Daniel Adamson News 2010

Most recent news appears first.

THERE AND BACK

Last month, our new volunteer Neil Eaton, was tasked to remove the Wyper shafts on both engines to check their bearings, while doing this he commented that the oil boxes that lubricate the bearings were missing.

When we took over the Danny we knew that a lot of the brass shiny things were missing and, as far as I know, a comprehensive list of the missing items has never been documented. The assumption was that souvenir hunters, wanting to take away a memento, had taken these things or they had all been removed to be sold to the scrap man.

A search through some old engine room photographs did show these oil boxes, so now we knew what they looked like. We then heard a rumour that some of our oil boxes had been found in a store at the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port and these items would be returned to us.

Colin Leonard, our events officer, duly turned up at the boat the other week bearing two cardboard boxes containing a selection of brass fittings.

It transpired that these brass items had been removed from the Danny and stored at the museum for safekeeping
The boxes contained two boiler water sight glasses and an assortment of 26 oil boxes and among them were the six missing Wyper shaft oil boxes.

We must thank the staff at the National Waterways Museum for recognising these items for what they were and returning them to us.

And on a technical point, the Wyper (or Reversing) shaft is connected to the reversing engine and to the drag links on the high-pressure cylinder and low-pressure cylinder valve gear. When the reversing engine is operated this causes the Wyper shaft to rotate, which in turn moves the HP & LP valves to their reverse position and the engine will now run in the opposite direction.

- John Hake

THE RAKE'S PROGRESS

Now that the open day is all done and dusted we are getting back on track with the jobs that were put on hold, here is a run down on the current work in progress.

Valve Spindle Support Bearings

The refurbishment of the engine valve gear continues on two fronts, the first one being the replacement of the four valve spindle support bearings. They come in two halves and fit into a support arm, the valve spindle then runs up the centre of the bearing. The newly cast bearings have to go through two processes, the first is to mill the outside so it fits into the support arm and the second is to bore the inside to give the valve spindle a clearance fit. As with many aspects on the vessel, the bearings are not identical, so each one has got to be measured and machined individually, our machinist,  Phil Atkinson has taken all this in his stride and the job is progressing well.

The second part of the valve gear refurbishment program is the replacement of the 16 drag rod bearings. These bearings come in two haves, one side is plain and the other side contains a built in oil box. Our pattern maker, Alan Frodsham, made the patterns and got the new set of bearings cast at Derbyshire Castings in Altrincham.

Argyle Engineering then machined all the faces, bored out the centres, created a oil groove and drilled the holes for the retaining bolts. The bored out centres were done to a common undersize leaving us to do the final machining. Back in our workshop, Alan Blackburn measured each pin on the reversing quadrants and wyper shafts so he could machine the bearings for each individual pin. Once the new bearings pairs had been checked for size and clearance they were clearly marked to avoid any confusion when we start reassembly.

Argyle Engineering have returned the two steering engine cylinders and slide valves after machining the cylinder bores and renewing the slide valve thrust pads. Wally Graham, our resident steering engine expert, has lapped the slide valves to the steam ports in both cylinders. The cylinders were then stripped of the old paint, cleaned and repainted. Argyle have made us two new pistons and we are just waiting for the piston rings to be manufactured

It has been decided that our water boxes should have a pressure test certificate as they are newly fabricated ones, which replaced the very corroded cast iron originals. Our method is to bolt the two corresponding water boxes together and then fit the doors on each end, blank off the water inlet and outlet flanges, fit a pressure meter to one blanking plate and a pump on the other. Fill the whole unit with water and pump it up to 30 PSI and check the pressure is retained for one hour.

Two water boxes and end doors bolted together on the after deck ready to be filled with water for the first leak test

One of the cast brass saloon windows was sent to back to the successors of the original manufacturers, T M Utley Offshore of St Helens for evaluation and restoration. The frame has now been returned fully refurbished and glazed. We are currently assessing the remaining frames to see what jobs can be done by the volunteers to keep the costs down before they are all sent away for restoration. 

