Great Gable News No. 156 - August 2008
Dear Members,
Welcome to our 156th edition of Great Gable News. Our cover photo sees 45077 north of Loughborough twenty four years ago on 30/7/84 hauling a train that includes refrigerator wagons registered in Italy. She has collected these and some of the more usual air braked stock from Nuneaton as train 6D24 12.45 Willesden Brent Yard – Toton Old Bank Speedlink service due to arrive at 17.41. Read more about this location in our memories feature.
The Peak Locomotive Company met for its Annual general Meeting in June to discuss activities affecting the owning company and its locomotives. One topic discussed was the possibility of main line operation for one of its locos and feedback was requested from the shareholders to gauge interest. Any Club members interested in supporting this idea should register their interest with the Club secretary at mk44004@msn.com
44004 Great Gable has seen sanding down of the bodywork completed although some bodywork welding repairs are required before the locos repaint into green livery can be started. The number 2 cab is in the process of having a refit and an internal battery charger has been fitted to the loco and awaits the attention of the electricians to complete this part of the restoration project. Body work repairs are being made simultaneously with 45108 which is at the same stage of external restoration.
45041 Royal Tank Regiment hauled the 11:00, 12:05, 13:45, 15:15 and 16:15 services from Butterley on Sunday 15th June as part of a diesel and steam running event. The loco then had no planned work in the diary until the East Lancs Railway requested it in place of D182 which was unable to attend their summer diesel gala as had been originally planned. 45041 fortunately has a valid certificate of examination from its previous air system examination, but required an ultra-sonic axle test which is a check to ensure that the axles do not have any flaws in them. Urgent attention and planning took place to ensure the ultra-sonic axle test was carried out on Thursday 19th June so she could stand in for D182. No issues were discovered during the subsequent axle and vehicle examinations which allowed the loco to be hauled over the national rail network.
On Thursday 26th June, 40145 called in at the Midland Railway – Butterley to collect 45041 and haul it to the East Lancs Railway. The class 40 had already visited the Severn Valley Railway to collect 37901 and 37906 earlier in the day. 0Z45 the 11:45 Kidderminster to Heywood Ground Frame (the East Lancs Railway mainline connection) departed Ironville 24 minutes early at 16:25 and ran via Chesterfield, Chinley and Guide Bridge, arriving at Castleton Junction 30 minutes early at 19:40. At Castleton Junction trains from the South are required to reverse in order to run down the branch to Heywood Ground Frame, the mainline connection with the East Lancs Railway. Castleton Junction is very busy and finding a path to allow a run-round is often very difficult. Rather than run the class 40 around at this busy Junction, as is often the case, the rear-most diesel is fired up and it hauls the convoy down to Heywood Ground frame and on-to the East Lancs Railway. On this occasion, the rear-most loco was 45041, so the loco worked under its own power on Network Rail metals!
45041 was booked to haul trains over 5 days of the 9 day ELR gala event. On Saturday 28th June the loco hauled services all day, starting with the 09:00 Bury to Rawtenstall and finishing with the 17:20 Rawtenstall to Bury. On subsequent days (1st, 4th, 5th and 6th July) the loco shared services with other diesels. Over the event the loco clocked up some 280 miles of passenger service without incident and several ELR drivers were very complementary about it.
45041 returned from the East Lancs Railway on Tuesday 15th July, being hauled by 40145 in the company of D1023, 31108 and 37906. D1023 was delivered to Barrow Hill, 31108 and 45041 were hauled to Ironville and 40145 then hauled 37906 back to its home at the Severn Valley Railway. The convoy left the East Lancs Railway as 0Z40 the 06:47 Heywood to Kidderminster and following the delivery of D1023 at Barrow Hill arrived 52 minutes early at Ironville, the mainline connection of the MRC at 11:22, where 31108 and 45041 were left.
45041 took part in the MRC ‘Anything Goes’ event over the weekend of 19th/20th July hauling 2 return services from Swanwick Junction on Sunday 20th July at 11:50 and 16:00. It is expected that 45041 along with the other resident Peaks will take part in the Works Open Day recreation event at the MRC over the August Bank Holiday Weekend as well as the MRC diesel gala which is being held over the weekend of 6th/7th September.
