Great Gable News No. 159 - February 2009
Dear Club Members
Our 159th issue has 44004 at Tamworth as a cover picture on a day out discussed in our memories section. Club subscriptions have been reduced for those members renewing their subscription and choosing to receive the newsletter by e-mail.
To mark the 50th year of the Peaks, we are planning some promotional items, the first of which is a CD of peak sounds from all classes within the fleet. This has been created by Club member John Goodale who is known locally for recording sights and sounds of Sulzer locomotives, then and now. He has kindly donated some of his work for us to use for fund raising. The work will be advertised more widely soon but you can have the opportunity to get the CD first by mailing a cheque payable to Great Gable for £8.99 to the Club address above. The work will be available during February and includes 46 tracks of engine start ups, engine room sounds, 45054 generator flashover, recordings from inside the train, by the lineside and at stations. Considering the technology available at the time these are good quality recordings. Play it loud in your car and it will make you drive faster, especially when you hear 45036 storming out of Burton recorded from the first coach.
John Hett, long time Manager of the Midland Railway Butterley, died on January 1st after a long illness and a card of condolences was sent to the family by the working members who knew him very well.
44004 Great Gable has her batteries charged on a weekly basis. The engine was barred over (turned over by hand using a special tool) just after Christmas. It is planned for 44004 to move into the diesel shed at Swanwick for its bodywork repairs to be completed and a full repaint when 45108 as been completed. A repaint into green livery will follow as well as some electrical repairs to get her to go again. An engine serial number plate removed from 44004 years ago sold on e-bay for £35 but no one in the owning group won this item which could have been reunited with the loco.
45041 Royal Tank Regiment was drained of all coolant (as it does not carry any anti-freeze) on Saturday 22nd November. The locos batteries are charged on a weekly basis and the engine was barred over between Christmas and the New Year.
At the end of November work started to re-instate the full 4 character headcode at number 2 end of 45108, with the removal of the existing two piece headcode glass and route indicator mechanism. Following the removal of the nose crown and a thorough clean and repaint inside the nose end, the mechanism and larger route indicator glass was refitted. The nose end grills removed and repaired/painted from number 1 end have been refitted to the loco and the remaining engine body side grills have been removed for cleaning/painting. These grills should be refitted to the loco during February. On 28th December the power unit was barred over. The nose end crown at number 2 end was refitted on Sunday 25th January and only the nose end grills for number 2 end require cleaning and painting to complete this part of the restoration.
The plans have changed slightly regarding 45108 and it is now intended that the loco will receive a full repaint before it vacates the shed and its place in the shed is taken by 44004. 44004 requires completion of similar bodywork repairs to those of 45108 before it will be repainted. It is hoped that 45108 will be repainted into undercoat towards the end of February and receive its BR Blue top coat during March when warmer weather arrives.
D182 was booked to haul Santa Specials at the Midland Railway Centre and worked the 13:00 service from Butterley on Saturday 6th December. The following day, D182 worked the 13:00 and 14:35 services from Butterley but due to excessive steam leaks on the coaches, the boiler struggled to keep the train heated. D182 put away the empty coaches into the North siding at Butterley at the end of the day but when it was about to run light engine back to Swanwick shed, it would not take power.
The loco stubbornly refused to move when driving was attempted from either end so, following some quick fault finding which did not reveal the problem, D182 was hauled back to the shed at Swanwick by steam loco 73129. The fault proved tricky to locate and as a consequence other dates that the loco had been booked to work Santa Specials had to be worked by steam traction. On Sunday 28th December the power relay was found to be open circuit and when this was replaced the loco was run up and successfully tested for power. The boiler was also successfully tested. As the loco does not currently have anti-freeze in its coolant, it was drained down to protect it from the cold winter temperatures. The loco had its AVR (automatic voltage regulator) swapped with one off 47125.
