggled to lift the tender and required some gentle assistance by a fork lift. At that stage the crane company was contacted and asked to provide a larger crane for the off loading. Upon off loading the tender weighed in at 7,000kgs on the knocker. Needless to say the photo's tell the story that the second crane made light work of it and in no time at all had it on the flat car, sharing some space with Rx207's tyres.
  
  
• It was great to see Bob Sexton up and about on the road to recovery and able to come along and view the tender tank. Thanks to Bob, Ian Johnston and Ron Williams from past years discussions, proposing a bolt tank for Rx224. With this concept David managed to metamorphosise the design into the structure it has finally become with construction assisted by Peter Brown.
  
  
• We look forward to the arrival of its sister tank in the not too distant future.

   

Updated 30th May 2009

As previously reported, Rx207 has been raised on timber blocks to allow the wheeels to removed so that new tyres can be fitted. The new tyres have been in storage at Mt Barker for many months whilst workshop resources have been dedicated to numerous repairs to loco 621 - but significant progress is now being made.

The loco was initially raised some 350mm in October 2008 to allow removal of the pony wheels and in late March was raised further to 800mm to complete the release of the three driving wheel sets.

Volunteers Ian Johnston and John Gordon discussing what to do next with their driving wheels

All pony wheel tyres were removed with measurements of wheel diameters being taken and compared against drawing. Initial measurements show OD diameters smaller than drawing along with ID's smaller than drawing giving a rim thickness within specs however our OD's are 1/8" smaller than the specified drawing size for ordering new tyres. Fortunately after placing the order for new tyres we decided to change the ID specs of the order to reduce the ID by 1/4" thus for a just in case situation. Turned out to be a wise decision!

Axle journals measured to date show that the axles are still serviceable. Minimum drive axle journal measured in 2000 showed 0.060" above condemning thickness. Current measurement shows 0.055" giving 0.005" ware in 50,000kms. A good sign that the sealed oiling system of the driving wheel axle boxes as carried out in 2000 has eliminated abrasive contamination from the axle boxes creating minimal ware.

Tyres from the driving wheel set were then removed also. Prospective firms are being canvassed concerning the drilling and tapping of all retyred wheel sets grub screws in lieu of performing the task ourselves. Outsourcing this task should permit a shorter turnaround time for the retyring process.

Measurements will be taken of all tender wheels to determine the expected life left in lieu of o/hauling 207's original tender bogies.

As at the end of May, all engine tyres have been removed. Valuable assistance has been provided by Plympton steel in offering their truck, which came to Mt Barker with Rx224's newly built tender, to transport 207's pony truck and driving wheel sets to Heavymech for machining work prior to the fitting of the new tyres. Also the assistance of Fleurieu Cranes in providing a suitable tractor crane for both tasks at discounted rate was much appreciated.

The 5 wheel sets weighed in at 7 tonnes, the capacity of the truck. The new tyres - including all 4 pony tyres recently machined by Ron Williams in our workshop, found their way to Heavymech by other means.

This photo shows Ron Williams just prior to his retirement keeping an eye on Rx 207's leading driving wheel set in a rather large lathe. So far we have determined the axlebox journals (the shiny bits next to the centre hub) are running quite true with only about 0.005" run out but the wheel rims are not so good showing 0.100" out of round (driving wheels have a hard life).

All tyres are a shrink fit but are also bolted to the wheel centres thus the new tyres required drilling to suit their matched wheel. Although there are holes between each spoke of each wheel and also behind the wheel counter weights, only every second hole is used. The drilling of such holes requires precision measuring and setting up and drilling to ensure that when the tyre is fitted to its corresponding wheel centre, the holes line up.

These two photos show the tyre secured to a vertical bed and drilled with a right angle drill and then tapped. Holes that are situated behind the counter weights require drilling at approximately 45 degree angle. Fitment of the tyres will be performed by Heavy Mech along with the final profile machining. The process is to be repeated with the tender wheels.

   

Heavymech started the final machining of 207's recently fitted driving wheel tyres in mid September - this is to ensure all wheels are concentric to the axles and exactly the same diameter - otherwise good traction would be a problem for starters. The same process was then undertaken with the pony wheels. It was somewhat of a pity to see them eventually become rusty, oily and greasy!! The tradesman pictured, Les from Heavymech, is a very switched on bloke when it comes to these big and heavy machining jobs and he is doing an excellent job.

