Once our wheel sets arrived at South Devon Engineering, the work soon started to remove the old tyres - this involves moving the complete axles around the workshop and a large overhead crane certainly helps.
The wheels are each turned on end and surrounded by gas burners - this heats the tyre and allows removal with a few sharp taps with a sledgehammer.
With the old tyre removed, the wheel and axle can be checked using modern non-destructive tests to establish if there are any hidden flaws - fortunately we have been assured that all is well with all our axles and wheels. However, we have found that some old welding repair work is not as good as it should be and this needs grinding out and re-welding - this will be done before the new tyres are fitted.