45108 About two thirds of its bodywork has been rubbed down and painted in green primer. The loco has ‘joined the queue’ with 44004 for its bodywork to be addressed as some of the locos bodywork panels need to be replaced. Internally the loco has had a general clean and tidy up. 45108 has moved inside the main repair bay of the museum building at Swanwick for weld repairs to continue due to a shortage of other work for the MRB staff at the end of July. It is hoped that the bodywork repairs will be completed in time for the loco to have been painted into undercoat in time for the MRC ‘Works Open Day’ recreation event which is being held over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
D182 was invited to attend the East Lancashire Railways Diesel Gala but during the process of ensuring that the loco was fit to travel to the ELR it was found that the loco had a large hole in its silencer box. This problem had been present for some time but developed to dangerous proportions during use at the North Yorkshire Moors railway May diesel event. As a consequence the engine room around the silencer box showed signs of considerable carbon deposits from exhaust that had escaped from the silencer through the hole rather than through the exhaust port. There was concern that the generator, which sits directly below the silencer, had also been contaminated with carbon deposits and without being thoroughly cleaning, a risk of flashover damage could occur. As a consequence, the decision was regrettably made a few days before the East Lancs event to withdraw the loco from traffic until the generator has been cleaned and the hole in the silencer was been repaired.
The silencer was craned out of the loco on Sunday 29th June and when shot blasted it was discovered that the whole of the bottom of the box was rotten. While the silencer is removed for repairs, the opportunity was taken to repaint and reseal the roof and the surrounding area once cleaned of all of the excess carbon exhaust deposits. Steel sheet was ordered and weld repairs completed by the MRB workshop staff allowing the silencer to be placed backing the loco on Saturday July 26th. Pipe connections were assembled next day and the loco started to prove the success of the repair. Next job is to clean the engine room and generator to remove the exhaust carbon deposits for safe operation.
44008 Penyghent was expected to feature in a Diesel and Steam event over the weekend of 28th/29th June, but this event was cancelled at the last minute due to the high fuel prices coupled with locomotive availability. The loco is next allocated to haul trains at the Peak Rail Diesel Gala which is being held over the weekend of 20th/21st September as well as a D8 running day on 4th October where the loco is planned to haul all of the railways services.
45060 Sherwood Forester still awaits the return of its main generator which is being repaired following the flashover it suffered last year. Pictures of the damage to the generator and the on-going work on 45060 including pictures taken on visits to Bowers where the generator is being repaired can be found at http://carl9188.fotopic.net/ 45060 has provisionally been booked to appear at the Swanage Diesel Gala on Friday 8th until Sunday 10th May 2009 after it missed out this year due to its generator problems.
Progress on 45105 is coming along very well. The number one end nose end has been totally re-wired with the cab having 75% of its wiring replaced to date. Replacement cable has been fitted to the nose end traction motor blower and the blower itself has been bolted down to the floor following the fitting of replacement seals. The master controller has had new bearings fitted as part of its re-assembly and the locos start switch has been overhauled. All of the air pipes in the nose end have been refitted on a temporary basis but two need replacing as they were found to be heavily corroded. Holes have been drilled into the new nose end floor plate to allow the temporary fitting of the two large air tanks.
The vacuum exhauster has been refitted into its correct position under the locos brake frame following overhaul. When the vacuum exhauster was stripped down for overhaul it was found to be in a reasonable condition. All of the batteries fitted to the loco (that were latterly from 45007/012) have been removed to allow the battery trays to be modified so that heavier class 37 or 47 batteries (which are easier to source) can be fitted. Replacement batteries were fitted recently and the loco started on Sunday 20th July, 4 years since the engine last ran.
45112 The Royal Army Ordnance Corps can be found at Barrow Hill, where it was moved to receive work for a proposed return to mainline service. The locos control circuits and fuses were examined and a large earth fault was discovered with the sanding pedal in number 2 cab, with the sanding button stuck down. With the earth fault fixed, the loco was successfully started. Further work is on-going to try and ensure that the electrical problems encountered at the Dartmoor Railway last year have been eliminated and the loco has been driven around successfully at Barrow Hill. The batteries only required some 15 minutes charge on each bank before the successful start was achieved (the first start of the loco for 8 months). It is planned for the loco to be checked electrically before OTMR equipment (which has been delivered) is fitted to the loco. It is hoped that the loco will work some of the shuttles planned for the Barrow Hill August Bank Holiday Diesel Gala Event (Friday 22nd – Monday 25th).
