Play it, Sam!

Today we've had a look at the "Piano", not exactly a perfectly tuned instrument but a simple machine capable of lifting and slewing track to the desired location. Officially its a "Plasser & Theurer HGR230 slewer", but its colloquially known as a "Piano" or a "Muscle Man".

We actually have two of these machines 60123 (build 013 1976) and 60132 (build 038 1976). There was a third - 60128 (build 033 1976) but this was incomplete, stripped for spares and the remainder was cashed in during 2012. The surviving machines have a single cylinder Deutz (model F1L 208D) diesel engine which drives the hydraulic system.

Photo courtesy of Ed Dyer as yours truly is in front of the camera for once...

After spending four hours on trying to get 60123 (which is the most recently used machine) to start and the subsequent soakings from our lovely local climate we unfortunately had to call it a day; conveniently at lunch time - which meant Ham, Egg & Chips at the Miners Arms in Whitecroft. What a shame!

I had a trawl over the Internet when I got home and have found a service guide for the engine; which will now hopefully land on the doorstep within 48 hours - well it better as that's what I paid for... I'll hopefully have a look at the machine again later in the week...