'Primed' and ready.

Its not common that I am at the railway on two consecutive weekends, however P'Way were requiring a rail drop to happen on the 18th Oct and a Driver was needed. As I had the day off I volunteered and to save me having to do my 140 mile round trip twice, I headed up on the Sunday and stayed overnight in one of our pods. It never ceases to amaze me just how spooky the railway is in the dark - the sounds of owls in the trees, as well as other animals of the night, lend to the ethereal environment.

Having not been able to do a lot in the way of track maintenance during the Covid lockdowns, the P'Way team are making up for lost time. A few weeks back they had a visit from an ultrasonic tester to see the condition of the rails along the whole line. This revealed a number of sections that needed rail to be replaced - this on top of the pointwork at Toddington and Cheltenham to replace and the removal of track at Winchcombe for the slip repair at the end of November. 

Dixton cutting. A braced piece of rail. 

As you can see in the picture above there are areas where the track has been marked in yellow to signify where there are defects and, in the worst cases, have required the track to be braced to prevent breakage. Just above the fishplate you can see what looks like a very stretched 'H' written on the railhead. This is signifying where the rail has started to dent due to structural failure. When rolling over it you may be forgiven for thinking this was a track join but it can be quite a deep depression and could cause serious wheel damage as well as potentially cause the track to break and the train to derail. This is the reason for the sudden call for crew so that rail could be dropped at a number of sites ready for P'Way to replace them. I quite like doing these turns as it makes a bit of a difference from the normal passenger services.

After rousing a damp 37215 from her slumbers, it was time to collect the 'Elk' wagon and its associated brake van that was also in the yard at Toddington. I was joined by Andy D as Secondman and, in the brake van we had joined by Robin W (Travelling Signal Man), Michael B (Guard) and Richard B (Guard Assistant). With load checks done and a plan of action it was time to head out of the yard and onto drop site 1...the south turn out at Toddington Yard. 

Full attention on placing the train within the P1 Starter signal at Toddington without getting too close to Rake 1 being cleaned in the Platform. (Courtesy of the GWSR C&W Blog)

Parked up at the first drop site. The Toddington Yard headshunt is just behind the telehandler. 

This was as much an opportunity for P'Way training as it was to get new rail to the various worksites as they had gone and purchased a new lifting boom for use with the telehandler to lift the rail off the 'Elk' relatively easily. However, this did lead to a few winces and worried glances as the rail would swing or tip, sometimes getting a little too close for comfort to the loco or the brake van. The squally weather conditions weren't helping either. By the end of the day, though, the team had the hang of it. 

Worksite 2 - New Farm Bridge

Next stop was at New Farm Bridge on the section between Hayles Abbey Halt and Chicken Curve, and a long wait for the telehandler to arrive. It was dawning very quickly at this point that we would have a very long day. 

With the loco secured, a quick opportunity to take a picture looking back towards Hayles from the Brake Van. I wasn't quick enough to get two Muntjac Deer in to the picture that raced across the right-hand field.  

Next was an impromptu toilet stop at Winchcombe. With no services running we had the 'one-train' staff, meaning we had free reign on the line, before heading off to Dixton and Gotherington for a number of drops along this stretch of line. 

The telehandler arrives signalling the end of our lunch break.

With the telehandler and Land Rover now having to take to the roads in order to get to Dixton, we had a long period to while away in the drizzly Cotswold environs. With the loco shut down and handbraked, Andy and I retired to the brake van for lunch. We also had time to speak with Andrew (the new P'Way Head of Department) and plan how we could do the next couple of drops as the signalling wires for the Down Distant signal for Gotherington meant the spacing would be tight for the telehandler. It was agreed to drop the rail a little further away from the site (only 50 yards) as this would allow more space for the telehandler to operate. 

The final drop was at Skew Bridge, Gotherington. As in Dixton cutting signalling wires made it difficult to make the drop at the actual site so we used the ballast loading point to offload. 

With the final drop done it was time to head down to Cheltenham to re-marshal the train. This required the loco to run around the wagons and then reset the brake van to the rear of the train. 

The train remarshalled in P2 at Cheltenham. Its not often you get a chance to photograph a train in P2!

However, in order to allow Robin to switch out the 'box the train had to be moved over to P1. 

The day certainly wasn't over. On the way back we encountered a couple of trespassers at Far Stanley, one who ran off and the other who we found laying down in a hedge with her dog. Her reason for being there? Just taking her dog for a walk and trains don't run on a Monday!! Well, we were about 180 tonnes of proof that WE DO run on Mondays!! When will these people learn that trains can run at any time and not just what it says on the public timetable!