45118 The Royal Artilleryman has had a replacement Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR) fitted at the end of May. With 45118 being out of service due to its problematic AVR, the recently repaired 31289 worked the Sunday services on the railway (which still has no serviceable steam locomotive) until Sunday 22nd June. On Sunday 22nd June 31289 suffered battery problems and 45118 was called into service with the loco working the 14:45 and 15:45 trips. Investigation into 31289’s batteries found that a replacement set was required, so 45118 has worked the railways services on Sunday’s 29/06, 06/07, 13/07 and 20/07. A steam locomotive on the railway is currently under overhaul and should be available for traffic towards the beginning of August.
D123 hauled the GCR’s diesel turn of 12:15 and 14:15 ex. Loughborough and return on Saturday 31st May as 33116 (the booked loco to haul the services) was undergoing bodywork repairs and a repaint. D123 hauled the diesel services again the following day. D123 was called into action on Sunday 15th June due to the failure of GWR steam loco 4141 and hauled the 12:55 Loughborough to Leicester North and 13:40 return. The locos next workings were at the railways Windcutter Gala where the main focus is on steam and diesel locos hauling the Windcutter freight wagons. D123 hauled the 18 wagons, together with a brake van at each end several times from Loughborough to Rothley and back over the weekend of 21st/22nd June recreating an image of a very different railway scene from today.
Some work on a coach at Rothley on Thursday 10th July required the use of a large air compressor and the one available at Rothley carriage shed was discovered not to be up to the job. As a consequence, D123 ran light engine from Loughborough and was used as a mobile compressor for 6 hours. With no driver available for the class 47 allocated to haul the diesel service on July 13th, D123 was substituted but only the 12:15 service was diesel hauled as a ‘spare’ steam loco was available to haul the 14:15 departure from Loughborough and return.
D123 hauled the diesel service on both Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th July, the Saturday was in place of 33116 which is still in Loughborough shed receiving bodywork repairs and a repaint. D123 is booked to haul the diesel services again over both days of the weekend 30th/31st August although if the bodywork repairs and repaint of 33116 is complete by the August weekend, 33116 will haul the diesel services on Saturday 30th. D123 is expected to take part in the GCR diesel gala which is being held from Friday 12th until 14th September.
45132 has had its generator disconnected from the engine and the machine was lifted out of the loco by the Mid Hants railway diesel crane and sent away for repair on Tuesday July 29th. The locos air intake box has been restored but the engine silencer is in need of fabrication repairs. A replacement set of batteries will also be required.
Work on 45133 continues and a full repaint into BR Blue livery is expected to have been completed in time for the Midland Railway – Butterley’s Works Open day re-enactment which is being held over the August Bank Holiday. It is hoped that the mechanical and electrical repairs to the loco will be complete to allow a start-up of the ex-works loco at the event.
45135 3rd Carabinier is currently having pistons and cylinder liners repaired/overhauled, with the cylinder heads to follow. The locos heat exchanger is planned to be exchanged as part of the on-going work. It is hoped that the loco will return to traffic during mid-2009, which gives some idea of the amount of work that is planned for the loco. All of the fuel pumps have been removed from one bank on the power unit to allow the area behind the pumps to be cleaned and repainted. The complete area has now been painted gloss grey.
45149 has seen the rocker gear refitted to the power unit with the valve gaps still to be set. The traction motor blower and compressor extracted from the cab of 45128, also owned by the group (and can be seen in Toddington yard), have been removed and an overhaul is underway on each. It has been discovered that the compressor dates back to 1974. Replacement carbon brushes are being manufactured by a company and in an attempt to reduce the cost through a bulk purchase so if any other groups want replacement carbon brushes for Crompton Parkinson compressor motors then the 45149 owning group would be glad to hear from them. Details can be found for anyone with Internet access on the Preserved Diesels Forum under the topic ‘Loco Owners and Groups’.
The bogies of 45149 have been sprayed in gloss black following many hours of cleaning with a needle gun and wire brushes. Number 2 end buffer beam is still to be cleaned and painted and a pair of class 08 buffers has been obtained to replace those at number two end. A set of second-hand batteries have also recently been fitted to the loco. The group have also overhauled an engine lifting beam obtained from Crewe Works and belonging to the GWR diesel group. The lifting beam has been inspected and certified by Castle Lifting of Cradley Heath. It will be used to close another chapter in the locos restoration when the power unit is lifted back into the loco which should happen on Monday August 4th.
