SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY COMMISSIONS ITS WHEEL PRESS
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| Pressing off the wheel pans from a Maunsell wheelset | © Richard Elliot 2010 |
Last year SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY ENGINEERING acquired a wheel press that had been in store for some while at the Severn Valley Railway. Originally it came from Derby Works.
Now, after restoration and installation at Buckfastleigh, it is back in action and has dealt with the removal of its first pair of wheel pans from an axle.
This particular pair of wheels is a set of Maunsell wheels from an historic carriage based on the Bluebell Railway in need of attention as a result of a suspect axle. The photographs show the wheel press set up for action with the wheelset in place and with one wheel having already been removed. The other picture is of the wheel just removed and the axle lowered to the ground.
Update February 2011
On Sunday 27th February 2011 the South Devon Railway re-assembled the Maunsel wheels above onto a new axle.
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| The wheel pan is lined up on the new axle | © Gavin Bishop 2011 |
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| The wheel pan pushed about half way onto new axle. | © John Keohane 2011 |
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| The finished wheelset is checked for gauge | © John Keohane 2011 |
November 2013
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| In order to extend the usability of the wheel press it has gained a tent for the winter | © John Keohane 2013 |
© South Devon Railway Association 2011-3