Ian, Pete & Chris removed the carbon soot from the 7th cylinder head, ground in the valves & reassembled the valve gear, then de-sooted the 8th head & ground in two of the valves. I fitted the 27 wires to the Passenger/Goods brake selector switch and the three to the Exhauster Cut-Out switch. With this, the door switches are now complete and is a significant milestone in the electrical work.

While Dave, Ian & Pete refurbished another cylinder head, re-ground in the valves & re-assembled its valve gear, Mark Burrows continued weatherproofing the No.2 end cabs of both locos. I finished separating the door switch wires, then fitted the 17 to the Control Cut-Out switch, five to the Emergency Compressor switch, three to the Local Engine Start switch, and the two to the ammeter. I also fitted the copper bar to No.1 main start contactor, which gives the connection from the positive side of the batteries.

Ian & Pete ground in the four valves on the sixth head, and reassembled the valve gear & it, like the other five already completed, is now ready for refitting, once the water pressure test has been done, which will require all 16 cylinder liners to be refitted. When I looked at the cubicle switch door again, I found my earlier assumption about the switch positions was in fact incorrect, I had mounted them in the correct positions, but had labeled them wrongly, so I swapped them back to their correct positions & re-labeled them. This also required a small amount of wiring alterations. I then laid in the last four wires from the Control Cut-Out Switch to terminal bars 10 & 12 & began separating the door switch wires into bundles for each switch.

Last Sunday’s workparty was cancelled due to various people not being available. Today Dave & Neil started cleaning down the power unit, and painted the vee and part of B-side. Steve & I laid in the last 12 wires to the Passenger/Goods switch & two to the Control Cut-Out switch. In the process, we found the diagram of the door controls was incorrectly labeled, and I had inadvertently mounted the Emergency Compressor switch & the Exhauster Cut-Out switch in each other’s position on the door. While Steve reversed the switches into their correct positions, I connected the 12 PGS wires onto terminal bar 13.

Having collected various new piston rings, liner seals and the 16 conrods last Sunday that have had new small end shells fitted, Ian, Pete & Dave stored the conrods, then inbetween dodging the showers, fitted the first overhauled liner back into the power unit. Mark fitted two air horns into Repulse’s no.2 cab, again not without some difficulty due to restricted space inside the headcode box, then test fitted the windscreen wiper motors. I continued laying in wiring from terminal bars 9 & 13 to the cubicle rotary switch door. On the way home, Ian & I listened to Pink Floyd’s classic 1976 Wish You Were Here. Top job.

Ian & Pete spent the day cleaning and preparing the first four cylinder liners to go back into the new power unit when the new parts arrive, while Steve & I laid in and fitted cables we had deliberately left out due to the two previously mentioned missing circuit breakers.

On a glorious sunny day, Dave, Ian & Pete overhauled & reassembled another two cylinder heads, Mark continued weatherproofing around Repulse’s no2 cab windscreens and Steve & I fitted the two missing circuit breakers, the DSD relay box in the clean air compartment, laid in the last two wires to, and test-fitted, the newly rebuilt CU7 electronic unit. The CU7 has now been returned to my house for safekeeping, and on the way home, we listened to Rick Wakeman on Planet Rock playing some classic Yes tracks. Crackin.

Now the spring compressor plate has finally been finished (hooray!), Dave, Ian & Pete were able to refit the valves & springs to the four heads they’d overhauled, and they are now ready for refitting when we receive the new shell bearings & piston rings. They also tested another brake cylinder and found it works with a slight leak. I cleaned and fitted the three 100amp fuse-carriers we recently obtained, continued removing the damaged field divert resistor supports, and fitted the four 150amp auxiliary compressor & blower motor fuses.

Steve & I paid another visit to the 50021 Loco Association at Tyseley and Chris Wilkins kindly leant us some electrical & brake system schematics so we can copy them. He also let us have some fuse carriers, circuit breakers and a resistor we were missing. Meanwhile at Rowsley, Dave Ian and Pete continued to renovate the cylinder heads. We now have four reconditioned ones, and we are just waiting until we get some threaded rod to complete the valve spring compressor plate, so we can begin reassembling them. Ian has purchased an electric hoist, which makes moving the heads around easier, and an order has been placed for enough parts to do four cylinders. Two more brake cylinders have been honed out and tested. Unfortunately, whilst they work, they leak, but new seals may cure this.

The spring compressor plate Dave had made some time ago had been passed to several people who had offered to cut the holes, but sadly none of these offers were made good and the plate was eventually returned to us. This plate is required to compress the valve springs during rebuilding of the cylinder heads, and the repeated delays have cost us some months, so today Pete, with the pillar drill Ian had bought, started drilling the six holes and took the plate home with him t o finish off. Ian & Dave cleaned out another head, and ground in three of the four valves. Seven of the insulating support pieces for the main field divert resistors on the top of the electrical cubicle were noticed some time ago to be breaking up, so today, inbetween showing some people round Repulse, I started removing them, but due to the restricted space, only managed to get two off. We have some spare supports, and they will be fitted in due course.

Steve & I spent the day sorting out various electrical equipment, and discussing the next stage of electrical work, while Dave Ian and Pete started the day honing some of the brake cylinders, using a device intended for car engine cylinders, which Ian had brought. They then began reassembling the cylinders and testing for leaks using an external air supply. Some cylinders are beyond renovation and others will need new seals. After lunch they temporarily fitted two good ones to Repulse to see if they were good enough to actually work the brakes under pressure, again using our external compressor for an air supply. Success! 30 had working brakes (albeit on one wheel) for the first time in many years. Finally they finished grinding in the valves on the head started last time.

During the morning Dave, Steve, Ian and Pete transported some parts from the dismantled ex 50008 engine to the shed using Steve's van, giving us more space round the engine to work in. They then used some spare sleepers to make a "floor", and tarp for a "roof" so we could continue de-carbonizing cylinder heads and grinding in valves, which though time consuming is progressing. We are having new small end bearings fitted to the conrods by a contractor & hopefully these will be back shortly, together with some new parts, so the engine rebuild can commence.

Ian & Pete stripped one of the ex-008 unit cylinder heads, removed the carbon soot & debris and re-ground in the four valves, Mark removed surface corrosion, greased & wrapped in brown paper, eight small end bearings. Dave made some brackets we were missing for the cab sunvisors and painted some panels for cab 2, while I test-fitted the cubicle door with the rotary switches, after refitting the hinges I have removed before Christmas to clean them. Fitting the hinges was no mean feat, due to the very restricted space, and took the best part of the morning, accompanied by much cursing and several tea breaks. After lunch, Mark & I identified one of the missing cab brake valves from those brought from Neil Favell’s cellar, then Mark took various pictures of the recent work done on the cubicle for sending to various railway mags.

I don't know what's happened to the last report, it seems to have vanished (like an old oak table). Anyway, this being the last workparty of the year, followed by the annual group Christmas curry, we had more than our usual complement! Ian, Pete, Wes & Dave fitted the last one of the new roof hatches, looked at the crank on the ex-008 engine and made sure there was plenty of oil on it to prevent rust, then went over to the shed and continued work on overhauling cylinder heads, finding some valve seats that will need re-cutting, otherwise the heads we’ve looked at so far will be fine.

Tim, Chris & Alex cleared up all the scrap cans we had been hoarding in the abortive attempt to make some money from selling them on, and dumped them in the scrap skip. While I was showing a couple of my ex-Toddington colleagues round Repulse, Steve wired the motor cut-out switch, then he & I fitted it. Mark joined us later in the pub & for our curry-fest.

By common agreement, workparties will begin again on January 7th.

Ian, Pete & Dave started overhauling the power unit cylinder heads, removing accumulated debris & carbon soot and grinding in valves from three heads. Steve & I fitted & wired the third aux. contact block to no.5 motor contactor, then fitted & partially wired the fan speed-up relay. The all-day rain we endured turned to snow in the evening & by 11pm, there was an inch down outside my house, but sadly, by morning it had turned to rain & washed it all away.

