So a couple of months ago I was asked by my step dad if I could take on a light restoration project for him. He's the General Manager of the RH&DR, which is a miniature railway here in Kent. I'm sure a few of you know it.
Anyway, their engineers are all quite busy at the moment so they asked me to step in with my budget engineering skills. The job was to repair their railway bike so it could be used for a fundraising event. It was built a good few years ago (maybe the 70's) by a talented engineer named Tony Crowhurst as a bit of fun and has been mucked around on and with a lot over the years. A little while ago it was in the engine shed and was unfortunately squashed between two trains, bending the forks completely, warping the frame and leaving it unrideable. Photos...
Picked it up looking like this. I didn't actually get any decent photos of the damage, sorry!
Another shot.
My lovely assistant taking it for a test-ride to make sure the mechanicals all worked. The bike was steering hard-right into the rails, stopping you from being able to actually get anywhere. Not good. However despite this damage it rode forward ok. Bit stiff, but otherwise alright.
I was really keen to keep this sticker in good condition, but the tape I used to attach it took all the text off. Good engineers are often forgotten by the world, for all the Isambard Kingdom Brunel's we've had there were ten thousand hard working talented individuals creating and building things, often quite unappreciated. Tony Crowhurst is quite well known by the miniature railway community as he's probably rebuilt most of them. I was quite annoyed at myself for letting it get ruined, so I'm going to cast a silver shield tomorrow and have it engraved and mount it to the front.
We stripped the bike down, cut off all the bent metal and fitted new forks I didn't managed to get photos of this, sorry!
This is the next photo. As you can see, we've replaced the forks and added these bars to the bike in place of the straps that were there. This is to make sure that it stays square, and also to make sure if it's involved in another shunt it retains a bit of it's shape (hopefully, but the trains are very heavy, so probably a bit futile). The rear was really bent up so we had to just make do, the geared hub is on quite wonky to make sure it keeps the chains at the right tension and stops them kicking off. We didn't want to cut the frame off despite having another very similar one as a donor because like I said above, someone put a lot of time and skill into this and I want it to be retained.
I also took the chance to box in the front part and ground down and re welded a few of the welds at the back. The colour is Ford Meadow Green.
Painted the wheels, part 1
And two! Just used black hammerite. I did give a pinstripe a go, but it was terrible. I'll leave it to someone who knows what they're doing!
Pretty happy with my little flourish on the rear.
So by Monday night we were ready to go for a test ride on the tracks;
Unfortunately the front still tried to ride into the rails (we just twisted it back into place, budget, but it worked). We also had replaced the bottom bracket and cranks with something more modern, this was because the old one was so worn one of the cranks moved by about 20 degrees, making it even harder to ride. It was very tired. Unfortunately again, we hadn't done a very good job of it and it needed a different chainring/crank to stop the chain coming off, so we chucked it back in the car and set about searching for one.
A friend found one for us so I went back down Tuesday to fit it and take it for another test ride, this all went swimmingly and we decided it was all ready to go.
Fast forward to this evening, which was the big day, the charity ride. I joined my step dad in the engine to provide technical support. In the end I only had to adjust the seat height for different riders, which is good, but I came prepared anyway and had to lug everything around with me including a massive mallet (you never know!)
Doing their stretches.
On the right track.
Just over half way (they did 8.4 miles in total) alongside the diesel at Dymchurch. A diesel was used as the support vehicle because it's more convenient than steam.
I'm really proud of this one, it looks awesome here.
Really pleased with how it's gone, it's usable again, but it does need a bit more work, which I'll get to eventually. Or not, one of their engineers might want to have a play with it. They're on the lookout for another set of axles so I can build another one using the new frame we found. It'll look very similar but will be straight and I'll braze it instead of welding it. Most of it is mig-welded, which obviously isn't great for the frame. Open to suggestions on ways to improve on the design.
That way they can keep this one as it is, and still have one that can be used/modified as they require.
