Ever wondered how easy keeping a model running to the real thing?

 

Some of you may remember the appeal i launched in the preserved forum on rmweb where i neededto raise funds to keep 26043 running in 2017, that appeal was very successful but it never stops on one thing.

 

This blog isnt an appeal its just an insight into the life of a preserved locomotive.

 

26043 has had a very successful year its visited no less than 5 preserved railways and taken part in 7 diesel galas as well as a driver experience course and scheduled running at its home railway.

 

This year 26043 visited in order....

 

Swanage Railway

 

West Somerset Railway

 

Ecclesborne Railway

 

Great Central Railway

 

Epping to Ongar Railway

 

Covering over 2,500miles trouble free.....well not totally trouble free a pipe did fracture at ecclesborne

 

The end of the running season is now here and being non antifreezed locomotive 26043 enters hibernation at the end of the season where as some locomotives run throughout the winter. But more on this later.

 

26043 was built in 1959 and entered service that year, being a series 2 class 26 it went straight to scotland where it would spend the rest of its mainline working life, this makes 26043 58 years old, older than some steam locomotives and being withdrawn in 1993 has a working life of 34 years something only a few class 47s and other class 26s have surpassed. The class 26s like most type 2s were designed with a maximum service life of 25 years, which means that in 1984 26043 should have been withdrawn as life expired. However a massive investment program by scotrail which included an overhaul with a rewire saw a life extension of the class with the final examples being withdrawn not long after 26043 was withdrawn in 1993. By this time the class 26 were the only 6 cylinder sulzers running on british rail, the 24s and 25s and 27s all being withdrawn before the final demise of the class.

 

So to give you a bit of an idea about how a preserved loco is financed here is a bit about the running contract 26043 runs under.

 

on a preserved railway you have a running agreement with your host railway, this is a legally binding contract on what your obligations are as a locomotive owning group and what the railways obligations are to you, but the basics of the agreement as as follows...

 

you the owning group will provide a maintained and operational locomotive which has passed the required fit to run exams and is deemed fit to haul passenger trains. In recompense in the case of 26043 the host railway provides the following....

 

£3.02 per mile ran in service
Fuel
Oil
Anti Freeze (if applicable)
Brake Blocks
Filters (fuel and air)

 

so basically if 26043 doesent run it doesent get paid....

 

now when you get a preserved locomotive running it doesent end there it requires constant maintenance, the complexity and frequency of this maintenance depends on the work its had to return it to service on your preserved railway.....

 

26043 has not been restored.....its been beaten back into life.

 

As 26043 had major investment in the twilight of its life the restoration to service was a much simpler task than required by some locomotives which have simply been driven into the ground, 26043 on the other hand had comparitively low engine hours and as mentioned before benefited from a complete rewire.

 

However we need to touch on the fact that 26s like most type 2s had a 25 year design life, BR had to invest significantly to exceed that by 8 years, its now 2017 and we have exceeded that design life by 32 years. And this manifests itself in a number of ways.

 

You will see at the start of the blog i mentioned a very successful year with a number of visits after we purchased a fresh set of batters (the result of our appeal) at a cost of £4,800 i as secretary of the CMDG and co-ordinator of 26043 started signing contracts to bring in much needed extra revenue with other railways. my last conversation before the first drama of the new season was with the Engineering manager of the swanage railway "i dont want to sign the contract for the gala just yet if much rather make sure it behaves itself after its winter break". As i have touched on in my threads in preservation 1 thing locomotives really really dont like is sitting there doing nothing, and every winter each preserved loco does just that, early february arrived and the day my phone call with the engineering manager of swanage i proceeded to fill 26043 with coolant prior to waking it up for the 1st time of the season. I connected the hose and walked off to make a tea.....when i walked into the engine room to check the gauges of the two settling tanks to check the progress of the filling, i could hear a whoosing sound.....when i looked down at the base of one the two settlement tanks i could see a large hole with water seeping out of it....the settling tank had failed......

 

that was repaired and as we already know the locomotive completed a very successful season.....but i will outline what goes on with such a repair as now at the tail end of the season we are now repairing the second settling tank.....and just to be annoying the locomotive on its last day threw a curve ball...which is the title picture of this blog....

 

What is a settling tank?

 

the settling tanks sit below the radiators, and there function is 2 fold.

 

1,) to allow the water to drain from the radiators after the water pump has stopped (which protects them from frost damage, and has the advanatage allowing you to change the radiator elements without draining the locomotive of coolant)
2,) to provide a large head of water for the triple pump to prevent cavitation because the water doesent drain quickly enough through the radiators to keep up with the flow provided by the pump, cavities can cause the crane seal on the triple pump to fail which means locomotive downtime and is a particularly expensive (for a seal) to replace.

 

the settling tanks would have been replaced (or inspected and repaired) at 26043s last overhaul in the mid 80s meaning when the 1st tank failed at the start of the year they would have been 35 years old they are of simple galvanised steel construction, seam welded and have a steel thickness (when new) of about 3mm. The cause of the failure was simply corrosion, and its the removal of the tank and whats involved i will outline in this blog post. The first tank was removed found to be generally ok despite severe pitting on the base of the tank and around the leak site, so this was welded after the tank was shot blast, the pits refilled with chemical metal and the tank given 3 coats of phengaurd which is an anti corrosion paint normally used in ships ballast tanks. As the tanks were in sound condition apart from small areas of the base, the descision was made to repair rather than replace.