Ian, Pete & Dave barred Repulse’s power unit round to remove the last two liners, then fitted the last two of the large new roof hatches, and started on the two smaller ones over the filter compartment in-between the rad fan & engine room, but found the hinges did not line up with the holes in the hatches, so the hinges will have to be re-positioned slightly. I continued wiring the No.2 blower motor relay, which had been partially completed some time ago & identified two relays to bring home & clean up to be used as the rad fan & fan speed-up relays.

With Steve & Ian away at the North Yorks Moors ‘Valley Aid’ bash, Dave & Pete barred over Repulse’s power unit, then fitted the new bolts Dave had got to replace the corroded ones on the roof hatches, while I removed the surplus mounting bolts from the compartment where the CU2 & CU7 go (not the easiest task due to lack of space & the threads were covered in layers of paint), drilled the mounting brackets on the CU7 case I had made & test-fitted it, which fitted just right.

Dave, Wes, Ian & Pete used a hoover on a hoover to clean out the accumulated debris & grime from inside the new power unit, then lifted two more liners from Repulse’s unit, which freed it off again, the problem being a piston stuck in a liner again, while I refitted & re-wired the general fault relay after I’d removed it to check it’s coil & then test-fitted the cubicle switch door to see if the hinges would re-mount correctly, which they do.

A mini work party saw Dave Rolfe, Peter Carter and Chris Bodell return from yesterday's sponsored walk and AGM to join Dom Jackson and me in a cold darkish drizzle filled morning that involved recovering vacuum cleaner items from the shed and scrapers to remove cast iron dust and clag from the block. This somewhat put-off job had the advantage of keeping us dry under the mega-tarpaulin. We then used the John Ball approved method of removing the remaining piston from liner, success achieved with various penetrating oils, sledgehammer and elbow grease! Mark Burrows returned to collect some of the stock for the next sales stand trip, ably assisted by Dom and me. Hopefully the weather is kinder next time! Cheers, Tim

As the last workparty coincided with the Peak Rail autumn diesel gala, most of us took turns on the sales stand and showing people round Repulse, so little restoration work was done, apart from fitting two of the new roof hatches. This time, your technical officer forgot all his wiring manuals, so I finished tidying the wiring around the main start contactors, continued cleaning & re-attaching the small connections to the main neutral terminal bar, and removed the hinges from where the door with the rotary switches goes on the cubicle, as they had pins from the original door stuck in them, and with a little help from Ian Kemp, the old pins were knocked out. Meanwhile, Ian, Pete & Dave cleaned 15 of the 16 pistons ready for re-use, with the 16th one still being stuck in it’s liner at present.

As I wasn’t available last Sunday, I went up to Rowsley today with Mark Burrows & joined Dave Rolfe. Dave continued removing the hinges from the old roof hatches that he had started last week, in preparation for fitting to the new hatches. Mark continued fitting plating & riveting over the corrosion he had cut out above the guttering at Renown’s No.1 cab, while I tidied up the wiring around the two start contactors, fitted the two leads from the battery charge ammeter shunt that go to the cubicle battery ammeter, found the replacement lampholder I had brought up some time ago and partially wired the fuse-test lamp & contacts. Dave & I also helped Mark when he needed us.

Ian, Pete & Dave had intended to start removing pistons & liners from Repulse’s existing power unit today, but unfortunately, they found it had siezed again & despite attempting to free it off for most of the day, were unable to make it rotate. Steve & I had a little more luck, managing to make two complete arc chutes from the spare & broken parts we have left & these were fitted into Repulse, completing the six we need for the motor contactors. We then finished off the remaining control wires on No.2 Start contactor.

Ian, Pete & Dave removed the last six liners from the spare power unit, stored them in Repulse’s No.1 cab, then began an inspection of the engine governors, to see what parts they are missing and if they are damaged. Steve & I fitted the auxiliary contact block to No.5 traction motor contactor, connected it’s 14 wires, then fitted No.2 main start contactor and connected six of it’s wires. This had been overhauled some time ago and stored in my loft pending finishing wiring to three other items which would be difficult to get at had it been fitted.

Ian, Pete, Dave & Wes removed another three pistons and seven liners, leaving just three more to do. Mark finished making the filler pieces for under the headcode box on Repulse's No.1 cab, riveted them & applied filler, then started making same for Renown's No.2 cab. This will be much more extensive however, as the corrosion under the headcode box is much more severe.

Three of the six traction motor contactors have auxiliary contacts fitted to them (M4, 5 & 6) for control wiring, and as the three motor contactors we obtained for those positions were all missing their aux. contacts and paxolin actuating arms, Steve & I removed an arm from a spare motor contactor, fitted it to the auxiliary contact block I had overhauled, fitted the block to M6, & laid in and connected the 14 wires from it. While Steve & Wes were doing a PTS course, I checked the remainng control relays in the small compartment at the front of the cubicle, and found they all have the correct coils.

Mark Burrows finished fabricating the small pieces of steel to repair the gaping holes under the headcode box on Repulse’s No.2 cab, fitted them, sealed them with fiberglass matting, applied filler over the top, and began cutting the pieces for No.1 cab. He also ground some metal off the Driver’s cab door at the number one end, so that it now opens and closes properly without the aid of a boot. Steve & I finished the last few wires from the Generator Field contactor and tidied it up with cable ties. We then fitted the coil wires on M1, 2, 3 & 4, which had been left some time ago, then drilled the paxolin board I had previously made for the Battery Charge contactor, fitted the board & contactor in front of the Power Control relay & Control Earth contactor. Ian, Pete & Dave removed five sets of shell bearings, then pulled the five pistons. One piston drew the liner out with it, but we were already aware this one was stuck, and will probably mean both piston & liner are scrap. This just leaves three more pistons to remove.

I'm afraid it was a late arrival for me this Sunday, not getting to Rowsley untill about 11.30. Having spent the morning, visiting various local hardware shops, and motor factors around Derby in wonderfull sunny weather, and had a very pleasant drive upto Matlock, I arrived at Rowsley to find the gang sheltering in the container. First signs of anything being wrong was the huge amount of water on the A6 outside Firth Rixon! (whereas all the roads to Matlock had been bone dry).

Sure enough Dave and Co confirmed that it had absolutely chucked down for the previous half hour!

I decided best bet, given the weather, was to partake of Bacon Egg Chips and Beans in the Cafe, which were very nice and had the bonus of keeping me dry.

The rain stopped just before 12.00, so the mechanical team and I could recomence work. Andy R and Steve Trip having the luxury of a roof, had been beavering away all the time in the electrical cubicle unaffected by the rain.

Betwean the rain storms which started again later in the afternoon, Ian K, Peter C and Dave R removed 3 pistons from the ex 50008 power unit, (A8, A1, and A5), the power unit now bars over easily (the problem preventing it barring over having been sorted a few weeks earlier, identified as a couple of pistons and liners that had suffered from water ingress).

Ian also advised me that the power unit in 50030, bars over freely, and was barred over the previous week by Wes.

As mentioned above, Andy and Steve spent the day beavering away in the cubicle where they finished wiring in the main whealslip relay. Refitted the generator field contactor, but then found that the auxiliary contact block was corroded, so had to remove the contactor, and swap the auxiliary contact block for a good example and then refit the unit. This sounds like a simple job, but as with many tasks on 50030, it involved a considerable amount of fiddling. The Generator Field contactor was then wired into the cubicle.

I spent the afternoon, measuring up, cutting and shaping 4 steel plates to go inside the area under the headcode box where there are still 4 small holes.

These were completed and painted, but time got the better of me and they were not fitted, so will have to wait untill next time.