Those with experience in this field could well ask as to why has the inner side of the tyres have been given what appears to be a fairly hefty machine cut. This has had to be done to overcome an issue mentioned earlier - there was an up to 1/8 inch run out of the inside edges of the wheel centres (rims); in other words there was very slight side to side "wobble" in the wheel centres as they were rotated. Because the tyres are heat shrunk onto the wheel centres to form the necessary very tight fit, the tyres have also adopted the same run out or "wobble". While machining the inner edge of the wheel centre to remove the run out before fitting the tyre would have been an easy cure, it was deemed not to be the prudent way to go as the width of the rim would have been narrowed thereby reducing its overall strength.

Recently retired Ron William's plan was to skim about 0.050" from the inner edge of the locating step so that each tyre was fitted a little further onto the rim than would be normal. Then the inner edge of the tyres could be machined to remove the run out and still have back to back tyre measurements as per the spec. The tyre flanges and treads would also then be machined to run true and to the correct width. However due to a misunderstanding the tyres were actually fitted without the 0.050" allowance.

To remove the tyres and restart was out of the question so to overcome this, the inner edges of the tyres have been machined to remove most (about 80%) of the run out but leaving the back to back measurement now at its upper limit. It should not matter too much that the new tyres will already have the maximum back to back measurement allowed - the main thing is that the measurement is essentially constant around the inner circumference of each wheel set. This is very necessary as in the event of a derailment or whatever, taking back to back measurements and looking for any differences between them is the normal method of detecting damage such as bent axles or wheels.


Tender Tyres

This photo shows the set up at Mt Barker Depot used to remove 207's tender tyres in mid October. The weight of each wheel set is taken on a sleeper block and the whole lot steadied by chains and the Leyland sky hook. Average time for a tyre to drop was 7 to 8 minutes but unfortunately one tyre would not come off initially due to a long forgotten broken set (retaining) screw still in the tyre.

The wheel sets are now being cleaned and basic measurements taken to ensure all are within specification.


And a new tender on the way too!
With the new tender for Rx224 now delivered to Mt Barker Depot, David Groves and his helpers at Plympton Steel have been busy repeating the construction process to provide Rx207 with her new tender.

   

Updated 18th October 2009

In parallel with retyring Rx207 and rebuilding Rx224's tender, work is proceeding with retubing loco 621. Significant funding however will be required to complete the overall project.

Tasks are being progressed up to the point of where new flues and tubes are required to continue the work. This will ensure that when funding becomes available there are not mammoth amounts of work to be done. What will then be needed will be to fit tubes and flues and then perform the required hydro and steam tests to have the boiler issued with an operations boiler certificate. Currently both Ron Williams and Ron Norrell are working on 621's boiler as such work on a boiler can only be performed by qualified tradesmen.

Ron Norrell hard at work welding the tubeplate

Work is continuing on welding of the smoke box tube plate flue holes to reduce the diameter in order for the flue holes to be machined, thus returning the ID's back to their original diameters. Fire bricks have been used to provide a suitable surface to build the internal or first weld run against to avoid the weld running of the internal side of the flue hole or burning back into the inner tube plate face. The bricks have been clamped to the inner tube plate face in order for welding to continue in an outwards direction. The flue hole welding is a slow process of which is varying to different holes across the tube plate to avoid excessively heating and distorting the tube plate. Four crown stays that have been identified as showing cracks or weaknesses have been removed with new crown stays being machined and installed.

Walkers in NSW have been identified as a suitable firm capable of performing all required swaging of flues and belling of tubes to suit our requirements. The flues we have in our own stock will require freighting to NSW for swaging and freighted back with the other new flues and tubes at completion of the task. Costing estimates of $50,000 will be required to further purchase and complete the transaction in order to land the required material at Mount Barker to complete the boiler overhaul.

Previous reports on this project can be found on our "Looking Backwards" page  CLICK HERE

Updated to April 2009

Car 60 has been regularly operating well patronised Cockle Trains with either baggage car no. 82 or a centre-loader. It is also operated a number of charters and trips to Strathalbyn.

Ivan Marchant's photo of the car was taken near Gemmells on a crew training run on the 1st October 2007.

Diesel Electric loco 507, the mainstay of our more heavily loaded Cockle Train services whilst DE958 and the steam locos are out of service was returned to Mt Barker Depot in mid Febraury with both braking and traction motor control problems. The following information from Mt Barker Depot foreman Ian Johnston describes rectification actions being pursued.

