RRRG
report for Peak Express Spring 2010 Issue 25
The Xmas holiday season usually slows progress but this time round we've been hampered by snow too! The most unseasonal weather for the UK always clashed with work parties so progress at Rowsley has been rather slower than late last year. Thats not to say we've been tucked up at home in the warm resting on our laurels.
The sales stand has continued to be productive in this reporting period with visits to the GWR Christmas Diesel Day in December 2009, the ELR Steam Gala in February and the ELR Nightrider Gala in March. Also during the period RRRG have opened a trade account with a wholesaler of Hornby model railways, Corgi cars, etc, which are now also available via our Website. The RRRG 2011 Calender has been finalised and should have gone to print before you read this. Sales of the two RRU Class 50 and Peak Rail Train Simulator packages, available via our website and ebay, have been going nicely over the winter period since being launched in October and have made a healthy £500 contribution to the groups income.
As usual RRRG keeps a close eye on loco's going to the scrapyards for breaking up. The most recent tender saw several 37's and 56's sold for scrap. The net result following resales saw only 2 37's available for component recovery which meant we needed to be quick to ensure we acquired our parts before they were burnt up. Four RRRG volunteers attended Booths over several days in sub zero temperatures to ensure success.
Our main target was bogie brake cylinders as they are very prone to water ingress by design and lack of regular use soon results in extensive internal corrosion. All of Repulse's required replacement and Renown's are no doubt similarly pitted and unserviceable. Determined efforts saw all 24 inspected and amazingly we managed to salvage 17 potentially serviceable examples. With each one requiring up to an hour to remove due to the most awkward and tight mounting bolts imaginable it was not the most pleasant of tasks. Following last years huge spares recovery exercises other parts requirements were few but we managed to acquire several sundry items we've identified as wanting over the Autumn. This included draught seals for internal doors, engineroom lightunits to replace corroded ones behind the radiator grilles, 2 inch pipework to enable the vacuum system to be re-instated in 29 and further electrical cubicle items. With the 2010 scrapyard distraction over, progress at Rowsley can now progress unhindered.
At Rowsley an examination of both complete camshafts found that there was water damage to some of the valve cam lobes on both A and B sides, after taking advice from others they will need replacing (Sounds like another trip to Booths!). We have made a start on removing the camshafts while we were waiting for the next lot of piston rings to come, and have removed the intercoolers and turbos from the free end of the engine and started to remove pipework and brackets to enable the camshafts to be pulled out. The camshafts will not actually be removed until all the pistons have been refitted. Once the outstanding items from European Diesels arrived attention was turned to refitting further pistons, 12 have now been completed leaving just 4 to re-fit.
During October the group made a few usefull acquisitions that have helped progress at Rowsley, we now have a large metal workbench with vice, our own pallet truck, and more significantly a forklift truck. Dave has been putting these to good use and has made a start on overhauling the first of the turbo's removed from the ex 50008 power unit. Todate the unit has been thoroughly cleaned internally, has been unseized, lubricated, bearings checked, and is now in the process of being cleaned up externally prior to repainting and storing in our second storage coach when it arrives at Rowsley.
On the electrical front all three field divert contactors are now complete ellectricall, and just require the air pipes to be fabricated and fitted. On the rear of them, the large cables to the reverser and divert resistors are being sorted out and fitted. Both cab warning light panels have been fitted and wired on top of the cubicle, and components have been obtained to make a new field divert electronic unit.
The 23rd October proved to be a busy day, the overhauled Class 50 Exhauster purchased from Doncaster Unipart last August was collected and moved to Bowers for a check and test. The oppertunity was also taken to move the old spare Class 50 Exhauster that we had in store to Bowers to be used inconjunction with one of the Class 37 Exhausters to make a good Class 50 machine. The final motor blower that we had stored at Booths was also collected and moved to Rowsley. The plan is for us to take delivery of two overhauled exhausters and a motor blower from Bowers in April, these will then be swapped with the machines in 50030 No 2 end. The other item of major expenditure to report is that we have now secured a further ETH/Auxiliary Generator set. The machines are complete and basically in very good condition. They were 3/4 of the way through an overhaul when work was stopped about 3 years ago. As such the field windings from both machines and the ETH Armature are all in excelent overhauled condition. The down side is that 3 years undercover storage has took its toll on the smaller components, which will all need redoing, the biggest set back to the machine being that it needs two new bearings, and the Auxiliary Armature has an internal fault that is not economical to repair. Fortunately, unlike the ETH, the Auxiliary Armature is common to a Class 37 and RRRG have two spares in store.
Finally the AGM was held on 13th December, at its ussual venue in the Whitworth rooms at Darley Dale. The meeting went well, reviewing last year, taking stock of where we are, looking at future plans, receiving the financial reports and reelecting the committee. The only change being that Chris Thorne has picked up the role of Technical Officer from Andy Rowlands who retains the post of electrical Officer. Following the meeting everyone was invited to visit the locos at Rowsley, where the restored drivers desk panels had been temporarily refitted in No 1 cab of 50030 to illustrate the level of work being undertaken.
RRRG report for Peak Express Winter 2009 Issue 24
The sales stand has had a very busy few weeks starting with the Sunday of the Peak Rail shunter gala, followed by the Friday/Saturday of the Nene Valley gala, and the Friday/Saturday of the Severn Valley Railway gala (courtesy of the Fifty Fund). The Peak Rail and SVR events were particularly good days, across the 5 days the stand raised in excess of £700 profit. This doesn't include the money raised from the sale of the new 'Fifty 50's' and 'Peak Rail' Microsoft Train Simulator packages, both of which being launched by our related organisation Renown Repulse Universal at the Peak Rail shunter gala. These two packages generated a lot of interest when running on a laptop on the stall.
