pheaton

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.... As we saw in the previous blog, significant corrosion was found above the corner of the second-mans pillar, and there had to be a reason for this, digging about removing filler starts to show the extent of this, which indicates something is clearly very amiss in this area, eagle eyed readers will notice the crudely drawn on arrows....more on this later... we also see two exposed holes, but no indication of rust streaks on the yellow paint, indeed there isn't actually any rust on the outside of the uncovered metal....which indicates water is getting in from the other side! Cutting away the outer layers of steel shows the face of the corrosion, between the inner panels and the outer steel, but the cause is quite evident in this picture...... More evidence of something not quite right....can you see it? if you look down the side of the dome....you see our paint (blue...ish) and the br paint beneath it....SO you might say....whats the issue??? https://www.flickr.com/photos/67444577@N02/6566097877 Take a look at that photograph, 26043 was one of the few 26s painted civil engineers livery and as a result had a dark grey roof.....where is the grey paint on that photo above? the answer.....this is not 043s original roof dome....at some point its been changed.... Going back to this photo here...we see the roof dome...is actually about 1/4" too far back...and doesn't fit flush with the external steel work as can be seen at the top copious amounts of filler have been employed to hide this heinous crime.. The problem is...the roof is fibreglass which can flex....filler cannot...and if the filler cracks it can leak...or let water in...or air....which in turn causes condensation to form....its condensation that has caused this corrosion. you can see the yellow outer skin has gone which just leaves the inner framework present where the corrosion is... Before cutting and just after removal of the secondmans windscreen wiper...we see some precision drilling by scotrail...to install the wiper....well to atleast have a go...must have been a friday afternoon job!!! two views of the section of steel thats been removed you can see the blue and yellow of the window frame, but also the extent of the corrosion on the inside plus the unique wiper plate... In order to asess the dome problem properly we need to remove the guttter which is riveted to roof dome, this has now been removed and is awaiting the gasket to be cleaned off.... the problem is in the very corner of the dome and will be difficult to fix, but we need to see if there are problems further along the front and to do this we need to remove the fiberglass strip across the top. the fibreglass comes off fairly easily exposing the join between the dome and and steelwork for the cab front, the dome drops down below it and as we can see there's no water ingress.....the circular corrosion you see is cause by bi-metallic corrosion between the aluminium rivets and the steelwork, the rivets have long turned to dust, but the good news is everything seems to be in order. But it can also be seen something very odd on the far left... Zooming in.....we see a join......so only the left portion of the roof dome has been changed also note how the holes are at different heights....So....what do we do.... thats what you do....just cut the problem out, and have a think...because.....you cant increase the size of the corner.....you cant position the part further forward...you cant position it further left. its likely a number of cuts are going to need to be made to reposition the corner outwards without causing too much distortion...Moral of the story....class 33 domes don't quite fit class 26s!!! with the dome removed you can see the supporting framework for the upper dome, and then the inner dome underneath, the framework was not held in place as the welds had rotted, but the framework itself is in good overall condition, this will all be cleaned and painted. The inner framework which we saw earlier badly corroded has been replaced by a new piece of metal work The holes in the pilar now welded up... and now a brand new top left corner has been fabricated but awaits fitting the corners for the glass roughly cut and these will be sorted when the time comes to fit the windscreen, for which we are a long way off...this is actually quite a complex fabrication as modellers will know its these curves that define the shape of the locomotive. As its winter exposed metal has to be protected so a coat of green etch primer is applied to the exposed surfaces...

