We are just a week away (less than that by the time this gets posted!) from the Diesel Gala; final preparations to be completed this week, rosters are written, timetables are finalised, the crews know what time to sign on and the annual impromptu BBQ has been joked about in the mess room! But, the stresses do not subside as the weather looks changeable! Typical!
Still, the visitor for the year has touched down at Toddington successfully coupled with a large sigh of relief from the organisers and the loco owners.
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| 50035 'Ark Royal' prepares to touch down in Toddington yard after its short trip down the M5. (Courtesy of Kev Jarvis.) |
English Electric Type 4/Class 50,
50035 '
Ark Royal' arrived on Monday after a short trip from its home at Kidderminster and is due to have its Fitness to Run exam later in the week. It is due to run quite intensively over the weekend being the first of it's class to reach Broadway (and, probably Cheltenham Racecourse) but the second to run on the resurrected GWR -
50021 (another 50 in the news having received a new shiny coat of Revised Blue livery) was resident on the line in the 1990s. The line was only in place between Toddington and Far Stanley back then.
Another loco to arrive at Toddington in the last few weeks was English Electric Type 3/Class 37,
D6948, which has returned from its 8 week long sojourn down with our friends at the West Somerset Railway. It has, sadly, returned with a slight worsening of a historic air leak but it should be nothing to keep it from running in the Gala and in the following week on the
PURPLE timetable. On Sunday just gone (21/07) the loco was run up after having its coarse fuel filter cleaned out and tested by Kev J. The week before had seen the loco's boiler coil loaded onto a lorry and sent away for assessment and repair.
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| D6948 sits in the yard prior to being shunted down the yard and having its coarse filter cleaned and a run up. |
D6948's sister,
37215, will not be running this year and will be out of service until much later in the year. Back in March, during inspection, it was identified that the Traction Motors needed some attention and the bogies would need to be removed. With the cables all freed and the loco resting on accommodation bogies down in the yard, myself and Mark S made a start on removing the spent carbon bushes and cleaning the motors themselves.
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| 37215's bogies in the shed prior to moving them outside. |
Firstly, we had to move the bogies outside and over the pit. Not an easy job as there are no couplings and no brakes - other than on the shunter. However, Mark, as a highly experienced Driver, made no mistakes with the Class 04 and we had them over the pit in no time. Once over the pit, we both went down into the pit, the inspection covers were off and access to the bushes could be made. They aren't in easy places and Mark had a tough time getting them out. It is likely they had been in there since the loco was refurbished back in the early 2000s, if not earlier! Some required a gentle amount of persuasion in order to get them out. Lots of cursing, sweating (it was bl***y hot) and running back and forward with various tools ensued before all of them were out! There may have been a few cups of tea involved, as well!
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| The view from the top of the bogie. access isn't so straight forward underneath! |
The bushes are held in the clamped housings on the extreme right of the picture above. Although they look easy to get to access can only be gained suitably from below the bogie! There are 9 of these per motor, a total of 54 bushes! Also required was a full clean of the insulating pots (the 'white' pots at the bottom, centre, of the pic) - there are 6 of these per traction motor, 36 in total!
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| A few of the bushes laying around on an inspection hatch. |
With all of the bushes out I went around with a high pressure air line in order to blow any crud and dust away from the mechanisms before using an emery cloth and some electrical cleaner to clear the soot and dust off of the insulator pots. Mark then prepared some rather potent cleaners in order to get some deep cleaning done. By the end of the day we had completed all of the necessary cleaning, although more is needed in order to fully prepare the motors for further work.
As with the Class 24, on the bogies of
37215 was scrawled 'Ex 37165'. Bizarrely, at lunch on one of the social media groups I follow, someone had posted a photo of
37165 sat on Bristol Bath Road TMD in the early 1980's. Weird!
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| Just visible, the bogies' previous owner. |
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| 37215 keeps 45149 and 5310 (visiting from Llangollen) company down in the yard. |
Our other 'visitor', Class 26,
5310 from the Llangollen Railway is still awaiting a decision to be made on how any work undertaken is to proceed. Originally the plan was to fit a refurbished Traction Motor to the 'McRat', that was owned by the Cotswold Mainline Diesel Group, and to have the loco as a second visitor for the gala, given it is the 60th Anniversary of the Class entering service with BR. Sadly, after investigations conducted on the loco, it was deemed that the work would take much longer and be much more in depth than just a basic Motor swap. Therefore, the loco is in a state of limbo at Toddington whilst the owners and the CMDG/GWR look to find a suitable resolution. Whether it will be on static display at the Gala is a decision still to be made by the Llangollen Diesel Group.