The money raised by the stall over the last few weeks will go a long way towards the overhaul of one of the two motor blowers delivered to Bowers of Heanor in June. At the time of writing Bowers have not started work on the two motor blowers, but they have ordered replacement bearings for both machines. As planned the overhauled ETH/Auxiliary Generator set was collected from Bowers by Scotts Heavy Haulage in August and moved to a secure, dry, heated storage facility where it will be kept until we are ready to install it in 50030. Also in August we secured an overhauled Class 50 exhauster, along with a number of other minor Class 50 spares from Unipart at Doncaster, these items should have been collected by the time you read this, the plan being to take the exhauster to Bowers for a check and test.
Although not on the scale of the spares collection from Booths in June, we have also collected further brake cylinders, and an air tank, and will shortly be collecting the remaining motor blower that is still at Rotherham. Unfortuantely we have not yet been able to arrange the movement of the fourth auxiliary generator referred to in the last report.
The lastest delivery of new engine components arrived in mid-September, unfortunately some of the items that Ian had ordered were not in stock and we are still awaiting delivery. This has held up progress on refitting the cylinder heads, pistons and connecting rods. Currently eight sets of overhauled pistons, connecting rods and cylinder heads have been refitted to the ex-50008 power unit. While waiting for the new parts we have turned our attention to the camshafts, and are in the middle of a detailed inspection of both camshafts. At present we have found damage to three fuel pump cam lobes, one of which has been replaced so far. Fortunately the lobes are identical (same part number) to those on a class 37, which we have a number of spares of. The other two should be replaced by the time you read this and work will continue inspecting the camshafts until the piston rings are back in stock at European Diesels.
Work has also been progressing well with sorting out and refurbishing the brake cylinders. Unfortunately these are very prone to damage from water ingress. It is a classic English Electric design fault that the drain holes on all cylinders are in the same place - irrespective of the "handedness" of bogie brake cylinders. This means that one side of the loco always has the brake cylinders mounted with the drain holes at the top! Our experience is proving to be the same as many other Class 50 and Class 37 groups that have undertaken this task, in that we seem to be scrapping more than we are repairing. Fortunately we not have a good set of honed cylinders for 50030, all that remainds to do with them is to order a replacement set of seal kits for them. Further work has been undertaken in No1 cab of Repulse, the AWS and fire equipment on the cab bulkhead has now been completed and is awaiting final painting. Replacement air pipework has been fabricated to complete the pipework on both cab bulkheads.
On the electrical front Andy Rowlands has wired in the control cables to the second field divert contactor, the third field divert contactor has been overhauled, fitted and the control wiring to it should be done by the time you read this. The DSD Speed Switch panel has been overhauled; as this goes in the cupboard under the hotplate in No2 cab, it will be kept in safe storage until the cab is more complete to save it becoming soiled or damaged by the cab refurbishment work. Andy has also un-stuck, cleaned, lubricated and painted the locking cubicle door that protects the fuse and MCB panel. These two hinged doors will however remain unfitted for now, as the fuse panel is a convenient tool shelf. Finally, a CU2 and CU5 borrowed from another Class 50 owner have been examined to determine if the components are still available to enable us to make new ones. The CU2 unit appears to use readily available components, so should be fairly easy to reproduce, but the CU5 has eight 'operational amplifiers' in it that as yet remain unidentified, and this is being investigated further.
We have also acquired another storage vehicle, which will be used to house some of our larger spares, e.g compressors, turbos, etc, this being the 3rd van in possession of RRRG members. One member recently joked that we are assembling our own van train for Repulse to work.
The best way of contacting the group if you would like to assist 50030 on its road to recovery is via the Peak Rail office at Matlock Station, or by e-mail to membership@renownrepulse.com
RRRG report for Peak Express Autumn 2009 Issue 23
During June the group had a hectic few days moving some of the larger items of spares around. We took the opportunity to clear some of the large items that we were never likely to use, e.g a spare bogie spider, roof panels, electrical cubicle shell etc, and send them for scrap. These are large items and had been cluttering our area of Rowsley South yard for some time. As they are Class 50 specific items, we had made a number of attempts to see if any other groups were interested in them but without success, so the decision was taken to weigh them in along with a number of scrap cylinder liners, connecting rods, brake cylinders and some cylinder heads.
We have also recently taken delivery of 17 pallets of spares from C.F Booths scrapyard in Rotherham, which included 21 cylinder heads, 12 Mk 3 cylinder heads, four buffers, two exhausters, three traction motor blowers, an Auxiliary generator, a water pump, four small air tanks, some brake cylinders, cam followers and various other items, which was the culmination of many work parties that have been held at Booths during the first half of the year. I am certain we've had more work parties at Booths this year than we have at Rowsley South!
Amongst other things, the work undertaken at Booths involved the complete stripping of two Class 37 power units, which has involved the group manufacturing a number of specialist tools, including a device for removing cylinder liners, a number of lifting beams for removing the pistons, an injector puller, and we borrowed a tool for removing the Auxiliary Generator's armature. Without these tools the work would not have been possible and would certainly not have gone as smoothly as it did.
As we are not planning on having any work done for some time on the spare ETH and Auxiliary Generator set for use in 50029, it has been moved from Bowers at Heanor to Rowsley South, along with the two spare traction motors that had been at Bowers for assessment. Two exhausters and two traction motor blowers (ex-Class 37 from C.F Booths) have moved in the opposite direction and work has started on their thorough overhaul. We had intended to send the radiator fan motor and exhausters to Bowers next and clean up two of the motor blowers ourselves. Unfortunately, due to a mix up at Booths, two of the best of the motor blowers were scrapped by mistake and as such we decided to send two of the remaining ones to Bowers for overhaul next.
