You wait ages for a blog entry, and then two come along together! Well, a week apart, but it has been a while since I was able to do that. However, I was able to get up to Toddington on Wednesday, 14th December to see what was happening.
Of course, overnight on the Monday, some parts of the UK had a reminder of what snow looks like - Gloucestershire being one of the areas to get the biggest reminder! Down here in sub-tropical North Somerset we had no such luck!
With the added cold temperatures, come Wednesday, no thaw had occurred in the snow hit areas so on arrival at Toddington I was under no illusions that I was probably the only person mad enough to try and make the journey! It was quite a surprise to follow three other cars through the gates and into the snow covered car park that contained a number of other cars. Happily, I wasn't the only one from the Diesel Department, either.
The cars odometer was telling me that the outside temperature was -2c and it did not get into positive numbers all day. In fact, by the time we left at around 4pm, it was getting increasingly foggy and the temperature was already -7c.
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| Toddington Car Park at 4pm. -7c on the thermometer and a closing fog. You can only just make out the Flag and Whistle and the station building off to the right! |
Later in the evening, one of our department members who lives in a village near to Toddington posted a photo of his garden thermometer on Facebook - it read -12c!!
Not a surprise that the Santa Trains had been affected on the weekend, with the final ones on the Sunday being cancelled. Unlike on the mainline, we don't have the luxury of point and signal heaters (nor the financial requirements to have them fitted or to use them!) so extreme cold weather is not only hazardous to the staff and public from a safety point of view but also from an infrastructure point of view, and, of course, safety should always come first.
However, the views from the Diesel Mess, and the surrounding area to the railway, gave things a very wintery feel and there were plenty of sights to get camera lenses snapping for that 'Christmas Card' shot.
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| An assortment of diesel parts in the snow for the mechanic at Christmas, and..... |
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| ...a look across the Narrow Gauge for the dendrophile in your life! |
I think I'll stick to the day job!
Down in the yard, several members of the Steam Department had already got the braziers going to try and unfreeze some of the water pipes so that they could prep the two engines in use on the Santa Trains over the weekend. Meanwhile, the diesel fleet was coping well with the sub-zero temperatures. Most of the mainline fleet are kept under cover but Class 45, 45149 and Class 20, 20137 were both outside. Both locos have been winterised so have sufficient levels of anti-freeze to prevent burst pipes caused by the low temperatures, and have been drained of other fluids that could freeze and damage pipework. Frost damage is always a worry, however, so if this cold weather is prolonged then we may have to put them under protective sheeting. One eye will be on the weather forecasts for the next week or so.
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| A snow capped 'Peak'! 45149 sits outside the diesel shed with a layer of accompanying snow. |
In the shed, which was also showing below zero temperatures on the thermometer, Class 26
D5343 was showing the effects of it's further cull of rotten metal work - some of which was still lying on one of the workbenches.
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| Part of the removed cab front. You can see how much welding and overlaying had gone on previously. |
As mentioned in the previous blog post, the 'McRat' had had more metal stripped away as the cab front at no. 2 end had evidence of previous damage and had had a pretty speedy repair whilst in BR service. On further inspection this showed up as being in need of serious rectification and, if the rest of the loco was receiving a particular level of bodywork repair, then the rest of the loco should have the same.
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| Another piece of removed cab front showing one of the headlight lenses and the bolt holes for the head code plates. You can also see part of the multiple working holster below. |
The removal of the first lot of steel identified some more elements of collision damage, including one area on the buffer beam that had caused a one side to droop slightly.
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| In this photo from Tony Richards, you can clearly see the droop in the solebar. |
The droop isn't major as it hasn't affected the integrity of the buffer beam, but it does mean that a small work around will be needed when welding the new steel to the frame. From the picture, you can also see where some of the brackets that hold the pipework in place have corroded to a point that they are no longer secure. This will also need to be rectified.
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| Taken on the 19th Dec as a comparison to Tony's photo above from the other side of the buffer. |
From the photo above you can clearly see the bracket that has corroded and is now free floating just behind the corroded door stanchion. This should all be secured to the buffer beam but has been eaten away over time and will need replacing and securing. BRCW locomotives were notorious for not being particularly water-tight and, in this instance, any water may have pooled in this area causing the deterioration in the steel.