Tim Snowball was also on site, but had left (before I arrived) to help fellow RRRG and Peak Rail member Andy Coward with repainting the Class 31 at Darley Dale.

If you feal like popping up to help with either 50030 or repainting the Class 31, please get in touch, there is always plenty to do.

Regards

Mark Burrows

While Dave, Pete & Ian continued removing the main shell bearings from the power unit, in preparation for lifting pistons & liners, Steve & I fitted the last of the 27 wires to the engine run relay, and five of the nine on the main wheelslip relay.

Last week Wes, Dave, Ian and Pete removed B4, 5 + 6 cylinder heads. B5 liner was very rusty from about 1/2 way up, thus explaining why the engine would not fully bar round. They removed the liner and now, at last the engine bars round freely. Today Dave, Ian and Pete removed the remaining A1+2 and B1+2 heads. In the afternoon they removed another rusty liner then B7 big end cap in preparation to lift the piston/conrod out next time. Altogether there are 4 bad liners, which we hope to replace with good ones from 30’s existing power unit.

Steve & I examined our remaining motor contactor arc chutes, to see if we can make any from the mainly broken sections we have left & it appears we may be able to make up the missing two from these parts. Steve & I brought several parts of these arc chutes away with us to clean up. We also looked in detail at the broken motor cutout switch & it appeared it could in fact be repaired, so we disassembled it to see how the sections are put together. We found the contact blocks are the same as the auxiliary contacts on the motor contactors, so we cannibalized a spare set (ex-Class 86) and replaced the two broken sections. It was then reassembled, and appears to operate correctly, which removes another hurdle in the restoration effort.

We measured the resistance of a couple of the cab-warning light resistors we have borrowed & Steve took several digital snaps of them, so I can get a quote for new ones, as we have found the original manufacturer still produces them. We also measured several sections of spare 16mm & 35mm cable, which had been recovered from Repulse several years ago, to replace those few lengths we are still missing in the electrical cubicle, and I brought them home to get new lugs crimped on.

As it rained all day, there wasn’t much Dave could do, so he helped the guys working on the foundations of the loco shed. Steve & I fitted the last auxiliary contact wire from No.1 field divert contactor, the copper strip between No.s 2 & 3 rad fan contactors, and 12 of the 27 wires from the very-difficult-to-get-at engine run relay. The previous day, Steve & I had collected the roof hatches from Paul Spracklen (see how I sacrifice my birthday for the group!), as he had been kindly storing them for us since having them made earlier in the year, and they are now stored under cover pending good weather for us to fit them to Repulse.

No restoration work was done this weekend, as we had the sales stand out for both days of the Peak Rail diesel gala. Tim, Neil & Dom were quite lucky with the weather on Saturday, but from late Sunday morning onwards, the rain rained ever more harderer & it was fortunate that Tim had the foresight to bring his gazebo, so we could keep the sales stock dry. We all got quite wet taking a few brave souls across to look round Repulse though, and when putting the sales stand away at the end of the day.

While Dave continued working on the footsteps from Repulse, with another set sandblasted & painted, Mark B sorted the sales stock for the upcoming gala and Ian, Pete & Wes, with some help form Dave, continued stripping the cylinder heads in the hope of finding the reason the engine will apparently only bar round 1/4 revolution but so far still no joy. They also removed and checked the governor drive gear, which looked fine so put it back. Wes began figuring a way of removing the big end caps which is not as simple a it sounds, as the nuts are awkward to get to and the caps are heavy.

Eventually after some judicial barring backwards and forwards and supporting the cap with rope whilst the final bolt was removed B8 cap was removed and the shell bearing examined. Unfortunately, though not really a surprise, the bearing is worn out and will need replacement. We are assuming the other 15 will be the same. Ian has concluded that a full removal of heads liners and pistons is necessary, for assessment, before fitting any new parts.

I cut a piece of copper bar to replace that missing between the No.s 2 & 3 rad fan contactors, and laid in all but one of the wires from the auxiliary contact block on the No.1 field divert contactor.

Dave brought another cabside footstep back from shotblasting, and painted it with cold-galvanizing spray & black undercoat. Mark Burrows cleared a large amount of rust & debris from both inside & outside of the gap between the headcode box & the guttering on No.2 cab of Repulse, then painted inside the headcode box. Ian & Pete, having removed all but one set of rocker gear from the power unit over the past weeks, removed A4, A5 & A6 heads with Dave’s help to see if this would reveal the reason for not being able to bar the power unit past the point where it sticks, but at the moment, the reason for this still eludes them. Steve Tripp & I fitted the top of the contactor I had stripped & cleaned to no.4 Rad. Fan contactor (KFC4) & connected its cables. The auxiliary contact block was fitted to KFC3 (not without some effort, as they are very difficult to do), its two wires were cut and fitted from it to Terminal Bar 13 & laid in for the CU5 Rad Fan control unit. An examination of the CU4 Rad Temp control unit revealed it to be of the standard unmodified type with the two suppression resistors fitted, so the radiator fan supply resistor was cleaned, fitted below KFC4, wired to KFC3 & its wire laid in to CU5.

This was an extra day arranged as Dom was coming up to do his PTS course, & new recruit Steve Tripp needed to do his first. With Dave Rolfe there as usual & Tim Snowball also coming, it was like a normal workparty. Tim & Dom attended to a few areas of bodywork on Repulse that were starting to break out again while Steve & I refitted the base of No.4 Rad Fan contactor (the top having been used to replace a broken part of the No.3 Compressor Contactor), but one of the small cable fixing bolts on the coil sheared when it was tightened, so the coil had to be removed again to extract the bolt stub. After refitting the coil, the missing link between KFC3 & 4 was fitted and the top of a very dirty spare NM16 contactor was removed to be used on KFC4, which I brought home to clean. I also brought away the piece of steel Dave had cut for the spring compressor plate for Ian, to see if I can get the cutouts done where I work.

At the end of the day, we retired to the usual pub in Matlock for eats, but as it was Easter Sunday & good weather, it was heaving with drunken yoof, so we went to the curry house just along the road, where a good roti boti was had.

As I was unavailable last Sunday, this report is from Peter Carter:

Ian and I spent most of the day continuing to dismantle the valve gear in preparation to lift the heads. Most of the remaining heads are now ready or nearly ready for lifting.

With the help of Dave we now have scaffolding round both sides of the engine. Wind and lack of storage space prevented us removing any more heads. The engine is still sticking. Following a request from Mark B we also inspected the radiators in both locos and they all apeared sound, though we did not test for leaks.

New recruit Steve Tripp came with his son & son’s mate, who are apparently doing a motor mechanic apprenticeship & were interested in seeing an engine just a tad bigger then they’ve seen before. While the lads helped Ian & Pete continuing to investigate the jamming of the power unit, I showed Steve, who is a qualified electrician, round the electrical cubicle to start giving him a better idea of what he was looking at. While Steve finished cleaning the last of the big traction motor contactors, I checked the relays in the small compartment at the front of the cubicle, to see if they had the correct coils. I found the general Fault relay had a coil with a designation I didnt recognize, so I disconnected it to change the coil.

The motor contactor was re-assembled & Steve & I fitted it in the no.1 position, so we now have all six in place, with just three requiring their coils to be wired. We then unfastened the no.2 rad fan contactor to fit two wires that had been missed, and whilst sorting through the large amount of damaged cabling in the container, which had been removed from the locos several years ago, identified a missing cable connection between the no.3 & 4 contactors, which I hadn’t come across before.

As I was unable to make it due to hurting my back at work on Friday, this report is from Pete Carter.