The plan is for them to be completed before the end of the year, which will mean that Repulse will have six of it's 17 electrical machines in fully overhauled condition. The remaining movement, which should take place before you read this is to move the overhauled ETH/Auxiliary Generator set (which is still at Bowers) to a secure, heated storage facility. We are also in the process of arranging the collection of another Auxiliary Generator that has been purchased by one of our members, but needs removing from it's power unit and moving to Rowsley.
Quite a significant amount of work was undertaken in preperation for these few hectic days. The roadway down to the shed had to be cleared and checked for sharp objects, sorting of the spares was undertaken, identifying items for scrap, re-shuffling them to take up less space, new racking has been fitted in the coach to aid this process. A number of items including a set of cubicle doors have also been re-fitted to 50029 to save space in the shed, which also has the benefit of helping us see exactly what we are short of for her.
The recent Peak Rail diesel gala saw 50029 Renown cleaned up and put on display, it's been a couple of years since Renown was pulled out of the sidings and it was nice to see her standing in the sun next to the turntable at Rowsley South providing an excellent backdrop to the groups sales stand, which also had a very good day.
The latest delivery of new engine components arrived in mid-April, which has enabled work to continue on the overhaul of the ex-50008 power unit, which has included fitting further four overhauled pistons into their liners, along with their new piston rings, new big end bearing shells, new stretch bolts, nuts and washers and con rods and fitting further overhauled cylinder heads. The total now stands at four cylinder heads fitted and eight pistons/connecting rods. The order for the next set of new components has just been placed with European Diesels.
Some of the old piston and con rods assemblies that were obtained as spares at the time the locomotives were bought from Operation Collingwood have been sorted out, and the gudgeon pins removed from six of the worst. Where found to be in good condition, the pins were cleaned and greased for storage, the pistons have been set to one side as spares, and the worst of the connecting rods put on the scrap pile (some have been cut and some were in a very poor condition following years of outside storage at the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway)
Finally, one area of progress not previously mentioned that is really starting to come together is the refurbishment of No 1 cab in 50030. All the loose paint has been removed and all internal surfaces sanded, the cab vestibules have been repainted to a very high standard, replacement ceiling vents, warning light cluster, cab lights, fault light panels and AWS horn have been refitted and wired up, all of which have been overhauled to a very high standard. The cab lights in particular need seeing to believe - I am not sure how or what Tom has done to them, but they look like brand new ones!
RRRG report for Peak Express April 2009 Issue 22
Following a huge amount of work by the Committee, the group's new Website went live slightly later than previously advised in Mid March. The site is completely new with very little material used from the original site. One of its most significant features is that it already has a large number of pictures illustrating the restoration work that is being undertaken, the site is being continually added to both to update it and also take the story back in time. Further enhancements planned are to reinstate a member's only discussion group, and to add a calendar function. I hope that you can find time to have a look at the new site, and hope that you enjoy it, if you have any comments, please let us know.
Restoration work at Rowsley continues apace, work fitting out the coach with racking, work benches, and properly conduited electrical supplies has now been completed, and a significant amount of effort put into sorting out the spares. On the electrical front the 1900 ohm earth fault de-sensitising resistor that goes above the main field divert relay is one of the items we are still missing. Andy has been unable to obtain a serviceable example, so in February he decided to make a 'ladder network' from four resistors on a redundant ex-37 Paxolin board, which has now been fitted and wired in the redundant space next to the main start contactors. The total of the four resistors comes to 1898 ohms, and the tap-off, nominally 170 ohms, comes out at 167 ohms, well within the nominal 10% tolerance allowed for with these resistors. Andy has also now fitted and wired the left-hand cab warning light resistor board on top of the electrical cubicle, having previously completed the right-hand board.
Work continues to progress on the ex 50008 power unit, since the last report the remaining 12 con rods have been refitted to the pistons and 3 cylinder heads have been refitted complete with new head gaskets, etc. Also an order has been placed with European Diesels for the 3rd batch of new engine components to enable the team to keep up the good progress being made with the overhaul.
The rapid progress by Bowers Electrical reported last issue has continued and I am pleased to be able to advise that the overhaul of the ETH Generator and Auxiliary Generator is now complete. The work has included a complete strip down of both machines, a thorough clean and bake, undercutting of the commutators, some repairs have been undertaken to the banding on both the generators, replacement carbon brush boxes have been fitted to the Auxiliary Generator, new PTFE insulators have been fitted to both machines, along with new carbon brushes and two new bearings. The bodies have been cleaned up and repainted and all the missing covers replaced. As mentioned previously the new carbon brushes and insulators will form part of our sponsor a component campaign.
Probably the most significant development for the group over the last 3 months resulted from C.F. Booths winning the latest EWS tender for some of the last few remaining class 37's, there being only a very small number of 37's left in EWS/DBS ownership and quite literally only a couple of 37/0's. The locos were all in very good condition, resulting in what is probably the best, and may well be the last ever opportunity to obtain certain good quality components at a sensible price. As such RRRG has made a number of visits to Rotherham, to obtain a large number of significant components, including Exhausters, Traction motor blowers, and an Auxiliary Generator. The importance of some of these spares cannot be stressed enough. In some cases, we are simply missing items, which whilst only costing £20 from the scrapyard would cost hundreds and significant time and effort if new ones had to be made, and in other cases, such as the exhausters and traction motor blowers, by buying recently serviceable items, significant savings can be made over the overhaul of our existing ones, whilst also providing a pool of spares for the future. Many of these items are also being included in the sponsor a component scheme.
With the completion of the generator overhauls, ongoing purchase of new engine components, and acquisition of essential spare parts, we are caught in a time of huge expenditure. I realise that this is not the best time to be asking for financial contributions, but, if we are to secure the spares we need and continue to purchase the new components needed to make progress with the restoration work, we urgently need your help. If you have ever considered buying shares, or if you are an existing shareholder and are able to add to your holding, or are simply able to make a donation to RRRG, your help is needed now.
