What’s Happening To…?
Our monthly round up of restoration projects around the country, compiled by Pip Dunn.
D9537 – Wirksworth: Various jobs have been undertaken on the Class 14, including addressing a defective DSD system. With all parts cleaned up, greased, reassembled, fitted and tested, the repairs are now complete and the B-exam finished. Next jobs are a full repaint on the outside and a cab repaint.
20110 – Sheckerstone: HNRC has sent the Class 20 on loan; it moved on March 16.
20228 – Toddington: In early March the Type 1 took a huge step forward towards its return to traffic when it was started for the first time in over 15 years. The loco, which spent over a decade working in France, is now back in BR blue.
D7628 – Grosmont: The Class 25 made a rare visit away from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway on February 25 when it was taken by road to the Freightliner depot at Leeds Midland Road for tyre turning. It was returned promptly to Grosmont the next day after the work was completed.
D5627 – Pontypool: March 12 saw the loco moved undercover to be prepared for a full repaint.
D5631 Weybourne: On February 16 the Class 31 completed a loaded test run at the North Norfolk Railway. Initially it hauled 20227 Sherlock Holmes and D6732 for load, with the TRAMM on-track machine also tacked on for one trip. Following the successful tests D5631 was used to shunt and braketest rolling stock at Sheringham before bringing two coaches back to Weybourne for repairs.
31454 – Kinsley: The latest loco to leave the Wensleydale Railway, in early March, was also one of the most recent arrivals. It has been moved to a section of track laid at the Shires Removal Group at Kinsley, near Wakefield.
33108 – Kidderminster: The Class 33/1, which has seen extensive use over the winter on infrastructure trains at the Severn Valley Railway, will be working at the May SVR gala. Afterwards it will be stopped at Kidderminster TMD for a traction motor change, new cab metalwork and bodyside repairs. It is also possible it may appear in a different livery, but that has still to be decided. It is likely to be stopped until at least September. All is well, with nothing to report on the owning group’s other loco, 33111, down at Swanage.
D6732 – Weybourne: Like so many locos the Class 37, based at the North Norfolk Railway, has not seen a lot of use due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Suffice to say that the loco is fully serviceable and available as required by NNR. Despite having only two public running days during 2020, it still managed to accrue 440 miles of use mainly on stock moves, taking vehicles to and from the C&W Workshops and the Stabling Sheds. The NNR is aiming to reopen from April 12, COVID-19 permitting, initially with an all-steam service although it hopes to introduce diesel traction if the restrictions continue to ease. Plans are still being finalised and will be published in due course. August 2021 sees the 25th anniversary of D6732 hauling its first public train at NNR and so becoming the first Class 37 to work in preservation. It is hoped that the COVID-19 situation will have eased such that there can be an appropriate celebration. On the maintenance front, D6732 is approaching its first B-exam since engine and generator repairs were carried out.
37215 – Toddington: The loco was due to have new batteries fitted in mid-March, which would be followed by a routine exam with the intention of having the loco back in service for use on the first GWR diesel day on Sunday April 23.
D6948 – Toddington: The green Type 3 remains out of service waiting for a lift to fix an air leak, likely to be undertaken after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
37503 – Kinsley: The first loco to leave Leeming Bar for the Shires Removal Group at Kinsley, ahead of 31454, was 37503. As we closed for press it was expected 60050/086 would join the 31 and 37.
D213 – Barrow Hill: Andania made a huge step forward to returning to traffic in March when its repaired engine was delivered to Barrow Hill and refitted to the loco on the 8th. The engine is one of two acquired from a yard in Wick after use at an RAF base in Dounreay.
Both were in remarkably good condition and the one not being used is at Worksop where it will be overhauled as a spare. The carcass of the old power unit will be disposed of. It is hoped that if all is well when it is tested on the load bank, then the loco could be back on the main line in April. It has had a new crankshaft fitted and liners, pistons and the generator refitted from the engine previously used. With 40145 extending its hire period with LSL, and a repaint in BR green anticipated, a pair of main line 40s in green could be seen for the first time since the early 1970s.
45133 – Swanwick: On March 9 all 12 cylinder heads were torqued down, the water pipes fitted, filled with water and pressure tested up to 40 psi. Everything seated well and the power unit is holding its water.
47004 – Embsay: The Class 47 is being assessed to understand what repairs are required in order to put it back in traffic. The 47 was driven to its original storage site at Bolton Abbey several years ago so it will be a case of ascertaining whatever damage has been caused by the elements that have ravaged the former D1524 in the intervening years.
47105 – Toddington: Having performed faultlessly on its December 2020 test run at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, the loco is currently in light blue undercoat prior to a full repaint in BR blue. There is still more work to do but it should be available to work trains in 2021, depending on the COVID-19 restrictions for volunteers.
D1842 – Crewe DMD: After a long break things are moving forward with the Brush 4. It moved across to LSL’s depot at the former Crewe Diesel on January 29 for a recommissioning exam, bodywork overhaul and repaint. Mechanically it is operational. Allocated to Crewe for most of its BR working life, this is the first time D1842 has been on the depot since attending an open day in 1994. On February 12 it was moved from the Lift Shed into the main depot building – most of the examination work on the power unit had been completed while it was in the shed.
