Network Rail are being incredibly helpful with this project on all sorts of fronts.Settle-Carlisle line Track Maintenance Engineer Gordon Allen managed to find a mighty great spanner that would fit the thousands of nuts and bolts that hold the tank plates together every six inches. The nuts measure 30mm or 1 1/4" across the flats. They have not moved for 135 years, have lived outdoors and all are either covered in layers of paint or rust or both.
More in hope than expectation, and in pouring rain, I applied the mighty spanner to a mighty nut today. With one knock from an Irish screwdriver it moved and off came the nut.
The thread looks like new and smells of what I take to be machining oil.
This will enable us to attach Gordon the Gondola (see previous item) to the tank absolutely securely.
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