Dave the welder has run out of big bits to weld.....
We are now at the stage of where we now have lots and lots and lots of fiddly small parts that need to be sorted out, and if you watch something like car SOS this is where the time gets eaten up.....
The drivers side window getting much attention after more rot was found in the corner, the lower window frame and shelf have been replaced with metal.
Another view of the shelf, some q
We start where we left off...
Work has started to re-instate the metal strip which attaches the dome to the cab, the dome itself has been filled smoothed and flatted and given an initial coat of grey primer, the rough join will be hidden by aluminium trim....eventually.
The strip now extends above the drivers windscreen.
Over the past few years we have grown quite attached to rust and we were worried we were running out..
Work continues above the windscreens and the scabby metal has now been cut away and the metal below cleaned up to see what can remain and what needs to be removed, right to the base of the small section of angled steel above the centre windscreen, the screen itself covered to protect it from metal fragments during the cutting. The dome is pretty beaten up from years of pigeon and bird strikes but also previous repairs, you are looking at the original surface of the dome as evidenced by the br gr
We, start where finished last....
The top second-mans side window has now been fabricated and welded into place as well as the internal steelwork in this area, the cabling has also been encased in copex to protect it, these are the cables for the second mans switch panel and the brake indicator panel. More steel has been removed further up due to distortion that was being hidden by filler. Also as can be seen a steel plate has been welded on the second mans side.
Nostalgia alert, as with all these blogs things are fairly depressing....
The glory days.....pre covid...pre inflation...pre quite a lot really...
Last week..... fireman Sam has been busy with his white paint brush and now all of the air pipework is picked out in white, the conduit (which was just floating has been removed and the wiring now enclosed in modern copex, temporarily draped downwards away from welding operations....
First a bit of nostalgia :)
26043 2 weeks off the production line from BCRW and at the time was on commissioning trials, as 26043 is a series 1 class 26 it never had cab droplights fitted, we see the tablet catcher recess, and its front connecting doors, we also see that like all 26s its boiler fitted. Note it does not yet have the opening window instead it has a boiler filler hatch.
26/1s incorporated a number of weight saving measures, such as the cantrail
A bit of a change, i wanted to make sure that people were not getting tired by me just showing photos of metal being bashed, those blogs will continue as there seems to be a lot of interest in it. However in the last blog i invited some questions that people might have had about how things work in a Diesel Electric locomotive like the class 26, however all of the first generation diesel electrics work on pretty much the same principles so its very relevant across the fleet.
@37114 a
When you do the amount of bodywork we are doing, you almost go back through a locomotives history, like rings on a tree....and its interesting when the casual observer thinks something is a lot better than it really is.
043 on the turntable at minehead, everything you have seen....looks alright doesn't it...doesn't seem to show anything untoward with the bodywork.....everything you have seen....is there....everything your about to see.....is there....waiting to be discov
With the major welding complete to No2 end....its time to tackle what we always knew was there...no 1 end...
Dave the welder makes his first cuts into No1 end (he was reminded to put his goggles on after this photo was taken!) We see the rather optimistic hatched area we drew last week of metal we expected to cut.... the side panel itself doesn't look too bad at first glance....but...inspections at the base of the window show significant corrosion....
A bit of a while since my last blog, but no let up in the effort on 26043, work obviously fades over the summer months, its peak season for the diesel department so a number of us crew locomotives but we also have summer holidays and kids to look after...
The last sheets of steel being welded in, during late march at No2 end
No2 end welding is now complete all that remains is to fit a new skirt, the skirt is a very complex fabrication and is curved
Carrying on from the last entry....
The crib platework is now finished and the locomotive once again has a completely level plate to mount the front platework on for the first time since the 1970s. You can see the various pipework mounts quite easily here on the right you have Main reservoir pipe-work (yellow) which is used for charging main reservoirs on 2 locomotives that might be working in multiple, above that you have one of the control air pipes (which must be conne
We continue where we left off....
Dave the welder is putting replacement angle iron in the cab area, this will be used as something to not only strengthen the door pillar (and give it something to be attached to) but also as a base for a new cab skin to be welded on, most of the accident damaged pillar has now been cut aware ready for a replacement to be fitted.
The crib plates (as seen in the previous blog were completely rotten, they have been re
With the engine work complete, work now returns at pace to the remaining bodywork issues.
the very last parts of bodyside have now been welded on, and the welds are being ground down before the new steel is given a protected coat of primer.
with the engine work complete work has stated on No2 end to resolve a bulging side panel, the reason for the bulge was already know, for reasons only known to themselves Scotrail had slightly doubl
Evening all,
where did we leave off oh yes....the liners... (my previous blog is working, but due to the unfortunate issues on RMweb a lot of my photos have been lost on my previous blogs before that....hopefully over time i can upload the photos again).