As it was the mixed traffic event, Dom, Tim & Mark Burrows had the sales stand on the train. In the morning Dave and new recruit Steve Tripp removed the remaining brake cylinder from Repulse while Ian and I rigged up a "tent" using the new tarp to protect us from the appalling weather. After lunch the four of us worked on preparing to remove more cylinder heads as it now looks as though we may have to remove them all at once, rather than overhaul one cylinder at a time, which unfortunately creates storage problems. We completely stripped 2 heads ready to be lifted off next time and partially stripped a third so steady progress is being made. The lifting gear was not rigged up due to the weather.

Ian, Pete & Wes continued investigating the jamming of the power unit & found chalk marks on the commutator that read ‘A4’ & ‘A6’, so they removed the valve gear from A4 head, then the head itself, but found nothing obvious, and noted the liner appeared to be in good condition. Removing the valve gear from A6, they found a valve appeared to be stuck in the down position, but we lost the light before this could be looked at further.

I fitted the last wire to the power control relay, refitted the auxiliary contact block to No.1 field divert contactor and fitted the first few wires to it & added two wire links to the AVR terminal board needed when a carbon-pile one is fitted. Mark Burrows, suffering mightily with a cold, kept away from us by doing some tidying jobs in the shed before retiring home mid-afternoon. At the end of the day, we pulled the new tarp over the power unit & tied it down.

As I wasn't available, this is Tim Snowball's report of last Sunday.

Set off in -3C frost. Surveyed both ends of our locos to identify missing washer mount and jumper bits. Photos taken. I then joined Kev & Dave Rolfe for 3 hours track lifting at Matlock. Sunny day caused us all to sweat in our thermals ;) Returned to Rowsley and Dave helped me unload sales stand and stock. I then loaded all in my car, taking full advantage of the self levelling suspension ;) Unloaded same in garage at Peterborough ready for servicing, dry run, stock taking, pricing etc. proposed with Dom for Friday 2nd March for Nene Valley 3rd and Peak Rail 4th.

On arrival, Dave & I checked out the shed after the high winds, but found it undamaged, then, while Dave continued removing the brake cylinders from Repulse, Ian, Pete & Wes started to attempt to bar over the new power unit & by the end of the day, they had got it to move about one complete revolution, but it kept sticking in one place, suggesting a valve is stuck open somewhere. They also removed B7 cylinder head & found its injector nozzle rusted in place. I cleaned and fitted some more contact tips to no.1 field divert contactor, removed its aux contact block for cleaning, as this had been missed when it was overhauled, attended to a problem with the container lights, and reassembled no.4 rad fan contactor.

In the morning, those present attended the two-yearly Personal Track Safety exam. After lunch, Ian & Pete removed the final parts of the valve-gear from B8 cylinder head on the new power unit, then rigged up the block & tackle and lifted off the head. Dave refitted one set of refurbished cab steps to Repulse, while Kev & I made a more thorough examination of the damage to the main cables to the generators & traction motors in Renown, to see if any of them can be salvaged for use in Repulse. Later, while Kev was discussing with Ian the extent of the work required on the heads removed from Repulse’s existing power unit, Tim began stripping the second field divert contactor, while I changed part of one of the compressor contactors, as I had been unable to fit it’s arc shute, so it was swapped out to be examined.

Whilst Dave continued work on the cab footsteps of Repulse, having brought one set back from shot-blasting & removing another set from the loco, which is also being done to allow the brake cylinders to be removed for inspection, Mark B & Tim measured up the roof hatch & cab door rubbers, as we now have a supplier lined up for new rubbers to replace them, as the originals have all perished. Neil & Chris gave Renown white-wall tyres on the visible side, as Neil had been threatening to do for some time(!), Ian, Pete & Wes continued removing the valve gear from B7 & B8 cylinders on the new power unit & Mark T & I fitted the No.2 rad fan contactor, but only after I realized we had fitted & wired it in the No. 4 position by mistake. D’oh!

After packing up for the day, as this was the last workparty of the year, I had booked us into a local curry house in Matlock for our Christmas meal, which, like last year, was a good feed & social occasion.

While Dave partially remove another of Repulse’s cab footsteps to take it to be shotblasted, Pete, Ian & I moved one section of the scaffolding from behind the locos & erected it in front of the power unit, then Ian & Pete removed the side covers to inspect the interior of the unit. Water ingress marks were noticed on the lower exterior of one liner on A bank, which suggests water had been leaking past the water jacket seals into the sump. They then began stripping the valve gear from B7 & B8 cylinder heads at the generator end, where water has got inside the liners from its period of extended storage.

Chris Bodell helped me to fit a wire I had missed from No.4 motor contactor to one of the wheelslip relays, but had to leave shortly after. In the process of doing this, I found I had miss-routed another wire I laid in some time ago to the same contactor, so this was rectified. After lunch, Kev & I traced & identified the four cables from the electrical cubicle to the mounting place for the auto voltage regulator (AVR), which is in the filter compartment between the rad compt & the engine room. Fortunately, when the AVR was removed from Repulse, the cables were unbolted properly, unlike in Renown, where they were cut off & will probably now be too short to be used.

With the spare power unit having arrived from the Crewe Heritage Centre on Thursday, Ian, Pete & Wes & I spent the day checking that everything was still present since we examined it several months ago, began dismantling the valve gear on the two cylinder heads that we believe have leaking liners and put coverings over any exposed pipes that could get water in them. The main gen was also covered with a small tarpaulin.

Dave Rolfe & Lee Agnew removed two more of the brake cylinders from Repulse, and they both showed heavy internal pitting from water ingress. As the other two previously removed were in the same condition, this probably means they will all be unusable & we will have to source replacements. Having finally obtained some ½” bolts of the correct length, I was able at last to fit the twin ETH gen field resistor on top of the cubicle & connect its cables.

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ywup

Dave Rolfe & Mark Burrows collected together the scrap sleepers that had been identified for us to use to block up the new power unit, cut them in half, brought them to the hardstanding, and placed them in their approximate positions. Lee Agnew re-joined us after some time away due to work commitments, discussed outstanding bodywork with me, then removed the No.2 end driver’s droplight and quarterlight windows of Repulse, and replaced rotten steel underneath the window frame. He thinks he may be able to source rubber material to fashion the weatherproofing rubbers on the droplight windows.

Ian Kemp & Pete Carter continued work on the cylinder heads in the shed, while Chris Bodell & I fitted all but one of the 14 control wires from the Power Control relay.

Tim, Dave, Mark B, Ian, Pete & myself spread out the 10 tons of ballast we had had delivered to form the base for the spare power unit, after which Rob bedded it in with the motorized roller. He then showed us which sleepers we could use to stand the power unit on, and these were dragged round by the container. After this, Tim had to leave early & Ian & Pete continued work on one of the cylinder heads, while Mark helped me identify & test-fit some more cables from the field divert resistors to the reverser.

Dave Rolfe & I just checked round 30 to make sure everything was okay after the shunts. They've swapped places again now, so 30 is nearer the container again. We also tidied up the container & swept it out, as it had become very cluttered & messy with things being dumped everywhere. I fitted the No.3 rad fan contactor & Dave took off the first brake cylinder. We took it apart & it was full of rust. The cylinder was quite badly pitted in places, so may not maintain pressure, but the seal on the piston itself looked ok, so we'll have to see if it can be cleaned up.

Mark T & I fitted the third large copper bar to the rear of No.4 traction motor and through No.3 DC current transformer, which provides one of the six connections from the main generator. Another motor contactor was fitted into the No.2 position, which brings us up to five of the six required. The overhaul of No.1 field divert contactor was completed, it was reassembled and fitted into the cubicle, and the cables from the divert resistors on the cubicle roof were fitted to it, along with three of the main cable connections to the reverser.

Dave Rolfe & Mark Burrows fitted the handrails to the far side of Renown, not without some effort, as they are all slightly different, and also fitted the fire glass mountings, nameplate, warning flashes, the data panels and allocation stickers. They also tidied the air pipes on the buffer beams, cleaned the cabs internally, and touched up bits of paintwork. Ian Kemp & Chris Bodell tidied up in the engine compartment, and then joined Dave & Mark outside.

