More Heavy Lifting!

There has been a lot of heavy items moved about at Toddington over the last few weeks. Last week saw 5081's bogie reunited with its Traction Motor and D6948 being relieved of its boiler in order to resolve an issue with a leak. This week was not to be outdone! Again, I have been absent so thanks to Kev Jarvis and Paul Jones for the updates and piccies.

Firstly, D6948's boiler has been moved into the diesel shed ready for investigations to take place. As the exhaust flue has had to be removed as well a blanking plate is to be fitted in order to prevent water ingress into the engine room through the gapping wound. More lifting is required as it is suspected that the leak is somewhere around the coil. This will need to be lifted away from the casing and inspected. All photos are courtesy of Kev Jarvis.

The exhaust blanking plate ready for painting in Grey. Luckily this hadn't been thrown in the bin during D6948's restoration!

The business part of the boiler, the coil. This will be lifted out and inspected.

At the later end of the week one of our smaller engines, or at least part of it, received some lifting assistance. Its not often that our shunters get much of a look in in the blog. They go about their duties with minimal fanfare. We have four on the railway (five if you include a little 0-4-0 'Mavis' that languishes in the yard); Class 03, D2182, that is allocated to C&W at Winchcombe, two Class 04's - D2280 and 11230 based at Toddington and, finally, DES, a former industrial shunter also based at Toddington. It is the latter that has finally seen some light at the end of a very long tunnel. DES is the preferred shunter of the Diesel Department as, out of the four, it is the most powerful at around 320hp - the 03 and 04 design being similar and having a 204hp output. The Class 04 shunters tend to struggle when asked to move more than one diesel loco producing plenty of wheel slip unless gently coerced. DES, however, has a much higher tractive effort and is able to move a line of three locos with reasonable ease given that its working life included shifting 1000 tonne loads of steel at Allied Steel and Wire in Cardiff. The engine has been out of service for some 15 months after having a serious issue with its middle axle. This required removal and sending away to Timken for fabrication of new bearings and axle box along with a general overhaul of the wheel set. The process had become quite a drawn out affair, much to the annoyance of the locos owners as it wasn't earning any money for them. However, Wednesday saw the delivery of the refurbished wheel set - much to the delight of the owners. Photos are courtesy of Paul Jones.

DES' repaired wheelset arrives on the back of a lorry...no pun intended!

The wheelset is lifted off the flatbed and into the yard to meet a very happy Chris. 

The RTF carries the wheelset into the David Page shed ready for DES to be lifted in due course. 

The wheelset stands in front of an interloper! Class 26, D5343 is in the DP Shed undergoing some corrosion repairs.

The owners hope that DES can be lifted towards the end of this month however this will depend on successful refitting of the repaired axle box. The end is very much in sight!

This weekend (9/10 March) sees the close season end and a return to scheduled services. Saturday and Sunday sees the BLUE timetable kick things off with the DMU in operation followed by Cheltenham Festival Week - one of the railways big money earners. The mainline diesels see their first action in April on the PURPLE timetable during the week and during select weekends in May. However, most weekends during the height of the season will see mainline diesel running on the GREEN timetable. You can access the digital timetable here.

And, finally, a little plea from the Growler Group - owners of 37215 and custodians of D6948. The group need help manning the Sales Stand at a variety of events at both the GWSR and across the country. No previous sales experience is required, just a willingness to help and speak to people. You will need to be a member of the Growler Group and, for the GWSR events, a Work Permit holder. For more information you can contact the group on Facebook or you can email the Sales Team from the link on the Group's webpage.