RRRG report for Peak Express January 2009 Issue 21
As reported in the previous issue we were very pleased to take delivery during October of a Mk1 BG for use as a workshop/support coach, which should greatly improve conditions for the volunteers working on the locos. The racking on one side of the container has been dismantled and re-erected in the coach, the lighting has been improved and a properly conduited electrical supply and sockets fitted ready for the workbenches that are to be installed in the near future.
The ex 50008 power unit acquired by RRRG in 2006 is well on its way through an overhaul that will result in it being in zero houred condition. Following the fitting of all 16 liners (reported last issue) the water jacket has been subjected to and passed an initial leak test. Needless to say the power unit was drained again, which is just as well given the 3" of ice that we found on top of the tarpaulin at the first work party of 2009. Four pistons have been fitted to their con rods and all new piston rings fitted. Three of the completed pistons have been refitted into their liners and new big end bearing shells, big end caps, stretch bolts, nuts and washers have been fitted. Ian is now in the process of ordering the rest of the components needed to complete the overhaul of crank, liners, cylinder heads and gaskets. The sponsor a component scheme has been very successful, and I would like to say thanks to everyone who has participated, of the 208 new engine components in the scheme, there are just 58 remaining to be sponsored.
November saw another significant development on the electrical front with the movement of the groups ETH/Auxiliary Generator sets to Bowers Electrical of Heanor for overhaul. Bowers have wasted no time in getting started with the work on the sets, one of which has been mega tested and found to be fundamentally a sound unit. The work required is basically a clean and bake, although the ETH generator needs some banding replacing and two new bearings, also both the auxiliary and ETH generator will need a new set of brushes. The new components are to be ordered shortly, the carbon brushes may well form the subject of the next sponsor a component campaign.
The electrical cubicle which although a shell at the time of purchase is now 75% complete. The past 6 months have seen completion of the wiring to the new rotary switches on the cubicle door, these being the passenger/goods brake selector, emergency compressor switch, control cut-out switch, exhauster cut-out switch, fuel priming & local engine start buttons & ammeter. October saw the cables from the AVR and main earthing terminal bars to the Battery Charge Diode removed from Renown (one of the few intact sections of cable left in Renown's cubicle) to replace the same sections in Repulse's harness which had their crimps cut off at some time in the past.
The right-hand cab warning resistor board was fitted after cleaning, and wiring was completed. There are 26 resistors on the two boards, the majority of which illuminate the various cab fault warning lamps, but there are no less than 87 wires to them, many of which go to the terminal bars at the bottom of the cubicle in the 'thin man's passage', which involves the usual contortionist act and Andy's poor knees did suffer on the chequerplate flooring! A significant amount of electrical spares were also obtained during the month. Also fitted was the no.2 main Field Divert Contactor, after having been stripped & cleaned.
The group held a very successful AGM during November, which for a change was held at the East Lancs, on a 50015 running day. I would like to say thanks to Andy Coward and the lads that look after 50015 for making us feel very welcome, and for generously providing a 'driver experience' as a prize for the raffle that was held. Our Chairman's Dad won, needless to say we all screamed FIX! Valiant looked and sounded in good health, and I would definitely recommend a visit to see her. The notes from the AGM should be circulated in late January. Also due for release in late January/early February is the groups new website, for those of you that follow and use the website, you will have noticed that it has been offline for a few months and has been replaced by something resembling the BBC test card. This was due to an unfortunate mechanical mishap that managed to take out both the main server and backup server! Our webmaster Bryan looked into restoring the old website but it was going to be too difficult and too costly, so the opportunity has been taken to produce an all new site, which at the time of writing (January) is in the process of being fleshed out by various committee members.
RRRG report for Peak Express October 2008 Issue 20
I'll start with parish announcements, a date has been set for this year's AGM, which thanks to a kind offer from RRRG member Andy Coward is to be held at/near the East Lancs Railway, on the 15th November which also happens to be a 50015 running day. We are hoping to secure, a group discount booking behind 50015 Valiant for one return trip, cab visits for all, a return on the day cabride raffle, a diesel driver experience raffle, etc. and a selection of the sales stand merchandise will also be available. The sales stand was out over the weekend of the 27th and 28th of September which was Deltic 16's last runs on Peak Rail. At the time it faced an uncertain future, with scrap being a potential outcome, but I understand now it has been sold to DRS and is to return to the mainline following a thorough overhaul which is to be undertaken by HNRC. The stall had a very successful weekend, taking just over £300. Unfortunately the close proximity of the diesel gala to this date (the weekend before) had prevented the stall also attending that event.
A further batch of new components has been ordered and delivered to site at Rowsley, this being sufficient liner seals, etc, to allow for the assembly and fitting of all sixteen cylinder liners. We have also purchased a set of heavy duty cables for use in the electrical cubicle from another class 50 owner.
Work parties have continued in their usual fortnightly pattern with an occasional extra thrown in, any members wishing to get involved and give a hand are more than welcome, the next work party is on Sunday the 19th October, dates can be confirmed via the website, or alternatively give Dave Rolf, Andy Rowlands or I a ring (numbers on the working party entries on the website diary).
A further 9 cylinder heads have been fully overhauled, being stripped, cleaned, de-sooted, valves ground in, valve gear reassembled, that makes a complete set of 16 ready for fitting and one of the spares overhauled. Four of the heads have also been externally cleaned and painted. The remaining 12 cylinder liners have been cleaned and prepared for refitting, and all sixteen have now been refitted into the power unit. These two lines might sound like a simple statement, but they actually represent a huge amount of work, which has not always been easy, as the engine components are large, heavy and awkward, and do not always do exactly what you want, e.g. Occasionally they don't seat correctly resulting in the need to lift them back out and refit them, which can be difficult and frustrating.
