Not quite a winter wonderland...

Saturday, 20th January 2018

With a fair number at Toddington work continued on many fronts this weekend, coupled with a rather rushed AGM. The accumulated snow in the car park at Toddington, scraped off the asphalt back in late December, was still taking up a number of parking spaces! Now just a heap of frosted ice!

Firstly, a bit of an update on Class 45, 45149. As you may remember the 'Peak' was failed on day 1 of the Christmas Cracker event when it wouldn't take power and then wouldn't restart when shut down to try and reset it. Well, after much investigation, it was traced down to a small relay in the Electrical Cabinet that had stuck. Its amazing how such a small part can prevent a 135 tonne engine from working!

The offending part, the orange assembly in the centre of the picture. (Courtesy of A.Durham)

The 'Peak' is now back among the operational ranks with preparation being taken for the 2018 running season.

Another update, this on one of our smaller, yet equally important, locomotives. Again, you may remember that our yard shunter 'DES' has been out of service for some time after its middle axle seized. After assessment, a disappointing quote for repair and a further assessment, it would appear that the initial diagnosis was not quite as bad as thought.

The damage after the offending axle had been removed before Xmas.

The owners have received quotes from a number of manufacturers for a new bearing fitting - some more reasonable than others - and, its now a case of assessing the options and moving forward.

A final update, this time from the Cotswold Diesel Railcar group. With the running timetable for 2018 seeing a reduction in the amount of time the DMU is in operation (increasing the maintenance time) and the rapid progress on overhaul of the 'Bubble Car', the group have decided to put Class 117 DMBS W51370 up for sale.

W51370 when it arrived at Toddington in July 2017. (Courtesy of the CDRG/GWSR DMU)

The unit arived during the summer of 2017 along with fellow DMBS W51372 but has been deemed surplus. Work will now focus on the refurbishments of W55003, Class 107 DMS Sc52029 and W51372.

The Cotswold Diesel Railcar Group also have a new website that you can get more regular updates on the DMU's......http://gwsr-dmu.co.uk/

So, to Saturday, and with a fair number in attendance because of the AGM work was centred around the Class 24, Class 26 and Class 47, 1693. Down at the headshunt, P-Way were 'enjoying' the conditions putting in the new south turnout and, out in the yard, Simon, Tony, Andy D, Andy M set to work on D5343, trying to stay as much out of the elements as possible. With work on the cooler group having been completed attention turned to the exhaust system which had had a leak in the bellows since BR days.

Class 26, D5343, enjoying the continual drizzle over the pit on Road 8.

The offending exhaust pipes. The leak was identified in the middle set of bellows in higher pipe, but both sets were coming off.

Easier said than done! But, they eventually submitted.

After the AGM, the quartet were joined by Richard G and myself to spread out over the other jobs that were remaining. Richard G set to cutting out new gaskets for the last sections of Cooler group pipework, working with Andy D and Tony to get it all fitted in place. Simon, Andy M and myself set about removing the sections of the exhaust pipework and bellows to establish how damaged the sections were. As you can imagine, the bolts weren't too forgiving after several decades in situ but, eventually, gave way to brute force.

The offending section.

The damaged bellows section. You can just make out the internal graining and carbon build up. At 10 o Clock on the inlet, you can see a raised lip. This is where the exhaust gases were escaping from the bellows.  

With the sections removed Simon set about assessing whether to refubish or replace the five sets of bellows removed. The final job was to refit the frost grill to the body side. I drew the short straw with Richard S - who had been undertaking some yard training with Martin, one of our 'new' starters. I say 'new' as Martin has previous railway experience and is being fast-tracked to operational roles.

Is that the right way up?

None of us could decide which was the right way round. Richard and I agreed that the way in the picture above was the right way as more holes lined up with the bolt holes in the body work. However, whichever way round you had it some holes would line up and others wouldn't!! Time is now of the essence with refurbishing and refitting the exhaust pipes and bellows as it has been agreed that D5343 will be heading to the Mid Norfolk Railway for their Diesel Gala in March and a month long stay. For nearly 60 years of age, she gets about a bit!!

Also, out in the rain, was spares donor 20035 - coupled to an unusual visitor. The Class 20 had been positioned on Road 10 so that component removal could continue. Most of the cooler group had been removed with only the radiators themselves to be lifted out. This will require lifting of the roof, which was scheduled for starting on the Sunday. It was coupled to a 4-wheel wagon - a 16T Mineral Wagon, I think. I'm not too knowledgeable about wagon types! This wagon had been stored, along with a number of others, at Hunting Butts Tunnel but I wasn't quite sure how it had ended up here. A lot of the wagons at Hunting Butts have suffered quite extensive vandalism however, as you can see from the photo, this one (other than graffiti and the wooden floor being burnt) is still in reasonable condition.