The Window back in position with John Broomby checking what wooden beading is required on the outside to complete the finished look. 

- John Hake

One of our crankshafts in the lathe at Hunslet Steam Co

Another view of the crankshaft taken by Alan Frodsham

DAPS OPEN DAY

Saturday 11th September was our official open day of 2010 and the second year of  participating in the annual English Heritage Open Days and again it proved very popular with the public, who soon booked all the places we had available

The day started a tad damp and by the time the volunteers had set up all the stands and stalls some of us were very wet, but when the time came to let our guests onto the site the rain had disappeared and we where blessed by occasional glimpses of the sun.
 
This year we had the added attraction of bus tours of Liverpool's dock system  with the commentary by Stuart Wood (retired Mersey pilot). This was an opportunity  that allowed our visitors to see the working docks at close hand, something that is not usually available to the general public. This proved to be a very popular excursion and each trip was fully booked. The buses were ex-Liverpool Corporation and supplied by Merseyside Transport Trust from their base at Burscough. www.mttrust.co.uk/

The guests of honour were Gary Hodgson, managing director of Peel Ports and Capt Steve Gallimore, the Mersey harbour master.
Also in attendance on the day was our patron, Paul Atterbury who was very happy to chat to all about his passion of art deco, ships and steam. 
 
Musical entertainment was provided again by the Adamson Military Band who did two performances, we also had the trio of Bernard, Roger & George who gave us half an hour of well known sea shanties plus a newly written song by DAPS member Bernard, all about the Danny.

We used the tour guide system again, this time we had five tour guides leading visitors around the boat at regular intervals explaining how things work, the restoration plans and the work carried out so far.

At the end of the day we had welcomed over 200 people, members, their guests and members of the general public, who we hoped enjoyed the day.
 
We would like to thank Peel Ports and Cammell Laird Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders Ltd for sponsoring our event.

We would also like to thank United Utilities and GCA for allowing us have our visitors on their sites, again another opportunity that the general public don't usually get.

- John Hake

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

HIGH SOCIETY

Interestingly the valves on our engines are different, the low-pressure cylinder valves are of the slide type as described in an earlier article, but the valves on the high-pressure cylinder are of the piston type.

A piston valve consists of a piston shaped like a dumb bell housed in a casting that is bolted over the steam ports in the valve chest.

The valve is operated in the same way as the LP slide valves, using a similar system of a Stephenson linkage worked by an eccentric rod connected to the crankshaft.

When the piston is on its downward travel it allows steam from the valve chest to enter the top of the valve housing and into the upper cylinder port and at the same time exhaust steam is directed by the piston from the lower cylinder port into the exhaust port.

On the upward stroke the piston allows steam from the chest to enter the bottom of the housing and into the lower cylinder port while it directs the exhaust steam from the upper cylinder port into the exhaust port.

Both HP valves were stripped down, no appreciable wear was found, so they were just cleaned up, a set of measurements taken and replaced back on the engines.

Another point of interest is that there are no rings on the pistons, just grooves, these grooves gather water and this acts as the seal between the piston and its housing. 

- John Hake

The HP valve chest showing the piston housing hold down studs. A is the steam inlet, B the steam exhaust, C the upper cylinder port and D is the lower cylinder port

The upper port inside the HP cylinder, there is a corresponding one at the bottom of the cylinder.

The valve spindle fitted back in place, it goes passes through the piston and is secured by lock nuts at the top of the piston.

 

The port engine showing the HP cylinder, the valve housing can just be seen proud of the valve chest on the left. The large pipe on the right is the HP exhaust steam to the LP cylinder valve chest.

AUGUST 08, 2010

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST

Every year the working party volunteers organise a trip to go and see something interesting in the world of restoration and/or steam. This year courtesy of our pattern maker, Alan Frodsham, were invited to go and have a look at the West Lancs. Light Railway up at Hesketh Bank, just south of Preston, off the A59.