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| The door stanchions on both sides are almost 'free-floating'! You can see where the air brake pipes were routed in the 1980s. |
Originally, Class 26s were based on the Eastern Region and, like a lot of the 'Modernisation Plan' locos, were fitted with interconnecting doors. to allow drivers to walk between two locos when working in tandem or multiple together. Class 25's, 27's, 31s and early build Class 37s were all built with them. By the refurbishment programs of the 1970s and 1980s these were removed. In the case of the Class 26's, these were removed so that air brakes could be fitted. On the photo above you can see where the pipes were routed between the cab door and loco front as well as the step that the corridor would lead from.
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| More metal work removed around the cab sides and front. |
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| Handrails have now been removed along with the cab side plate. It just demonstrates how unprotected Drivers and other crew really were in the event of a collision. |
After the brief walk around, I was joined by Keith R, Paul C and John G as the 'Wednesday Gang'. The previous Wednesday had seen work on
D6948 continue with the timing chain having some rectification work whilst the remaining ancillary equipment was reconnected after the locos lift. This meant that things had been pretty much completed last week bar a few last bits, including reattaching the speedometer equipment. Myself, Paul and Keith made a start on that. A fairly simple job to do, but one that can be a little fiddly. You have to be mindful that the main cable does not stick out from the bogie too far, otherwise it could get caught on something, but also that the electrical cables that run through the main cable don't get pinched once attached to their terminals and the cap is replaced.
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| Keep an eye on where Keith wants the cables, Paul! |
With it being so bitingly cold, the warmth of the mess room, and a cup of tea/coffee, was always a big draw and nothing to do with the amazing sponge that Mrs. C had baked for us!
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| Fresh cream and jam sponge.....and very nice it was, too!! |
Normally, cake was always the preserve of a special occasion within the department whereas, some of our colleagues in other departments were practically spoilt for cake! In fact, our P'Way department would almost be ready to down tools if there was no cake provided by the wife of the, then Head of the P'Way Department, Nigel!
Also in the mess room were a number of old editions of 'The Cornishman'. This is the quarterly magazine of the railway that you can obtain as a member of the GWSR or if you purchase them at Toddington. In one of them was a very nice little article giving the story of the extraction of our Class 03 shunter, D2182, from it's previous life as a playground exhibit in Leamington and it's arrival for restoration at Toddington.
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| Edition No. 44 of 'The Cornishman' from 1993. Looks a lot different to the 2022 version. |
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| Part 1 of D2182's liberation. |
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| Part 2 of D2182's liberation and arrival at Toddington. |
The happy ending with D2182 is that you can find it permanently based at Winchcombe as the dedicated C&W shunter, and in a much better condition than in 1993!
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| D2182 in all it's finery. |
It is rumoured that a start maybe on the cards for D6948 within the next couple of weeks to see if everything is working correctly before a full test can be undertaken. However, sister loco, 37215, is scheduled to work the last four days of the running season; two at the very end of December and the first two days of January 2023. With this in mind, the four of use gave the loco a run over to see if there was anything that was needing topping up or needed attention before being readied for service. Everything seemed to be where we had left it and the fluid levels were good, so it was a case of hooking the loco up to the battery charger just to keep them topped up and ready for action.
By about 3pm the temperature was dropping rapidly and the fog was starting to roll down. The anticipated deep freeze would make driving hard enough, so we decided to quit whilst we were ahead and leave before darkness added another sensory-defying challenge.
2023
We may not have concluded the 2022 timetable yet, but the 2023 timetable has now been released by the Commercial Team. Safe to say there are not many surprises and the diesels have a similar amount of running as in 2022. It had been hoped that there might have been a bit of an increase in the amount of all-day running for the mainline diesels but, apart from an extra few PINK timetables on Sundays, most of the running is restricted to the PURPLE and new, RED timetable - essentially an off-peak version of the PURPLE timetable - which will see the locos on the last round trip of the day. The DMU will get a few more outings this year on the BLUE timetables and a new, GREEN timetable.
One big change (and, not entirely popular!) is that the Diesel Gala has been moved from its usual end of July slot and will now take place over the 7, 8 and 9 of July 2023. Why this has happened, we aren't entirely sure, but we still aim to put on the same extravaganza of Diesel traction that we do every year. As far as we are aware, there are no clashes with other Diesel Galas and, hopefully, that will still be the case come later in 2023! We also hope it will not have an affect on securing a guest loco or two.
Finally, as it is rapidly approaching, here is wishing all that read this blog, the Twitter account as well as support the Diesel Department as a whole, a fantastic Christmas and New Year! Hopefully we will see you all on the Diesel running between the 27th Dec and 2nd January where we have 47105 (27/28/29 Dec) and 37215 (30/31 Dec, 01/02 Jan) operating on the PURPLE timetable.
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| Original photo by Richard Drewitt. |
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