No electrical or mechanical work was done today, as the number & logo arrow vinyl’s arrived, so Ian, Pete, Dave, Kev & I spent the day measuring up and applying them to both sides of Renown. She is nearly ready for the gala now, with just a few bits of paintwork to deal with & the data plaques & shed stickers to apply.

After losing the mounting nuts for No.1 compressor contactor, and then finding them a few minutes later, the contactor was fitted and the remaining cables connected. The coil & overload relay on No.4 motor contactor were wired, and the 5th motor contactor I had stripped & overhauled was re-assembled.

Pete and Ian finished constructing a work bench in the shed so they could work on the cylinder heads, after which they moved some of the heads around to make room to swing the hoist around then Pete started to recon one of the heads on our new work top.

Although hampered slightly by a few rain showers, Dave continued work on the far side or Renown, and by the end of the day, had about half the main bodyside in its second coat of blue.

Along with discussing the project with several interested visitors, I looked again at the cable problem for the compressor contactors. As is often the case, two heads are better than one, and a suggestion from Doug Thompson enabled a resolution to the problem, which just involved some re-routing of cables. The No.2 contactor is now fitted and wired, as is the cleaned board for the three rad fan contactors & the Earth Fault contactor. The cabling for these had already been laid in, so they can be connected as soon as I have overhauled them. I also brought away another traction motor contactor for overhaul, which will be fitted in either the No.1 or No.2 position. While I was doing this, Kev was taking up more of the floors in the rad compartment & hovering up years of debris, to get a complete picture of the routing of the cables to the traction motors on No.1 bogie.

Doug T continued in Repulse’s No.2 cab, removing rotten wood and corrosion from underneath the Secondman’s cabside window, before painting the area with grey primer. Pete, Gary Carlile and Dave R replaced two brake cylinders and handbrake chains on the far side of Renown, as part of the cosmetic restoration. After lunch Gary continued helping Dave & Neil F while Pete removed some more stretch bolts from the big end bearing caps in preparation for removing the corresponding pistons to the 4 rusty liners already removed. The engine now bars round very freely.

The whole far side of Renown was sanded, then the bogies, fuel tank the window surrounds on that side were painted black. As the weather stayed dry about half of the main also body received a 2nd blue coat.

Today, Mark Burrows, Neil Favell, Dave Rolfe & myself dragged the spare electrical cubicle frame along the roadway & pushed it next to the redundant roof section by the container. We were lucky that it had been raining over the last few days, and we were able to use lengths of damp wood under the frame to slide it along the ground. Shortly after, Chris Bodell joined us, and having decided that five people would probably get in each other’s way if we were all working on Renown, I returned to pulling my wire in the loco.

No.2 Earth Fault relay was refitted after checking, and its cables reconnected. No.3 Compressor contactor was fitted and its main & aux cabling was connected, but while looking at the connections for the No’s. 1 & 2 contactors, I found another discrepancy. The wiring diagrams show which terminals the cables to the compressor staring resistors should be connected to, but the sign-writing on the board shows these terminals reversed for No.2 contactor, and the seemingly obvious routing for the cables through the purpose-made holes in the board would mean the cables were connected the wrong way round, and this obviously needs further investigation.

By the end of the day, after a little more filling & sanding, the whole far side of Renown had its first coat of Rail Blue, and the No.2 end bogie had been cleaned of dirt & debris.

After having removed the four compressor contactors from their mounting board, and overhauled two of them at home, I returned the cleaned board, fitted it in the electrical cubicle and fitted the no.4 contactor. The cables to its starting resistor, no.2 compressor relay & terminal bar 7 were connected. Whilst finishing off the no.3 contactor in the container, I realised the spare board we have is in a much better condition, with its original sign-written markings still visible, so the one I had just fitted was removed, and the spare board was cleaned, fitted and the no.4 contactor fitted and wired again. I did not have time then to fit no.3 contactor.

Dave spent the day cleaning the no.1 end bogie and fuel tank of Renown of years of dirt & debris, and painted them black. He also started applying the blue top coat to the main body.

With the help of recent recruit Gary Carlile, I swapped traction motor contactors 4 & 6, as I had realized a couple of weeks ago there were slight differences in the connections for the air supply, and no.s 4, 5 & 6 are now in their correct positions. However, the curse of bolts not going back into what they came out of struck again, and one of the fixing holes in the cubicle had to be drilled out slightly.

The Engine Stop relay was refitted and rewired, and No.1 Earth Fault relay was removed, its connections cleaned, was refitted and the two remaining wires to the Generator Field relay & Motor Cut-Out switch were laid in. No.2 Earth Fault relay was likewise removed, but there was not time to clean & refit it.

Dave, Neil & Chris continued work on the far side of Renown, and by the end of the day, both cabsides were in their first coat of yellow, while the blue undercoat was rubbed down about half the length of the loco.

Ian, Pete & Wes spent most of the morning removing big end bolts which proved more difficult than they had hoped, but they still removed four but not on the same cap! After lunch Wes went over to the shed to see if his idea for an adaptor for grinding the valves in would work, while Pete and Ian continued barring the power unit over, with the idea of wedging the cylinder liners that were lifting up so when the engine was turned the piston would pull free of the liner. By the end of the day, they had barred the engine almost two full revolutions. Of the four liners that were lifting, one seems to have come unstuck, but the liner looks damaged. With Dave’s help, the four of them were able to undo enough big end bolts to allow two of the stuck liners to be heaved out of the block.

While having a tidy-up in the electrical area of the container, I found a small intact wiring loom amongst the mass of cable we had pulled out of Repulse several years ago (!). We have been gradually checking through this cable, and although most of it is useless as its ends have been cut off or broken, we occasionally find something intact. The cable idents on this one suggested it might be from the Battery Charge contactor. Looking in the wiring manual proved it was, so the crimps were cleaned and it was connected to the CU9 AVR terminal board & the loom hung in place for when I fit the BCC, which will be done after the wiring to the Control Earth contactor & Power Control relay has been completed, as it would severely restrict access if fitted now. I hung the last remaining wires from No.2 ETH Interlock relay & also removed the Engine Stop relay, checked its coil and cleaned the contacts again, but did not have time to re-fit it.

Dave & Neil continued bodywork repairs to the far side of Renown, and the hot sun enable rapid progress with filler & paint. The far side is now 80% in light blue undercoat.

Ian brought a device he had purchased, which is actually for lifting car engines, but will be suitable for lifting the cylinder heads onto the bench they are building in the shed. After we unloaded it outside the shed, he & Pete assembled & tested it. After lunch, Kev arrived, and he, Ian & Pete spent the afternoon examining the three engine governors we now have (2 x genuine 50 & 1 ex-31), after Mark B had collected the third one from Crewe last week.

Today Dave Rolfe, Peter Carter and myself were at Rowsley. Peter spent most of the day working on the power unit endeavouring to free it off, and get it to bar round.

Dave and I spent the day flatting down the bodyside on Renown and then priming it. Approximately half the bodyside is now in primer, with wbout a quarter in undercoat.

Later in the afternoon, Peter came and helped Dave and I with the priming, he also blacked the buffer heads, and removed the flags from the axlecaps.

Having flatted down a large area of the bodyside, and just started painting, we thought that it was going to throw it down with rain, but fortunately it held off for us.

While checking the wiring in the rear small relay compartment, I found I had not completed all the wiring off the two ETH Interlock relays, so I spent the day installing some of these wires, and showing several lots of visitors round the electrical area, with the result that I did not have time to check the Engine Stop relay. I did however, find and fit the main connecting cable between the Field Divert relay & the Reverser.