A Thursday working party was cancelled, set of car pools organised and off we set into the wilds of darkest Lancashire.
On arrival we were met by our hosts and after a quick hot beverage we were given  the grand tour of all the buildings, workshops, engines and rolling stock.

They had their 0-4-2 loco, "Stanhope" in steam for us and quickly coupled up two  coaches and it was all aboard for a quick trip up the line and back again. On enquiring what was at the end of the line and where did it go, we were ushered  back in the coaches and off we went again, this time disembarking at the end of  the line and walking around what was the edge of the clay pit.

When the thickness of the undergrowth forced us to retrace our steps it was back on the train for the return trip. We did a couple more trips up and down the line and had a good look over the other locos and then it was lunchtime.

The lunch of Lancashire hot pot with apple pie and custard as the pudding was served in the running shed, the tables and chairs being set down on the track. The food was so good that the majority of us went round for seconds and  one of our party actually went round for thirds and then just to show willing and not to offend our hosts he had seconds of the pudding as well!

The rest of the afternoon was spent basking in the sun, roaming around to look at all the interesting mechanical contraptions and taking it in turns for foot plate rides but for some of us it was an ideal time to rest and let the effects of a
full stomach to wear off.

We all agreed that it was "a grand day out" and a "big thank you" to the lads at the West Lancs. for looking after us. And on a personal view I must say to have a sit down meal in a running shed with its steamy oily smells and surrounded by all the gubbins was a treat in itself.

Have a look at the West Lancs. Light Railway website www.westlancs.org 

- John Hake

As all members will be aware, Saturday 11^th September sees the Daniel Adamson open again for another open day.

As last year members are free to turn up on the day (membership card would be appreciated) but as last year, we have also turned this into a public open day as part of the English Heritage “Heritage Open Days” event for one day only.

Members of the general public, please see the notice below:

Daniel Adamson Preservation Society

2010 Heritage Open Day

Saturday 11^th September 2010

10:30 – 15:00

What is on display?

The Steam Tug-Tender “Daniel Adamson” is the last remaining example of a steam powered, coal fired tug/tender, she was launched in 1903 in Birkenhead.  Originally built for the Shropshire Union Canal and Railway Company, she was acquired in 1936 by the Manchester Ship Canal Company.  Currently under restoration with a target operational date of 2012.

Society members will take people on guided tours and update on progress. Our Patron- Paul Atterbury from the BBC Antiques Road show will be in attendance.

There will also be vintage buses’ on display brought by the Merseyside Transport Trust and one of the oldest buses, a Double Decker “rear loader” will be taking people on guided “Dock Tours” of the enclosed, Liverpool docks. This is a rare opportunity to travel inside the dock estate.

Your guide for the trip will be none other than Stuart Wood, former Mersey River Pilot, Radio Merseyside presenter and DAPS Operations Director.

The “Adamson Military Band” will be performing twice during the day at 11:00 and 13:30- the band dates back to the 1880’s when they were the official “works band” of Adamson Engineering in Manchester.

Refreshments ranging from hot drinks and biscuits right through to a catering van specializing in traditional fish and chips will be available

Society members are welcome along with a limited number of the general public. The event was fully booked last year and this year there will be 150 pre-booked places available to the public. There is no charge in line with the ethos of the Heritage Open days scheme- opening places up to the public that are normally “out of bounds”.

For those wishing to visit the tug and take a dock tour, pre booking is essential, we will not permit entry on the day.

To enquire or book, please contact Colin Brogan, the Visits Coordinator on:

Tel: 07746 199844 or email him on: openday@danieladamson.co.uk

For more information about the ship, the society and progress, visit our website at www.danieladamson.co.uk

DIRECTIONS FROM CITY CENTRE: Sandon Dock can be accessed via a gate (marked on the day) on Regent Road (the Dock Road), at the junction with Boundary Street. Post code for Sandon Dock is L3 0BE.

