Full restoration pprojectj launched for preserved ‘37’
PRESERVED 37003 is to move to UK Rail Leasing’s Leicester depot for a thorough restoration ahead of its 60th anniversary in two years’ time.
Owned by the Class 37 Locomotive Group and based at the Mid-Norfolk Railway at Dereham, 37003 has been out of traffic since September 2013. Its owners have launched Project 3-60, which will involve the locomotive being returned to its as-delivered condition.
There are three stages to the project, which will be undertaken over the next 18-24 months before the ‘37’ returns home. The first is the rebuild and recommissioning of its power unit, the second is the refurbishment of its bodywork, and the final stage is a repaint into BR green.
The ‘37’ was withdrawn from traffic in 2013 owing to its power unit leaking cooling water into the lubricating oil through two failed cylinder liner seals. C37G Chairman Martin Ranson said: “The decision was made to complete a full engine rebuild and bodywork overhaul, as 56 years out in the elements have not been kind. Progress has been steady, but we have now reached the point where specialist off-site help is required.”
The C37LG’s locomotive will move to Leicester following the MNR diesel gala on April 28-May 1. This will be the first time it has been on the national network since February 1998.
It had been hoped that the work could be completed at Dereham, but the owners decided that without the right facilities the ‘37’ needed to be moved elsewhere for the work. The group is also conscious that 37003 must be ready for the 60th anniversary events.
The aim of Project 3-60 is for the C37LG to “wind back the clock to 1960”, from where the group can go “full circle” through the chronological history of the locomotive: D6703, 6703, 37003 and 37360.
When the C37G bought 37003 it was rebuilt with a power unit from 37073 installed, the cabs rebuilt and the original buffer-beam skirts fitted. The ‘37’ sits on re-geared CP7 bogies previously fitted to 50149 Defiance - this is why it was renumbered 37360 in 2010, as this was the next number in the sequence of ‘37/3s’ (pioneer 37119 was renumbered 37350 for the same reason).