Work can now be completed on the underframe examination as the loco is on a deeper, full-length pit. Once the majority of the heavy exam work is out of the way the bodywork repairs will begin. It became apparent once work started that there were more than a few halffinished jobs to complete. The 47 had a fair amount of electrical work undertaken during preservation, a lot of which seems not to have been finished properly. That work has now been unpicked, completed and tested. One result is that the AWS system, which has been defunct and isolated for many years, now works properly again. The wiring for the AWS was amongst a mass of disconnected wires that had been coiled up and forgotten.
47306 – Bodmin: While the loco hasn’t undertaken any passenger workings since Autumn 2019, it has been used for engineers’ trains at the Bodmin & Wenford Railway, with the last recorded in October 2020. It remains available as and when required.
47376 – Toddington: Something that’s been recently completed is the replacement of the cab floor at both ends, removal of the linoleum having showed that the existing floors were well worn. The loco worked a running date on September 27, 2020; providing it’s possible, another will take place on Sunday June 27.
47401 – Swanwick: Before Lockdown 3 meant tools were downed once again, the loco was having extensive work done on the silencer, with lots of new steel welded in the exhaust tunnel. Refurbishment of the louvres had also taken place so the loco could be readied pretty quickly if needed.
D1501 – Bury: The second-built Class 47 remains serviceable and has been used on engineering trains during lockdown, most recently on February 12.
47449 – Llangollen: The Class 47 and, indeed, Class 26 D5310, are owned by the Llangollen Diesel Group, which is a separate entity from the Llangollen Railway, which was expected to go into receivership. Their futures, therefore, are most likely secure, even if it means they have to leave the line.
47484 – Wishaw: Pioneer Diesels, which owns the former Isambard Kingdom Brunel, has indicated it would be open to an offer to buy the Class 47, but only as a restoration project, not just for spare parts and scrap.
47579 – Ropley: 47579 has been in regular use at the Mid-Hants Railway when route-proving and other similar tasks have been required. A C-exam was carried out in the autumn and more recent work has seen the refurbishment of the battery boxes ready to receive a new set in the near future.
47640 - Shackerstone: Unfortunately, the return in July 2018 looks to have been more like a final hurrah for 47640, at least in this guise. Its water system failure was indicative of a loco requiring pretty serious work and investment, which at present is not forthcoming and thus it remains stored.
47712 – Crewe: The push-pull 47’s exploits in 2020 were its final trips with the current wheelsets, as they are now down to scrap level and cannot be used on the main line. There is a plan to replace them but it may take some time.
47785 – Leeming Bar: Rumours are currently rife that the loco will be moved along with the owner’s other locos from Wensleydale to an unspecified location, although this had not occurred at the time of writing. It has been some years since any significant restoration work has been undertaken.
47799 – Warcop: The locomotive’s owner has reported the Royal 47 to be in the final stages of an electrical overhaul, with the power unit described as being ‘sound’.
47828 – Crewe: The Class 47 is currently undergoing an exam before being available to LSL for its future railtour programme.
47840 – Williton: The loco’s overhaul is complete and, as far as can be ascertained, it is still the plan for it to visit the North Yorkshire Moors Railway while upgrades are made to the West Somerset Railway infrastructure to allow it to be returned as part of the fleet there.
D402 – Buckfastleigh: The Class 50’s turbo is now in bits for repairs, although a few water jacket covers and the diffusers have been left in place. The end covers and water jacket plates were removed with little effort and this exposed a lot of internal corrosion to the turbine inlet casing. There was an attempt to remove the bearing retaining nuts but this was not possible. After a social media appeal, a tool kit was very kindly offered by the team looking after 50019 Ramillies. While neither party was sure if it would be suitable, it was nonetheless sent down for a try and happily its locking plate and tube spanner was used to remove a shaft end nut. With help it was then possible to remove the main bearing nuts along with the bearing and its housings. Once these were out the main casings could be removed. With the majority of nuts and washers already taken off, it didn’t take long for the big mallet to come out to knock them off, leaving the turbine and impeller exposed. While the impeller looks good, the same cannot be said of the turbine, so it has been left on the shaft for now.
If you feel you can spare some money to help with the cost of this overhaul, you can donate via paypal.me/devondiesels. Or you can join the Devon Diesel Society’s Class 50 membership scheme (download the form at https://bit. ly/30UErHf). The group also has 25 pin badges left at £10 each plus P&P. After costs, all money goes towards the rebuild costs.
73140 – Tunbridge Wells West: A lot of work has been undertaken on 73140 to get it ready for a restart. The compressor vibration mounts were changed for new ones after a bit of a learning curve: new 7/8 bolts being needed to replace the old one-inch examples. Mounts were changed one at a time with the compressor still in place. Access for spanners was tight and even thin-walled sockets would not fit as someone had run pipes right over the top where a ratchet might have been used. The group is now doing an underframe inspection and cleaning the traction motors as far as possible.