Public Transport Information:

Buses travel along Derby Road and there is a Merseyrail station at Sandhills (10 mins walk)

- Dan Cross - Chairman

JULY 15, 2010

FRESH PAINT

Another minor milestone has been achieved in the restoration program, the Tangeye  pump has been totally overhauled and refitted back in its original position in the engine room.

The refurbishment has been carried out by the volunteers, George Heyes being the lead man on this job. We did try to get some information on our pump from a contact listed in one of current machinery restoration magazines but this came to nothing so we had to go it alone and rely on our own engineering knowledge and expertise.

It transpired that the pump looked worse that it actually was, mechanically, it was quite sound and only required a couple of new parts to be made and these were easily manufactured in our workshop. When the pump was in pieces all the old paint was stripped off, and as it went back together it was given a coat of primer. Just before the moving parts were refitted the whole pump was repainted, silver for the steam chest and a rather fetching blue for the rest of the body.

With all the parts refitted the pump was given a quick test in the workshop using air, and it worked to George's satisfaction. The next operation was to get it back onboard and remounted, this done, another test using a larger air compressor was satisfactory carried out.

Another piece of kit in the engine room is the original Sissons electrical generator which produced the 220v DC ships supply. Because we are required to have a modern reliable electrical supply, the vessel is going to be converted to 230V AC which will be supplied from a silent running diesel generator cunningly hidden on top of the after peak tank. As this conversion will make the original steam plant redundant, we thought it would be a good idea to keep it in situ together with its switchboard and run it for demonstration purposes to show how it used to work.

We have tested the generator with air and we know that it works but currently there are no plans to dismantle and refurbish it but we have stripped of all the old paint and given it a lick of new. With a shiny coat of paint and all the brass work bulled up, it really looks the part. 

The switchboard has been removed from the engine room after bulkhead and needs to be completely rewired before it is replaced. We also need repair or replace some of the fittings and to find replacements for the meters that have gone missing. 

- John Hake

The original switchboard showing the missing components 

OK PATRON

For those of you that are unaware, the society now has a patron in the form of Dr. Paul Atterbury, who accepted the chairman’s invitation to join us, a decision we are all pleased with.

Paul who is a regular on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow has written books on canals and railways, he also presented an excellent BBC 4 program titled  "The Last Days of the Liners". 

On the 19th May our new patron stopped off en route to a recording of the Antiques Roadshow at Tatton Park to meet some of the members and to have a look around the Danny for himself and he was suitably impressed.

While he was with us he performed his first duty by presenting Liverpool River Pilots with a picture of the Danny in her former guise as the Ralph Brocklebank passing Liverpool Pier Head in 1907. The presentation to the chairman of the Liverpool Pilots, Iolo Thomas and his colleague Martin James was to thank them for their continued support and pilotage.

Another guest on the day was James Gower who is one of the people involved in  organising The Liverpool Boat Show due to take place April/May next year. He was looking at the possibility of the "Danny" being in the boat show to display the vessel to the public and demonstrate how the restoration project was undertaken.

Liverpool councillor Gary Millar, who has become a keen follower of our project, also came down to add his support to the event. 

The Liverpool Daily Post & Echo were on hand to record the events and an article appeared next day on the visit of Paul Atterbury, courtesy of reporter Peter Elson and the Pilots presentation appeared in the paper on the 24th. BBC Radio Merseyside did an interview with Paul, which was broadcast later that evening.

- John Hake

DAPS Membership Secretary John Broomby chats to James Gower

: Councillor Gary Millar (L), Paul Atterbury (C) and DAPS Chairman Dan Cross (R) in discussion on the prom deck.  

Two broadcasting personalities, DAPS Vice Chairman Stuart Wood (L), Paul Atterbury (R). We all know Paul from his appearances on the Antiques Roadshow but we didn't realise the following that Stuart has for his Saturday morning 1/2-hour slot talking about local maritime subjects with Andy Ball on BBC Radio Merseyside. When we attended the Big History Weekend at St. Georges Hall back in March, many people came to our stand and asked about Stuart. 

