TheRolleCanal

July
Saturday 12th – Saturday 19th
The Waterway Recovery Group held another very successful and productive camp at Sea Lock during this period.  It was particularly pleasing to welcome back five Wergies who had been on previous camps at Sea Lock.

Fourteen volunteers, led by Spencer Collins and Victoria Westcroft, completed a variety of tasks including laying seven coping  ‘stone’ blocks and 5 gate-pivot blocks, stripping old cladding from a lock gate, rebuilding a considerable amount of  wharf wall,  removing scaffolding and digging out part of the wharf basin.

In between organising domestic arrangements for the group and providing everyone with plenty of good food, Victoria managed to find time to prepare the cab of the Ruston Bucyrus and cover it in new anti-rust, primer and top-coats of paint, making it look a lot smarter.

Although the engine works fine it is still sadly awaiting new ‘ropes’ and will be awhile before it can be put to work.

Needless to say there is still a huge amount of work to do at Sea Lock but the efforts of the Wergies have progressed the restoration dramatically. 
THANKS, GUYS and GIRLS!   Hopefully see you again next year.

Monday 28th
John managed to remove the bent boom-stop swivels to the crane and fabricated some new ones.  With a little help from Adrian he reattached the new ones and then linked them to the new boom-stops. 

Wednesday 30th.
Trevor and Adrian take a borrowed trailer to Exeter to collect an old but working Thwaites dumper truck that has been donated to the restoration scheme..  Unfortunately they discovered only after they had arrived at where the dumper was to be collected that it is was too wide to fit on the trailer by 4 inches!  Still at least they know where to go next time!

August
Friday 1st
In the morning Trevor and Adrian successfully collect the dumper truck and delivery it to the site.  Like the crane it requires some tender loving care but not quite so much.  This little beast will be put to work very soon and will be an invaluable tool.
In the afternoon they remove and then refit the sliding, back doors on the crane. Despite them having been removed once before, dents and dings straightened out, repainted and replaced they were still not sliding open or closed anywhere near smoothly.
After due consideration by Trevor and Adrian, Trevor concluded that the bottom rail, on which the doors ran, had been replaced upside down!  After a good laugh, they removed the offending rail, turned it over and replaced it once again.  The doors now slide open and closed quite nicely despite their age and the abuse to which they have been treated.

Monday 4th
Barry and Adrian cut new mortise and tenon joints on the balance beams ready to reattach them to the lock gates. Later that day Adrian removes the covers from the Wylie Safe Load Indicators to see what need repairing.

 

Wednesday 6th
Trevor and John spend a lot of time cleaning the Wylie system and trying to figure out how it actually works. ( Later Adrian managed to acquire a set of instructions, wiring diagram and drawings kindly supplied by Gary Kennedy of RaycoWylie UK, very complicated!).

Thursday 7th
Trevor and Adrian cast another block for the inner wing wall on the west side.  Both got drenched since it poured down with rain before they were in a position to stop what they were doing.

Friday 8th
Adrian paints an undercoat on the handrails of the balance beams as well as on the replacement boom stops.

Saturday 9th
Adrian casts the final block for the inner wing wall.  Again rain stops play.

Thursday 15th
Trevor, Barry and Adrian jack up the front end of the Thwaites dumper, remove the bucket in order to access the front hubs and free the brake rods and shoes which had been sticking on.  The wheels and brakes now work very easily now that all the necessary parts have been cleaned, greased and replaced.
In the afternoon John joins Adrian and Trevor.  They set about draining the gear box and engine of old oil, replacing the oil filter with a new one and refilling the system with fresh oil.

Friday 16th
John cuts out rusted sections of the dumper and welds new pieces of metal back in place and repairs the broken ‘pepper-pot’ exhaust manifold.  Adrian paints the replaced sections and fixes a new driver’s seat.  The dumper runs very well when tested.

Sunday 18th
Adrian sets in place the remaining two ‘coping stones’ to complete the west side inner wing wall.  These blocks were only dry laid because the weather was very wet and unpredictable.
Holsworthy History Group were due to visit today but were postponed due to the poor weather conditions earlier in the morning.