9th February

First lot of trouble was with 507 when I noticed on train 1552 that it was very reluctant to pull away from VH with an impression that some brakes were dragging. At G after cutting off we spent some time listening to and feeling brake blocks and observing if all blocks retracted from the wheels. Blocks on R1 and R2 were the hottest but with loco brakes released, L3's were still firmly on the wheels. Without being able to prove much there and then, the best assumptions were; R1 and R2 possibly have stiction in the rigging and are dragging a bit but not a lot. L3's stick on but gradually release themselves as the loco moves off. This is the second time L3s have played up like this - last time we found binding in the lower rigging pins. To further add to problems moving away, a bit later on I noted that the amp meter was very slow in responding to increased movements in the throttle handle - up to 10 seconds just to get a response. Does not sound long but it is when you are waiting for things to happen. Suspect the load regulator is sticking at the lower settings

11th February

As is the usual thing with 507, it hardly played up today but still at least twice it was not in the mood to move away when it should have. This indicates there is still an issue with something not being right between the control stand and the traction motors - and there are a lot of things in between. However the main suspects are still the governor assembly or load regulator and the Manual indicates that there are a number of parts which can play up when worn or not adjusted correctly. The brake rigging on L3 still sticks thereby keeping the brakes on.. As far as R1 and R2 go, it would appear that with released brakes, the brake hangers are not hanging completely symmetrically resulting in the weight of the rigging holding one brake block onto each wheel rather than all blocks swinging in the breeze. 507 transferred from GD to MB today without any further hic cups

15th February

one problem has been found which would not have been helping with the operation of the load regulator. Whether it is the total reason, only time will tell. Part of the governing assembly relies on three governor operated cam switches which tell the electric motor driving the load regulator which way to turn to either increase or decrease power, depending on what the driver is doing with the throttle. The switches are mounted on an insulated block so electrically there is no contact between them. However between two of the relevant poles for the switches, the insulation material had burnt away, leaving a gaping hole, this being due to unwanted and continued electrical arcing between the poles. This would probably have been going on for some time until it reached a stage where the load regulator would have been receiving mixed messages as the arcing occurred and the motor on the regulator would not have known which way to turn the regulator's rheostat. Hence the system's indecision when the driver kept prodding the loco to move away.

One possible reason for this fault being intermittent is that its affects would have been more pronounced on more humid days due to dampness in the air. Very fortunately we had a spare cam and switch assembly to swap with the crookie. Just puts another task on the long list - to machine another insulated mounting board. This incident again reinforces the fact that both 507 and 958 are overdue for full electrical checks and servicing - something we don't know a lot about and something that will take some weeks to work through. However for the sake of loco reliability and for the long term welfare of the locos, it is an issue which will need to leap frog some other tasks. The good news so far is that we now believe the response of 507 to throttle movements is back to where it used to be some time ago - again only time will tell. Although we freed up the L3 brake rigging Saturday, it did not last. 507 came back with those brakes again a bit tight so more work required there

The following photos show the underside and top of the switch assembly and the burnt hole is clearly visible.

   

Diesel loco 958 develops a serious radiator problem

It was noted on the Southern Encounter on the 15th November that the high temperature high speed radiator fan on loco DE958 cut in several times, an unusual situation with our type of working during cooler weather with the low speed fan handling all cooling requirements. This unfortunately signalled that there was a likely leak in the cooling radiator which was subsequently confirmed by a pool of green water in the engine room.

Depot foreman Ian Johnston has provided an account of subsequent activities

Although the problem does not sound much - a leaky radiator, experience in 1996 demonstrated that the removal of the radiator is a huge and difficult task with the subsequent rebuilding of the radiator being time consuming and hence expensive. The radiators on each side of 958 are about 4 feet by 6 feet by at least 6 inches thick, very heavy and extremely difficult to manoeuvre out and back into the loco. The many cores within the many fins run from front to back in the photo and as is usual with radiators, leaks start from the ends of the cores where they are fitted into the end tanks, due to thermal movements and vibration.

958's Log Book shows we had the same problem with the LH radiator in May 1996 and Daryl Simon and Ron Williams can attest to the difficulties associated with the task then. At that time there was only one firm in Adelaide which could rebuild radiators of that size and fortunately they still exist. Daryl recalled that when the LH radiator was repaired, the repairers gave it two years so we have done very well out of that but what does that auger for the leaking RH radiator?