The power unit water jacket is now ready to be refilled to test for the integrity of the liner seals, and if all goes well, a start will then be made on refitting the pistons. Ian & Pete have fabricated a tool to hold the piston rings in place when the pistons are fitted back into the power unit. This was tried on one piston and worked, but with some difficulty, so the tool is to be modified.
The team have also cleaned & re-greased the eight big end journals on the main crank and the insides of the cylinder liners to give them further corrosion protection through the winter.
In the cubicle the three wires from Terminal Bar 1 to the three wheelslip relays (which have yet to be fitted) have been laid in as have the three smaller control wires from the reverser to the three wheelslip relays, and the wire from the ETH terminal bar to the ETH Overvolt resistor. The 185mm cable from No.1 start contactor to no.3 motor contactor has been fitted, as have two pieces of large dia cable from our stock for the reverser to no's 1 & 3 motor contactors (the connection to M2 will be a copper bar). The last eight wires from the CU2 field divert unit to no's 2 & 3 field divert contactors have been laid in.
The four damaged field divert resistor support pillars have been removed, the resulting debris cleaned away and four replacement pillars fitted. Now the repairs to the field divert resistor supports have been completed, the right-hand cab warning light resistor panel has been fitted and eleven of the resistors fitted and wired up. This again might not sound like a lot, but some of the cables have to negotiate a tortuous five-metre route from the top of the walkway side of the cubicle to the terminal bars at floor level on the thin man's passage side.
Andy Rowlands has borrowed a CU2 from another class 50 owner which we are intending using as a template to have a couple of new ones manufactured. To date we've produced a track diagram for the unit, photographed the boards and all of the components, identified all of the markings on the components and are now in the process of identifying exactly what the various components are and sourcing them. Finally on the electrical front, one of the brake indicator light boxes has been cleaned, repainted, refitted into 50030's No 2 cab, and wired up.
Bodywork wise, I've made a start on repairing the area under the headcode boxes on Renown's No 1 cab with a view to weather proofing it. The first job was to remove the large amount of corrosion that existed, which resulted in a fairly large hole, this being by far the worst of the four cabs. To assist with gaining access the old roller blind mechanism was removed (which is likely to be sold off at some stage). The mounting brackets for this were cut off as they were restricting access and were very heavily corroded, resembling something you would expect to be brought up off Titanic rather than being part of a loco! Three steel plates have been fabricated (another is needed) to fill the gap, and then the cab will be repaired using the same principle as applied to 29 and 30's No 2 cabs.
Finally, readers of this column will be aware that for some time now, we have been struggling for storage space. I am now very pleased to be able to advise that by the time you read this RRRG should have taken delivery at Rowsley of a Mk1 BG for use as a storage vehicle, the move was scheduled to take place on the 14th October.
RRRG report for Peak Express July 2008 Issue 19
Work parties are continuing on a regular fortnightly basis, with an odd extra thrown in from time to time, along with visits to other sites. The big news on the power unit front was the arrival at Rowsley of the 16 connecting rods complete with their new small end bushes, and a rather large cardboard box full of brand new Liner rings, Crank case joints, Head joint rings, Piston rings, Large end bearing shells, Con rod bolts, nuts and washers, enough components to rebuild 4 cylinders. This has been a real boost to the moral of the mechanical team as the power unit has turned a corner and instead of stripping dirty old components off, the lads are now overhauling and refitting new and refurbished components. The sponsor a component appeal has reached approximately 80% of its target with a few components remaining available for sponsorship.
The first four cylinder liners to go back into the power unit have been cleaned and prepared, and three have been fitted. Eight of the cylinder heads have now been stripped, cleaned, de-sooted, the valves ground in, valve gear reassembled and are ready for fitting. Dave has been polishing the copper and brass (small water jacket pipes) all of which have come up as good as new, and work has also started on generally cleaning down the power unit, the vee and part of B-side have been painted.
Andy and Steve have been busy with the electrical cubicle which continues to progress well. Two of the missing circuit breakers have now been fitted which has allowed the laying in and fitting of some cables that had been deliberately left out. Wiring from terminal bars 9 & 13 to the cubicle rotary switch door has been fitted, and all of the wires from the Control Cut-Out Switch to terminal bars 10 & 12 laid in.
The door switch wires have been separated into bundles and tidied up for each switch, and the 17 wires to the Control Cut-Out switch, 5 to the Emergency Compressor switch, 3 to the Local Engine Start switch, and 2 to the ammeter have been fitted. The last 12 wires to the Passenger/Goods switch have been laid in and connected, to terminal bar 13. The 27 wires to the Passenger/Goods brake selector switch and the 3 to the Exhauster Cut-Out switch have been fitted. Wiring of the complicated door switches has now been completed which is a significant milestone in the electrical work. A couple of wires to the CU1 terminal board have been rerouted into a more convenient shape and the cables in the cubicle from the door switches and the Battery Charge contactor, CU1 & CU9 terminal boards have been tidied.
The copper bar to No.1 main start contactor has been fitted, which gives the connection from the positive side of the batteries.
Significant down pours this summer have demonstrated that the work to waterproof the area under the headcode box's on Repulse and Renown's No 2 end cabs has now been completely successful, some further work has now been undertaken to cosmetically improve this area. Also in the cabs two of the air horns have been refitted into Repulse's no.2 cab, and the new windscreen wiper motors test fitted.
The end of June saw the sad demise of 50040 which having escaped the scrapyard once, found itself at Sims metals from which there was no reprieve, the loco being processed within four days of arrival. Thanks its final owner Paul Spracklen we were given the opportunity of recovering some components from her, which resulted in a team of seven working members attending Sims Metals the day after 40 arrived to recover what usable components we could. This included four cab to engine room doors, two main air reservoir tanks, a set of conduiting from the generator room, an M8 valve base plate, and various other fittings. All of which we are either missing or the item on 40 was in better condition than that on Renown or Repulse, which given 50040's history since withdrawal is surprising, if not unbelievable.