The spare boards with the Generator Field contactor, and that with the spare Generator Field, Overload Interlock & main Blower Motor relays, were fitted into Renown’s electrical cubicle to free up space in the container. The Fuel Level, Oil Pressure & Engine Speed relays were removed from the rear of Repulse’s cubicle, and their coils checked. They all had the correct coils, so their contacts were cleaned again & they were refitted & rewired. This leaves just the Engine Stop relay in the rear compartment still to check. The first few wires from the Engine Run relay were laid in & connected to the pilot start, Generator Field contactor and the Control Circuit Governor. I also brought back the overhauled twin ETH Gen Field resistor, but there was not time to fit it.

Dave Rolfe and Mark Burrows spent the day flatting down a large section of 50029's bodyside and priming it. Some filling was also attended to on the cabside nearest to the container.

Mark T brought the spare tatty Field Divert contactor he has been storing, and it, along with another one, plus the spare boards with the compressor & rad fan contactors, were temporarily fitted into Renown’s electrical cubicle, to free up space in the container.

After finally finding a way to repair a broken cable connection pillar on the main Field Divert relay, its paxolin board was cleaned up again, as it had become somewhat grimy after storage in the container since it was initially cleaned up last year. After a slight adjustment to one of the mounting bolts, it was fitted into the rear of the cubicle, and the cables from it to the Generator Field relay & terminal bar 7 were attached. The Generator Field contactor was removed from its mounting board next to the Field Divert relay to allow access to the Engine Run relay & main Wheelslip relay for wiring. The first three of the large 185mm cables from the Field Divert resistors on top of the cubicle had their lugs cleaned and were fitted into the cubicle to attach to No.1 Field Divert contactor which Mark T is overhauling.

Ian & Pete tried to free off the engine some more, and remove some of the big end nuts.

I spent much of the morning finishing cleaning the third traction motor contactor with the overload relay. It was reassembled after lunch and Dave helped me fit it into the No. 4 position in the cubicle. Tim & I walked up to the unloading road to inspect the spare bogies to make sure they were fit to be towed to Darley & tied up several of the cables from the motors to stop them dropping and dragging on the track. Tim then assisted Dave on Renown’s bodywork and cleared the brake adjusters and a few sections of pipework from in front of Renown, where the new power unit will be stored.

Pete & Ian, with Kev Hand’s help, continued to try & free up Repulse’s power unit & they succeeded in showing a movement of 2” on 11 pistons, while five remain stuck, and were lifting the liners.

Having had the proper coils fitted and their contacts cleaned again, the Water Temperature and Water Level relays were refitted and rewired. I have decided to remove all the remaining control relays now to check their coils are correct, as some of their numbers are not visible when in the cubicle. To this end, the Fuel Level relay was removed, its coil checked, and its contacts cleaned. It was then refitted & wired. This leaves three more relays in the ‘thin mans passage' still to check, before checking those on the main gangway side.

As the weather was fine, Dave continued work on Renown’s bodywork, and marked the hole positions on the steel valve-spring compressor plate he had made. Doug Thompson joined us, and continued working in Repulse’s No.2 cab, concentrating on the interior of the headcode box & on the wood surround for the Driver’s side quarterlight window. Kev Hand took up the second piece of flooring in the radiator passage on B-side to establish the routings of the motor cables to the No.1 end bogie, and cleaned out inches of debris sucked in by the radiators over the years, not the easiest of tasks in the very confined space.

Pete put white spirit and penetrating oil down the bores to try and free them a bit more. Unfortunately, with so many years out of use several liners are quite rusty so he used wet and dry emery to clean them up a bit. He is hopeful the engine will be free within the next month or so.

I detoured via Neil’s house on the way to Rowsley & collected the two boards with the compressor contactors & rad fan contactors and a traction motor contactor, which I will keep at my house until they are overhauled. Neil followed me up with the remaining four motor contactors, and these have been put in the container. I fitted the second ETH Ballast resistor above where the CU3 main gen field supply control unit will be fitted, and wired it in. The water temperature relay was refitted after I cleaned the cable connections again, but I had trouble getting the securing nuts to go back onto the connections they had come off, so I was only able to install three new cable runs before the end of the day.

Ian, Pete & Wes spent the day trying to bar the power unit in Repulse, but were unable to achieve more than a fractional movement. With all the cylinder heads now removed, they also found that some of the pistons appear rusted into the liners, and several liners seem to be badly scored or water-damaged, so will probably be unusable. Due to heavy rain for much of the day, Dave continued work on the cab interiors, as well as making a wooden template to try & get a metal valve-spring compressor plate made.

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At the time of loading the bogies the P and B noticed that one of the wheel sets was intermitently dragging, this was also reported by Rob and Harvey at Peak Rail who advised which wheel it was, and that it was most likely that it was through the brakes dragging. The Peak Rail team that unloaded it did put copious amounts of oil around the offending wheel and under it to help avoid a problem.

Whilst loading and unloading is not thought to have caused any damage, it did need sorting out before the bogies are moved any distance.

As such on Sunday Dave R, Peter and myself set to greasing all the bearings, lubricating the brake adjusters, and adjusting the brakes as necessary. The offending wheel set actually needed the course adjustment (the end with a pin in one of four holes) moving as the adjuster was already fully out. So the pin was removed and replaced in the next hole, this in itself was a pig of a job as the pin has obviously not been moed for many years and is the least accessible of all of them. The life gaurds were also straightened as these had been damaged at some stage and were pushing on the brake rods.

By the time I had to leave at half three both bogies were rolling freely. The only work needing to be undertaken now before they are fit to move longer distances is for all the traction motor cables to be properly tied up as they are currently only tied with VERY old bits of string.

The day started early with me leaving the house at 6.10am for the journey down to Birmingham to meet up with the lorry at 08.00, where the first job of the day was to take place, moving the ETH/Auxiliary generator set into the workshop. I actually got to DK Rewinds in record time arriving at 07.15 so had time for a quick cuppa before starting work unsheeting the generators, and was shortly joined by Andy Rowlands.

The lorry/crane turned up slightly earlier than planned and after a quick discussion with the driver we decided the best plan was to pull the lorry front into the yard, thereby giving Kevin the driver a better view of the lift.

The lift went without a hitch and we'd loaded the two ETH generators, the auxiliary and other seperate parts by about 9.20, it then made the extremely long journey to deliver the generators to the workshop (other side of the road!), and were unloaded using the overhead gantry crane in the workshop. This was completed by about 10.30 and the lorry set off for Rowsley with the worst of our ETH generators. After a quick chat to confirm arrangements, Andy set off for Rowsley and I set off for Chesterfield, the plan being for me to accompany the lorry to Rowsley to save any problems finding the site.

I met up with Kevin in the layby near Junction 29 where the largest SMALL? Brecky I have ever come accross (highly recomended) was had from the cafe and then we dropped my car at Spectrum Freight's Chesterfield site, picked up a pallet truck and set off for Rowsley arriving around 14.00.

Doug Thompson, Neil Favel, Andy Rowlands, Kevin Hand, Ian Kemp, and Peter Carter were already at Rowsley and were ready to start the head lift as soon as we arrived.

The lift of the 16 heads from Repulse all went very smoothly, and took far less time than I had expected. With the unit being a V formation, lifting the heads was a tricky operation as they have to come off at an angle. But with accurate signaling from Doug, carefull operation of the Hiab, and a little bit of help from Ian, Peter and Neil the heads were all guided off with no problems. Andy and Kevin saw them safely onto the lorry. With people at both ends of the lift and a surplus of lifting eyes the operation all went very smoothly.

We then lifted two of the heads out of Renown, (these are the heads above the damage on the crank and have been taken off to allow the pistons and rods to be removed to facilitate a proper examination of the crank). The opportunity was also taken to move some of the spare roof panels that we have stored at Rowsley, which were loaded, and then the whole lot taken around to our workshop, where everything was unloaded.

