Ghostbusters with blowtorches?! Developments and progress 15/08/14

An odd title you say? All will be revealed in good time loyal followers...

Behind the scenes, much noise had been made about the brakes on 2599, with replacement anchor pins proving more than troublesome to obtain. Thanks to the help of many of our supporters, and to Lee Roddis we managed to source a new set of said pins from Carl Ireland of Hull. However, Tim - now an established and most welcome part of the furniture on the maintenance team - had experienced much difficulty removing the damaged pins from the bus itself.

The only solution we could think of was to either heat the pins to aid their removal, or completely strip the hub assembly down and have the pins pressed out. Both options have their pros and cons...to heat the pins, we were informed would be difficult conventially and would likely require the use of Oxy Acetylene to get the required temperatures, which has to be hired out and is often expensive, while stripping the hub assembly completely would require the bearings and hub seals to be checked and/or replaced, as well as a complete oil change. All time consuming, and expensive stuff!

And so the job began. With mixed feelings, and armed with a blowtorch, Paul and our newest member of the maintenance team, Nik, set to work on Saturday 9 August in an attempt to heat the pin enough that it would slide out easily. Suffice to say, after a few hours work, they were successful in removing the pin, which in itself was quite an achievement. However, this success was marred with disappointment, as the concentric bush was still holding the brake shoe to the carrier, which now left Tim with the task of stripping the hub assembly down. But as in Tim's own words, "Won't do any harm, as like most old ladies she's a little bit dry down below." (your blogmaster did have a chuckle at that phrase, simple minds and all that...)

In the meantime, Paul had dug out 2599's spare brake shoes, of which we have four in total. Two require relining, while the other two still have plenty of life left in them upto press. Arrangements will soon be made to send the two that need relining away to be done. Meanwhile, Robert Nogues of the Ards Bus Preservation Group had kindly sent us some correct specification front foglights that we had been experiencing difficulty in obtaining this side of the Irish Sea. Once again, thanks to Robert and the lads for their help!

Further developments on 15 August saw our third resident mechanic Gary complete the job he had started earlier in the month. With the holes drilled in the metal, the new throttle support plate was duly re-attached to the bus, while the throttle linkage was re-attached and painted, and the difference was immediate, with the throttle now more responsive than ever and springing back as it should. 

Who you gonna call?!

Smiling proudly 09/08/14

And so back to our perculiar title for this piece...do we remember from earlier posts and Gary's tales about how Paul is a big girl's blouse around sparks and how he armed himself on one visit in overalls and gloves in such a way that he looked like a rejected ghostbuster? Well here is our leader himself smiling proudly with the offending anchor pin seconds after it had been blowtorched and removed from the bus. Thanks to Nik for the photo, submit your captions please folks...