RRRG report for Peak Express April 2008 Issue 18
During the first four months of 2008 we have had a number of productive visits to CF Booths at Rotherham to buy spares off the ex EWS class 37's that have gone there for scrapping. Whilst the focus has been on brake equipment, some electrical gear, engine parts and cab fittings have also been obtained. Amongst the items recovered were three Reverser actuators, one of which will be used to replace the seized unit on the reverser Kev has, which after overhaul, will be permanently fitted into the cubicle to replace the one that is currently located in the cubicle to act as a template for running wires.
Work at Rowsley has been primarily focused on the electrical cubicle and power unit, both of which are progressing well. In January the motor cut-out switch was fitted and wired. The cubicle door with the rotary switches was test-fitted after cleaning and having the new switches fitted. Andy Rowlands father, a retired electrical engineer, offered to look at the CU7 control unit, and during February, he and Andy made a new unit which was test fitted into Repulse in late March. The group obtained sufficient parts to make a second spare unit, which will be made up when time allows.
Several of the insulating support pillars for the main field divert resistors were noticed some time ago to be breaking up, and are being removed for replacement with spare ones we have, another task made more difficult by restricted working space. The two missing cubicle circuit breakers, CCB2 and 3, have been obtained from the 50021 Locomotive Association at Tyseley, along with three 100amp fuse carriers we were missing. These have now been cleaned and fitted, along with the four main auxiliary fuses obtained some time ago. Another item recovered from CF Booth was a DSD relay box. After checking that it was compatible with a class 50, Andy disassembled it, removed and cleaned the relays and terminal boards, cleaned and repainted the case, reassembled it and fitted it into the clean air compartment.
On the engine front, five of the cylinder heads have been stripped, checked springs and collets, valve guides, head surfaces for cracks and damage, valve seats, de-carbonised inlet and exhaust ports, re-ground valves and cleaned the heads ready for painting. The acquisition of a pillar drill has finally enabled us to make a valve compressor plate, the plate allows us to compress the valve springs so that we can refit the collets which fit on the top part of the valve stem and lock the valve to the spring. All 16 of the connecting rods have had their small end bushes replaced by European Diesels, and we have placed an order for enough parts to rebuild the first 4 cylinders, which should keep us busy for a while.
Other work has included striping brake cylinders, cleaning them up and honing them. While one or two have been ok most have shown leeks when pressure tested, we are looking to obtain new replacement seals and hope this will cure the problem. We have also acquired a number of brake cylinders from the Class 37's at Booths which should be in better condition than those off Repulse. One disappointment during the period was that the winter proved that the work undertaken at the back end of last summer to waterproof the area under the headcode boxes had only been 99% satisfactory, this has now been attended to, and we are hopeful that this area should now be waterproof.
RRRG report for Peak Express January 2008 Issue 17
Although the locos were not out on display at the Autumn diesel gala members were on hand to escort visitors down the yard and show people around inside Repulse, hopefully the Spring gala will provide the opportunity to have the locos out on display again. Tim's Gazebo (RRRG sales stand) was out again at the Autumn gala and had quite a good weekend, whilst not brilliant, the weather was considerably kinder than at the May gala. The gala provided the opportunity to debut the new range of RRRG clothing, which includes Polo Shirts, Sweat Shirts, Fleeces, Hats and Caps, we are also down to the last few of the original edition of the RRRG Mug, if you would like one, I would recommend placing an order soon as only a few remain. The stand also attended a DCC model exhibition at Rawtenstall near the East Lancs Railway, unfortunately this was a less successful trip as attendance at the exhibition itself was quite low, possibly due to the weather being glorious and providing people with a last opportunity for a nice day in the countryside before winter set in.
The other significant fund raising event during the last few months was the 3rd RRRG sponsored walk which was held after the AGM on the13th October. The walk raised in the region of £800. Whilst it was an enjoyable event, taking in the delights of the Monsal trail from Bakewell - Cressbrook tunnel, and managing to pull in two quick pub stops, it did turn into a bit of a trot back, and was completely dark by the time we got back to Bakewell. I can confirm that the Monsal trail at night is quite a spooky place.
At the AGM the committee was re-elected with a few changes. I've decided to step down as vice chairman as I have been finding it difficult to balance that role and publicity officer with family life, etc. I'm continuing with the role of publicity officer, which I should now be able to give more attention to, and will continue to assist with the sales department, and being an active working volunteer. A new face on the committee is Steve Tripp who is taking over the role of vice chairman. Steve has been helping Andy Rowlands on the electrical side of things for most of this year, has a great deal of enthusiasm for the Group and should make a good manager/pursuer who can coordinate the Group's links with external organisations such as parts suppliers, haulage firms, etc. Dominic Jacksons multiple roles (newsletter editor/membership secretary/general secretary) are combined into one role of "secretary". Chris Bodell and Alex Fairlie were appointed to non-committee "assistant" roles, with a view to getting them more involved in the organisation of the group, particularly in support of the fundraising activities.
Ian Wright has now completed a significant piece of work to update all shareholding records, and revised certificates should be issued shortly. Ian was unable to attend the AGM, but did provide a financial report for the meeting.
The meeting also voted in an alteration to the group constitution and shareholder voting rights, which will provide significant protection to the group's future as we move closer to getting 50030 running, and the meeting gave a mandate to the committee to investigate the options for the legal structure of the group into the future. As the start up of 50030 draws nearer, it was felt that we need a more definite legal structure, a potential one being that of a limited company.