Dan Cross, Gary Millar, Paul Atterbury & James Gower (L-R) pose for the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo cameraman while the rest of us look on.

Yet another opportunity for the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo cameraman to test his composition skills, Paul with the river pilots, Iolo Thomas (C) and Martin James (R).

THE LOW DOWN

Now that the valve actuating mechanism on both engines have been stripped down, checked and the newly cast drag link bearings been sent away to be machined our attention turned to the valves themselves. The covers of the of both low pressure valve chests were removed to expose the  slide valves, the nuts holding the valves on the spindles were undone and the spindles dropped out allowing the valves to be removed.

The valves and the cylinder port faces seemed in good order, the only remedial work required was to replace the brass rubbing plate on the rear of one valve.

 Now I'd like to introduce Alan Blackburn, our latest recruit, Alan came along and saw us at The Big History Show at St.George's Hall in March signed up as a member and then came down to the boat and offered his services as a volunteer. With an background in engineering, Jim, our workshop manager soon had him demonstrating his engineering prowess by asking him to replace the brass rubbing plate on the valve.

For those of you that have a curious nature and unfamiliar with the workings of a compound marine steam engine might like to know how the valve and piston interact in this part of the engine.

The exhaust steam from the high-pressure cylinder is passed via a large diameter cast pipe into the low-pressure valve chest. When the slide valve is in its lower position it allows steam from the chest into the upper cylinder port to force the piston down. As the piston comes down, the steam below the piston is forced out of the cylinder through the lower cylinder port into the valve chest but the slide valve diverts the steam into the exhaust port and to the condenser.
 

As the piston is reaching the bottom of its travel, the valve is moved to its upper position exposing the lower port and causing the steam in the chest to enter the lower cylinder port, forcing the piston back up. The used steam from above the piston is forced back through the upper cylinder port and diverted to the condenser by the valve.
The valve is operated through a Stephenson link by an eccentric rod connected to the crankshaft.
 

- John Hake  

Alan Blackburn fitting the brass rubbing plate to the valve.

MAY 03

COME CLEAN

One piece of equipment that we were unsure of its condition was the boiler feed  water filter, we knew it had been looked at before but didn’t know what had been done to it.

It is mounted on the port side of the boiler room and is connected between the  boiler feed pump and the boiler and its job is to filter dirt and oil from the  feed water.

The boiler water feed pump needs to work at a higher pressure than the boiler in  order to overcome the boiler pressure and force water, through the filter, into  the boiler. Our boiler working pressure is 120psi and the feed pump has been  tested at 160psi, therefore the working pressure of the filter will be that of  the feed pump.

The body of the filter is cast iron and is a good 1 inch thick, externally it   looked in good condition but taking the top off and removing the filter basket,  that still had its terry towelling filter fitted tied on with hairy string, the  inside was pitted and needs a good descale. The only concern is an area of  corrosion at the bottom where the filter basket seats onto the body above the  outlet port.

The whole filter has now been removed, cleaned and sent to have the filter basket  seating checked and repaired if necessary.

The previous work on this heavy piece of equipment seems to be just freeing up the hand wheel that tightens the filter basket onto its seat.

- John Hake

The underneath of  the top cover showing the plunger that locates onto the top collar of the filter basket

Tony removing the studs before the body is sent away to have the inside cleaned and repaired.   

A MAN APART

We must recognise the contribution made to the project by our pattern maker Alan  Frodsham who has been doing a lot of excellent work for us lately.

For those of you that are unsure what a pattern maker is or does, let me explain. Many parts of the engine are made by metal casting, which is pouring molten metal  into a mould to create the part.

The foundry, who do the casting, require a pattern to be made, which they use to  create a mould, usually in sand, into which molten metal is poured. When the  metal has hardened, the sand mould is broken away which will leave a nice, new casting that should be an exact copy of the pattern.