The MRC asked about the availability of D182 for hauling a lunch train on Sunday 18th January, so the day before the loco was filled with water. 3 battery cells were also changed and D182 was successfully run up and the boiler tested in readiness for hauling services the following day. D182âs diagram for Sunday 18th January was altered by the MRC and the loco was booked to haul all of the services on the day. Unfortunately after running for a few hours on Saturday afternoon without problems, the loco shutdown when the train crew was changing ends. At such short notice, the MRC had to provide a steam loco to haul the services the following day. The loco was found to have burnt out its water coil relay which was replaced. All in all a bad winter for this loco which has been an reliable performer since returning to service fourteen years ago.
44008 Penyghent did not haul the Peak Rail Halloween special top and tailed with a steam loco as it had been booked to on Friday 31st October because the event was cancelled. D8 did haul Santa Special trains at Peak Rail in top and tail formation with a steam loco on 7th, 14th, 21st and 23rd December. Departures were from Rowsley South at 11:00, 12:35, 14:04 & 15:39 with D8 on the North end of the trains.
45060 Sherwood Forester has had new steel welded into the nose end floor at number 1 end where two air tanks stand. The air tanks themselves were sent away for pressure testing which they passed and they have been refitted to the loco. The instrument panel has been completed with a partial rewire and new stands have been fitted for the bulb holders. A new back panel for the instrument panel, with an access panel at the rear has also been fitted. The nose end has required considerable welding around the headcode boxes as Tinsley only tack welded them into place and used filler on any holes!
The nose end was re-fitted back into place on New Years Day and bolted down. The nose end has had new steel strips welded in along the top where the nose end grilles are fitted. The 2 headcode boxes for number 1 end have required some rebuilding where the steel had corroded. The 4 headcode box hinges needed soaking in diesel fuel to free them off, before the headcode boxes were refitted. The nose end crown from number one end was also found to have corroded badly which has meant that all of the rotten steel work needed to be cut out with new metal welded in.
The sheets were removed from 45105 at the beginning of December to allow the loco to be started.
The loco was started but would not keep running and the fault was traced back to the AVR where, once removed, two faults were discovered with it. Once a replacement AVR was fitted to the loco it was started up successfully and ran for about half and hour without problems. Unfortunately, the triple pump failed and the loco shutdown again. Problems were expected as the loco has only been run on a few occasions since it was preserved back in May 1993. 45105 was withdrawn on the 11th May 1987 so its overhaul from the condition it was bought in is not surprisingly a long and drawn out affair.
45112 The Royal Army Ordnance Corps was used to test the ETH on some coaches over Christmas at Barrow Hill. The loco has been suffering with starting problems recently where loco fires and turns over okay, but it shuts down immediately the start lever is released. As a consequence, a fault finding plan was required. It was thought that the problem with the loco was that it shuts down when the generator is loaded up, so the problem maybe with one of the systems that starts once the start lever is released. As a consequence the fuses that allow the traction motor blowers and compressors were removed and the loco started without a problem and kept running. This allowed the coach ETH supply to be tested successfully. To date one compressor fuse has been put back and the loco starts and continues to run okay. Further fault finding is needed, but other work priorities mean that the loco is still down the queue for the fitting of OTMR. It is planned for the loco to be used test ETH on further coaches as necessary.
45118 The Royal Artilleryman remains securely locked up in the sidings at Northampton whilst an insurance claim is investigated. Since the loco was broken into and many of the copper cables were removed by a metal thief, the culprit has been caught. The individual was arrested removing cable on the West Coast mainline and using DNA evidence was found to be responsible for the cable theft on locos at Northampton. It is understood that a quote for the work to repair the loco is been put together by RVEL.
D123 worked its booked Santa Special dates at the Great Central Railway, in top and tail mode with steam loco 63601 on December 13th and 14th. Due to a late delivery of fuel for D123, D6535 hauled the first two Santa Special services on Monday 22nd, with D123 replacing it once it had been fuelled, for the other two services. D123 then hauled the Santa Special services on 23rd and 24th December as booked, again top and tailed with steam loco 63601. On 3rd January D123 was hauled by D5401 twice from Loughborough to Leicester North and propelled back to Loughborough as test runs for D5401 prior to the diesel running event the following weekend. Tuesday 6th January saw D123 haul the brake down crane from Loughborough to Leicester North so that the crane could be used to lift sections of the platform canopy into position.