 

So fast forward to last weekend the second tank which despite not leaking isnt likely to last much longer without treatment as they are both the same age. The locomotive has two tanks as there are two banks of radiators....

 

So whats involved.....first of all the radiator frame has to be removed after you have removed the cowling surrounding it internally and all of the radiator elements themselves.

 

 

you see here the frame being hoisted out of the locomotive, the base of the frame is about halfway up the picture wth the authors foot in the background on the ladder, you can also get an indication of the actual radiator elements themselves which are bolted to the studs either side of the holes, at the bottom of the picture is the top of the settling tank itself. The two fluted pipes at the bottom of the frame is what drains the water from the radiators into the tank during operation and after the pump has stopped.

 

 

Here you see the frame in all its glory, its just been extracted via the shoulder of the locomotive the frame itself is a 4 man lift and is roughly 6 feet tall by about 4 feet wide. The frame will be shotblasted and repainted before re-installation.

 

 

And here is the tank itself that as been removed via the engine room door and then via the cab door at the side of this picture, as its too big to come out of the same hole the frame came out of earlier, this is a 3 man lift.

 

 

And here we have several views of the interior of the tank iself, you see the baffles and the drain pipe and also the corse strainer which stop large particles enter the pipe which then runs to the triple pump, large particles could foul the impeller of the tripple pump damaging it. You can see despite being drained of coolant that about an inch or so of water remains, also note the brown coating on everything.....this is essentially the engine block which is being desolved by the water and deposited throughout the cooling system, its this sludge which builds up and causes the corrosion to speed up dramatically while the locomotive is drained, despite being galvanised the presence of this sludge causes bimetallic corrosion eventually this eats its way through the tank and a hole appears. The "hammer" looking object is actually a float for the water gauge which indicates how much water is in that tank.

 

we havent yet got a hole so we are cleaning the tank and then treating it so a hole wont appear for atleast 10 years....that means 26043 earns money and this pays the bills because fixing things on full size locomotives costs a lot of money.

 

I mentioned earlier the locomotive threw a curve ball, the above was planned maintenance well on its last day of service 26043 threw us a curveball.

 

 

you see above a nice jet of water coming out of the heat exchanger of the engine, the heat exchanger is a vital part of the locomotive and it ensures that the oil temperature is kept at a safe level, this is because of two reasons.

 

1,) The hotter the oil gets the thinner the oil gets and the thinner the oil the lower the oil pressure, low oil pressure means accelerated wear of vital engine components
2,) the oil is used to cool the pistons, if the pistons are allowed the get too hot the chances of catastrophic engine failure are increased exponentially.

 

the big blue pipe is the water inlet of the heat exchanger, this has just come from the radiators via the triple pump and its the lowest temperature before it makes its way to the water jacket and also the turbo charger, so the the water flows in to cool the oil the part you can see leaking is the end cap of the heat exchanger.

 

 

We see here the heat exchanger in its entire form,the two salmon pink pipes are the oil feed and outlet at the far end the oil feed comes directly from the sump and the oil outlet returns the cooled oil to the sump, the object connecting the pipes together is a pressure limiting valve which ensures the oil pressure never exceeds 65psi, the reason for this is to make sure that the crankshaft oil seals are not damaged which would cause excess oil to leak from the engine.

 

 

you see here the heat exchanger with the cap removed, note the same brown sludge as the settling tanks, however the core of the heat exchanger is copper and brass so is not affected by corrosion. The heat exchanger works in the opposite to a steam locomotive boiler....which is the easiest way to describe it, water flows through the tubes which the oil surrounds and as a result the oil gives up its heat to the water which is then returned to the radiators, which then cool the water and the cycle repeats.

 

Note 4 of the the tubes have been blanked off, this is where water has frozen in the tubes and ruptured them causing water to leak into the oil and vice versa these then need to be capped off with bolts to seal them and take them out of service, you are as a rule of thumb allowed to "blank off" 10% of the tubes without compromising the coolant needs of the oil, more than 10% risks premature damage to the engine and would require a very very expensive repair or replacement of the heat exchanger.

 

 

a close up of the otherside of the leaking end cap you can clearly see a number of pits including a "shiny one" (the big round one on the right isnt a pit its a drain plug) the shiny one is the hole, the mild steel (about 15mm thick) has corroded away to reveal the galvanised outer coating (about 1/3 of a mm thick) which has leaked because its unable to withstand the pressure of the water behind it, you can also see several other "pits" which is how this hole started, the pits are a result of the same bimetallic corrosion that attacks the settling tanks.

 

so you can see one aspect of keeping a locomotive running.....3 weeks ago 26043 was hauling trains its now the end of the season and time to make good the wear and tear of the years running, a bit like our models but on a much grander scale, please ask any questions and let me know your views and that will decide if i continue these blogs which i will if there is sufficient interest and the MODs dont mind.

 

Finally

 

 

The hole left behind while the radiators are out of the locomotive you can see the fan in the roof and the opposite bank of radiators with there fibreglass cowling (all removed last year for treatment of the tank below that one)