The one problem we did encounter during the day occured with the unloading process. The plan had been to load the heads onto a pallet at the entrance of the workshop and then pump truck them down to the back. Problem was with 1.25 ton on the little wheels of the pump truck, one patch of the concrete floor decided that it wasn't up to it resulting in the truck digging ruts and becoming unmovable. The alternative, and somewhat more laborious option taken was to put the pallets in a line from the offending rut and slide the heads along them (good job the pallets were plastic). This operation finished at around 18.30, which meant that by the time we had locked up and I'd traveled back to Derby via Chesterfield it was around 20.00, just in time for a few beers!

No doubt Ian will put something more detailed on, but a quick look at the heads, valves etc, revealed that the ones in 50030 all looked to be in quite good condition.

Our spare set of bogies were collected from where they had been stored for us at the Pontypool & Bleanavon Railway last Thursday by a heavy haulage contractor. They were kept at the hauliers yard until Tuesday 2nd May, as they had to take a trailer north of Matlock, and so was able to deliver them without having to take them off the trailer. They are now on the unloading road at Rowsley, awaiting us to free off the brakes, which are sticking and preventing one axle from rotating freely.

Tim helped me fit the third Traction Motor contactor I had stripped, cleaned & overhauled into the No.3 position in the cubicle, and those in No’s 5 & 6 positions were removed again, as Ian had leant me a tool for removing the special square nuts holding the contact tips. To get access to the tips meant removing the overload relays & outer flash guards. The tips were removed, and they & the contact faces under them were cleaned, as were the contact surfaces either end of the copper braids. They were re-assembled & Ian helped me re-fit them & re-connect the wiring. I brought No.2 Start contactor home to overhaul.

Ian & Pete removed all the cylinder head nuts and washers and put them aside for safe keeping. They then had a second look around to make sure everything ok for Thursday & also made sure the block and tackle was ok as they may use it in the head lift.

Tim & Dave continued grinding, filling, sanding & painting Renown's upper bodywork.

The first of the now weekly work parties was used to clear a path through the undergrowth in front of our shed, to allow access for a vehicle which will be lifting the cylinder heads from Repulse & two from Renown & taking them to the shed for storage and overhaul. Dave Rolfe, Mark Burrows & myself cleared six pallets of bricks from in front of the shed, many of which were frost damaged from years of being left there, and fell apart as we were moving them. Any bricks that seemed sound were stacked up for possible future use. We also cleared the engineering blue bricks, which were originally the floor of the old steam shed, of years of undergrowth & grass, cut down several large bushes, moved a telegraph pole & large rotten sleeper.

The middle of the shed was cleared to make space for the six pallets Kev had brought, they were stacked on the floor and a space was cleared for a bench to be built for overhauling the heads.

After a discussion with site manager Rob, he agreed there should now be enough room for the crane vehicle to get to our shed. All that is left to do is for Rob to level the access across the two filled in pits which will be done with his JCB, and to arrange for the pile of cleaned blue bricks that are for use in the turntable to be moved.

No.1 Heating Interlock relay was refitted & its wiring reconnected. During this, I found I had forgotten to fit a wire to terminal bar 12, so this was done. The restricted working space meant this task took all morning. The pallets Kev Hand had brought up to store the cylinder heads on were unloaded, then Kev helped me fit the 2nd overhauled Traction Motor contactor into the No.5 position. The first ETH Ballast resistor was also fitted & wired.

Ian, Pete & Wes continued to remove split pins from the big end caps and started to remove the big end bolts (the one`s they could get at!), then fitted the lifting eyes to the two cylinder heads on 29 that need to be lifted and the remaining eyes on the heads on 30.

The board with the Generator Field Contactor, main Wheelslip Relay & Engine Run Relay that Mark T had overhauled was fitted into the rear of the cubicle, and unlike the previous board, this time it fitted straight onto the mounting bolts, and the two large cables to the CU3 Main Gen Field Supply Unit & the Earth terminal bar were connected. The cable lugs for the Rad Fan Motor Divert Resistors and the Exhauster Divert Resistor were cleaned, ready to be connected, as these resistors have already been fitted on top of the electrical cubicle. However, as these resistors need someone taller than me to reach their connections, they’ll have to wait for now. The wiring from the two Compressor Timing Relays was completed, including the connections for the main Compressor Contactors. The lugs on the cables to the Compressor Start Resistors were cleaned, ready for the resistors to be fitted. We have these two resistors in the cubicle, but I didn’t have time to hunt them out.

Ian & Pete spent the day making the conrods ready for the removal of the big end bearing caps including removing the split pins on the big end nuts, but they couldn’t undo any of the nuts themselves as they couldn’t get enough leverage in the restricted space, but they did get a bearing cap off one of the spare conrods & Ian said the shell bearing looked in reasonable condition. Other than that they looked at lapping the valves on one of the spare heads they have striped down, but had nothing with a big enough chuck on site. Ian has taken a valve home to try and find something suitable.

Dave continued work on un-sticking the various parts of the tube & rod metal frameworks that support the cab sunvisors.

Mark T & I called in at Neil Favell’s on the way to Rowsley & collected one of the field divert contactors, two more traction motor contactors & No.2 start contactor. We were hoping that at least one of the remaining two motor contactors with the overload relay would have its auxiliary contacts intact, but we found they were both missing them, which means we don’t now have one to copy, so we’ll have to figure out another way of doing it. The three field divert contactors from Howe are in far better condition than the ones we had previously obtained, so we’ll be using them in Repulse, with the others kept as spares.

Once on site, we began by running out the new 50mtr extension lead I had bought, to see how close we could get to the shed to give Ian & Co power for when they start work on the cylinder heads. Using a spare lead with Ceeform sockets & a shorter reel, we now have a good power supply into the shed. We then cleared all the spare brushgear, most of which is in quite poor condition, out of the container & moved it over to the shed, to make way for more items from Neil’s cellar, then after lunch we went inside Repulse & finished the wiring to the Control Earth Contactor, No.6 traction motor contactor & removed a wire I put in last year, which we have recently found out was a mistake in the wiring manual. Lastly, we painted part of the second cleaned Farraday Cage arc shute, which I had cleaned of rust down to bare metal. Mark took the field divert contactor home to clean & overhaul & I brought home one of the motor contactors to do the same.

Dave R. has now identified all the panels for inside at least one cab except the instrument panels. He has also been looking at the cab sunvisors, and reports that after a lot of WD40 and much help from the blow torch he has now managed to seperate lots of rusty parts. We now have enough bits and pieces to make up a set for one cab, although some bits are in poor condition. He thinks he can get some new rods made at work, and also thinks it would be a good idea to get them all re-chromed. Fixing them back into the cab will be fun as most of the fixing points have broken screws still in them and will have to be drilled out.

Mark B arrived at dinner time and started work on the brake frame, by exchanging the bolts used at the last work party to fit the AWS/DSD mounting plate for the correct size ones which Andy R had obtained. He then cleaned and lubricated two plug valves, removed a short section of pipe from Renown and fitted to Repulse, and one of the small 70psi pressure controllers was stripped, drained of water, examined, cleaned and reassembled. Also a section of 2" steel pipework was removed from the exhauster in 50029 and cleaned and painted ready for refitting in 50030.

While I was at the meeting with Mark B, Tim & Jackie, Mark T replaced a damaged linking cable between the two rad fan motor divert resistors with a copper link, fitted a missing cable-securing bar onto the earth fault detector resistor bank & tidied up the cables to it. After the meeting, we completed the control wiring on No.1 main start contactor and began fitting cables to the control earth contactor & power control relay. An arc shute I had taken away to clean was fitted to No.6 traction motor contactor. Mark took one of the big field divert contactors away with him to overhaul & I brought another arc shute home to clean up.

