What’s Happening To…?
Our monthly round up of restoration projects around the country, compiled by Pip Dunn.
D8233 – Bury: Although, as with so many projects, no handson restoration is happening in Bury, the ex-Irish MV 137 traction motors from the Class 15 sent to Bowers Electrical have been fully overhauled. One of the team has also been to pick up the four pinions the group ordered from TK Engineering & Gearcutting in Nottingham. The original examples from the ex-Irish traction motors have 16 teeth and the Class 15 requires appropriately 15 teeth to mesh with the gearwheel on the axles.
D8098 – Loughborough: The Type 1 remains available for traffic, although the lockdown has limited work opportunities since the turn of the year. That said, D8098 had a busy December working several Santa Specials and Winter Wonderlights trains, sharing its turns with the other diesel locos that are kept serviceable during the winter months. In early February the Great Central Railway management advised volunteers not to visit. However, the Type One Locomotive Company volunteers have taken the opportunity to push on with a handful of home projects.
D5185 – Loughborough: The Class 25 is currently winterised after a couple of running days in September 2020. The coolant system was topped up with antifreeze in December, which paid off in the cold weather recently experienced. Projects for the Class 25 have involved stripping down, cleaning and fitting new seals on a spare straight air brake valve. Another project was the internal door for the boiler/engine room, which was removed and taken off site to be cleaned and repainted with a fresh coat of Rail Grey gloss. It was refitted with the surrounding area cleaned and painted to match.
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A third project completed during lockdown was the refurbishment of both cab No 2 seat assemblies, which have been furnished with fresh leather-covered cushions. Both pedestals have been stripped, cleaned, painted and reassembled. The two were removed for overhaul in late November. The cushions and the cab side armrests have been to Classic Upholstery in Rugby and have been fully refurbished to look just as they would have done when new. The seat frames have gone away to have some welding repairs around some of the holes where they bolt down to the columns and will be resprayed once they are back home. The telescopic swivel columns have been fully stripped, cleaned and repainted ready for reassembly. Unfortunately, the work that was planned for when the seats were out has had to be postponed due to lack of access to the loco.
27005 – Bo’ness: This year marks the Diamond Jubilee of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society’s own Class 27, D5351 (27005) at Bo’ness and marks 20 years since the loco last worked a passenger train. The SRPS is planning to resume the body restoration work and overhaul the Sulzer power unit. It is estimated that approximately £25,000, and a lot of volunteer effort, will see the loco in traffic again. If anyone wishes to make a donation, they can do so at www.virginmoneygiving. com/fund/srps27005 27005 was the first large main line diesel acquired by the SRPS back in 1987 and it spent many years at Bo’ness running in both British Railways green and BR blue liveries. It was withdrawn from service in 2001, requiring substantial bodywork repairs including a major rebuild of both cabs, and duly spent several years on display in the Museum of Scottish Railways. In 2015 27005 entered the Diesel Shed for a thorough restoration to working order. Work in the following two years focused on the rebuild of the No 1 cab end, with rusty metal being replaced with new steel. Due to the need for repairs to other locos and coaches, work was paused in January 2018 and it was moved into the display shelter until the restoration could recommence.
D5401 – Loughborough: After the successful reactivation of the engine last summer, a list of engine work was identified that would have to be completed prior to another run up. A set of replacement injectors were in the process of being fitted, however the nationwide lockdown prevented this task being finished. The vacuum exhauster No 1 assembly had been completed by November 2020, with a replacement electrical connection block fitted as the original broke up on assembly. A new set of carbon brushes has also been fitted.
Other attention was aimed at renovating No 2 cab’s bulkhead and internal roof dome. This has taken some considerable time preparing prior to painting. By January the bulkhead had been stripped of just about all the equipment that could be removed, and an initial coat of primer was applied on the top half. Other projects have included thoroughly cleaning, inspecting and painting the removed equipment. The doors to the boiler room have seen considerable attention and both have had to have a lot of fibreglass repairs prior to painting, unlike the Class 25 door which was a solid structure to start with.
Cab preparation and painting got underway and then stopped again due to lockdown. However, this has not stopped the various projects. The boiler room fibreglass door has had some significant repairs to make it good and also to make it fit properly in the frame. The original BR Electric Shock poster was past recovery, so the team has had more than one new one made. The only difference is that these are up to date and printed on a nice wipe clean vinyl so they will last for years to come.
The next job will be the painting of the cab roof’s internal fibreglass dome and the rest of the bulkhead so that re-assembly can progress to the point of getting the loco air system airtight. Once this has been done the compressor can be recommissioned and the air system checked out. Other tasks have included a start being made on fitting a replacement set of diesel injectors. This was set to be completed once restrictions were lifted. A set of blanking plates has been ordered to allow the oil pressure relief valves to be bench tested for correct operation and setting.