On the restoration front, work has continued on the stripping of the ex 50008 power unit, which has now turned the corner, having had all of its, rockers, cylinder heads, pistons, liners, bearing shells, etc, removed and examined. One of the pistons pulled the liner out with it, but after some advice from John Ball, a lot of effort, copious quantities of various penetrating oils, and elbow grease, this was removed! The pistons have all been removed from the connecting rods, and the little end bearings examined; as with the main bearing shells these bushes were found to be worn and in need of replacing, a sign of the 8537 engine hours 008 had when withdrawn from traffic.
The connecting rods have now been dispatched to European diesels for new bushes to be pressed in and an order placed for a complete set of replacement little end bearings, big end bearing shells, and piston rings, etc. The plan is to phase delivery of these items to reduce the quantity of new engine components that we have lying around at Rowsley waiting for refitting.
Although the 50008 power unit is sheeted up to protect it from the weather, the crank has been thoroughly greased and wrapped to prevent rust forming, similarly, although stored under cover all of the little end pins have been greased and wrapped to prevent any deterioration. All 16 of the pistons have been cleaned up and are now ready for reuse, and a start has been made on overhauling the cylinder heads, removing accumulated debris & carbon soot and where necessary grinding in the valves . An examination of the cylinder heads revealed that apart from some of the valve seats needing re-cutting the heads look to be in good condition.
The engine governors have been inspected, and the one that is planned to be used on the ex 50008 power unit found to be complete and appears to be in good order.
Although the power unit within 50030 had previously been freed, it was found during late summer to have seized again, after a moderate amount of effort, the problem was found to be a piston stuck in a liner. The offending liner was subsequently removed, and the other liners and pistons all cleaned and lubricated. The power unit was subsequently barred over, and is now being barred over on a regular basis to ensure that it does not seize again.
Work has also been continuing to progress well on the electrical cubicle. The remaining control relays in the small compartment at the front of the cubicle have all been checked and all have been found to have the correct coils. All 27 wires from the very-difficult-to-get-at engine run relay have been fitted, the general fault relay was checked, refitted and rewired, the rad fan & fan speed-up relays have been cleaned up and the latter partially wired. Andy has also continued wiring the No.2 blower motor relay which had been partially completed some time ago.
The repaired broken motor cutout switch has been fitted and wired into the cubicle.
A piece of copper bar has been made and fitted to replace the missing one from between the No's 2 & 3 rad fan contactors, and all the wires from the auxiliary contact block on the No.1 field divert contactor laid in. The auxiliary contact block on the generator field contactor was found to be faulty and has therefore been replaced for a good example and the generator field contactor then refitted, and wired into the cubicle. This sounds like a simple job, but as with many tasks on 50030, it involved a considerable amount of fiddling.
The paxolin board previously made for the Battery Charge contactor has been drilled, and the board & contactor fitted in front of the Power Control relay & Control Earth contactor, and the overhauled No.2 main start contactor has finally been fitted and all of its wires connected. This had been overhauled some time ago and stored pending completion of the wiring to three other items which would have been difficult to get at had it been fitted.
Three of the six traction motor contactors have auxiliary contacts fitted to them (M4, 5 & 6) for control wiring, as the three motor contactors we obtained for these positions were all missing their auxiliary contacts and paxolin actuating arms, an arm was removed from a spare motor contactor, fitted to an overhauled auxiliary contact block, which was fitted to M6 and tested. It was found to operate correctly and as such all 14 wires from it have now been installed. An auxiliary contact block has also now been fitted to No.5 traction motor contactor, and its 14 wires connected. The coil wires on M1, 2, 3 & 4, have also been fitted. Several parts of the remaining motor arc chutes have now been cleaned up and two complete arc chutes have been made from the spare & broken sections. These have now been fitted into Repulse, completing the six we need for the motor contactors.
The hinges from where the door with the rotary switches goes on the cubicle were removed, and the old pins from the original door knocked out, the replacement door was then test-fitted (complete with all of the new rotary switches) to check that the new door would re-mount correctly, which it does. The surplus mounting bolts from the compartment where the CU2 & CU7 go have also been removed (not the easiest task due to lack of space & the threads were covered in layers of paint), and the new mounting brackets on the CU7 case have been drilled and test-fitted it.
Finally a couple of the cab-warning light resistors we have borrowed have been photographed and their resistance measured so that we can get a quote for new ones, as we have found the original manufacturer still produces them.
On the body work front all four sets of cab footsteps on Repulse have now been removed, shotblasted, repainted and refitted. The 6 new roof hatches, purchased as part of a bulk order organised by fellow Class 50 owner Paul Spracklen, have been collected and have now been fitted to Repulse. The existing hatch hinges were refurbished, in some cases they had to be moved slightly, and new fixings obtained. The latches from the old hatches have been repaired and fitted to the new ones. The only outstanding job on the roof hatches is to fit new sealing rubbers, and to fit lifting handles to the hatches, or alternatively fit grommets to the mounting holes.
The work to plate over the holes under the headcode boxes on Repulse has now been completed, and the area is now dry, this job has also been undertaken on No2 end of Renown, which was in a considerably worse condition than Repulse. Some tidying up of the area, and finishing is still required, but this will now have to wait until the weather improves again. The driver's door at No 2 end of Repulse has also had some metal ground off it, so that it now opens and closes properly, without the aid of a boot!
Finally on the bodywork front, a number of our members Dom Jackson, Peter Carter, Chris Bodell, Tim Snowball and Andy Coward assisted with the repainting of 31270 into Regional Railways, which now looks excellent, and is a credit to their efforts, in fact it looked so good, that it became the impromptu star of an EMRPS night shoot at Darley Dale, when it was supposed to only be the shunt engine!