The Sunday before couldn't have been any different in that it was sunny, if a bit chilly, and we had a small number of us present for a variety of jobs. Matt P was up to do some work on 47376 'Freightliner 1995', Mark S was present to do some work on the newly returned Class 24, 5081 and Simon T and Alex R were working on D5343. 

5081 had been away on holiday at the Severn Valley Railway and it's return had been expected at the end of October after a bit of a mess up. However, it unexpectedly turned up on Friday 15th during the 'Peak' running day (more on this shortly). 

5081 returns home unexpectedly and is prepped for offloading. 15/10/21 (Courtesy of Alex Raybould)

Mark S refitted the lifesavers and undertook some running repairs to the Class 24 before joining me on 37215 to try and find the source of the oil leak to the top compressor within the nose at No.1 end. We fired up the engine so that we could see what happened when the compressor was running. 

Exhibit A

After a long period of checking the compressor over Mark found where the leak was coming from. Oil was intermittently leaking from the seal between the motor casing and the compressor body. This means that the compressor will need lifting out of the nose over the winter shutdown in order to investigate the issue more closely. 

Whilst Mark was busy with the Class 24 I decided I would continue with some of the work that Phil S and I had started the previous week. We had gone through the engine room to check the integrity of the rocker covers and engine plates to see if there was excessive leaking that could indicate a failure of the seals or a more serious problem. 37215 does seem to leak a fair bit but, like the Duracell bunny, the loco keeps going and going without any serious issues arising. I decided to go through the engine room checking the seals and cleaning the pooling oil away to minimise the fire risk. It would also allow for identification of any major leaks. 

Where a seal has started to fail you will see oil starting to dribble out through the screws holes or in the gaps between the covers. 

Evidence that oil has started to leak through this plate via the screw holes. 

'A' Bank after its scrub. The rocker covers are clean enough to be able to find any continuing leaks. 

With the myriad of pipes around the engine it makes it easy for any oil to travel around and pool in places a long way from the source. Cleaning allows an easier way to trace these leaks back to the source. 

Its also worth checking around joins and cleaning these out to remove any fire risk. 

 

This pool hadn't originally been identified. It looks like it has been forced up through the screw holes on the plate. It was cleaned and an eye will be kept on it. As the exhaust is just above it, should this be squirting out under pressure, it may pose an ignition risk. 

With the Class 117 out on the BLUE timetable, the DMU Group could crack on with the Class 122 'bubble'. Window frames were drilled and more door backings were completed. The window drain tubes were also flared. All photos are courtesy of the GWSR DMU Group Facebook page. 

There was also an opportunity to get some painting done, with the inside of the Guards doors gaining a new coat of white paint. 

Finally, as the DMU is always parked at the far end of Siding 2, it isn't possible to run the battery chargers down the yard to charge up the batteries. Therefore, a new intelligent battery charger was fitted to make this job much easier to manage.  

In the David Page shed, Simon T and Alex R were carrying on with the overhaul of Class 26, D5343. With the welding completed attention has now shifted to getting the loco weatherproofed and watertight. Alex was busy with the ongoing job of adding green primer to the areas of the loco that had been completed and rubbed down. That was until a loud crash and some shouting heralded a bit of a mishap. Simon had walked around the loco to check on Alex's progress and had knocked over the nearly full tin of primer! 

You can see the progress that has been made in the last few months. Simon clears away the evidence of his mishap!

There are still some areas on the body side that need sanding down and then priming however, the main focus is just making sure the loco will survive outdoors when it's tenure in the David Page shed comes to an end. 

One of the new welded panels that still needs tidying up. 

Friday 15th saw a charter day operate with 'Peak' 45149. This was organised by a long time supporter of the 'Peak' locomotives - Classes 44, 45 and 46 - to celebrate the 60th birthday of ours but also to help raise some money for the Cotswold Mainline Diesel Group to get some heavy repairs completed and keep the loco running. The day was run using the Covid Diesel Enthusiast timetable with three round trips being operated. The following pictures are courtesy of Alex Raybould. 

45149 at a damp Broadway on its first round trip.

5081 is unloaded after its unexpected arrival back from the SVR.

Built in 1961, this year is 45149s 60th birthday. 

Run-round at Cheltenham. 

The day proved to be very successful with around 70 attendees providing, by all accounts, a tidy post-expenses amount for the CMDG and 45149s repair fund. It just goes to show what the preservation scene is capable of when it is needed.