20035 and friend.

There was also a large group working on Class 24, 5081's bogie overhaul. Ben, Mark E, Paul and Martin set to progressing the overhaul after the Xmas break. Some work had been going on on weekdays with Paul and Martin getting the project to a point where re-fitting of the removed parts could now start. As it stood at the beginning of the day, the majority of the brake rigging that had been removed had been treated to red oxide, primer and a first top coat. The brake cylinders had been reattached to the bogie frames and some of the new/refurbished springs fitted. The wheels had also received various coats of paint.

5081's bogie at the beginning of the day. The frames are partly in undercoat, partly in top coat. The first springs are in place, brake cylinders are fixed to the frame and wheels have received primer. 

The cross frame in undercoat. The first parts of the brake rigging has been re-fitted and primed.  

The Traction Motors have also received a coat of paint and are awaiting their turn for refurbishment and refitting to the bogie, once the springs are all in situ.

Elsewhere in the shed, Tim and Mark S were busy on the two Class 47s. Mark had completed welding on 47376 with all the new plate on the buffer beam and sole bar now primed and ready for undercoat.

New plate at No.1 end. All primed ready for undercoat and top coat. 

Work had been ongoing on 1693's overhaul. Members of the BT4G had been continuing with removing paint above the cab windows at No. 2 end as well as refitting various parts to the cab interiors. Tim was busy refitting parts to the rocker heads that had been cleaned, primed and repainted. Quite a fiddly job with a lot of springs and small parts to refit to an awkward and weighty engine component. Mark S continued with preparing various body work and roof sections for welding of new metal work.

Earlier, Mark had removed an item from D6948 that had caused a problem on New Years Day when were both rostered. Whilst I had been filling the boiler water tank, the loco had been on pre-heat and Mark was doing his pre-service checks. Next thing, Mark shouting he could hear running water in the engine room. No reason why it should be running from the boiler so it was running from something above the frame. It was found to be coming from the pre-heater pump so this was quickly shut down. The down side was that the whole unit would need removing and inspected...the problem identified as a split seal on the pump that would need the pump to be replaced, at not an insignificant cost for the owners.

The offending preheater on the container floor awaiting collection by the suppliers.

 As the preheater has only run for around 15 hours in total the suppliers have agreed to collection and potential replacement of the unit under warranty.

Also with D6948, preparations have been made to remove the troublesome AVR (automatic voltage regulator). The owners had decided to utilise a more modern type to that used on 37215 and D8137 and had investigated and sourced a type used on the GWR Class 57s. After expected initial teething troubles it had appeared to settle down and become quite reliable but, on occasion, it would still trip causing loss of power and all air systems, leading to eventual emergency brake application. A possible cause was investigated but no logical sequence of events could account for a regular problem - the only conclusion being that it didn't cope well with sudden increases in voltage field, such as rapid changes in selection of direction when running round or shunting. A new AVR of the alternative type mentioned earlier was sourced from our friends in the Heavy Tractor Group during late 2017. This is due for fitting in the next few weeks. Staying with the Class 37's, an issue came to light with 37215 when it was used in lieu of 45149 on Day 2 of the Christmas Cracker. I'm not sure quite what issue was (others more in the know will tell me, I'm sure) but it was not anything leading to a withdrawal from traffic as '215 was used on the 2nd January for a stock transfer from Toddington to Winchcombe. However, it led to much head scratching and perusal of plans by Kev, Paul, Mark S and Dean prior to the AGM.

Finally, it had been hoped to provide you all with some of the plans and hopes for 2018 within the Diesel Department from the AGM. However, the Steam Department AGM, and then the subsequent joint AGM, both overran eventually leaving only 25 minutes for the Diesel AGM before we were evicted by the custodians of the Village Hall at Toddington. Therefore, only a very brief meeting was conducted that was a little short on detail in some areas. We will have to wait for the detailed minutes to be made available, however, some interesting titbits did present themselves. As a railway, as you may have seen from the Boardroom Blog, 2017 was another record year, with both Diesel Galas turning a profit - although the main gala in July wasn't as financially successful as 2016. New formats were used for both galas which have been adopted by other events across the railway and will be carried into 2018. Across the whole MPD site a number improvements have been given the go ahead, either for completion or to look at possible funding. This includes a new mess and training facilities building, new overhead lighting for the Diesel Shed and improvements of lighting in the David Page Shed and, more importantly for us in the Diesel Department, concreting extension of the apron outside the shed on Roads 10 and 11 ready for the inclusion of a new overhead gantry spanning both roads.

Class 117 DMS W51405.