On the power unit, Ian, Pete, Wes and Dave, later joined by Tim. They started off moving more exhaust parts over to the shed, then Wes and Dave started on undoing the head nuts on A8 head, then undid most of the head nuts on B bank. Tim, Pete and Ian removed the main fuel pipes and all the link pipes on A bank. they thought it might be a good idea to see if they could lift one of the cylinder heads off between them! They found it easier than they were expecting & ended up lifting off A8 and A5 heads. It is hard to tell the condition of the liners because pistons are towards top of stroke, but the piston crowns seem fine when cleaned up.

As I missed last week due to the committee meeting, I put the word out I'd be going today & Dave Rolfe & Peter Carter joined me. Pete carried on removing the last of the exhaust sections from Repulse's power unit, Dave continued cleaning, sanding & painting the internal cab panelling & I fitted No.1 Start Contactor which I'd overhauled last year & had been keeping in my loft.

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Today Mark T & I fitted the ETH field contactor (HFC) behind the circuit breaker board and the board with the Control Earth contactor & Power Control relay, which goes at the rear of the cubicle opposite the CU12 lighting time delay control unit. Even though we had test-fitted this board previously, we suddenly found it would'nt fit this time on the mounting bolts, so a half hour job took the best part of the morning. We finally got it fitted but then found we could'nt get the one cable to the HFC to fasten down correctly, and we were unable to resolve this before the end of the day.

Mark B started off by disapearing to the shed for a couple of hours where it turned out he had been sorting stuff out, and clearing the floor to make space for us to put the cylinder heads into the shed once they are removed. He then reappeared at dinner time, and with the help of Dave Rolfe refitted some of the damaged pipe runs previously removed from Repulse into Renown. They then proceeded to test-fit the Vacuum Governor to the top of the brake frame in 50030 and the pipe run leading to it. The Vacuum Governor still needs overhauling. The pressure switch located at the top of the brake frame was removed and has been taken home by Mark B for servicing.

The next job undertaken was to clean up a mounting plate for the AWS and DSD brake application unit (ex class 86) and temporarily install it along with a couple of the associated pipe runs to the side of the brake frame. The other job undertaken by mark B was to strip and service the equalisation and discharge valve which fits on the above mounting plate.

Apart from helping Mark with the above, Dave R gathered together all of the bits of internal paneling for No1 cab and started stripping them back to bare metal and repainting them, a number of these bits have been taken home with Dave to be painted in the week as the weather was not best suited to painting.

On the power unit, all the exhaust, coolant & air piping has been removed, and all but one set of rocker gear from A bank. All the inlet mainfolds and intermediate covers have also been removed. Work is now concentrating on removing the rest of the rocker gear in preparation for lifting the heads off.

Today, the first of the overhauled traction motor contactors was fitted into no.6 position in the electrical cubicle, and the exhauster divert resistor & the two rad fan motor divert resistors were fitted on top of the cubicle. Due to having to enlarge both of the fixing holes for the contactor in the cubicle frame (!?), a difficult & time consuming task due to not being able to drill the holes squarely, only a couple of wires were attached to the contactor overload relay before we lost the light, but we were able to fit the contactor's copper bar, which passes through DC current transformer no.3 and provides one of the connection points from the main generator.

Work also continued on stripping pipework, exhausts & rocker gear from the power unit in preparation for lifting the heads. Some damaged sections of airpipe were removed from the brake frame, and swapped with undamaged sections from Renown.

Dear all,

8th Jan was the first working party of the year, which saw a good turnout, ten of us braving the cold damp weather.

My morning started in the garage sorting out some electrical gear that I've been storing, I thought it would make a nice late Christmas present for Andy.

Andy R, and Mark Tinker spent the day working on the cubicle, during which they completed the control wiring on the two main ETH contactors, then fitted one of the traction motor contactors that Andy had previously stripped, cleaned & overhauled. This is one of three that has an overload relay, and it was fitted into the no.6 position in the electrical cubicle. Its associated large copper bar, that provides one of the connection points from the main generator, was also fitted to the rear of the contactor & through no.3 DC current transformer. Both required some adjustment to make them fit correctly, as neither originally came from Repulse.

They also fitted the exhauster divert resistor and the two radiator fan divert resistors on top of the cubicle.

Meanwhile, Kev was trying to get the cover off the cable connection box for No.1 traction motor, as it's the longest run, so we can pull the cable out, measure its length & then cascade the other shorter cables to where they will still reach, thereby saving us having to buy as much new cable. I seem to recall from talking to Kev on the day that after much fighting with this cover he did eventually get it off.

Ian and the mechanical team (Pete, Mick, Wes and John). Striped off the rocker gear inlet manifolds and intermediate covers on the engine's A bank, and on the B bank removed some of the rocker gear and intermediate covers, and started to remove the cylinder head nuts on B bank.

Dave Rolfe and I stripped some redundant damaged pipework from the brake frame on 50030 (noting its positions). We then removed the brake distributor mounting plate from 50029 along with 4 intact pipe runs and fitted them into 50030's brake frame. My thinking being that whilst the pipes themselves are made to fit, the brakeframe should be fairly standard, and as such a complete run should fit. This theory worked well, with the exception of the final length of pipe that goes to the timing cylinders in the roof, which demonstrated that when putting the 50's together, they weren't fussed with the positioning of some components. The location of the cylinders being a good 6" different to Renown. Never mind, it will be easier to shorten the run than make a completely new one, and by the time I come to do Renown I'll have had lots more practice!

The next working party is 22nd January.

Happy New Year

Mark

Well we did it, just!

Friday 16th September saw Neil Favel and I at Darley adding windscrean wipers and eth sockets to the front end of 50029. Talk about last minute, it reminded me of 30 last year when I was at Rowsley with the Plant glazing man the day before the gala fitting the last of the windows!

Obviously no restoration work was done over the weekend, as the two locos were on display at Darley. Rob and Harvey had left a brake van attached to 50030, which did prompt more than a few queries as to if they were doing brake van rides.

The locos looked superb from the up platform, as previously reported only one side of 29 had been done, which did lead to a very effective display. The other side still being in as arrived condition graphically illustrating the amount of hard work that has been put into both 50030 and the one side of 29.

They did both look very nice at Darley, even though the sun didn't shine at all on the Sunday when I was there manning the sales stand. Still hopefully Neil and Dom will have got some nice sunny pictures on the Saturday morning which we should see on the website soon.

Neil F, Dom, Andy R and I had a good weekend with the stand, raising in the region of £350 over the two days. On the Sunday we actually had two stalls in action, one in the brake on the train and the other as planned on Darley platform.

The plan is to leave 29 masquerading as 50003 untill around the end of November (we are planning a special event in November which I hope to send the details out for later this week), so if you want to see Temeraire you need to make the effort sooner rather than later.

Best regards

Mark

Having been away for a couple of weekends, the last time I saw 50029 it was in British Steel blue, with full yellow cabs. It therefore came as something of a relief when I drove down the approach road to Rowsley on the 10th September to see that as Dave had said, she was genuinely in BR blue!

Last year having read the instructions for the vinyls, and got a vision firmly in my mind of fighting with an 8ft long waterslide transfer, and possibly ending up wearing it, I had been otherwise engaged.

But having seen what a good job was done, this year, curiosity got the better of me.

So I was there on the 11th to join the other brave soles Dave Rolfe, Andy Rowlands, Neil Favell, Ian Kemp, Peter Carter, and kevin Hand.

Dave and Ian started with the Temeraire nameplates, which I had fetched from Andy Cowards the night before. Peter set too blacking the bogies and painting the axle caps, whilst Andy and I set too repainting the black window surrounds, and making the shape match 50030.

Neil, Andy and I also had a go at fitting the ETH socket on the No 1 cab and replacing the taillight bullseye on No 2 cab, but a combination of seized, and sheared off screws prevented this from happening. The ETH Socket mounting is at least drilled out ready for the new one to be fitted, possibly next weekend, nothing like the last minute!

Ian, Dave a