I don’t actually have an engine shed, but the room that I have been building Liza Jane continues to serve as the maintenance depot. I have rearranged the garage for storage of Liza Jane and her ancillary bits, but my garage is cold and, until now, not well lit. I have just fitted an LED bar that has improved the illumination but not the climate.

My daughter helps me carry Liza Jane from the hydraulic platform into the “depot”.

My tasks this week are to go over Liza Jane checking for loose components or any other signs of trouble from the two streamings so far. A sort of buffer beam to buffer beam approach. I am trying to be methodical by going through the middle first and then onto the sides. I wonder if there is an inspection routine from the days of steam that I could follow?

I have found that, by opening the gap in my Bosch workbench, I can create a sort of inspection pit for access to the motion and other elements of the chassis from underneath.

The first “issue” I have come across was the eccentric for the water pump. There seemed to be a wobble which I suspect was caused by the grub screw not quite settling in the detent on the axle when I initially fitted it. Now it has been run and worked for the first time this has settled. When run on air, the water pump was not having to work at all. So I slackened off the top eccentric bolt and removed the bottom one and with some carefully manoeuvring I found the hole in the eccentric with the grub screws.

There are two grub screws. One locks the other in place. So having sorted them out I had to retighten the eccentric bands. Doing this from underneath was, at best, satisfactory. I think, for any serious work, I will have to rest Liza Jane sideways on something very soft.

The main motion and eccentrics all seem to be well located with no loose elements. I will, however, just tighten up the bolts on the eccentric straps a little. They were deliberately only just tight as the whole loco was very stiff to start with.

The fitter’s inspection will continue as time allows this week, It is quite fun, albeit now, very oily work!