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Restoration diary

Reports of restoration work on 50029 and 50030.

Work party report 15th October 2017

Work party report 15th October 2017
​Carl Looker and his daughter Sofia put a third coat of black on the radiator room floor, than cleaned four of the rear mounting plates for the rad fan resistors which go above the walkways alongside the rads. There are three each side. The plates were only very lightly corroded as they get covered in dust and debris drawn in through the rad grille...
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Work party report 8th October 2017

​Dave Rolfe and I were at Rowsley on Sunday 8th October: it was not the most successful of days but we got a bit done.We tried to take the radiator breather pipes off 50029, but she absolutely refused to help her sister and wouldn't relinquish said breather pipes. The bolts were just too rusted and tight, and the access to the bolts very restr...
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Working party report 25th October 2015

Working party report 25th October 2015
The work party was attended by Dave Rolfe and myself plus Mark Burrows in the morning. Mark dropped off a set of cab desk panels for me to take a look at, then spent the rest of the morning searching through our stores of other cab parts. The panels appear to be in good condition but are missing the speedometer.  We have this item in stock els...
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Working party report 3rd October 2015

Working party report 3rd October 2015
Ian Kemp, Peter Carter and Dave Rolfe fitted two oil filter housings to the power unit,  and cut down a spare to make a further shallow one (which Dave welded up), so they can pump oil round the power unit when we get to that stage. I fitted three cubicle doors I had left to dry last work party, cleaned two large ones and topcoate...
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Work party report 5th October 2014

Work party report 5th October 2014

Ian, Pete and Dave spent the day unfastening the bolts to allow the main generator fan to be removed.  The fan is between the generator and power unit (but bolted to the main generator itself) and is normally hidden by the surrounding cowling. It sucks in cold air from under the body to help cool the gen and the cowling keeps the air circulating round the gen rather than blowing it all round the engine compartment. It has to come out to give access to the next layer of bolts that actually connect the engine to the generator. This proved to be a very fiddly task in the limited space between the fan and engine block.  Ian is seen proudly displaying his dirty hands after the day's work!

 
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I continued cutting and fitting the cubicle air circuit, with the same difficulties as before, today was the turn of the field divert contactors. The pipe itself is easy to bend and the olives go on fine, it's getting my hands and a spanner to the connections round all the cables that's the problem. I should have done these pipes first before cabling, but as ever, wise after the event.
 
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CU5 replacement under construction

CU5 replacement under construction

One of the electronic control units in a Class 50 locomotive is the CU5 radiator fan control unit.  It works together with the CU4 coolant flow control unit under the control of the CU1 main control unit to maintain the correct cooling water temperature by adjusting the speed of the radiator fan.  Both RRRG's locomotives are missing this unit.  The original was designed by Hawker-Siddeley for English Electric and utilises components that, by the standards of the 21st century, are thoroughly obsolete.

A good friend of RRRG, based at the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway, offered his services to construct a compatible replacement unit using modern electronics - needless to say, we were and are extremely grateful for this offer!  Shown here is the item which is now nearly complete.  The main circuit board has been deliberately left unattached to the case at this stage, as the next step is to test the unit by connecting to a suitable 110 volts DC source in order to ensure it performs correctly.

An original unit was borrowed from the 50021 Loco Association, and this new unit has been produced to resemble it physically, while using greatly-simplified circuits (as the original was over-complex for what it needed to do), modern components and utilising a small programmable microprocessor to replicate many of the functions of the original.  We will provide more updates on this sub-project when they become available.

 

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Have you got your 2014 Class 50 calendar yet?

Have you got your 2014 Class 50 calendar yet?

Our A4-sized appointments calendar Class 50s Now and Then is still available from our online shop!  Priced at £6.95 plus P&P, each month features important dates in Class 50 history such as dates of introduction or namings.  The calendar is produced to the same high quality finish as the Rail Photoprints/Platform 5 series.  October 2014 features shots of 50015 Valiant at Bury Bolton Street station in a night shoot at the East Lancashire Railway in January 2011 by Mark Burrows and in Dutch livery at Hereford in 1991 by Chris Holland.

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October 31st 2010

Ian & Pete fitted three pistons and two heads during the day, Chris B continued working in the no.2 cab of Repulse refitting internal panelling, and I fitted several 16mm & 35mm cables I had crimped new lugs on, where the originals had been cut off & fortunately they were still long enough to re-fit them without incident.

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October 17th 2010

Very busy weekend on site. 50037 saw another two days effort on body preparations for its repaint. Vast amounts of filler were also removed from under the driver's screen revealing the full extent of the dents from a major impact sometime between 1982 and 1984. 50029 saw the spare cubicle doors removed from no 2 cab for storage in BG2. 50008's engine received further attention with more water jacket elbows refitted and head tightening. BG1 had a major tidy up after racking had to be dismantled to enable a new workbench to be loaded within it. And finally both locomotives were winterised with heavy tarpaulins fitted to keep the weather out of the engine rooms over the winter. Bodies on site Chris Dom Tim Pete Steve Sarah Dave Tom Chris.

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October 18th 2009

Chris T, his brother Tom & Dave R all spent the weekend on site again. Chris appears to have turned into our resident pipe fitter, with three more air pipes for the brake frame fabricated in the clean air room. He fabricated a new section of conduit for the fire bottle activation cable in the thin man's passage, making all four runs complete. Six internal doors had replacement locks and handles fitted making all these complete. In No.2 cab all exposed conduits were cleaned up & painted in primer. The window quarterlights were removed & the steelwork behind cleaned up. His brother Tom continued work in No.1 cab, which looks pretty good now, with most of the interior surfaces cleaned & painted, and all the rear bulkhead equipment & the roof lights refitted. Chris B examined the four brake cylinders Mark B brought with him, finding two good ones, one that may be usable & one scrap one. He then cut & drilled pieces of steel which Mark, after tidying up the sales stock, fitted on the inside of the opening doors we are not using in the BG to make it more secure. Ian & Pete freed off & lubricated the cam followers on 'B' bank. The four suspect inlet/exhaust cams cleaned up okay, so hopefully the camshafts will not now have to be removed. The tarp was removed from the power unit so Mark B could phot progress & more oil was smeared round the inside of the liners. I cleaned & fitted the contact tips to no.s 2 & 3 field divert contactors, likewise the copper braids to the no.3 contactor & started reassembling the no.3 auxiliary contact block.

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October 4th 2009

As some of you will have heard, in the last game of the season, seven weeks ago, I blew my left knee out again, and today was my first time back on the railway. A new consignment of engine parts had arrived with Ian, but the supplier was apparently out of stock of oil rings, so he, Pete & Dave decided to look at the camshafts. Generally they are in good condition but some cams are rusty and will need replacing from our stock of spares. They replaced one of the four defective fuel pump cams, but have not yet decided on some suspect inlet/exhaust cams which are pressed onto the shaft, therefore necessitating removal/dismantling of camshafts. After re-acquainting myself with where I had left the cubicle wiring, Dave helped me re-fit the third main Field Divert contactor, which I had stripped & overhauled whilst recovering from my knee injury at home. These contactors are heavy and notoriously difficult to fit, due to the usual space constraints, so we were both surprised when it mounted first time with no trouble. I then fitted the copper braids that I had cleaned to the no.2 contactor & got a spare contact section for the auxiliary contact block for the no.3 contactor, as one was heavily corroded & broke when I stripped it for cleaning.

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