Dear Club Members

Welcome to our Christmas issue number 164. We can look back on a great year for our locos in an operating season which ended with Great Gable’s celebration weekend in September and during the closed season now regularly sees three out of our four locos worked on each Sunday. Our cover view shows 97404 inside the shed on the Mickleover test track back in 1989, the story behind which is explained in this issues Mike’s Memories. We have a selection of Sulzer and Peak related items for sale so please support our activities by buying some.

44004 Great Gable was drained of coolant on Sunday 11^th October in readiness for a move into the Museum building at Swanwick, where the loco will be on display when not in operation. Whilst the loco has been in the museum building, the burnt wiring (which occurred during the locos 50^th anniversary event) has been replaced with new (£300). A replacement tufnol board (£75) for fitting into the electrical cubicle is also in the process of being drilled ready for fitting. Material to replace the burnt traction motor link has been dug out of our stores container along with some material kindly provided by the Class 45/1 Preservation Society to allow its repair. A replacement earth fault relay is also to be fitted.

A picture of D4 and steam loco 13809 appeared in the Derby Evening Telegraph on Wednesday 18^th November in the bygones section and asked for any information on the picture. D4 was carrying a Peak Silver Jubilee headboard and was in all over green livery so the picture would have been from September 1984 and taken during the last anniversary weekend when the loco was 25 years old as featured on the cover of #163 of Great Gable News earlier this year.

45041 Royal Tank Regiment was drained of coolant on Sunday 11^th October and the loco was moved into the diesel shed at Swanwick Jct to allow bodywork repairs to commence. At number 1 end, the Secondmans cab side was removed for replacement on Sunday 18^th October. The locos nose end louvre doors and tail lights were removed on Sunday 25^th when the rotten steelwork around the bottom of the nose ends cut out. The radiator grills were removed at the end of October and revealed major metal corrosion. It has also been found that the engine room roof has a crack in it due to corrosion which is a common problem with Peak locomotive roof sections.

All of the guttering from the number 2 end roof has been removed and both nose end crowns were removed on Sunday 22^nd November. There are still some areas of bodywork to be cut-out before a start is made to welding new steel on to the loco, but progress on the loco slowed during November due to the work required to get the steam heat boiler in D182 certified for use this winter. It is planned that 45041 will be repainted early in 2010 following its bodywork repairs as well as the loco having its air receivers certified to allow movement over Network Rail.

45108 has had the second end cover from its heat exchanger repaired (the other one has already been repaired) which involves shot blasting the covers to remove corrosion scale, weld repairs to fill any holes or thin sections then repainting. The water pipe feeding the water pressure switch has been patched up to repair corrosion damage and fitted. At number two cab, the ammeter has been replaced as it was stuck reading 1500 amps and the speedometer replaced at number one cab since it has a broken needle. A replacement bearing (£6) has been fitted under the power handle at number 2 end and the controller interlocking now works. A thorough electrical inspection and testing of the loco will continue in the coming months before a power test is attempted.

D182 required a boiler inspection for the loco to gain an insurance certificate to allow it to provide steam heating to services over the winter period. Normally a visual inspection of the boiler as well as a steam pressure test is sufficient to gain the paperwork for the loco to operate for a further 14 months.

Unfortunately as it is coming up to 10 years since the boiler was retubed by Northern Arc of Leicester, the boiler insurance inspector required the boiler to be removed for the loco and dismantled to allow a thorough examination including ultrasonic testing of the welds. The Spanner boiler was craned out of the loco in early November, stripped down and passed the ultrasonic test. It has subsequently been re-lagged and re-clad and is to be refitted to the loco at the end of November. The loco was moved into the  workshop at Swanwick at the beginning of November for the work on the boiler to progress.

While the boiler was out of the loco, the opportunity was taken to repaint the boiler room as well as complete some welding repairs to the boiler room roof. The roof has also been repainted and new sealing foam fitted around the edges to stop water ingress. It was discovered that water had been getting under the roof quite causing corrosion above the electrical control cubicle. The boiler room floor was found to still be damp because the drain holes were blocked. The drain holes have been unblocked and additional holes have been drilled to allow any spillage to drain onto the track. The boiler room floor plates were removed and the floor underneath found to be corroded so the floor has been cleaned, primed and painted gloss black. The floor plates were bolted down on Monday 16^th November.

