Here, there and back again

Our volunteers have been putting in the miles and hours over the last couple of weeks, moving forward the restoration work on our fleet.

In the West Midlands, No 2 end cab of 47484 has been steadily improving both inside and out. The window surrounds were painted in buff cream undercoat and the buffer beam glossed in black. As can be seen in this photo, a start has been made chipping off the old paint on the roof. This is a time consuming job, as there are many layers of paint that have to be carefully removed without damaging the fibre glass roof underneath. Inside the paint scraping is well advanced, and the ceiling is being prepared for sanding. Numerous cab panels and other components have been restored back at Barrow Hill and put into store for eventual refitting.

At Wirksworth, a B-exam on 33035 has generated a list of things to adjust, fix and test, and these are proceeding. A solenoid valve in the DSD air system was found to be faulty and replaced, and a sticking DSD pedal attended to with the aid of an oil can and adjusting implement. Work is also continuing to coax the ETH into life, but we have been frustrated by antiquated voltage regulators that seem to have given up the ghost.

At Barrow Hill, 8 cylinder heads have now been overhauled from Sherwood’s engine, and the next job will be to choose 4 more good ones to overhaul from our spares. After cleaning the top of the cylinder block, Matt and Nathan spent a day cleaning the fuel gallery on B-side. Carl has been assembling the conduit in No 2 end for the wiring to the tail lights and headcode boxes.

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Business Resumed

Work on Sherwood has been paused for the last two weeks while Barrow Hill was turned upside down for the steam gala. The team helped tidy up our area and covered over the roof of the loco to protect it from the inevitable volcanic ash falling out of the atmosphere from the steam locos. However, we were reminded why diesel locos did not mix with steam traction on BR, when we returned to find that a fine layer of rust had developed on any exposed steel surface including some of our polished cylinder heads. Our neighbours on 58016 were similarly dismayed to find several of their restored components afflicted by the acid rain.

Work resumed on the nose end, with completion of wiring in the instrument box and a quick test by Carl. The cover over the engine block was pulled back, and the top cleaned of oily gunge by Nathan and Matt – once the studs have been cleaned, the area will be primed before the liners are extracted, to minimise the amount of dirt falling into the crankcase.

Jacob has set up a production line in our workshop to clean various small engine components and got through six of the rockers. Cylinder head No 8 was prepared for valve lapping.

Rockers after cleaning

 

Engine block after cleaning

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Glossed Up

With the Barrow Hill steam gala approaching in 2 weeks, we have been racing to complete as many jobs as possible, so that our area can be tidied up. This has meant a busy weekend cleaning and painting the various bits lying on the benches and around the loco. This included the snail cowling for the blower motor that was refitted to the ducting in the nose with a new set of rubber seals. The field frame for the blower motor itself was restored and the internals painted in anti-track by Matt, while the armature and fan were delivered to Bowers for commutator skimming and balancing. One of the brush boxes was found to have a broken spring, so this may have contributed to the worn commutator profile due to lack of pressure on the carbon brush.

The tally on overhauled cylinder heads reached 7 this weekend, with some aching arms from lapping valves and spigot rings. The heads were queuing up to be painted by Matt and Adam.

Paul spent Sunday fitting the last of the resistor grids to the boiler room, and cleaning out the whole compartment of accumulated dust and muck. Carl continued with the rewiring of the instrument box.

We were pleased to see the 33/1 group in attendance with guest visitor JC from Swanage. After several hours on the charger and some replacement battery cells (ex 33035), 33 108 burst into life and did a quick revolution on the turntable to entertain the Roundhouse public and volunteers.

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Sherwood Motor Head

It was back to the main event again this week with work progressing on all fronts with Sherwood. The front cab bulkhead was glossed and fitted out with new insulation panels. Carl continued fitting out the instrument box with a set of restored bulb holders.

Now that the compressor is finished, Matt and Jacob dismantled the traction motor blower motor, which turned out to be none too soon. The brushed were almost down to the pigtails, and the commutator is badly worn. Both bearings were extracted for renewal, and the armature loaded up for despatch to Bowers. As before, the field frame will be cleaned, tested and restored by our team at Barrow Hill. Also restored and now in undercoat thanksĀ  to Nathan are the fan, snail cowling and motor stand.

