Some of you will know Eddie Mol by his christened name Gerardus. But he was Eddie to me when first introduced.

Eddie has had a long relationship with locomotive 1210. Not as long as has Bruce Macdonald, his partner in crime in resurrecting 1210 to life in 1988, but long enough though.

Eddie oiled and poured oil down the blastpipe of 1210 at least once during every year of the 22 years that 1210 spent on that plinth outside Canberra Railway Station.

It was Eddie who supervised its removal from the plinth. And after a fortnight of copious oiling, 1210 was tugged oh-so-silently onto a low-loader for movement back to the railway yards. He had been doing all that oiling for a purpose.

Why congratulations? Most ARHS members know that 1210 has recently returned to service following a serious steam leak, by travelling to Thirlmere and working on Rail Transport Museum's line. Well, Eddie carried out the repairs which allowed this to happen.

His work is meticulous and is carried out with surprising silence and speed. Most people are still discussing the problem when Eddie tells them it is fixed.

Just how well he fixed 1210 became evident when we pointed her at Tuggeranong Bank on Easter Sunday (click on image for larger picture).

Eddie diagnosed and repaired two separate problems with 1210.

The serious steam leak that took the engine out of service fortunately proved to be in the joint between the right hand cylinder's exhaust housing and the elbow piece that takes the exhaust steam through the wall of the smokebox and into the blastpipe.

Much relief here, as we feared that the cylinder casting had cracked causing the steam leak to the outside of the smokebox.

Refacing and resealing the exhaust joints from both cylinders, together with new holding bolts, saw that problem repaired relatively easily.

It had been suspected for a couple of years that there were steam leaks from one or both of the steamchests inside the smokebox (click on images for larger pictures).

As well as reducing engine power, these leaks could disrupt the smokebox vacuum necessary for the engine to generate steam efficiently.

Eddie decided that the valve chest covers had to be removed.

To do that, a considerable amount of fire-hardened concrete that covered the smokebox floor up two thirds the height of the valve chests had to be removed.

Gavin Woolf removed most of this with various others quite literally chipping in to help. Gavin also acted as fitter’s mate to Eddie during the repair phases. He would have learnt a lot being around Eddie.

Common agreement was reached that a much lesser amount of concrete could be placed in the smokebox at the end of the repairs. You never know ... next time .....

The photos show the main characters in the repair. Note the remains of concrete still staining the outside of the valve chests.

Compare that with the inside. The polished surfaces of machined iron castings all kept shiny by that vital layer of oil. These are the things that Eddie kept good all those years on the plinth and now show the healthy look of an operating machine.

The elbow piece sits loose in its hole in the smokebox side sheet. The exhaust port can be seen through the hole. There is something else though, drawn on each inside wall of the smokebox side sheets just above the holes for the exhaust holes.

Like all true craftsmen, Eddie leaves his mark. In this case in chalk, on the handy smooth surface.

Just like boilermakers and machinists have done for over a century and a half, it is a drawing showing what he has found and their important dimensions.

On each side of the smokebox, a drawing shows the state of the threaded holes for the studs holding on that side's steamchest cover. There are thirty for each steamchest, too many to remember - paper gets lost or dirty, so draw it on the job itself.

Eddie had found that the leak to a steamchest was up beside a stud partially corroded away. Best professional solution: replace all sixty studs and their washers and nuts.

 
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Smart thinking: Contract a specialist stud remover having the correct tools. Two days of little drama instead of a week of cursing and your skin spread over any rough or sharp surface near the steamchests.

Eddie and Gavin stayed fresh and cool to check all sealing surfaces and to carefully reassemble the bits.

The exhaust elbows and blast pipe may be rough heavy iron castings, but they have to be precision mounted in their place.

The exhaust has to blast precisely up the centre of the chimney for the smokebox vacuum to be created.

An error here causes a poor steaming locomotive creating headaches for its crews.

Tightening a misaligned fitting can fracture the brittle cast iron - big trouble and big expense.

Knowledge, skill and care are what brings success to these jobs, and Eddie has plenty of these. Luck has nothing to do with his results. And Gavin has been watching closely.

I now know how well Eddie, with Gavin's help, put 1210 back together.

I fired 1210 to Royalla on Easter Sunday. A minute or three delay in getting passengers aboard at Canberra saw 1210 blowing off hard. The fire had been prepared for an on-time departure.

Once the engine had warmed through, John Goodban decided to use rather than waste steam. Fyshwick Bank - which bank?

John apologised for stirring up the fire: why? We were enjoying the ride! 1210 romped the rest of the way to Queanbeyan.

We usually take Tuggeranong Bank tender first. This is not the usual preference for tackling 1-in-40 grades as engine first gives maximum water cover to the firebox crownsheet. Tender first gives the least cover so water levels have to be very closely watched.

We do this so the 40 kph speed limit to tender first running is spread over the hill-climbing part of the trip, leaving the 80 kph limit for engine first running to down hill sections where you can attain line speed limits. Passengers get a faster, more enjoyable ride by not having to crawl in both directions. As I said, tender first firing has its challenges.

David Malcolm was also teaching me to fire on the flame temperature rather than on the smoke colour during this trip.

This entails leaving the firehole door partially open most of the time and watching for the flames to attain their hottest, lightest yellow orange colour before putting on the three shovels of a partial firing round.

Care has to be taken to not open the door too wide as too much air cools the hot gasses of the fire. Not what you want when you need all the steam you can make.

Firing on the smoke means firing when the smoke colour thins to a light grey haze. The firehole door is usually not opened as wide so the risk of cooling the fire is less. So in summary, we have 1210 hauling a full load tender first on a 1-in-40 bank with a firing course in session.

Then there is the water. A long bank like Tuggeranong uses water, so - if you can manage it - you leave the fireman's side injector on but throttled back a little and see if you can maintain steam pressure against the cooling effect of the feed water.

We managed it for long periods, even beating the water and steam use at times. 1210 was definitely steaming very well.

John Goodban decided to make our lives easier by winding the valve gear further forward (we were going backwards, remember). This lessens steam usage by using the expansive properties of steam to produce the power.

You can only do this, however, if the fireman is maintaining a high boiler pressure in the first place. Three turns brings you to centre gear where all stops and the power is ready to be applied in the opposite direction.

John was getting awfully close to this. We thought at one stage he was planning an early return to Queanbeyan!

Well, when I say congratulations Eddie, I mean it.

1210 is doing what you always wanted it to do. Working, and working well.

All ARHS members – and particularly new members – have been invited to attend a members barbecue at Canberra Railway Museum on Sunday, May 15.

As well as being a chance to meet and greet each other, the opportunity will be taken to show new members around the Museum and explain some of the workings of the Society.

It will be an excellent and welcoming way of learning some of what the Society does, how it operates, and – if you see an opportunity – of learning how to be involved.

The BBQ gets underway at noon. Hotplates will be provided - just bring whatever eats and drinks you would like.

More information is available from one of the Society’s foundation members, Howard Quinlan, who can be contacted at .

 
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