New rubber has been purchased for the headcode surrounds (£58) at both ends as it was found that the rubber around the headcode glass had perished and had started to let in water. At number 2 end the headcode glass has been removed ready for the new rubber.

The problem with the cab speedometers reading low has been traced to a defective speedometer in number one cab and dirt in the speedometer electrical drive unit. Both problems have been repaired. Now that the boiler has passed its inspection and exam, anti-freeze will be added to the locos coolant for the loco to take up its Santa Special duties in the run up to Christmas. The loco has been requested to be available on the following dates, working two trips per day; 5^th, 6^th, 12^th, 13^th, 19^th and 20^th December and then act as stand by loco until Spring time. 

44008 Penyghent took part in the Peak Rail Mixed Traffic event held over the weekend of 10^th/11^th October. A change of plan due to the unavailability of 47635 meant hat D8 worked passenger and freight trains on both days of the event alongside 37152 and two steam locos. D8 is expected to work some of the Peak Rail Santa Special services top and tailed with a steam loco.   

45118 The Royal Artilleryman work has begun to repair damage caused by the theft of copper cable suffered over a year and covered by insurance. The loco has had the roof above the exhaust silencer removed and the silencer found to be badly corroded, although this repair work is outside of that of the insurance claim.   

D123 has had a busy couple of months; starting by replacing 37314 working the 12:15 Loughborough to Leicester North and 13:00 return on 17^th October because the 37 had water and battery problems when an attempt was made to start it. D123 also hauled the diesel turn the following day, Sunday 18^th October. Further testing with the Lowliner, Freightliner wagon was undertaken on Monday 19^th and Tuesday 20^th October. The tests involved D123 hauling the wagon at speeds of up to 75mph and the wagon being released from the loco via a special coupling fitted to D123 along the Quorn straight in the Down direction. The distance that the wagon took to stop was measured, as was the wind speed and wind direction. Multiple slip testing runs were completed at various speeds with the wagon braking in both passenger and freight timings and by the end of the second days testing the wagon had passed the tests. On Wednesday 21^st October D123 was used on a two trip drive a loco course, the first trip was light engine and the second was with coaches. This drive a loco course had been booked for 37314 but D123 was substituted due to the problems discovered with the Class 37 during the previous weekend.

D123 again hauled the regular diesel turn both days over the weekend of 31^st October and 1^st November. D6535 was to have been used on Saturday 31^st October but the loco was buried in a siding and would have taken much shunting to retrieve so D123 substituted. D123 was also used to haul the diesel turn on Remembrance Sunday, 8^th November as the railway booked locos with regimental names on all services on the day. All locos were also adorned with poppy wreaths.

Monday 9^th November saw the return of the army to the Great Central Railway for two weeks of driving at speeds of up to 60mph, diesel theory and faults and failure courses as well as signal box familiarity. On the first morning, the group of army staff were taken on a trip of the line by the railways resident class 101 DMU with the round trip of the line stopping at various places to explain the infrastructure. Driving at up to 60mph begun in the afternoon, using D123 with six coaches and two trips of the line were made. Following running round at Leicester North on the second trip of the day the loco’s stop button had worked loose and shorted out on part of the power controller with the result that the loco shutdown as a circuit breaker tripped. Once the stop button was rescued from within the power controller and the circuit breaker reset the loco was operated successfully again.

The following day D123 worked 6 trips of the line, two in the morning, two in the afternoon and two in the evening (to give army staff experience of driving in the dark). Speeds of up to 60mph are allowed on the railway from just outside Loughborough to Swithland in both directions and stops were made at both Quorn and Rothley stations to allow the army drivers to practice stopping a service train in the right place at a platform using vacuum brakes.

