Into the unknown...

The Easter weekend (30/31 March and 1/2 April) was a big weekend in the calendar of the railway. For those of you who are regular readers of the various GWR Blogs, not necessarily this one, you would know the reason why. For those who are just casually popping in, this long, Bank Holiday weekend was the first weekend of public services along the new extension to Broadway - including the grand opening of Broadway Station by Lord Faulkner of Worcester. However, none of the diesel fleet were timetabled to take part, except for operating the very last train to Cheltenham from Toddington and it's return to Toddington at the end of the day. English Electric Type 3/Class 37, D6948 was rostered for the turn all weekend, having been the first, ever, diesel loco to haul a service to Broadway Station earlier in March. 

Good Friday was definitely NOT a 'Good' day for weather! 

I was rostered on the 'Green Machine' on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday and, the weather could not have been much more different over the two days. Good Friday saw a continual torrent of rain throughout the day which saw the Department almost deserted. One of the downsides of crewing the last run of the day is that you have to be around all day as the loco also acts as Thunderbird. Not too bad on weekends when a lot of things are going on, but a pain in the ars backside when there isn't a lot to do. George F was around working on the Class 117 set. One of the engines needed removing and swapping out, whilst other bits and pieces needed to be checked ready for commencement of weekday services to/from Broadway. I certainly didn't envy him out in the rain! However, in a passing conversation, he was able to enlighten me on the origins of this.......

Our mysterious green shunter.

This IS 'Mavis' and is owned by George. 'Mavis', a former industrial shunter, was bought to operate the P'way train but, by all accounts, is a bit troublesome to operate...the loco has a manual clutch! With this being a source of problems, George has been trying to find time to fit a more reliable system but his responsibilities with the DMUs have meant 'Mavis' taking a back seat. Mystery solved! 

Speaking of shunters, it was also mentioned, a few blogs back, that a new Class 04 shunter has been purchased to take some of the pressure off of our current 'Class 04'. 11230 whilst our other shunter DES is out of action. 11230 is not actually a BR shunter but was one of a pair built by the Drewry Car Co. for use at Willington Power Station to the same specification as a BR Class 04. The new arrival is a 'proper' BR Class 04, D2280 from the North Norfolk Railway. D2280 was built in 1960, withdrawn in 1971 then sold to Ford Motor Company. It had been at the NNR since 2001, having been painted in BR Black but without any numbers.

The new arrival, BR Class 04, D2280. If you look closely, you can still see the 'FORD' logo on the front under the handrail!

So, with several hours to kill (unless we got called to rescue a failed kettle), it was time to find something to do. Simon, my allocated Driver, turned up not long after I did and we decided to have a go at removing more of the components from Class 20, 20035. Cannibalisation of the loco had moved on a fair bit since I last saw it. The front roof sections ahd been removed and more of the pipework leading through into the engine room had been removed. 

20035's cannibalised nose end. 

The exposed engine. Not long until it can be lifted.

Simon decided we would attack the underside, so after firing up 11230, we coupled up the Class 20 and hauled it over the pit on Road 9. Several decades of grime, rust and wear had taken its toll and, most of the pipework and bolts had seized and wouldn't give up freely. The loco was promptly put back into its siding and, with the rain still hammering down, we both retired to the Class 26 Spares Van where we could work on other things in the relative dry. 

One of the major jobs in preservation is spares removal and cleaning. Not the most glamourous of jobs but very necessary!

Simon cleans up another of the cannabilised items from 20035.

A number of items had already been salvaged from the carcass of the Class 20 and Simon had been busy stripping and cleaning them to see if they were reusable or expired. Not the most glamopourous of jobs but, with an ever dwindling source of spares across preservation and in mainline use, component recovery is a very necessary job. We both got to work with the wire wheels and brushes! 

Removal of motor switches, complete with bushes and insulators.

 

With all parts separated, the switch can be cleaned up whilst the insulators need either repair or throwing away.

In the blink of an eye, a quick cuppa and then off to prepare D6948 for the last service. Luckily, the loco had seen some use during the week with the P'way train - the usual P'way loco, ED, E6036, had run out of fuel! - so, D6948's lump was still reasonably warm and so didn't take too long to get up to operating temperature and, then, it was off to Siding 1 to await the arrival of 'Foremarke Hall' with the down service. 

DOO, Neil, wanders past as we wait for 'Foremarke Hall' to clear the mainline for us to cross over to P2. Thanks to John Cruxon for the load of the headboard and fixing!

The last down train to Cheltenham Racecourse is usually quite full with the more hardy customer making their way back to their cars! Today was even more so after the festivities at Broadway. 8 coaches, 275 tonnes trailing and, all quite full.

After run round, a 25 minute wait to return to Toddington! A little oversight in the timetable! Time for another cuppa!

 For the return to Toddington we are used to it being a glorified ECS move, with very few passengers staying on board to head back north. However, Friday would still see a fair number of heads from carriage windows as we headed back through Bishops Cleeve and Winchcombe - despite the appalling weather!