The skill of the pattern maker is not only to reproduce a replica of the original, usually in wood, by carefully measuring the original but to make it slightly oversize so it can be machined and also to take into consideration any shrinkage of the metal as it cools in the mould.

When the casting is broken out of the sand mould the whole surface will have a  rough finish therefore any part that needs to have a flat or polished surface  will have to be machined.

The parts Alan has been helping us to renew are mainly bearings that have worn down through many years of use, but the example I have illustrated here is one of  the crosshead bearings that was found to be cracked, so it had to be replaced.

Alan made a pattern from the original and it was decided that the new bearing  should be made of gunmetal, an alloy of copper, tin & zinc, which is ideal for low speed bearings. The pattern was taken to foundry who used it to cast four new bearings sets, one for each of the crossheads.

- John Hake  

The original bearing is on the left, the wooden pattern is on the right and the newly cast one is in the centre.

HOME & AWAY

The workshop is always a busy place, with equipment being worked on or waiting for parts to complete the job. This is the current situation:

On the weekend of March 20th/21st, DAPS together with another 60 local societies  and history groups, set up our exhibition stand in Liverpool's magnificent St.  Georges Hall to take part in the BBC Radio Merseyside Big History Weekend.

This event allows the public to see what organisations across Merseyside,  Cheshire and West Lancashire are doing to support their local history.

On Saturday the stand was manned by Dan Cross, Colin Leonard and George Hayes and on Sunday by Chris Todd, Wally Graham and myself, John Hake.

The Saturday team reported that it was a very busy day with visitors queueing up outside to get in, while Sunday had a steady stream and according the BBC website almost 5000 people visited the show over the 2 days.

On Saturday we had a special guest in attendance, our vice chairman Stuart Wood,  Stuart talks on BBC Radio Merseyside on all things nautical and by the response of
people coming to our stand he has quite a following. When asking visitors if they have heard about the restoration of the Daniel Adamson, many times the answer was "Oh yes, we always listen to Stuart Wood on the radio when he gives his talks, he is very interesting and has mentioned the work being done on Daniel Adamson quite a few times". It is heartening that so many people who visited our stand now know about the "Danny" and the society, what we have to do is to get them all to become members.

John Hake  

ENGINE & PUMP

We have seen another move forward in the engine room restoration, the two  Drysdale circulating pumps (these pump the sea water through the condensers to cool the steam and turn it back into water) have been returned from Grahams Lee's Hunslet Steam Co. and Graham's team have done us proud yet again, they have been restored to a very high standard.  We are going to have to be at the top of our game to try and maintain this high standard that has now been set.

The two crankshafts and the their main bearing bushes were loaded onto to the same lorry for the return trip to the Hunslet Steam Co., where the main journals and the crank pins will be re-ground to remove ovality and taper that were found when measured by our engineering department. The re-metalled main bearing bushes will be then machined to fit the main journals.

The Piston rods and connecting rods have been sent to Senars of Birkenhead to have new crank bearing bolts and crosshead bearing bolts manufactured. Two of the bolts were sent to be tested and failed the non-destructive test so it was deemed that all 16 bolts were suspect and we should have new ones made. The corresponding bolt holes in the rods and keeper plates will be reamed out to create a set bolts of equal diameter.

The bearings in the crosshead block are also being renewed, these will be recast  using patterns made for us by Alan Frodsham, Senars will then machine them to fit. When Senars have finished with the connecting rods they will be dispatched  together with their re-metalled crank bearing bushes to the Hunslet Steam Co. so the  bearing can be machined to fit the reground crank pins.  

You will remember that last March we had a scare when Industrial Crankshafts of  Walsall went into administration with our crankshafts and other engine parts on  their premises awaiting machining, which they had had for nearly 12 months and  not made a lot of progress. We eventually did retrieve all of the parts but the experience made us amend our procedures on the allocation of work and progress chasing.