Wednesday 11^th November saw D123 used for four trips of the line as well as a trip to Quorn to deposit the Fairburn steam loco in the siding in readiness for its collection and return to the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway. The following day D123 only completed two trips of the line as all of the army staff had a buffet lunch provided behind a steam loco. Due to the high speed running, several brake blocks were changed during Thursday afternoon and again on Saturday 14^th.

Over the weekend of 14^th/15^th November D123 hauled the 12:15 Loughborough to Leicester North and 13:00 return service. On the Sunday a few staff from East Midlands Trains came for a ride behind D123 as one of their number, a Duty Controller based at Derby had retired the previous Friday having worked on the railway since 22/08/60. He had started as a cleaner at Staveley Central, before moving to Millhouses where he became a fireman, and moving on again to Sheffield when Millhouses closed. During 1975 he started learning diesels and was passed as a driver in 1978. Between 1978 and 1992 he regularly worked Midland Mainline expresses from Sheffield to St. Pancras as well as other services with a variety of traction. In 1992 he moved from the footplate to become a Train Crew Supervisor. He always said that the best traction he worked with was the class 45, so a footplate trip with D123 was arranged for him as a surprise.

The second week of the army training was pretty much as the first, with 4 trips of the railway each day apart from Tuesday 17^th November where two additional trips were made in the evening. The opportunity was also taken on the Tuesday to pass an additional class 45 driver for working at 60mph. D123 has been allocated to work in top and tail mode with a steam loco on some of the railways Santa special dates (Saturday 13^th, Wednesday 23^rd and Thursday 24^th December). On these services the diesel usually hauls the 8 coach service from Loughborough to Leicester North, with the steam loco hauling the return. Early in the New Year it is hoped to give the engine room a good steam clean as well as examination of the brake hangers.

Following the Mid Hants Railway’s Diesel Gala, 45132 was moved from Ropley to the headshunt at Alresford to help make room for the Ropley Heritage Lottery Project. Whilst the generator is away for repairs the opportunity has been taken to strip the engine room interior back down to bare metal and repaint it. Some 3 coats of Hammerite White are being applied to the walls with Blue being used on the floor immediately below where the Generator sits.
The badly corroded central roof beam has also seen some repairs and now only some final smoothing and painting is required. The roof section immediately above the turbocharger location has also been cleaned up and coated with heat resistant aluminium paint.

In late September, Bowers Ltd were authorised to transfer the Generator to their premises at Heanor in Derbyshire from Knowlton & Newman works in Southampton and commence repairs as soon as possible. This transfer occurred on Monday 26^th and Tuesday 27^th October.
Bowers were chosen because of their previous track record with work for both Network Rail and Harry Needle and in particular for their success with the generator from 45060 Sherwood Forester. You may recall that 45060 also suffered a main generator failure and Bowers completed the repairs to a very high standard.

In addition to the repair of the main generator, additional work has also been requested namely improved armature banding to provide greater protection against the field coils lifting as well as anti condensation heaters being installed to keep both condensation and dampness at bay. This is big step forward in the return to service of 45132, which is hoped to be in time for the 50^th anniversary of the locos entry to traffic, which was on the 1^st April 1961.

45133 was collected by 56311 on 30^th September along with 31108 and was hauled to the Nene Valley Railway as 0Z57 13:00 Butterley – Yarwell Mill. The move ran via Toton, Nottingham, Grantham and Peterborough. 45133 had previously visited the Nene Valley for a Diesel Gala back in October 1990.

On Friday 2^nd October 45133 (crewed by a Peak Locomotive Company train crew as the Class 45/1 Preservation Society had no-one available) hauled the 08:30 Wansford to Peterborough and 09:07 return service. On the Friday of the event, services were only working between Wansford and Peterborough. Upon arrival back at Wansford, 45133 was booked to retire to shed before hauling a service later in the afternoon but the loco was allocated the next working since D306 required considerable shunting of other locos to allow it off the shed and there was not enough time. 45133 ran round and hauled the 09:40 Wansford to Peterborough and 10:17 return. In the afternoon, 45133 hauled the 14:40 Wansford to Peterborough with D306 dead on the rear before being hauled back to Wansford by D306.

