Restoration diary

I have to confess to have been a lapsed 50 fan for 25-odd years, I last saw Renown in January 1986 on a Waterloo – Exeter service and Repulse in August 1985 on the lengthy Scots Streaker II Railtour. It had been too long. I have recently “come back” and joined RRRG, and in late February finally joined a working party. After a few dead-ends in the sprawling Peak Rail site, I eventually tracked down the locos and it was great to see them again after all these years, although sadly quiet for the time being.

Dave greeted me with the immortal words “Have I got a job for you!”, and, having shown me round and letting me linger for a bit around Thunderer’s 16CSVT, we set to work removing the bolts holding in the louvre grills at No 1 end of Repulse. It wasn’t clear if these had been removed at refurbishment or never at all, but they were a job! While we were working through these, Dom and Tim arrived along with Paul Sturm, fresh off the ferry from the Netherlands. They tackled cleaning up the brake rigging gear while we slowly but surely removed the bolts. In classic tradition, the last bolt followed form by thinking itself completely invincible, being not only firmly stuck but also seemingly utterly inaccessible. After lunch and a fortifying mug of tea though, we were on a roll and spitting defiance finally got it out, allowing the frame containing all of the (very jammed) louvres to be taken out and gently lowered to the ground. In no time, they were freed up and moving again, and the upper louvre re-aligned to match the others – cracking job! The very corroded arm which should open and close the louvres was also removed – it looked like to have been under the sea for years and I thought it was beyond hope, but Paul and Tim brought it back to life with a bit of grinding and a diet of engine oil.



I had to return home in the evening and so missed the beers and curry, but what a superb day – up close and more personal than I ever imagined to Renown and Repulse (they’re bigger than you think from ground level), and a feeling of complete satisfaction at having contributed something real (albeit miniscule) to getting them back up and running again. Looking forward to my return, and thanks to Dave, Tim, Dom and Paul for putting up with my general clumsiness and endless questions. And they never even sent me for a bag of steam or striped paint once…..Thanks guys!

James Andrews

Dave spent his usual weekend on site, this time removing pipework in no.1 end clean air compartment to allow it's cleaning & refurbishment. Ian & Pete are currently reassembling power unit valvegear & fitting cork gaskets between the various cylinder head covers. I fitted a missing copper strip between two of the rad fan contactors. I had had a suitable piece for some time, but needed to copy the mounting holes from another 50, so copied it from the same piece in Thunderer. I also hunted out & found a copper busbar I had retrieved some time ago from a scrap 31 to cut a piece from the reverser to no.2 motor contactor. I also found a suitable piece of Paxolin board from our stock to cut pieces for the rad fan electronic unit we are having made for us. As Ian and I missed the pre-Chrismtas curry due to the weather, after we finished at Rowsley, we went for one at the Maazi in Matlock, and very nice it was too, but yours truly had a coughing fit when some mint sauce went down the wrong way & frightened the waiters.

We will be having a work party on site at Rowsley South, Peak Rail, over the weekend of 25-26 February. There will be plenty to do for anyone wanting to come along even as just a "pair of hands". RRRG members will be on site from around 09:30 on Saturday morning and everyone is welcome to attend - member James Andrews has already confirmed he will attend his first work party on that weekend and we would love to welcome other members, whether this will be your first or fiftieth working party! Use the comments on this post if you would like to let us know you're coming along. Tim and I will both be there too.

A few photos of work taking place on brake rigging equipment.  We have decided to move the bogie overhauls up our schedule as they are mostly cheap to do (we can do much of the work ourselves) and it frees up financial resources to spend on overhauling electrical equipment and preparing for the lifts we will need to do to swap power units between our locomotives.

After a thorough going-over with wire brushes by Mike Backler and myself, Tim further honed the areas of these parts that are too small for the wire brushes to get to.

Parts cleaned with the wire brushes which Tim hasn't yet honed internally but which got done later in the day.

I had the day off work on Friday. Dom worked an early half day in Theale and drove from Reading to Peterborough.

Technical Officer Chris Thorn had prepared some tasks for Dom, new volunteer Mike Backler and I to get our teeth in to for the next few months. This involves grinders with wire brushes so goggles are essential. However fogging up is a real pain. I therefore went to B&Q then Screwfix in search of some fog-free goggles. I bought two different pairs to test.

After arriving for lunch, Dom and I ventured to Tesco to buy supplies for the weekend and the accommodation/ mess coach BG1 generally. After unloading; our mascot Jack (black and white 4 year old russell/ collie cross) persuaded us to go to the Palmerston Alms in Woodston to meet Uncle John Pinion, fellow RRRG member, for refreshments.

Saturday found us delayed for the morning in Peterborough trying to sort out bringing Renownrepulse.com back from the dead. We spoke extensively to Dan Horton in Ripon who is going to host the new site. We also tried three different ways of getting a backup to him. We then loaded the car and set off about 1400 arriving at a snow covered Rowsley South 1615.

Dave Rolfe had arrived earlier on Saturday. It was -2c when he left Stourbridge but -7c on arrival at Rowsley. BG1 and BG2 doors were frozen and there was ice inside BG1. We transferred our stuff from the car to BG1 and set out our bedding in preparation for a very cold night. Dave had not brought non-work clothes so did not join us for the tramping through snow in to a fierce sleet blizzard on the footpath to the Church Inn at Darley Dale. Mike and his partner Lynne joined us for a few drinks while we discussed Mike's interest and our plans. The Shalimar at Rowsley kindly braved the snowdrifts to pick Dom and I up to invest in their fine cuisine. This set us up nicely for a short tramp through four inch deep snow to our beds.

Dave, Dom and I were up with daylight for breakfast and getting cracking on a number of jobs. My car read -5C but it was dry becoming sunny. Andy Rowlands, Mark Burrows, Ian Kemp, Peter Carter, Steve Tripp and Sarah McColl decided the road conditions were two hazardous to attend. Peak Rail had also decided to abandon services. The weather clearly put off other groups as for some of the day we were the only people on site. Rob Sanders did turn up with a signalling volunteer and they collected offcuts in order to assemble a staircase for the nicely restored signal cabin now resident at Matlock Riverside.

Dave showed us where the grinders, brushes and brake rigging were for us to remove for attention. I cleared the external work bench of snow and set up extension cables and the grinders. Mike arrived at 0930 and I showed him the ropes. Dom and Mike then spent most of the day removing these very heavy cast parts and brushing off rust and brake dust. I found drills and grinding stone bits and hand wire brushes and I cleaned up the bits the others could not reach. I also did the washing up, cleaned the worktop and removed the rubbish in an effort to discourage the mouse we have attracted recently.

Dave set off to vacuum out some underfloor areas in Repulse but could not as the dust had frozen! Instead he undertook some adjustments to a door on BG2 and took apart a hydraulic press in order to modify the better one we have acquired recently.

Mike says he enjoyed his first day with us and if any of our volunteers are up during Monday to Fridays then let me know as he may come along otherwise our next larger gathering is due for 25/26th February. Dave however will be up most Saturday and Sundays if anyone would like to join in.

We had some entertainment at the end of the day when my car battery was too weak to start the engine. We found jump leads but it refused to take a charge. We improvised a tow rope and Dave's 4-wheel drive pulled us out to Harrison Way and on the second attempt of bump starting BiG 06 WenDY fired, complained and started. Relief!

'Til next time. Tim

Chilly Repulse	RRRG area under snow

The wilderness at Rowsley, looking south

Birch forest at Rowsley - winter wonderland!