Ashington No.5 Boiler Washout

Photos from today's boiler washout carried out on Ashington No.5 by volunteers as well as a few other little jobs

Setting up

After using the pressure washer in the cab to wash the top of the firebox crown, and the same at the smokebox end on the tubes, most of the scale and sludge is worked along and down to the foundation ring. Here, rags can be wedged in and the scale/dirt "chased round" the ring

Adam using some wire to pull lumps of scale out of the foundation ring, the scale and dirt can be seen on the floor and rail head in this photo

Steve underneath with the lance, continuing to chase round the ring, in this photo it is being washed down from the front RHS mud-door

Water beginning to run clear

Meanwhile, George starts to clean up the mud-doors

Tom sets to work clearing the bunker

Bunker cleared up of dust, remaining lumps of coal have been returned to the coal pile

Cleaned up doors

After the wash out, ACC5 is moved over to the water tower to begin flushing through the water tank. The escaping water from the drain is just visible underneath in this photo

With the loco back in the shed, Steve runs a tap through the wash out plug holes to clean up the threads