On both Saturday 3^rd October and Sunday 4^th October 45133 was booked to haul the same services. The loco was attached to the rear of the first service to Yarwell Junction, and then hauled the 09:52 from Yarwell Junction to Peterborough (with D9516 dead on the rear as far as Wansford). 45133 then hauled the 10:50 service to Yarwell Junction as far as Wansford before coming off the service. 45133 also hauled the 12:32 Yarwell Junction to Peterborough and 13:30 return from Peterborough to Yarwell Junction before being hauled dead on the rear by 37518 from Yarwell Junction to Wansford. The diesel gala was blessed with good weather and the fresh paintwork on 45133 looked resplendent in the sunshine.

45133 was returned to the Midland Railway – Butterley on Friday 9^th October in a convoy hauled by 47270. 0Z57 departed Yarwell Mill at 13:45 with 45133, 31271 and 50008 in tow heading for Swanwick. The convoy ran via Peterborough, Grantham, Nottingham and Toton where 45133 and 31271 were dropped off. Following the locos return to Swanwick Junction work has progressed on the removal of the cab roof vents to allow them to be repaired and sealed to stop water entering the cabs through the vents. Attention to a couple of air leaks that came to light whilst the loco was at the Nene Valley Railway is also planned.

The engine top end overhaul of 45135 3^rd Carabinier is on-going with all of the pipework removed to allow access to one bank of the power unit cylinder heads. 3 of these heads have been overhauled, but work on the loco has been put on the back burner recently due to the cold weather.

45149 has had its missing radiator water sight glasses (donated by the Peak Loco Co.) fitted and the loco was filled with water to see how water tight it is. The water test showed up various water leaks, which is not a surprise taking into account how long that the loco has been out of service. A failed seal in the locos triple pump as well as a broken bolt on the end  housing gave water leaks and the bolt has been replaced whilst a replacement seal is found. All of the locos coolant hoses have been replaced as a precaution because it was seen that corrosion oat the ends of some metal pipes had damaged the hoses.

Upon examination of the radiator elements that the group fitted some 8 years ago, it was discovered that one had failed with a quarter inch diameter hole in it allowing water to leak out and others were found to have leaking seals. A replacement leather bellows for the turbo-charger to air filter pack has been made by a local saddlers for a third of the price that the group had been quoted from the more usual railway suppliers. A replacement fuel sight glass has also being purchased.

The silencer roof section is proving to be troublesome due to the damage sustained during removal back in 1993 by the previous owners. Work is on going to repair the damaged end and once completed a refit of the silencer roof section is planned. All of the cables from the ETH alternator have been connected while segmental bearing plate retention springs have been ordered from the Peak Loco Co. Work insulating number 2 end nose crown continues.

46010 was run up on 19^th November and ran for a couple of hours with no problems found. There are some coolant leaks to be addressed and the loco’s exhaust silencer is to be removed for repair. A considerable amount of bodywork repairs are to be undertaken on the loco but this should not come as a surprise considering the loco has not had a major works overhaul since it was released from Derby Locomotive Works on 19^th September 1979. The news that 46010 will move to the Great Central Railway (North) based at Ruddington was made public domain on 20^th November. The lorry move of the loco was to have occurred on Monday 23^rd November but road works in the Northwich area meant that this date had to be postponed and the group are awaiting a new date from the hauliers, Alleleys. The following is a press statement from the owning group of 46010 and further details can be found at www.46010.co.uk

In the early part of 2009 several senior members of the Llangollen Diesel Group were having concerns for the future of locomotive 46010, following the Llangollen Railway's decision to evict the loco from its site. The team who restored the loco had invested much time, effort and money in the machine and did not want to see the loco sold on or moved into the care of other individuals. Hence it was agreed that this small group would take on full ownership of the loco and transfer it to another railway for much needed repairs and restoration to continue. The Western 46 Group was born taking its name from the fact that 46010 is the only surviving Western Region allocated class 46 'Peak', having been allocated to Plymouth Laira depot until withdrawn in 1980.

