I though this might interest some modellers, and I know some of you are involved in railway preservation.

I have been involved, with the Class Forty Appeal, for some 23 years, and have held the post of technical officer and engineer, for my sins. A few years ago we visited the GCR with our 37190 and our class 50, no other than Sir Edward Elgar, number 7. During their time there, both locos suffered damage to their heat exchangers. These units cool the engine oil by exchanging the heat to the water cooling system, and out via the radiators. Having both these locos out of service for all of last year, the group is now looking for a moral booster. The 37 is in the middle of a body overhaul and repaint, so the other loco we could get going was 50007. The heavy heat exchanger had been removed last year and a spare tested, now all we needed to do was to get the spare into the loco and installed.

Saturday was the first day of “operation Hercules†Dan, Derek and Mike joined me for a fun packed day. There wasn’t anything technical about the operation of getting the heat exchanger back in, just a lot of mauling and shoving. The unit weighed about ½ to ¾ of a ton, and with no ease access, a bit of brains and a lot of muscle was needed. The main problem was getting the thing through the radiator room, and clean air compartment, it is 15†diameter and the corridor is 16†wide.

After a lot of “cusin†the four fixing bolts were in place, allong with the four letter words, and I only dropped the spanner in the oily bed plate 4 times!.

Next job is to replace the oil and water pipe, and then battery’s permitted, we should be ready for a start.

If anyone is interested in joining in the fun, the CFA are based at the Midland Railway Centre, please drop me a PM.

No health and safety representatives were harmed in this operation!