The Great Central Railway advertised some diesel running over the weekend of 10th/11th January with one of the Irish steam heat coaches being marshalled into one of the train sets to provide heating. Originally the diesels booked to work at the event were D5185, D5401, D6535 and 37314 and the event was billed as a type 2 and 3 event. Unfortunately D5185 had to be withdrawn from the event due to electrical problems and when 37314 was checked over the weekend before the event it was found to be completely frozen up due to the very low temperatures experienced in the first week of January. As a consequence, 37314 had to be dropped from the event and replaced by D123.
Problems with all 3 diesels on the Saturday morning of the event due to the extreme weather temperatures overnight, coupled with a points failure, resulted in the first diesel hauled trip of the weekend departing Loughborough behind D123 some 57 minutes late.
By lunchtime the timetable was back on course and a good turn-out for the event resulted in the railways management deciding to repeat the event next year.
Once the problems with temperature were overcome by the 3 diesels, they ran without problems over the reminder of the two day event, although D5401 was found to be a bit low on power. As a consequence of this, it was stopped by its owners for investigation so the following Saturday (17th January) D123 hauled the 12:15 Loughborough to Leicester North and 13:00 return service rather than the booked D5401. The following day, D6535 was to have stood in for D5401 on the diesel turn, but the cold weather must have got to it again and it had to be replaced by D123 on the 12:15 service. D123 rounded up the period under review by hauling the 12:15 Loughborough to Leicester North and 13:00 return service on Saturday 24th January.
D123 is booked to haul the diesel service on Saturday 21st February and take part in the GCR 1960âs event which is being held over the weekend of 21st/22nd March. D123 is provisionally booked to appear on the Sunday of the 1960âs event alongside D5185 and D5401 as well as 4 steam locos. D123 is also provisionally to be used on some 75mph slip-testing runs as part of the testing a new type of low wagon.
The engine room painting of 45133 has been put on hold due to the damp weather but the battery boxes are in the process of been repainted with acid resistant paint in readiness for the fitting of a new set of batteries in the Spring.
45135 3rd Carabinier has had the urinal, water tank and associated pipe work removed and all of the air pipes below the floor have been cut out in readiness for replacement pipes to be fitted. It is not expected for 45135 to return to traffic during 2009 due to the amount of outstanding work to be undertaken as part of the locos overhaul.
45149 has had its engine room roof overhauled. The work required re-plating to be undertaken at the top of the roof between the access doors. The doors, hinge pins and hinges themselves were all removed to gain access to the rotten plate work. It was found the most of the hinge pins had been bent from where fitters had walked on the top of the doors. It was also discovered that when the doors were opened the pins moved with the door, so the group needed to use a brazing torch in order to heat up the hinges to separate the pins and the hinges. BR used 2BA grub screws to hold the pins, but the group believed the grub screws were inadequate for the job and so when refitting the doors the pins were welded to the holders. The aluminium roof doors practically fell apart where the rivets had corroded and over the Christmas period, 1 door was dismantled cleaned & re-riveted. Some hinges were found to be twisted so they had to be straightened and both doors needed to be completely re-riveted before everything was re-fitted. Several roof clamps on 45149 were missing so the group made replacements. Pictures of the work being done on the roof as well as other work that the group have completed on the loco can be found in the gallery http://www.preserved-iesels.co.uk/engines/45149_ohaul_index.htm. The only outstanding item needed to complete this job is the door seal which looks like it maybe be the most expensive part of the of whole roof door restoration. After some filling and painting in etch primer, the roof section will be refitted to the loco as there is nowhere to store it at Toddington.