The engine room restoration is being funded separately from our Heritage Lottery bid, one reason for this is to allow members of the working party to demonstrate  their engineering expertise, experience and talent to its full potential. By  doing as much as possible ourselves we hope to keep the costs to a minimum, thus  allocating money for the more essential requirements like replacing worn parts. 

John Hake  

JOHN DEAKIN

THROUGH THE WINDOW

Earlier last year two of the wooden surrounds that cover the upper saloon windows were removed and just before Christmas, while inspecting the now fully exposed window frames and assessing how easy it would be to remove them, a small stamp mark was spotted and it read "UTLEY RAINHILL"

Showing this newly found piece of information to Dave Pickup, our naval architect, his words were "famous firm Utleys they used to do all the liner window frames and port lights, I used to go there when it was at Rainhill, I think they are still in business.

A quick Google search proved Dave to be correct and they are still trading as T M Utley Offshore and based at St Helens. We thought they would be the best people to advise us about refurbishment and re glazing of the windows as vandals smashed all eleven windows when she was
in the lower basin at Ellesmere Port.

Kevin Price volunteered to be our contact man and got in touch with Utleys and explained who we were and what we were doing, this prompted Tom Utley to come down and give us a visit and to see for himself.

Tom came down together with Ian Knowles, they were given the grand tour of the vessel with a full explanation of what was happening and then finishing in the saloon where Tom cast his expert eyes over our windows.

His verdict was that there were easily restored and re-glazed and if we take out a complete frame and get it to his workshop he would strip it down, find out what was needed and be able to give us a price on refurbishing the rest of frames.

Taking a frame turned out to be a lot easier said than done, they are bolted to the superstructure by 26 brass 1/2" Whitworth nuts and bolts, which confused us at first because we could see all the nuts on the inside but there was no sign of the head of the bolts on the outside superstructure, this was soon revealed when the nuts were removed and the bolts knocked out, they were all countersunk and hidden underneath many layers of paint or behind the metal plates that had been
welded over the broken saloon windows by the Manchester Ship Canal Co. to make  the vessel more secure and vandal proof.

The window frames are also a very snug fit between the vertical frames of the saloon superstructure and the copious amounts of white lead putty used to seal the gap between the frames and steel structure had, over the years, hardened to become a very effective glue. The cast brass frame had to be released from the vice like grip of the putty by the use of broad bladed chisels carefully placed behind the frame to ease it away from the steel.

FEBRUARY 01, 2010

PAINT IT BLACK

It was reported back in October that the two reversing engines had been taken  ashore to the workshop to be overhauled.

Wally Graham took on this task with his usual fortitude and stripped the first one down to its components parts. It turned out to be in good condition with only three problems found, the first was the one we knew about, the play in the trunnion block, the next was a leaky steam slide valve and the last was the seized rings on the piston in the steam cylinder.

We discussed repair of the trunnion block and this was a non-starter, so then looked at re-manufacture, but cutting the internal double thread on a lathe would be nigh on impossible so it has been suggested to us that these  blocks were originally cast not turned. We have now passed the parts over to Alan Frodsham and he is making us a pattern so we can get new ones cast.

The slide valve leaked because the face of D shaped valve and the valve seat had worn and were no longer flat, the valve was removed and its face re-profiled by using emery cloth on a surface plate and then milled just to make sure. The valve seat was concave and the only way to get it flat again was to mill it. First, all the studs had to be removed from the steam cylinder, not as easy as it sounds because it was probably the first time they had been removed since it was built back in 1903, next was to get it set up square on the milling machine and then we were ready. The plan was to mill off just enough to make the seat flat again and this we did by removing a couple of thou. The last job was to lap the valve to the seat to remove the machining marks and make sure both surfaces mated correctly.

The seized rings were freed by soaking the piston in diesel for a week and then eased around the groove, when they were free they were carefully removed together with the expander ring that fits underneath. After the rings and the piston were given a thorough clean, the rings were fitted back onto the piston and checked that they moved freely and fitted snug in the cylinder.