After a fair bit or preparation work, the radiator was finally removed early in December . Considerable time had to be spent disconnecting large coolant pipes all of which have not had to be touched since we acquired 958 in March 1992 - hence the connections took a lot of persuasion. To safely support the radiator during the removal process out of the side of the loco, a large cradle was made as per very simplistic sketches from the Alco handbook - no drawings could be located. While it did the job, it will be consigned to the spare angle iron pile and another made of heavier angle iron for the replacement job.

The first photo below shows the radiator out and being lifted off the cradle watched by Mathew and Brenton Job and Oliver Lukins. It also shows the physical size and inferred weight of the radiator. 224's tender underframe was very handy during this part. The second shows the radiator about to land on Brenton's truck to be taken for inspection and reconditioning.

From what could be seen of the radiator internals, it has led a long and hard life. Thanks to Oliver Lukins for his help on weekdays, to Brenton and Mathew Job for their assistance and to Craig Dunstan and David Groves for fabricating the cradle. Should also mention that one particular 3" diam pipe fitting could only be budged after applying heat, dousing with water then two burly chaps (Phil Turner and Geof Hancock) on the long handled the wrench.

In a nutshell the prognosis on 958's radiator was a bit of a disaster - the radiator man said it was completely unrepairable. That has not surprised those of us who were able to inspect some of its internals after removal from the loco. When I pressed him further as to just how bad it was and whether there was any hope, he replied that any repair job would virtually require the building of a new radiator at an estimated cost of $16000. So we are very actively persuing possible sources of second hand radiators either already reconditioned or in a suitable condition to be reconditioned, via my contacts in SA, WA and NSW. A last ditch option might be the radiators in 963 but it would be strongly suspected that they might not be any better.

Latest news as in late January indicates that the loco should be back on the rails fairly soon, although it entirely missed the summer Cockle Train running. A new radiator has been designed and constructed in Adelaide at around the estimated price and will soon be reinstalled.

The photo below shows the new hardware at Mt Barker in mid February. As Depot Manager Ian Johnston says "One could wonder where the 16 grand is in that. But there are oodles of copper and brass cores and fins all soldered together so we guess that is as good a reason as any - still seems a lot though".

The radiator will be refitted when other higher priority workshop tasks allow

Updated to February 25th 2010

Not currently used as an operational locomotive

Boiler Condition

• The loco's boiler certificate has now expired. Our boiler inspector reconsidered the condition of the firebox tubeplate and noted that the tubeplate has a record of cracking after each 300km of running.
  
  
• The loco was last certificated in 1995, when over 140 cracks were repaired. At that time it was approved for only five years of further operation.

Problem detected with Wheel Flanges

• Early in 2007 it was noted that the flanges on two of F 251's driving wheels were below condemning level and also that wheel #R5 was a borderline case. The flanges were last routinely measured in early 2000 and at that time it was noted both flanges were very thin. Since then, F 251 travelled 3400 miles up to the end of that year when Rx 207 was recommissioned. This indicates that the distance was sufficient to tip the flange from being very thin to being condemned.
  
  
• From the thickness remaining on the tyres and because the flange is so badly worn, it is doubtful if there is sufficient to allow for a full reprofile of all wheels. Accordingly F 251 is not available for any service until all wheels have been either reprofiled or retyred, which ever may be the case.

520's tender was routinely drained and inspected in December 1998 after the normal running season. This confirmed previous evidence of corrosion and wastage of the underframe, where the tender had been extended down to increase water carrying capacity. Calculations based on the static and dynamic loads on the underframe indicated that the tender frame had reached its design life, having been subjected to over 55 years of ongoing corrosion and to rectify this will require substantial strengthening and long term anti-corrosion coating.

Mechanically, the loco is in good condition, but the boiler and smokebox need attention. In 1994 the loco was converted back to a coal fired boiler by superficially covering over the oil burning apertures in the boiler backplate. This approach is not now acceptable to our boiler inspectors and initial work involving stripping fittings in the cab was commenced prior to discovering the tender corrosion problems, but has not been further progressed. A full rebuild is required to address wasting of material in the smokebox. This will require reproducing a complicated smokebox profile.

The unfortunate outcome of these inspections is that 520 will require over $200,000 of work to put it back in reliable condition. Steam hauled "Southern Encounter" trains will therefore utilise either double headed Rxs or 621 for the foreseeable future