Ruston & Proctor Steam Navvy 306
Last month we told you about the rescue of the Rustons 306 Navvy. The ‘lift’
from the Blue Lagoon was completed in one day but the operation had taken a
couple of years to organise. Part 3 – Restoration
W
ith the boiler and jib separated the main body of the excavator was
loaded onto the low loader and it slowly made its way back along the
newly dug farm track back to solid tarmac. Considering the time in the water
the rescue and subsequent loading was fairly stress free and duly arrived at
the Ruston Bucyrus works in Lincoln.
Dismantling
This is where the painstaking project of restoration could really start. The
minerals in the water at the lagoon meant that the metalwork was in quite
good condition and had less corrosion than anticipated. The first big job was
to remove as much of the caked on sediment that had accumulated in the
years under the water in the lagoon.
The task of dismantling was a slow, laborious process but it was stripped
by apprentices and systematically cleaned. Considering the 46 years in
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February 2014
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the lagoon it was almost intact with only a few parts needing to be remade,
and some repairing. Individual components were laid out on the floor of
the factory with the larger sections outside in the yard. It took th ɕ