Restoration diary

On July 12th, Mark Burrows went through our stores area sorting out the doors for the electrical cubicles of both locomotives, to see if any were missing, and if so, which ones. We seem to be missing just one small door for Renown. Ian Kemp, Pete Carter and Dave Rolfe refitted the heat exchanger onto the ex-50008 power unit, including the replacement end piece recovered from the power unit in Repulse. Dom Jackson assisted Andy Rowlands belling out cables inside the electrical cubicle of 50030, as part of the completion of the electrical system and in continued preparation for the first fire-up of the locomotive.  At the end of the day, Dave, Ian and Pete covered the PU with a new large tarpaulin as the old ones had started to deteriorate.

The work party on 19th July was attended by myself, Dave Rolfe, Peter Carter, Ian Kemp and Mark Burrows.  Mark spent most of the day making a start on clearing one of our sotrage areas, as its current location is required by Peak Rail to extend their engine shed.

At the last work party the heat exchanger was repaired, cleaned, painted and refitted to the ex-50008 power unit.  This allowed Dave, Pete, Ian and myself to refit the pipe work around it.  The main aim of the pipe fitting is to complete the oil lubrication system so we can hand prime the oil around the engine which will lower the risk of damage to the bearings when the engine is barred over. By the end of the day all of the main oil pipes had been fitted, except one which cannot be fitted as the sleepers that the power unit is sat on are in the way. We now need to order new oil filters before the filter housings can be fitted.  The main image for this entry shows the refitted heat exchanger together with the pipework we managed to reinstall during the work party.

I spent the afternoon assessing the cabs on Repulse with a view of restarting the repair work on them, then I made a start on checking what cab parts we have in store and what reusable parts are in the e- 50037 cab.

Ian Kemp, Peter Carter and Dave Rolfe carried on fitting oil, water and fuel pipework to the ex-50008 power unit, but on the side facing Renown, so no photo opportunities were possible today.

In preparation for the open day on June 21st, I washed down the outside of the electrical cubicle frame in 50030 and undercoated it, as it had become dirty from repeated handling since it was originally painted about five or six years ago. I also cleaned and undercoated the two cubicle doors from the fuse and MCB compartment. I brought three more cubicle doors home to clean.

Just a reminder that we are having our Open Day on the afternoon of Sunday June 21st where RRRG members will be on hand to give guided tours of the project and discuss progress. We hope to see you there!

Ian Kemp, Peter Carter and Wes Needle continued fitting coolant and oil pipework to the power unit, while Dave Rolfe carried on painting the other side of the power unit.

I removed the battery charge contactor so I could clean and undercoat the compartment where the CU2 and CU7 go, then did the same for the compartment underneath where the CU1 sits, in readiness for having them temporarily fitted for the open day. Topcoat will be applied next workparty. I also cleaned the dirtiest two of the cubicle doors ready for painting.

Mark Burrows and myself were on site today.  A slight mix-up over keys to the container resulted in a delay getting started and curtailed the working day somewhat.  Mark scraped off the worst of the crap from both the 037 cab and no. 2 cab of 30, then painted grey undercoat on the cab front of 037 to 'smarten it up a bit'.  The paintwork on all of our assets is looking faded and dirty after several years of no attention.  I pulled out the cables from under the floor in front of the aux gen that go to the load limiting potentiometer to bell them out. I identified and marked all but one, which will require further investigation. I did the same for several smaller severed cables from the cubicle to the main gen. This took all day as I was doing it on my own, so I had to make repeated trips into the Thin Man's passage to move the belling lead.  Although the work I've described here doesn't sound like much, it did take up a whole day but was very satisfying as it pinned down more of the cabling inside 50030.