The A-side vacuum exhauster overhaul is now complete except for filling it with clean oil. Once all this has been done the owners will be able to see if the loco still moves under its own power. This is likely to be sometime this summer, assuming they can get back to working on the Class 27 before too long.
D5705 – Bury: As part of the same February 5 visit to Bowers mentioned in connection with D8233 and dropping off the pinions for the Class 15 traction motors, the opportunity was taken to check in on progress with the Class 28’s generator. The bands on the armature were badly rusted and were to be replaced with a fibreglass banding alternative. The generator is pretty much ready to go back together, which once they have started they expect to take two to three weeks. The compressor is going to take a little longer as it has water damage in the cylinder bores that will take a while to sort out.
D6535 – Loughborough: Investigations into why the loco would not take power began with looking at various electrical switches. After these had been checked and
cleaned in-situ, the loco was started and successfully took power. All of the motor contactor switches, in addition to the start and stop switches and the emergency stop switches, were then removed and thoroughly cleaned. It was planned to refit all the switches on January 9, but with the country going into lockdown again a few days before that, unfortunately this was not possible.
37023 – Blaenavon: A number of tasks have been possible on the loco in recent weeks, including working on the diesel header tank fixings and removing a few other bits for repair. The engine and generator are also now ready for lifting out and once they have been removed a start will be made on tidying the engine bay in preparation for the reconditioned power unit to be fitted.
37714 – Loughborough: In the run up to Christmas the loco managed some outings, including an intensive running day and four days of Winter Wonderlights services that all went very well. During the quiet periods work has continued on the heavyweight 37/7. The cab refurbishment has been completed, with just minor jobs to finish off such as sun visors to fit and the various decals to replace. The owning group’s volunteers have also fitted turbo drains to allow any rainwater that goes down the exhausts to drain away harmlessly. The planned winter work has taken a back seat following the recent lockdown, but with a trip to Loram in Derby planned, it was hopefully going to be possible to catch up on these jobs under cover and in the warm. The work is mainly cosmetic with some warranty work being carried out as well as other painting in the engine room. The preliminary work for the fitting of the engine preheater will also be undertaken, as well as a few other routine maintenance jobs. The loco has a big year this year as it celebrates its 60th birthday on August 21, and it is hoped this will be marked in a special way.
43018 – Railway Age Crewe: Although essentially acquired to be a static exhibit, the former Great Western Power Car has had work started on it to make it more presentable. This began by putting a couple of gauges on the fuel tanks. The loco was moved a bit further down the site while a loading and unloading was done, but it will be returned to its original place. It’s getting to the stage now where parts are needed to fill in spaces and give it a more complete look. The main goal is to make it externally presentable for when the RAC reopens.
D123 – Loughborough: The Electric Train Heating system on D123 was checked out in October and was found to be fine, despite the loco not having provided ETH to coaches ‘in anger’ since the end of April 1987! It was hoped that this could be tested by heating coaches when volunteers were allowed back at the GCR again. The Peak was used to haul several Santa Specials and Winter Wonderlights trains in December, top-and-tailed with ‘Black 5’ 45305 and with D123 working from Leicester North to Loughborough. The latter’s batteries are now getting quite old and need to be charged before the loco can be started. This necessitated some very early sign-on times for the crew in December so that the batteries were charged sufficiently to allow a start to be made. D123, like all Class 44 and 45s, has 96 individual leadacid battery cells of 2.2 volts each in the boxes on both sides of the loco between the bogies. A replacement set of batteries will have to be purchased shortly.
It was planned for D123 to be involved in some high-speed work in January but due to the lockdown this testing slipped to mid-February. In addition, plans were being formulated for the testing of some new wagon types.
A spare replacement heat exchanger was planned to be pressure tested and, if okay, fitted to D123 in early January, but once again this work had to be deferred.
1705 – Loughborough: Sparrowhawk was the subject of some preventative maintenance from a small work party just before Christmas. The antifreeze mix was strengthened and several outstanding jobs were tackled before the engine was run up at the end of the day to prove the systems. All was found to be in good order but the loco remains out of traffic pending the long talked about oil change that will require some relaxation of social distancing rules to achieve.
D402 – Buckfastleigh: By January 21 the last three lubricating oil valves had been stripped but the thermostatic bypass valve has damage to the thermostat itself. It also looks like some parts are missing! There is a screw thread but nothing screwed into it, which is baffling. The pressure relief valve and lubricating oil pressure reducing valve were stripped to reveal nothing really of note, just some slight wear. All the pistons, small ends and gudgeon pins have been measured for wear and clearance.
