August 2025

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Work on the crosshead pumps was the focus of our engineer’s attention following the live steam test, the four valves being cleaned and re-assembled. Unfortunately, despite thorough de-rusting, scaping of the valve chest cover and the making and fitting of new thick rubber jointing the cover did not want to seat adequately to be pressure tight. This is partly due to the inevitable pitting of a steel plate of 100+ years of age, but also due to some historic repairs and stud replacements. Just another small issue to resolve! In the meantime, two new bleed valves were fitted to the valve chest cover. It was also decided to replace the aged lignum vitae piston rings. PTFE was the chosen replacement material which was expertly machined by one of our members from a solid lump - a not inconsiderable achievement and a perfect fit. The dry weather has seen a flourish of paint brushes, the standing joke being that if you had nothing to do and stood still long enough you would be painted along with the steelwork! The vessel does however look smart having freshly painted decks in traditional red oxide, and the boiler casing in cream/buff together with the newly painted funnel. We have also acquired a new set of mooring ropes to replace some of the older and fraying lengths and following a general clean and tidy-up we prepared for our annual hull and safety inspections for operations within the Mersey Docks and Manchester Ship Canal as required by Peel Ports.

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