After getting back to shed it was noticed that there was alot of 'fluid' that had collected in the bed pan of the engine and a lot of pooled oil at several places around the engine room. Baring in mind these locos are all over 55 years of age you can accept a certain number of leaks where seals don't sit right or are starting to perish. With the loco in use on the Saturday with a different crew the bed pan was drained to see if it was just general collection. I also noticed that the buffer beams of 47376 'Freightliner 1995' had been pretty much finished, with only a few of the pipe headers to be painted in top coat. 

No.1 end with just the yellow on the air pipes to go on. 

A full set on No.2 end.

 Easter Sunday was to see much better weather as well as a large group across the department working on a variety of projects. Mark S, Tim, Matt and Frank were all working on Brust Type 4, 1693 and her ongoing overhaul. With the weather fine, the loco was positioned under the small gantry crane so that the completed injector heads could be re-fitted to the Sulzer engine. 

Under threatening skies Tim signals to Mark S in 11230 to position 1693 in the right place. DES loiters behind awaiting the outcome of the ongoing repair investogations by the owners. 

 A gang from the Steam department were keen to take a look over the new Class 04, D2280, so I went to assist Mark S to shunt it across to Road 8. With both Class 04's together it is quite difficult to spot any immediate differences between the 'industrial contract - built' version and the 'BR contract - built' version. With D2280 over the pit 11230 was put back infront of D6948 and 1693. The group working on D2280 had the engine running in no time and carried out a full inspection of its condition.

D2280 ready for its assessment.

Whilst D6948 was outside, myself and Peter S (my rostered driver for the turn) had a look at a couple of little things. We had a quick look at the bed pan to see the extent of the oil leak after draining on Friday. There was a small amount sitting in the bottom after its outing on Saturday but, there was also now a large amount of pooling oil around the Heat Exchanger feed.

The Heat Exchanger feed pipe - most of the oil cleaned away, some still sits behind. This was covered in oil before cleaning.

The fluid is pooled on the bed plate at the bottom left of the picture. It has also pooled on the running plate in the centre, top of the picture. Nothing that would fail the loco but will need a look over.

It was agreed to just keep an eye on it and let our Technical Officer, Paul Good, look at it next weekend. It was certainly no worse when we arrived back on shed after the last turn. With starting my Driver Training this year, Peter then took me around the locomotive going through the preparation routine for service. We also took in some little maintenance jobs as part of this.

Some of the little jobs included some sticking relays that had been picked up when modifications were made to the Blower Motors in order to reduce wear and tear. There was also another sticking issue with the power application relays. A judiscial application of WD40 will hopefully alleviate the issues.

WD40......the magic sponge of the mechanical world! 

A quick visual inspection of the Blower Motor relays and a careful spray of WD40.  All, of course, are isolated with the BIS (Battery Isolation Switch) in the 'OFF' position. You wouldn't want to have the cover off if they were live!!

With prep done, and a lot of very useful tips, pointer and other information swimming round my head, I ventured back onto the shed to await time off shed by helping Mark E, who had been plugging away on the bogie of Class 24, 5081.

The bogie is starting to take shape as more and more bits are re-sited and top coat is applied. With a lot of the major parts of the brake system now refitted, the smaller bits, such as runners and joints, needed priming.

Slack runners and brackets await the paint brush and a coat of primer. 

The slack adjusters have also been removed and, with some in re-usable condition, others are a complete right off! Considering the bogies haven't been off the loco in about 40 years, it isn't surprising to see some extreme damage caused by over use. One slack adjuster, in particular, is definitely ready for some 'end of life' care!!

Some of the slack adjusters removed. The worst of the bunch is in the centre of the picture! 

One wonders how they worked effectively with such a substatial twist in the rod!

With Road 10 out of action due to a new concrete apron being laid, hopefully for our new gantry, a quick shunt of Road 11 was needed to get 1693 to the back of the shed for ongoing work. It gave the rare sight of 11230 venturing into the Diesel Shed.

Class 04, 11230 pulls all 117 tonnes of Class 47, 47376, out of the shed. 

Finally, Class 26 D5343, remains at the Mid Norfolk Railway undertaking a number of contracted running days after its successful showing at their Spring Gala, where it became the first (and probably last) of its class to work with a Class 88 that was on loan from DRS! The Class 26 is due to return to the GWR next weekend, but not before it pays a trip to Doncaster, Roberts Road Depot (owned by Electro Motive Diesel/GBRf) for tyre turning. Perhaps another first and last for the CDMG's well-travelled Sulzer Type 2.

End of the day. Peter positions D6948 back in the shed. 

Finally, a quick update on the locomotive roster for week commencing 02/04/18. Originally, our 'peak', 45149, was due to work the PURPLE timetable on Tuesday 3rd April. This has now been changed to fellow Sulzer-engined Type 4, Class 47, 47376 'Freightliner 1995'. All other rostered locos remain unchanged.