A day was spent steam cleaning off black gunge from the six removed B-bank cylinder heads, transferring large quantities of the substance to the operator. The heads were first left to soak in a mix of paraffin and diesel, steam cleaned off, and then coated with strong sodium hydroxide solution to dissolve the remaining grease and carbon. After a final blast with the steam cleaner, the process revealed six heads in good condition, and no signs of cracks around the valve seats. The first head was duly put through a day of laborious valve lapping, until both valve faces and valve seats were free of pitting and perfectly matched. So thats four down, eight to go!

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March Hares

The new season at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway got off to a flying start with the first of four diesel events this year. Record crowds visited Wirksworth on Saturday and a good turn out on Sunday for 33035 and D8001 taking turns on the Duffield mainline and the Ravenstor Incline. Both locos performed extremely well, with all services running on time, despite the attempts of several inquisitive lambs trying to get a closer view of the train from the wrong side of their fence. 31414 was on standby thunderbird duties, but there was no need to disturb its slumbers in the yard at Wirksworth. Its turn will come later in the year.

On Sunday, Simon took the helm on 33035 for his first training turns under guidance from Graham, and Jacob improved his skills with coupling and uncoupling. A group of trainee guards also followed the activities.

We were pleased to see so many of enthusiasts supporting the event, which is a great encouragement to the railway management and volunteers to organise many more diesel traction events. If you were able to visit us this weekend, we hope you enjoyed your stay and thanks for your support!

 

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Plumber’s World

It could be inside a submarine, but the view is the machine room at No1 end of 47484. With the help of friends from 47524 on the Churnet Valley Railway, our Away Team have started to disconnect some of the pipework attached to the roof, which will be removed for overhaul to the radiators which are tucked away in the ceiling.

To the left of the gangway are two compressors, one of which is heavily stripped, and to the right are two vacuum exhausters. All of the vacuum equipment and pipework was marked up for removal in BR days, suggesting the loco was going to be converted to air only. Fortunately, this did not take place, so it will remain dual braked in preservation, far more useful for heritage lines that have older coaching stock.

Work has also continued in No 2 cab, with removal of the main power controller which will be rebuilt and restored at Barrow Hill.

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Headless!

Engine block after heads removed

B-bank heads were unbolted and lifted out of Sherwood this weekend. An initial inspection found that they appear to be crack free, which is a relief after the 50% failure rate on A-bank.

The top of the engine will now be cleaned off prior to pulling out the liners. In the meantime the heads will be steam cleaned and overhauled.

Cyl head being lowered on to scissor trolley

Carl has reconnected the fault lights at No 2 end and checked they light up correctly.

Nathan and Matt winding off the cyl head nuts with the torque multiplier

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Standing By

D8001 and 33035 standing by for next weekend’s Diesel Loco gala at Wirksworth. Over the last 2 weeks we have gone through a full B-exam on 33035, finishing yesterday with a pit inspection to check the bogies and traction motors. The resistor controlling the battery charging circuit has been repaired, although we will be keeping the crocodile clips on board just in case! The driver’s door at No 2 end is now back in gloss rail blue, and the patch on the front has been filled and repainted in warning yellow. A full brake test in air and vacuum was completed, and some coupling up was practiced with the 31.

The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway has prepared an interesting timetable for 33035 and D8001 to operate Wirksworth-Duffield and Wirksworth-Ravenstor, changing over in the middle of the day. http://www.e-v-r.com/eventinfo/

Lets hope for some fine weather and a good turn out of enthusiasts to visit our friendly railway.

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Machine Language

The Sunday mission was to reassemble the compressor for Sherwood, as the armature had arrived back from Bowers and the last few parts were restored during the week. A heat gun was used to heat up and expand the bearings so that they can be slid on to the armature shaft. Adam and Matt learnt the hard way that you have to be quick to avoid the bearing cooling and shrinking on to the shaft before it is in the correct position. Once this was rectified, the armature was reunited with the field frame and the end plates and seals refitted. Finally the motor was craned on to the compressor base and the original shims used to ensure correct alignment for the gear drive.

Carl moved into the closing phases of fitting a new set of switches and warning lights for the driver’s instrument panel, now enclosed by a newly fabricated box.

45105 was not forgotten this week, as the overhauled triple pump was given a final coat of gloss.

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A Nice Number

The Away Team, Matt and Adam celebrated 47484′s birthday with a day working on the loco and some cream cakes. The loco’s birthday presents were a new cover and a renumbering to remind it of its younger days.

Progress continued with the restoration of No 2 cab, and the buffer cowling also receiving a coat of etch primer.

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