Although the pistons have worn, they are all within maximum clearances, but a second opinion will be sought as regards to their future use. Two appear to have cracks in the crown and many have deep scoring and pitting. The Devon Diesel Society would like to thank the Class 50 Alliance and the
South Devon Diesel Traction Group for guidance and tooling.
Although the engine strip is now complete, the owning group has been asked if a turbo can be stripped to see if it can be overhauled. To keep cost to a minimum, an apprentice has been enlisted to undertake this task and the local Plymouth City College training centre will cover her wages.
50017 – Loughborough: Four new battery cells to replace the life-expired examples have been fitted, so this should help with loco starting. The fitting of turbo drains has been completed, with the outlets from the taps piped away to the engine bedplate. The radiator room floor has been thoroughly cleaned and repainted and some patch repairs to the traction motor blower ducting in this area have been done as well.
Behind the scenes, work to produce the parts for modifying the fuel rack to allow the power unit to be started in single-bank running format for maintenance purposes is being done. There are still problems with cylinder A3 not firing correctly, and occasional electrical gremlins to look into, but further work on these fronts has been hampered by the weather and the lockdown rules. As a result, the loco remains out of traffic for the time being. The antifreeze levels have been checked and topped up slightly to ensure that all is well during colder weather.
D1013 – Kidderminster: In early February the Western Locomotive Association launched the D1013 Western Ranger Bogie Overhaul Appeal, with a view to completing the on-going overhaul of Ranger this year. It is hoped to celebrate the loco’s 60th anniversary of introduction into service next year with its return to full operational status on the Severn Valley Railway and with visits to other heritage railways.
The WLA is making good, steady progress with the overhaul and over the last few years the loco has benefitted from a full electrical re-wire, component overhauls including such items as pre-heaters, fuel pumps, cooler groups, cooling fans, cardan shafts, exhausters, air receivers, cab desk rebuilds, internal paintwork, as well as work to overhaul its two Maybach MD655 engines. It was agreed that the work should be at least to the standard or better than BR would have achieved, which means everything has been overhauled in accordance with the original equipment manufacturers’ (OEM) specifications and requirements, using materials that were equivalent or better. Where necessary, specialist items (such as cardon shafts and brake valves) have been returned to approved companies where the necessary work can conform to safety standards with full certification. In effect, all the work is being done to a main line standard. With so much work being carried out above the solebar, consideration has now to be given to the bogies themselves, as it is a fact that the loco hasn’t been lifted for more than 45 years! Experience gained by the Diesel Traction Group on D1015 Western Champion, and also knowledge gained by the WLA in lifting D1062 Western Courier, has indicated that D1013 will need a full bogie overhaul if it is to have a new lease of life for the next 150,000 miles, over around 40 years. The work will include lifting the loco off its bogies for an initial assessment, prior to a complete strip-down, clean, overhaul, repair and re-assembly. A major part of this work will require the wheelsets to be re-tyred, as currently they are virtually life-expired on minimum thickness-safety levels.
While the WLA does have some experience with bogie work, much of it will have to be outsourced to specialist engineering companies to make sure it complies with safety standards and meets with the specifications that were in place back in BR days. The WLA is fortunate to be able to liaise with the DTG, which has restored three bogies to main line standard for D1015. A process of adopting appropriate paperwork is underway and this will eventually lead to a specification for the overhaul of both bogies. It will include the strip down, shot blasting and repairs to the bogie frames, overhaul of the lateral dampers, installation of new thrust pads and springs, and overhaul of the final drives while the wheel sets are re-tyred. Once the specifications have been drawn up for each part of the overhaul the work will be placed out to tender to gain costings and set a budget. Currently it is not known exactly how much all of this will cost, but a re-tyre alone will be around £20,000 per bogie. It is thought that, overall, such a project is going to cost in the region of £200k, but this figure will be clarified once items go out to tender. Therefore, in addition to volunteer hands-on help, the WLA is seeking help from private donations, and sponsorship and it will also apply for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). If you would like to help out with this project in any way, whether it be hands-on help, engineering advice, sponsorship or donations, please contact the WLA at info@ westernlocomotives.co.uk
Readers can donate to D1013’s bogie overhaul appeal via www. westernlocomotives.co.uk/d1013bogie-appeal or by sending a cheque payable to Western Locomotive Association Limited to D1013 Bogie Appeal, 25 Foxhills Close, Appleton, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 5DH.