My first weekend at Toddington MPD in a number of weeks and winter was still very much making its presence felt. Temperatures started at 2C when I left home and, as I approached the Cotsolds, it slowly dropped to around freezing. The diesel shed is usually a good place to be, out of the wind, with it usually being a few degrees warmer. Today was the complete opposite......even with two heavy duty diesel heaters on all day it barely seemed to break above 'frigid' cold! Outside, a constant drizzle and swirling wind didn't make being outside any more appealing - our P'Way colleagues braving it to carry on putting in the Depot's new southern turnout.
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| Brass Monkey just out of shot! |
However, prior to the events of the weekend just gone, a little update on some of the work that I have missed across the fleet and, we start with the DMUs!
At our AGM in January it was announced that Class 117, DMBS W51370 had been offered for sale. A number of offers were received with
one being accepted that sees the DMBS heading for the
Whitwell and Reepham Railway in Norfolk.
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| W51370 with her new owner, Paul. (Courtesy of the CDRG/GWSR DMU) |
As a consequence Class 107 DMS, Sc52029 will now be refurbished along with W51372 (the second Class 117 bought with W51370) with one of the two being paired with W51360 to create a second, power twin, DMU set to go along with set L425 and the 'Bubble' car. Speaking of which, the 4th Feb saw the DMU team back working on the 'Bubble' car in the David Page shed. After initially having all windows refitted the last one fitted was removed again due to poorly fitting window seals. After a bit of readjustment the rubbers and glass were refitted and the carriage now has a full complement of glass. More rubbing down and priming of bodywork was completed and the new diesel heater fuel tank was collected ready for refurbishment and refitting beneath the floor.
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| The new diesel heater fuel tank. (Courtesy of the CDRG/GWSR DMU) |
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| Primed.....but not quite ready to fire! (Courtesy of the CDRG/GWSR DMU) |
It didn't end there! W51372 also recieved some attention with the stripping of the ancillary components from no.2 engine ready for the engine to be dropped. This also included having the cooling system drained, the fuel system isolated, air intake disconnected, exhaust dropped off and freewheel assembly removed. All are stored awaiting refurbishment.
L425 has also received some much needed TLC with DMS W51405 having its engine dropped and removed for overhaul after a number of troubles blighted its use in the last few months of the 2017 running season. The whole set has also had some sprucing up with guttering being cleaned out and general clean inside and out.
A few blogs back I mentioned that Class 37, D6948 was awaiting the fitting of its new Type 3711 AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator). During the locomotives retro-refurbishment it was decided to fit a more modern Brush AVR however it had proven to be a little troublesome in the primitive surroundings of a Class 37 engine room. In a modern engine room (these Brush units were fitted to the Class 57s) these AVRs are very stable but, the amount of flashing, banging, arcing and sparking that goes on in the Class 37 engine room was causing unsettling interference and leading the AVR to trip. The Type 3711 AVR is the same as fitted to our Class 20 and our other Class 37 and, these units have proven themselves very reliable. The only problem is that, like all heritage spares, they are becoming harder to come by. It also sees the wiring in D6948 become 'standard' again. At some stage prior to preservation a modification was done to the wiring that made it non-standard to the rest of the Class 37/0 subclass. This is to be reversed over the next few weeks.
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| A shiny new Type 3711 AVR unit. This is the spare and, no, it isn't pink! It is a trick of the light in one of D6948's owners' kitchen! (Courtesy of P. Smith) |
The unit, similar to the one above, has now been fitted in D6948's engine room by Mark S and Dean, thoroughly tested and has not flagged up any issues. However, a full shake down in running mode (hauling a train) is yet to happen. A spare has also been bought to cover any failures. Elsewhere, other work on D6948 that is going to take place over the next few months includes a modification to the blower motor circuits to see them run in series rather than in parallel making them run quiter and extending the bearings' life span. It will also mean a modification to the BMR1 relay in order to run at a 1/4 of the current.
Finally, on the Class 37 front, 37215 will have work to reinstate the DSD or Driver Safety Device at some stage during 2018. The DSD has been isolated on the loco, certainly since I started volunteering, due to a persistent fault. This will need detecting, evaluation and eventual rectification in order for the system to be fully operational.
So, onto the weekend (well, Saturday) that was the 10th Feb. Only 4 weeks away from the start of services for the 2018 season and, 6 weeks away from the opening of Broadway. It was a very quiet day with only four of us in attendance - myself, Tim, Dave M and Mark S and, as mentioned above, it was COLD! Work was centred mostly around Class 47, 1693 and its ongoing overhaul. Tim and Dave were busy with the rocker and injector covers. Dave was cleaning them and Tim was re-fitting all the injector springs. It was too cold to continue with the top coat of paint on all the covers. I was let loose on the oil bath cleaning oil, soot and general congealed dirt off of various parts.
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| A spring from one of the fuel injectors from 1693. |
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| Dave drew the shot straw! |
On Road 10, Mark S was working in the engine room of the Class 24. Some of the brass seals on a number of the tanks had started to weep and needed resealing. This proved to be easier said than done! The seals had seized in place and no amount of 'coaxing', threatening, or foul language loosened them up! Even heat expansion didn't free them up (although it did provide some small respite from the cold!) and Mark resorted to cutting the first few, only to find that, with one tank head, the metalwork was a lot thinner than anticipated.
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| That isn't going to help! |
The bogie overhaul on 5081 has also progressed further with more top coat being added and the brake system almost fully back in situ. The traction motors have been reunited with their bellows and some areas top coated.
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| More bits fitted and top coated. |
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| Its starting to look more like a bogie. |
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| Traction motor bellows back in situ. |
In my last blog I photographed Class 20, 20035 sat on Road 11 with one of the plank wagons previously stored at Hunting Butts tunnel. It was unclear why the wagon was attached to the '20'. As I wandered down the yard I noticed that there was quite a bit of the '20' now missing and the plank wagon was full of 'stuff'. Well, the cooler group has now been completely removed from the nose end, most of it being deposited in the plank wagon rather than have it strewn over the yard. It will all be stripped down, refurbished and used for spares across the owners other Class 20s. Mystery solved!
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| Various parts of the roof section and cooler group removed from the loco and stored in the plank wagon. |
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| The void left by the removed cooler group and roof section. |
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| The cannibalisation begins on 20035. |
