Alycidon moves to the Great Central Railway
THE DELTIC Preservation Society’s 55009 Alycidon – currently disguised as long-scrapped classmate 55013 The Black Watch – has moved to the Great Central Railway, where it will undergo testing following a series of repairs over the winter at the DPS’S Barrow Hill base.
DPS chairman Murray Brown told Railways Illustrated that the BR blue Deltic, which is expected to remain at the GCR for a number of months, will also haul a special DPS members’ train between Loughborough and Quorn & Woodhouse station on March 23, in connection with the DPS annual general meeting, taking place in a marquee alongside the station. The main line-registered locomotive currently has no booked charters; Mr Brown said the DPS wanted to ensure that 55009 was operating reliably before returning it to main line service.
55009 is also expected to be one of the star attractions at the GCR’S spring diesel event on April 26-28 alongside the railways’ operational diesel fleet and, courtesy of A1A Locomotives, 31108 will visit from its usual base at the Midland Railway – Butterley.
Of the society’s other locomotives, 55019 Royal Highland Fusilier has also been undergoing maintenance and repairs at Barrow Hill, having operated reliably at a number of heritage railways in recent years. At the time of writing, work is progressing on the preparation of the locomotive for a full repaint into BR blue.
The DPS still intends to recertify 55019 for main line running and the three appeals launched to raise funds towards fitting mandatory equipment have all been successful, raising the necessary sums required. The main outstanding items left are the costs of fitting on-train monitoring recorders and the certification process. There is no target date in place for 55019’a recertification, but progress is being made.
It is possible that 55019 may also visit a heritage railway diesel event later this year, although Mr Brown said that confirmation is awaited before an announcement can be made. Meanwhile, work on the long-running rebuild and overhaul of D9015 Tulyar has continued following the locomotive being reunited with its overhauled bogies and receiving both Napier power units towards the end of last year. Work is now at an advanced stage, with the main outstanding job being wiring checks and electrical testing.
Mr Brown said hopes that the locomotive could be restarted before the end of last year for the first time since 1997 were dashed when DPS volunteers had to focus their attention on the repairs required by 55009. He also said that the process of tracing wires and testing the electrical installation on D9015 was a ‘sizeable job’. Externally, work is beginning on the completion of paintwork, which will see Tulyar emerge in as-built two-tone green with no yellow warning panels on the cab fronts.
It is hoped that when the locomotive is completed, former York driver Harry Wilson – who celebrated his 100th birthday last year – will be invited to Barrow Hill to start D9015 for the first time. It was the first Deltic he drove during his working life on British Rail. More information on the DPS and its locomotives can be found at www. thedps.co.uk