The rebuild of number 2 end nose section is nearing completion and all of the cab gauge pipe work on the driverâs side along with the brake valves have been re-fitted. All of the instruments have had brake dust removed and then sprayed. The instrument panel has also been refitted. The traction motor blower motor has been reassembled after its bearings had been inspected and the snail shaped housing the traction motor blower was refitted over the weekend of 17th/18th January. It is hoped that by February the group will be reassembling the cab. On the engine, two of the original injectors were found to be faulty so a batch acquired from 47146 are to be tested to give a complete set. The tappets will then be set-up. One of the generator brush boxes has been sent to Anstey & Ware. The springs were broken due to corrosion but with a minimum order of 25 means a bill of £1000, so the group are after a cheaper option. If anyone reading this has any ideas on a cheaper alternative then please let us know.
A recent issue of Railways Illustrated stated that 45149 is to return to the mainline. The group would like it known that this is not the case and they donât know where the quote came from. Finally if you are interested where the set of air horns advertised on e-Bay just before Christmas ended up, you should be able to hear them when 45149 returns to service as they are to be fitted in the number 2 end cab.
46010 No acceptable bid has been made for it when all of the Llangollen diesels were offered for sale and so the diesel group hope that the loco will remain at Llangollen. No work has been done to the loco over the period under review.
Mikes Memories A day out with Great Gable
Interest in the final years of any loco fleet brings with it a demand from enthusiasts to use them on railtour and this was the case for our own 44004 Great Gable on April 23rd 1977. This tour was arranged by the Locomotive Club of Great Britain and started at Liverpool behind 40090 which handed over to 37091 at Rother wood sidings east of Sheffield which took the tour down to Toton where 44004 took charge. Heading off on a circular tour the first stop was for photographs at Tamworth station from 13.35 to 13.47. This was a busy main line even on a Saturday in 1977 and 1V91 11.40 Newcastle â Bristol would be getting near whilst the photographers bagged a shot. On the platform looking at the loco appears to be Mike Jacob who was later responsible for persuading the London Midland Region of British Rail to put 44004 & 44008 up for sale when withdrawn.
Toton maintenance staff have cleaned the loco and repainted the yellow nose end but apparently could not find her nameplates in the stores at the depot to refit for the afternoon. Since Class 44s only worked out and back from Toton by this time, the thought of an afternoon round trip locally through the Midlands must have been as attractive to the Toton freight crew as it was to us local enthusiasts. Normally we would have to travel overnight to get on a railtour but to enjoy one in our own back yard was wonderful.
After the Tamworth photo stop, the tour continued via Lifford West Junction, through Birmingham New Street and then Hinckley (for a second photo stop but I couldnât be bothered to get out) and Leicester to Toton. You can read about the timings and route in greater deal on my friend Gary Thorntonâs website called Six Bells Junction which contains listings of many tours run over the years. The same selection of English Electric diesel returned the tour to Liverpool. I wonder who owns that modest headboard now?
My day started with a Derby based Swindon built DMU ride to Stoke for AM10 unit 082 to Manchester where my friends and I got on the tour. I got off at Leicester on the way back because the tour stopped in platform 1 for a few minutes. I then took 45122 to Nottingham (1E41) continuing with 45109 to Chesterfield, 45030 to Sheffield (1E63), 45020 to Derby (1V98), then 45117 + 45102 to Leicester (1M84) returning home to Nottingham on 45123.
44008 also made a local round trip in September 1977 heading east to March and Spalding. This took the route in daily use by the remaining Class 44s which had regular work on the thrice daily Toton â Whitemoor freight trains until the end of their days in 1980. I must try and dig a photo out of that trip for future use here since these two tours were not photographed as widely as the Peaks Express tours from London to Manchester and the final BR run railtour of January 21st 1978. The end of Class 44 operation on November 30th 1980 came a little later than everyone thought at the time.
Next newsletter out during the first week of April 2009. Contributions should be submitted to the Club address by any convenient medium for inclusion by the end of March. You can help our restoration work by making a donation to the Club when your subscription is renewed and also by choosing to receive the newsletter by e-mail. Look out for railways illustrated in February. Normally dedicated to English Electric traction we are promised a selection of pictures to celebrate the end of Class 45 operations in 1988.