Also not available for the Gala is our EE Type 1/Class 20,
D8137, which has also (must be the year for them!!) developed a Traction Motor fault! It is likely that the loco will need lifting and a motor swap conducted. Loco owner, Steve M, has just disposed of the carcass of sister loco,
20035, to the scrap yard but not before removing the bogies along with the Traction Motors attached, so hopefully a swap can be sorted if the motors from
20035 are serviceable enough for a refurb. It is unlikely that
D8137 will see service again this year.
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| A forlorn D8137 in the shed. |
However, one loco's loss is another loco's gain. Steve's Class 73 Electro-Diesel,
E6036, usually found on ballast and p-way work, will see full use at the Gala. A very rare opportunity for haulage as the ED is restricted to load 5 or 6 and usually not used on passenger services. In fact, I think the last time it was used on passenger services was in 2017.
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| E6036 - all prepped and ready to go! |
All our serviceable locos have been topped up with fuel, although not from our own fuelling point. Funding has been allocated for us to have a new yard sited fuel tank and fuelling access but it will still be in to 2020 before any semblance of it will be noticeable. For the time being the old fashioned method will suffice!
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| 'Peak', 45149 gets a fill up from the local Ford Fuel Oil Driver. (Courtesy of Kev Jarvis.) |
Out in the yard, behind the machine shop, clearance work has started in order to progress another capital project for the whole Motive Power Department. For years the Steam and Diesel Departments have had separate mess rooms - Steam in a MK.1 coach next to Siding 1; Diesel in a porta-cabin opposite the entrance to the shed. Toilet wise, we all had the use of this salubrious 5* facility......
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| Toilets (Unisex-ish) to the left, showers to the right! |
It has served all departments well for at least 6 years (I joined the railway in 2013 and it was in pretty much the same condition!) however, not least of all because of more female volunteers requiring facilities, this will change in the near future with the building of a new shared mess facility in the yard behind the machine shop. It will contain full mess room with toilets, showers, changing rooms, lockers, teaching rooms and medical rooms. It will truly be 5* when built.
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| The space where the new mess facility will be built. The machine shop is in the old, original, GWR Goods Shed. |
In the shed, Matt P continued with some needle gunning on Brush Type 4/Class 47,
1693. Lots of priming and prep work have continued in the last few weeks including a start being made on the battery boxes under the main chassis.
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| 1693's overhaul continues. |
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| Battery boxes and fuel tanks have been needle gunned and primer added. |
On the shunter front
DES is now back in full service having had a successful Fitness to Run exam. However, because of the 18 month lay off out of service, no drivers are certified to operate it at present. Over the next few months training will take place that will allow
DES to fully return to service and allow Bryan P's Class 04,
D2280, to be removed from service for tyre turning.
One item of rolling stock that will be on display in the shed over the weekend will be Class 122 'Bubble Car',
W55003. Another of the long term projects, along with
1693, the 'Bubble' has been having regular work to its bodysides over the last few weeks courtesy of the small, dedicated team. The weekend just gone saw the perfect opportunity for some top coat to be added over the initial coats of primer. The solebar has also been cleaned, primed and top coat added. A couple of pictures courtesy of the CDRL. You can keep up with the work being done to the whole GWR DMU fleet on their
website. Go give it a look.
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| The first bits of top coat added to W55003. (Courtesy of CDRL/GWR DMU) |
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| The solebar, black top coat applied, on W55003. (Courtesy of CDRL/GWR DMU) |
The Class 117 set is not scheduled to run at the Gala so it gives the owning group a weekend that they can get to grips with any issues that have arisen during the running season. The sets' original DMS,
W51405, is still at C&W at Winchcombe having its interior seen to.
So, with the rosters and timetables finalised (within normal operating caveats), you can access all you need to know by clicking the following:
Friday Timetable
Saturday Timetable
Sunday Timetable
A heritage bus service will run from Cheltenham Spa to Racecourse Station on Saturday and Sunday
ONLY.
To book tickets, click
here.
General information, including 'What's On, Where', visit the
GWR Main Site
We hope to see you there!