The Group's intention is to ultimately set up a company so that shares can be offered for sale  to attract further funding and interest in the Group similar to other well established and successful loco preservation groups. We are looking to attract new working members / shareholders as this will help to provide valuable finance for the loco and assist us in the continued restoration and operation of the locomotive. It is hoped that the loco will debut at the GCR(N) diesel gala over the weekend of 15^th/16^th May 2010.

Prices including P & P for Great Gable Sales items available from the Club address are;

Peak Dairy – 200 pages of information about the lives of 44004, 45041, 45133 & 46045  £17

Peak thrash CD – 46 tracks of sound nostalgia of Peaks in action on BR £9

Peaks in preservation – a 2 hour DVD of thrash by John Goodale £15

John’s Crompton thrash DVD – 2 hours of Class 33 preserved and mainline action £15

A2 line drawing of Great Gable £6

A4 BR diagram drawing of Class 44, 45/0, & 46, all three for £3

Our Next Newsletter #165 out during the first week of February 2010. Best wishes to you all for the Christmas season and New Year. Information for inclusion in the form of news, pictures or nostalgia should reach the Club address by this time. Thank you for your support and for your generous donations given when renewing your Club Membership subscriptions.

Mikes Memories                   97404 (46045)

The end of November marks the anniversary of the last days of the Class 46s on British Rail when the final members were taken out of service on November 30^th 1984. Our own D182 lasted until the end although not in good health suffering continual electrical problems in service during her final years which we have mostly rectified in preservation. The cover view shows our D182 in the custody of the Railway Technical Centre at Derby as number 97404 in February 1989 sheltering in the warm shed at Mickleover on the outskirts of Derby where the RTC had a test track. Outside were sister 97403 Ixion + test train including six class 45/1s used to provide a significant load for the trials Ixion was engaged in which saw 46035 (97403) and 46045 (97404) handed to the RTC for this project at the end of Class 46 service.

We are very fortunate that the staff at the Technical Centre chose Class 46s for the project rather than the last few Class 40s which would also be available around this time. 46045 still retained a complete steam heating system and complete in ex service original condition and was not modified other than to donate some small pieces of equipment to allow 97403 a long life with the Ixion project. The project itself related to the study of adhesion at rail/wheel interface and the staff developed a loco control system that could be retrospectively fitted to any diesel electric to control wheel slip and therefore adhesion. After a further trial on 58050 when built, this facility has now become standard on contemporary Class 60 and 66 diesels.

Working for a manufacturer in the railway industry allowed me access to the Railway Technical Centre who were a customer of ours. Over time I got to know who the project leaders and therefore who the owners of 97404 were and made out Company intention to preserve 97404 known to them. They allowed me access to the Mickleover test track to see the condition of the loco which is when the cover photo was taken on February 3^rd 1989. Further visits were made during the Peak Locomotive Company annual general meeting in April of that year when funds were collected to bid for the loco. It took a further three years for the use of the locos to come to an end and then be released for sale by competitive tender which we won for 97404 and Pete Waterman got heavily modified 97403.

There was still a lot of good will and railway interest amongst railway staff twenty years ago which culminated in 97404 appearing at two days notice at the MRT one wet Friday afternoon in February 1993 from her last resting place at the Old Dalby test track in Leicestershire. I was working on a job at Ilford depot that morning when I got a call to say the rail movement was on that day to deliver 97404. We still await the invoice for this delivery although we did pay for the loco! Since then we have restored 97404 to blue 46045 and now green D182 with working boiler and fixed the main generator earth fault that plagued her final years. She has served us well being very reliable despite the terrible Brush electrical control gear the class uses that I have grown to hate. I can see why British Rail wanted rid of them compared with the simpler, more durable and robust Crompton equipment in Class 45’s. You have to wonder if the Class 47s would have been more reliable with Crompton electrical gear. I hope you can make the trip to D182 working with steam heat this winter at the Midland Railway Centre.