Make hay whilst the sun shines!

Its been fairly quiet at Toddington TMD over the last few weeks as the summer season approaches and the railway sees a lot of special events that take over the Diesel Shed, meaning that weekend work has to be carefully organised around these weekends. May is certainly always the busiest month for events and it means that any work either has to revert to weekdays or be postponed - allowing some us to help out with the running of the events. However, this doesn't mean that we drop the ball....the locomotives still receive attention as they are needed.

The larger scale projects continue with the work on Type 4/Class 47, 1693, progressing further. On the 20th May, with all cylinders now ensconced in their respective liners, work on the power unit had moved to the external body work. Tim L was busy rubbing down around the cabsides and the front ends. At either end, work had already started on priming and painting the locomotive's buffer beam and pipework.

Tim L gets to work with the sander on 1693/47105.

Primed and ready for painting. 

The amount of dust covering the floor at the end of the day was testament to the amount of paint that was removed. A new colour scheme has yet to be chosen for 1693, however, given that the loco was one of the few to remain in BR blue until withdrawal, the options are perhaps a bit limited.

Next to 1693, on Road 10, the wheel set refurbishment on the first bogie of Class 24, 5081, was nearing completion. The Traction Motors had been repainted and repositioned between the wheels allowing the remainder of the braking system to be refitted. Most of this work has been going on during the week and it has been quite surprising to see the speed with which the refurbishment has moved into the final stage of phase 1. It won't be long before the locomotive is moved back onto the jacks for the removal of no.2 bogie and the refitting of no.1 bogie.

The screw mechanism for the hand brake on 5081's refurbished bogie. 

No, not a black box!

Out in the yard preparations were ongoing for the Cotswold Festival of Steam with two of the four visitors sat in the yard. On walking out into the yard, it was a little strange to find one of the visitors ticking!! Diesels tick; they are fitted with Spirax Valves to allow the release of moisture from the air system and can be heard for hours after a loco has been shut down. But a steam engine with a Spirax valve? Well.......this one has them!

WD S160, 5197, visiting from the Churnet Valley Railway.

The American build S160 Class had air powered auxiliary systems similar to those found on Diesels. The source of the ticking was the Spirax Valves under the tender!

The afternoon diesel turn was being covered by EE Type 3, D6948, and a shunt was required to get her out of the shed. Myself and Richard Scott were rostered as crew so a shunt was in the offing. Our ED, Class 73, E6036, was sat outside so, with the Class 04 being used with the 'kettles' and DES still out of action, the ED was fired up and used as the depot Super Shunter. As a locomotive that doesn't see much use away from the P'Way train I haven't had much experience with this particular locomotive and Richard is one of only a handful of people who can drive it.

One of the unsung 'heroes' of the railway, Class 73, E6036.

One of the locos redeaming features, making it ideal for ballast work, is the fact that it is the only mainline engine in the fleet that can be driven from either side of the cab. It also only has a 600hp English Electric engine making it more suited to slower speed workings.

The cab of the Class 73 is symmetrical making it driveable from either side of the cab. D6948's nose can be glimpsed through the rectangular windows!

Richard eases D6948 out of the shed. 

Elsewhere in the yard the ever shortening time that Class 20, 20035, has with us was more evident. After removing the side doors and roof, the frames have now been cut away giving easier access to the power unit. Once a concrete platform has been laid near to the mess room the engine can be removed and placed in storage.

20035's exposed power plant. Although it doesn't look particularly healthy, apparently, it is in pretty reasonable condition.

Generator, Traction Motor Blower and Fire Extinguisher stand in front of the electrical cubicle. 

On a more positive note, DES's extended period out of traffic could soon be at an end. The owners have been in contact with Timken with regards the correct grades for steel for the spacers and the information gained has allowed progression on the new abutment rings. Spacers should be forthcoming shortly, although, the spec has to be exact. It is hoped that the wheelset will have returned by the end of June and the loco up on the jacks by the end of July. In the meantime Paul, Chris and the team have been busy cleaning up the traction motor brush boxes. The main generator brush boxes have seen similar work, one brush box was found to be loose and has been repaired. The air compressor was removed to address an issue with the fixing bolts and has now been refitted. Finally the batteries have been removed to address corrosion in the battery compartment.

Chris was hard at work finishing off the refurb of the battery box. 

It was then off to prep D6948, however the loco seemed to have acquired a particularly strange, and previously unnoticed, hood ornament!! Dean, one of the loco owners, was busy giving her a bit of a spruce up!

Not quite a Silver Ghost or a Jaguar!  

The weekend of the 31st May - 2nd June saw Class 26, D5343, having a very last minute jaunt to the Mid Hants Railway for the 'Watercress Line's' Diesel Gala. The McRat was a very late call up due to a locomtive withdrawal from their original line up. Originally, I was planning a nice weekend of doing very little but a phone call from Simon T on the Friday night ended up with me making a two hour trip down to Ropley early on a Sunday morning to help crew the locomotive over the famously steep line. With a ruling gradient of 1 in 60 from Alresford and 1 in 100 from Alton, with the summit at Medstead, it makes any loco work very hard, let alone a Type 2 with 1160hp! The loco had worked well throughout the weekend and the Sunday was no different. It was certainly very different to crewing a loco on the relatively flat GWR and the 26 would spend a considerable amount of time at full power! A good chance to blow out the cobwebs!

D5343 waiting to leave Alresford with the 0945 to Alton. 

We had worked down with Class 47, 47579 'James Nightall GC' which shunted in to the dock siding. This loco was on hire from the Mangapps Railway.

D5343 waits in the late afternoon sunshine at Alresford for a clear path back to Ropley.

The Class 26 returned to Toddington on the Monday and, come Saturday, was to be found parked outside Road 10 enjoying the warm sunshine.

Recovering from it's exhertions on the MHR. Very reminiscent of its time in Scotland. 

Meanwhile, in the shed, evidence of more work on 1693, and thicker layers of dust in the immediate area. It also appears that it has undergone a bit of a identity crisis......

No.2 end has had a visit from the sander with some of the body side also given a rub down.

Not another one!!!! A recurring in-joke amongst Class 47 fans.

June sees a down turn in diesel loco running with only the DMU seeing regular running on the BLUE timetable during the week (Tuesday to Thursday). The weekend of the 16th/17th June sees 47376 'Freightliner 1995' work the last train of the day on the PURPLE timetable while, 37215 and D6948 will be out for the Thomas and Friends weekend over the 23rd/24th June.