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 on 3 planes, these will be attached last before painting commences.

 

 

2 views of the welds ground down and smoothed waiting for filler to applied

 

 

Another view of the ground down welds.

 

Filler being applied to the ground down welds at the side...

 

And the front, and a protective coat of etch primer is applied to the steel.

 

 

 

 

The filler is then rubbed down and a coat of grey undercoat is applied which will seal the steel from corrosion until the final coat of paint is applied, at the moment this is a rough finish, and several more rounds of filler and flatting are required before the final top coat of BR blue is applied.

 

With the main areas of welding at no2 end now complete, the snagging can now start on the smaller details of the bodywork which are demanding attention, the first of these is the drivers side footwells and grab rail recesses which require substantial corrosion repairs to the bases and footstep threshold.

 

 

Other grabrail base recess, now fully repaired.

 

 

The completed section around the base of the cab door. You will see the grab rail recesses are different heights, this is because after purchase from British rail 26043 went through an asbestos inspection. Part of this involved cutting away the grab rails to inspect the innards of the bulkheads, on replacement the grab recess was put in lower, this is present on 4 of the 8 grab rails and will be left for "character reasons"

 

 

 

 

After another round of filling and smoothing and another coat of primer, as you can see also the cut out for the marker light has been made and the marker light welded back in, the lamp bracket has also been attached, those welds will be further smoothed at a later date.

 

 

 

Views of the door frame on the other side of the loco where considerable corrosion is present and lots of the door frame has had to be rebuild with new sections of metal, the grab recesses as per the other side will also get the same treatment. This is caused by a poorly fitting door which has allowed water to set between the door and frame. Unfortunately these repairs take considerable time to get through.

 

 

On the second mans side in the cab the desk has been removed to clean and inspect the frame you can see the horn valve in the centre and the feed cut off valves for the drivers desk, 26s were  very sparten in the cab and there was no panelling even as built, so all that separated you from a far north winter was 2mm steel.

 

 

The desk itself has been stripped and had its formica removed it was life expired, cracked and bubbling as the contact adhesive had given up beneath it, the desk awaits a chemical spray to remove the glue!

 

 

the glue is now gone exposing a clean aluminium surface ready for new formica, the desk has been pressed and straightened as well.

 

 

The straightened desk is now trial fitted to check its alignment before covering the shaft in the middle is the hand brake. The main console has been cleaned and re-sprayed broken switches replaced, and the hand brake label (made by a group member) cleaned ready for another 10 years use.

 

 

The fully retrimmed desk now awaits final fitting in the loco

 

 

On the drivers side the mass of pipe work has been cleaned and primed...

 

 

And painted....

 

 

The power controller and Fv4 surrounds which were heavily scratched have also been shot blast, primed and painted.

 

Work will continue in the cab while the Dave the welder turns his attention to No1 end!