… As the IDRS also benefits from GBRF Class 56 engine donation
just the Class 40 Preservation Society which has benefitted from the donation of a Class 56 engine by GB Railfreight – the Ivatt Diesel Recreation Society has also taken delivery of the power unit and alternator for use in its project to reproduce LMS 10000. The IDRS is recreating the first main line diesel-electric locomotive 10000, which was built by the London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1947, with work on the project concentrated on its base at Wirksworth on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. Although the IDRS aims to install an English Electric 16SVT power unit into its locomotive, the society sees the Ruston 6 RK RC3 engine as a back-up, and the Class 56 power unit is the final development of the original EE 16SVT Mk.1 engine fitted in the original LMS locomotives. The society also has the promise of a second EE 16SVT power unit which is situated on a military base, and will also serve as a back-up for the locomotive.
The newly donated engine and alternator have been recovered from 56104 at Progress Rail’s Electro-motive Diesels facility at Longport, where the locomotive is being stripped in preparation for its conversion to a Class 69.
The power unit is understood to be low-hours, and a quantity of other spare parts have also been donated by GBRF and Progress Rail to the Ivatt Diesel Recreation Society.
The power unit will allow the group to statically test the locomotive’s systems in-house at Wirksworth on the EVR, prior to fitting onto the locomotive’s chassis, which was previously the chassis of 58022.
The locomotive will also be fitted with EM2 bogies and retrofitted with
VTR 200 turbos, Class 20 injectors, and fuel pumps to effectively de-rate the power unit.
IDRS’S secretary, Andrew Hoseason, said “We are very grateful to GBRF and Progress Rail for donating this alternator and power unit together with many other parts and spares from 56104. This equipment will save the charity much time and many thousands of pounds against the final completion cost of our loco.
“It is difficult to emphasise what a difference GBRF and Progress Rail have made.”
The IDRS is also mourning society president Stan Fletcher, who has died at the age of 102. Mr Fletcher had been a commissioning engineer on the original 10000 and 10001 and was an active supporter of the project to recreate the iconic diesel locomotive design.
More information on the IDRS project can be found at https:// lms10000.co.uk