RRRG report for Peak Express July 2007
Summers arrived, I think? As planned the RRRG Sales stand was out for the Peak Rail Diesel gala on the 12th and 13th May, Tim Snowball, Neil Favell and Dominic Jackson were lucky with the weather on the Saturday, but from late Sunday morning the rain started and got heavier and heavier. Fortunately Tim had the foresight to invest in a Gazebo, so we were able to keep the sales stand going, and keep the stock dry. The worry was putting the stock away at the end of the day, by which time the weather was torrential, fortunately the lads were offered the opportunity of temporarily storing the stock in the little shed on the platform at Rowsley.
I wasn't there on the Sunday, but the following week, I spent most of the workparty transferring the stock back to its usual store, checking for damage, and sorting it out. Going by the way in which it had been left in the shed, I can imagine how bad the weather must have been and can only sympathise. Fortunately the use of the Gazebo, combined with good weather on the Saturday, and an excellent stud of locos, ensured that the stall had another good weekend.
Since the last report mechanical work has continued to be focused on the overhaul of the ex 50008 power unit; all of the rocker gear and all of the cylinder heads have now been removed. Removal of the heads revealed that a couple of the pistons and liners had suffered from water ingress during the unit's prolonged storage at Crewe. B5 liner was very rusty from about 1/2 way up, thus explaining why the engine would not fully bar round, removal of the B5 liner confirmed the finding and the engine now bars round freely. During the quest to resolve the barring over problem, the governor drive gear was removed, inspected, found to be in good order and refitted.
A method of removing the big end caps was determined, which is not as simple as it sounds, as the nuts are awkward to get to and the caps are heavy. The first to be removed was B8 cap which unfortunately revealed a worn out bearing shell, though not really a surprise, all of the bearing shells have subsequently been found to be serviceable, but heavily worn.
The majority of the liners and pistons have now been removed and work is progressing with the others, there are 4 liners in poor condition that are planned to be replaced, and Ian also plans to replace the full set of 32 main bearing shells, a full set of piston rings and a full set of stretch bolts for the main bearing caps. Prices have been obtained for these items and an order should be placed shortly, whilst not individually expensive, it soon adds up when multiplying by 32, 48 and 64! The work will however result in a power unit in excellent condition which will be worth all of the hard work.
One side effect of having two stripped down 16CSVT power units is that we have found ourselves incredibly short of storage space for all the components, and have therefore with Peak Rail been looking at various options to solve our shortage of covered storage. I am pleased to be able to advise that we have been given permission to bring a coach to Rowsley for use as a store and workshop by the group, and have now identified a suitable vehicle, which a small number of RRRG members have volunteered to fund, subject to a final inspection and closing of the deal the coach should be at Rowsley shortly, which will be a great help.
On the electrical front the last traction motor contactor was reassembled by Andy Rowlands and fitted in the cubicle in the No.1 position, all six are now in place. The radiator temperature control unit (CU4) in the filter compartment next to the power unit was examined and found to be of the original un-modified type with the two suppression resistors fitted. This will need cleaning up inside, as it is very dirty, but appears to be complete and in good order. As it is the original un-modified type, the radiator fan supply resistor was cleaned, fitted below No.4 rad fan contactor (KFC4), wired to KFC3 & its wire laid in to the rad fan control unit (CU5). We will also now need to fit two more small control relays; the rad fan & fan speed-up relays, which are not fitted when a modified CU4 is used. The auxiliary wiring was completed on the No.1 field divert contactor.
The broken motor control switch was also re-examined, after Steve Tripp noticed while he and Andy were at Paul Spracklen's collecting the new engine room roof hatches, that the contact blocks appear the same as those on the traction motor contactors. A close examination revealed them to be exactly the same, so the Motor Control Switch has been dismantled; the two broken segments removed and replaced with two from a spare motor contactor. It was cleaned & reassembled, and now work correctly. Andy and Steve also re-examined the motor contactor arc chutes, and it seems we may have enough parts by salvaging from the damaged ones, to make up the two we are missing.
Electrical team member Mark Tinker has offered to manufacture some of the smaller electronic units that we are missing. He produced a circuit diagram of the CU7 ETH unit from one we have borrowed, and has found all the components are still readily available, by the time you read this he is hoping to have the first one made, with another one as a spare to follow.
From some of the spare cable recovered from the locos at the start of the restoration work, Steve & Andy have made up the cables we were missing from inside the electrical cubicle crimped new lugs on them, and hopefully by the time this is published, they will have been fitted into the cubicle.
During June, the Engine Run relay & main Wheelslip relay wiring was finished, a not inconsiderable task, as between the two, there are some 36 wires to install. Now these two have been completed, the Generator Field contactor, which was removed to allow easier access to the two relays, has been refitted, but we discovered the auxiliary contact block had badly corroded during the time it had been removed, so the block was replaced with a spare. Once the wiring behind the board with these items on has been tidied up, we can then fit No.2 main Start contactor at the front of the cubicle. It was overhauled last year, but was deliberately left out, to again ease wiring access to the two relays mentioned above.
Very little body work has been undertaken since the last report, work concentrating on the power unit and electrical cubicle, however, some work is being undertaken to complete the waterproofing of the cabs, which still have a few small holes under the headcode boxes, these have proved tricky to rectify, but a route forward has now been identified and four small steel plates fabricated. Once this work and the remaining window frame woodwork have been completed, a start in earnest will be made on the No 2 cab interior and fitting out. The group has recently benefited from the kind donation by a new member of an almost complete set of cab instruments which will be used in this cab. The group is also in discussions with the owner of 50040 (which is soon to be scrapped) to acquire some components, and has contacted European Metal Recycling with a view to purchasing some compatible Class 37 components.
With the anticipated purchase and transport of the coach, power unit components, brake gear from EMR and items from 50040, RRRG are looking at an expensive month or so, and as such any share purchases, new memberships, or donations would be most welcome, as would donations of stock for the sales stand and of course assistance at the work parties, which continue to be weekly (Sundays) throughout the summer months.
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