Hope this is the right place for this, I can't think of many other groups of people that would be all that interested in something like this, and I wanted to share!
Anyway, their engineers are all quite busy at the moment so they asked me to step in with my budget engineering skills. The job was to repair their railway bike so it could be used for a fundraising event. It was built a good few years ago (maybe the 70's) by a talented engineer named Tony Crowhurst as a bit of fun and has been mucked around on and with a lot over the years. A little while ago it was in the engine shed and was unfortunately squashed between two trains, bending the forks completely, warping the frame and leaving it unrideable. Photos...
Picked it up looking like this. I didn't actually get any decent photos of the damage, sorry!
Another shot.
My lovely assistant taking it for a test-ride to make sure the mechanicals all worked. The bike was steering hard-right into the rails, stopping you from being able to actually get anywhere. Not good. However despite this damage it rode forward ok. Bit stiff, but otherwise alright.
I was really keen to keep this sticker in good condition, but the tape I used to attach it took all the text off. Good engineers are often forgotten by the world, for all the Isambard Kingdom Brunel's we've had there were ten thousand hard working talented individuals creating and building things, often quite unappreciated. Tony Crowhurst is quite well known by the miniature railway community as he's probably rebuilt most of them. I was quite annoyed at myself for letting it get ruined, so I'm going to cast a silver shield tomorrow and have it engraved and mount it to the front.
We stripped the bike down, cut off all the bent metal and fitted new forks I didn't managed to get photos of this, sorry!
This is the next photo. As you can see, we've replaced the forks and added these bars to the bike in place of the straps that were there. This is to make sure that it stays square, and also to make sure if it's involved in another shunt it retains a bit of it's shape (hopefully, but the trains are very heavy, so probably a bit futile). The rear was really bent up so we had to just make do, the geared hub is on quite wonky to make sure it keeps the chains at the right tension and stops them kicking off. We didn't want to cut the frame off despite having another very similar one as a donor because like I said above, someone put a lot of time and skill into this and I want it to be retained.
I also took the chance to box in the front part and ground down and re welded a few of the welds at the back. The colour is Ford Meadow Green.
Painted the wheels, part 1
And two! Just used black hammerite. I did give a pinstripe a go, but it was terrible. I'll leave it to someone who knows what they're doing!
Pretty happy with my little flourish on the rear.
So by Monday night we were ready to go for a test ride on the tracks;
Unfortunately the front still tried to ride into the rails (we just twisted it back into place, budget, but it worked). We also had replaced the bottom bracket and cranks with something more modern, this was because the old one was so worn one of the cranks moved by about 20 degrees, making it even harder to ride. It was very tired. Unfortunately again, we hadn't done a very good job of it and it needed a different chainring/crank to stop the chain coming off, so we chucked it back in the car and set about searching for one.
A friend found one for us so I went back down Tuesday to fit it and take it for another test ride, this all went swimmingly and we decided it was all ready to go.
Fast forward to this evening, which was the big day, the charity ride. I joined my step dad in the engine to provide technical support. In the end I only had to adjust the seat height for different riders, which is good, but I came prepared anyway and had to lug everything around with me including a massive mallet (you never know!)
Doing their stretches.
On the right track.
Just over half way (they did 8.4 miles in total) alongside the diesel at Dymchurch. A diesel was used as the support vehicle because it's more convenient than steam.
I'm really proud of this one, it looks awesome here.
Really pleased with how it's gone, it's usable again, but it does need a bit more work, which I'll get to eventually. Or not, one of their engineers might want to have a play with it. They're on the lookout for another set of axles so I can build another one using the new frame we found. It'll look very similar but will be straight and I'll braze it instead of welding it. Most of it is mig-welded, which obviously isn't great for the frame. Open to suggestions on ways to improve on the design.
That way they can keep this one as it is, and still have one that can be used/modified as they require.
Hope this is the right place for this, I can't think of many other groups of people that would be all that interested in something like this, and I wanted to share!