Wally cleaned all the parts, stripped off the old paint and repainted first with red primer then with gloss black and then re-assembled the whole engine with new gaskets and repacked the three glands on the actuating rod.

Now he's just got the other one to do.  
 
John Hake  

JANUARY 17, 2010

YEAR OF THE TIGER

We are now back up and running after the Christmas and New Year break and  would like to take this chance wish all our many readers a Happy New Year.

The weather was a tad inclement for the first week back with the quay being very icy and slippy.

Only a few of the stalwarts braved the wintry conditions and turned up but this was all that was needed to check that everything was OK on board, making sure the bilges were dry, emptying the containers that catch the leaks where the rain drips in and checking the mooring lines.

The mess room and workshop were also checked over, the equipment and heating  tested. Everywhere was given a general tidy up ready for another year of enjoyable graft and toil. Hopefully, this year we will meet some major milestones in the  restoration of the Danny.

The Christmas buffet at the Bramley Moore, on the 22nd December, was attended by  20 Members, who enjoyed an afternoon of food, drinks, frivolity and banter.

Photographs of the occasion are below.

JANUARY 15, 2010

RESTORATION OF 1903 BUILT STEAM TUG-TENDER “DANIEL ADAMSON” COMES A STEP CLOSER THANKS TO FIRST ROUND PASS FROM HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND.

Britain's last steam tug tender, Daniel Adamson, has got the crucial go-ahead to operate from Liverpool Cruise Liner Terminal.

Previously the province of 3,000 passenger mega liners like Queen Mary 2 and Crown Princess, the 106-year-old Daniel Adamson can carry just 100 passengers. This is a major turning point for the Daniel Adamson Preservation Society (DAPS) charity.

DAPS recently passed the initial stage towards getting an £830,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and can now develop its grant application for the final second stage with the assistance of HLF's mentoring scheme. If successful, the HLF grant will cover much of the tug tender's restoration, including vital boiler refurbishment, plus educational outreach programmes.

The HLF previously awarded two project planning grants in 2006 and 2008. It is hoped Daniel Adamson will undergo trials next year and return to her former stamping grounds of the River Mersey, Weaver Navigation and Manchester Ship Canal in 2012. Last year this Edwardian tug-tender was believed to be the only ship in the Heritage Open Days scheme and was visited by scores of people at Sandon Dock, Liverpool. Daniel Adamson started life as a ferry and barge towing tug between Ellesmere Port and Liverpool Pier Head, before sale to Manchester Ship Canal Co in 1934 for use as a tug and directors' inspection ship. DAPS has also received an £8,500 grant from Prism and £10,000 from the Pilgrim Trust, which both aid heritage and museum projects. This will go towards the restoration of the engine room and its two steam compound engines built by John Jones of Liverpool, in 1903.

Dan Cross, DAPS chairman who succeeded Tony Hirst in September 2009, says: "The Society is extremely grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for its continued support. HLF's also very kindly offered two specialist mentors to assist DAPS with the Stage Two application.

While finalising the application this year, we will seek match funding of £150,000. Likewise, we're thrilled Liverpool City Council will allow Daniel Adamson to use Liverpool Cruise Terminal for our passengers. It's another vital piece in a jigsaw to get Daniel Adamson steaming again. Keith Blundell, Liverpool City Council Head of Tourism, says: "We are delighted to help the Daniel Adamson Preservation Society with its voyages. It was always in the business plan that leisure craft could use the cruise terminal, so it's great we can help to bring back this very historic Mersey ship into public service."

Martin Heighton, National Historic Ships advisory committee director, says: "I'm so pleased at this outcome as we gave initial advice to DAPS about HLF which they acted on. This is an excellent project undertaken by first-rate people on a ship which is of the utmost national importance. Not only is this Britain's last steam tug-tender, but its two-deck art deco-style passenger saloon was built as a mini-copy of the first Queen Mary liner's interior in 1936. As we have no classic ocean liners left, this combination makes Daniel Adamson priceless."