The planned start up of 46010 was not possible at the end of May but it is hoped to happen sometime in the next few weeks. The loco is still awaiting shed space at Llangollen to allow bodywork repairs to begin. The Llangollen Diesel Group has been taking stock of their locos and the number of regular volunteers that work on them. With 5 mainline locos to maintain and the group being fairly small in number coupled with some of the distances that the working members travel, the decision to reduce the size of the diesel fleet has reluctantly been made. The Llangollen Diesel Group have advertised all of their fleet of locos (D8142, 25313, 37240, 46010 and D1566) available for sale by competitive tender with a closing date of 31st July 2008. Not surprisingly, there has been considerable interest in some of the locos. It maybe remembered that 46010 was delivered to Llangollen minus its power unit due to weight restrictions on the route taken from Doncaster Shed to Llangollen which any prospective purchaser needs to take into account.
46035 Ixion rests at the Crewe Heritage Centre with many parts removed for an overhaul that started when the loco was at Leeds Midland Road Freightliner Depot but through pressure of other work was stopped. Nothing has been done to the loco since its arrival at the Heritage Centre at Crewe and whilst all of the parts removed are securely stored it is looking increasing unlikely that the loco will see any work on it anytime soon.
Next Newsletter out during the first week in October for which contributions should be received electronically or otherwise at the Club address during the preceding week. Donate you subscription fee directly to the restoration of our fleet by electing to receive your newsletter electronically as a word document and jpg picture file by mailing your request to mk44004@msn.com. It would be lovely if you could do this.
Mikes Memories A place in the country
There is a country lane that connects the villages of Stanford on Soar and Normanton on Soar north of Loughborough and from a bend in the road begins a footpath which crosses the fields next to the Midland mainline. I discovered this right of way back in 1984 one afternoon when exploring locations accessible by road and foot using my ordnance survey maps. Before long 45056 happened by with empty ballast trucks heading for the stone terminal either in Loughborough yard or at Barrow on Soar returning later that afternoon. What was unusual about the location at that time is that there was a public crossing over all four tracks that was not boarded so occasionally you would see families and dog walkers treading over the rails of the mainline in between high speed trains. The path is now diverted underneath through a tunnel to remove this trap which I have almost fallen into myself whilst crossing the line.
What immediately appealed to me about this place is the solitude even though it is only about half a mile away from a housing estate in Loughborough. Thankfully the river Soar forms a useful boundary and keeps out visitors who may try to disturb the solitude from the south. As well as solitude and a good camera angle (before the path was closed where it crossed the line) there is a lot of wildlife to watch in between trains such as Kingfishers, Swifts, Dragon flies and fish plus the local farmer and his animals. I went there often whilst the Peaks were running where the afternoon sun was in a good position for photography both ways and a selection of freight services could run such as the Speedlink trip shown on the cover. There were also the Flyash trains from the local power stations, coal trains to and from Toton yard, ballast trains to the afore mentioned terminals amongst many others. When I have had time I have spent all afternoon there sitting on the fence beside the line enjoying the peace and quiet whilst waiting for that elusive yellow Peak nose to appear around the gentle curve from the south or north.
Towards the end of Class 46 operation with British Rail in 1984, I bagged a few shots here in one week in that summer when the last few members seemed to be operating locally but the film never came out which was a great disappointment. Over the fields in the distance can be seen the former Great Central railway now part of the GCR North over which Great Gable has run in recent years. I remember seeing a Class 45 and an observation saloon travelling north over that branch to Ruddington and set off in hot pursuit never to catch up and photograph it.
I have returned to this spot over the years in search of some country walking, wildlife and solitude and my sons enjoy it there too now. I even sponsored a school trip for some special needs children in my youngest son’s class to visit there after hearing that they were learning about village life – in India of all places! What use is that to anyone? I was so annoyed at the misguided use of school time studying distant places in the name of political correctness that I offered to pay for a school outing to my favourite spot in the country. It was so successful we did it twice and the children learned about the countryside, the country code and that wild animals can be seen outside rather than on TV and don’t always live in zoos, jars or tanks! They also learned that there is nothing finer than the English countryside on a glorious summer day.
Today, of course the trains have changed but the river still flows, the animals are about and the big trees that form a backdrop for 45077 are large as ever. HSTs still speed by there every hour with their turbos screaming and smelling nicely of healthy diesel exhaust – a reminder of the glory days of the Peaks which spent their entire lives stomping up and down this route. Without wanting to sound morbid I think I would like my ashes spreading there too.