After you install the liners....its best to get some confidence they have sealed...this typically involves filling the block up and leaving it for a period of time....hoping none of it escapes into the sump.....which is o
A while since the last entry...but no let up in the work going on...
26043 has seen most attention to the engine block where the damaged bores have been "belzona'd" to make them....well less damaged... Belzona is a very expensive high performance chemical metal, that's over £160 per kilo its extremely tough and will very very quickly blunt anything less than 60grit sand paper.
No6 Bore (closest the main generator) you can see the cavitation damage caused by
Work continues at pace since the last blog, mostly taking advantage of the good weather to carry on with the body work before the winter comes and its difficult to do anything externally in the wind and rain.
All of the major welding has now been completed, we can see the cant rail area has had new steel put in place, the entire lower half of no 2 end has now been ground back and filled and a base primer applied (several more coats of primer are due yet.
Since the last entry, the liners Pedro has worked his magic and the liners have arrived from sunny spain.
4 brand spanking new standard size Sulzer liners manufactured to the original drawings
The Liner interior showing the cross hatching and the carbon brake the end of the cross hatching marks the top of the travel for the top piston ring. At the top of the stroke the piston crown is roughly flush with the top of the liner.
The liner
Lockdown couldn't come at a worse time....26043s engine was in a stripped down state, and as a result the crankshaft (whilst protected) was exposed to air (due to the absence of the pistons) whilst protected I would have much preferred to have been able to go up to be able to keep the engine fully protected but national rules meant this had to be kept to a minimum, 26043 was also out in the yard at the time, and the engine had to be carefully sheeted over.
During lockdown I took the
A bit of a boring one really, as it concentrates more on a single part of the engine but ill try and bed it out a bit more with some more slightly interesting bits.....
A view of 26043s 6LDA with both side covers removed (reason why will be explained in a bit)
In this view you can see where the block is bolted to the crankcase, and you have a good view of the camshaft, there are 3 cam lobes per cylinder, the outer 2 of the lobes operate the pushrods and the
Hello All
The good
26010 after a lengthy stay at the GWR, finally made it home, all 4 of its traction motors repaired, and a suspension bearing re-white metalled, i went up there a few weeks ago to help them sort out a few final bugs before we did a very basic test run
Everything went very well indeed, and its fantastic to see the loco running again.
Because the owners had not driven a class 26 in over 2 years and i w
Its been a while since the last blog....
we start where we left off....me and my fellow 26 workers beavering away all over the depths of winter...changing windscreen seals....cutting out rot....repainting yellow ends....all for the start of the ever promising 2020 season .
Two visits already planned, 1 to Somerset and Dorset, and one to the severn valley....even my fellow diesel dept members thought we wouldn't make it...but we did...we finished all our body work and rep
An overdue blog....
winter is upon us again.....actually winter has been on us for a while, however we once again run the gauntlet of maintenance that ends up being needed for a 60 year old machine....that should have been withdrawn 35 years ago!!!
Observers of 26043 will know that at one end it started to develop a smile...this smile was caused by over-enthusiastic use of filler! that smile was getting bigger and bigger....and it would be long before a rough shunt would
As touched on before we answered an SOS from the Llangollen diesel group, in which 26010 was in a spot of bother with some traction motors....originally it was thought to be one traction motor at fault, but unfortunately the problems turned out to be far more serious than first thought.
Here we see 26010 at the end of my duty on 26043 ready in the shed for a lift the next week, all the traction motors and pipework has been disconnected.
And fina
Not a lot to report on 26043...its making a few funny noises but nothing really of interest since the last update, things might get a little more interesting towards the winter when we start taking roof panels off....
In the meantime.....
I took a help for request from the Llangollen diesel boys, owners of 26010.... 26010 was in a sport of bother in that it had damaged a commutator on the traction motor.
long and short of it deal arranged for 26010 to visit T
We, have talked about fixing problems on 26043 that have appeared above the solebar in terms of wear and tear.....these issues despite the logistical size are relatively simple to resolve with the right knowledge, tools, and facilities (such as the a frame we saw in earlier posts) but what about issues you cant deal with at the railway 26043 calls home....
The winter of 2018 has been a bit of an issue, as ive mentioned before draining 26043 causes corrosion to accelerate, so I have been watc
