At the last work party I attended I took home with me a number of items to repair/overhaul or look into replacements.
The first items were a pair of air horn valves, two of which are our three spares. Despite looking rather battered the first one (photo 1) was in generally good condition. I stripped it down, gave it a good clean, sourced and fitted new seals. Also I have sourced new mounting bolts, a new rubber top and a new micro switch. The switch is from the original manufacturer, both the company name and part number were stamped on the side of the old one. The control lever and knob are also new, I sourced the rod and a friend of mine cut the threads for me. The end that has the knob attached has been cut to a M6 (metric) thread that will make finding replacement knobs much easier in the future. Photo two shows the completed valve. The other valve however was found to be badly worn and is requiring much more work. My semi-retired engineer friend has been helping repair this one on his lathe (see photo 3) but still requires more parts to be remanufactured before I can use it. I have sourced most parts to repair all four horn valves on Repulse.
The other item is a rubber gasket for the metal cover that seals the horn in the headcode box. (Photo 4 with grey metal cover - left). This seal is important as it reduces the horn noise inside the cabs. I hope to return these items and fit them at the next work party I attend.
Despite looking a bit battered this responded well to treatment and once new seals and a new microswitch were fitted, it was good to go back in 50030.
A new microswitch, new seals and a newly-manufactured control rod have been fitted to bring this valve back to as-new condition.
Unfortunately this one is not in such good condition and needs much more work before we can refit it.
Headcode box gasket
This rubber gasket and plate act to seal the horn within the headcode box and prevent the noise from the horns filling the cab.