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 grills being made out of aluminium instead of steel, a thinner gauge bodyside skin, and the internal radiator ducting being made from fibreglass instead of aluminium, OLEO Buffers and all coil spring suspension. By this time is was already decided that the class 26s were destined for a life in Scotland, so in order to appease the Scottish civil engineer, they needed to shed a few pounds to bring the axle weight down. Note this is probably the only time 26043 has carried the correct pattern series 1 bogies, these have the correct series 1 footsteps fitted and also are missing the link arms required to lift the bogies attached to the locomotive as the series 1 underframe was missing the bracketry required for this. Another fact is the drivers side windows are not the same as what is fitted now, they are mounted on the inside whereas at the last HGR they were changed to an outside mounted frame to try and reduce water ingress into the cab. The location of the photo is unknown its thought to be somewhere up north but not scotland. The cab as built. a lot of people when they look in a class 26 cab see exposed pipework, and think there are panels missing......as you can see...there never was any panelling the cabs were very spartan, and all that protects you from the Scottish wilderness and freezing temperatures is 3mm of steel......not known for its insulating properties! This photo shows a 26/0 as built its vacuum only and has a drop light next to the drivers seat, identifying this as a 26/0. You can clearly see the bellows for the connecting corridor. In a previous blog we saw the drivers side cut away awaiting new steel framework, this has now been applied with a coat of protective primer the lower portion of the grab handle recess has been found to be badly twisted which will affect the fitting of the new doors...this has been cur away to be replaced by a brand new fabricated section. The secondmans windscreen has now been removed to assess the extant of the corrosion above the cab windscreens. We already knew this was a problem area having exposed it a few years ago but ran out of time to be able to affect a repair before the locomotive was due back in service. A good indication of what you can hide with filler.....once again note the complete absence of any paint on the steel work. Looking towards the drivers side the filler has been chipped away to expose the base of the roof dome. The cause of the corrosion is quite simple at some point Scotrail completely fiberglassed over the join between the cab steel and the roof dome (assuming to stave off water ingress). This works as long as the fibreglass stays attached but as the body flexes....it pulls away, this means water can leak from the base of the gutter behind the fibreglass and sit there....which causes the corrosion. Moving down the right hand side of the windscreen towards the connecting doors we see significant corrosion, and also wastage around the extremities of the screen, refurbished class 26s used a clayton-rite windscreen seal, which meant the internal window frame could be removed, a clayton right seal is commonly found on classic cars and is recognised by the filler strip in the centre of the seal to clamp it to the window glass and the frame work, however...its not unusual for water to penetrate and site in the channels and rot the supporting steel ( as a lot of classic car owners will know) the reason for the change is unknown.. but its assumed it was connected with the switching of class 27 type windscreens around the time 26s had a HGR. which would have required the changing of the internal frame, so the cheap option was to the do away with it in its entirety, which left only the steel to support the window which required a different type of seal. the reason for the change of windscreens was an attempt to cut costs by standardising parts accross the fleet. The chipping of the filler and its thickness indicates "further bodgery" is present! this was found to be a 2 inch overlap with the steel above. As a result we decided to cut the entire panel off!!! You can clearly see where the water tended to sit (at the bottom right hand side of the screen). Here we see the front with the panel removed the corrosion around the centre doors extends to the shelf in the cab, it can also be seen that the supporting framework is also missing for the front panel! At the rear of the removed panel we see...what survives of the framework! You can also see that while this is a BR panel its not the original.... And you can see the original light has been gas axed from the original front and welded to the new panel! you can also see the red-oxide primer likely applied during preservation...which means the lower portion of the frame has been absent for a very long time! Work starting to re-instate the frame work first a piece of horizontal steel is inserted and welded below the shelf to the correct front profile. Then a front pieced welded on to strengthen the framework and give a surface to weld new panels to at the top. The curve is quite complex and the next stage is to fabricate the sill, there is no room for error here if the sill is slightly misshapen then windscreen will not fit! You can see the internal window shelf, this is quite badly corroded and will be removed. if we look again at the rear of the removed panel you can see the complex curve at the top and its sill which can be made out (just) by the shadow! The replacement repair panel being "fettled" before being welded in. The panel being fitted! Also being repaired if that unsightly corrosion at the side of the connecting corridor, the welds will be cleaned up shortly. At this stage the curves for the windscreens can be fitted, as can be seen here... And finally the welds cleaned up! A lot more steel will have to be removed to get the correct hole for the screen.

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 asked about electrical machine maintenance and field diversion and in this blog we will talk field diversion, how it works and what it does. There will be a bit of theory first, and then some pretty pictures. There has been a lot of talk about field diversion in the sound forums, mainly surrounding 37s as its very very pronounced. but all first generation diesel electric locomotives have field diversion of some sort. What is field diversion, field diversion is the act of (as the name suggests) diverting the field of a motor (in our case the traction motors through a different set of resistances. It is also known as field weakening, and this is because you weaken the field of the motor. The aim of field diversion in simple terms....is to make your motor spin faster based on its current load. If we take the model in a OO gauge model, its a fixed field motor (permanent magnets) if you give it 12 volts it will spin at a set speed and draw a set amount of current. And for a model thats fine, we dont pull much weight with it and we rarely make it climb steep gradients. If you were to put so much weight behind the locomotive in the form of rolling stock to the point it actually stalls the motor, you will find if you push it to a certain speed it will be able to take the weight of that train on its own, but it wont be able to start it, and this is a very very crude way of explaining how field diversion helps with a locomotive starting a train. When a train starts you want (in your best jeremy clarkson voice) MAXIMUM POWER, in that you want grunt, torque, tractive effort, what you dont want is speed, all you will do is simply spin your wheels. GRUNT is Current Speed is Voltage We want to trade current for voltage, by weakening the field of the motor we make it a lower strength in terms of torque, but that means we are less affected by BACK-EMF which is what puts a motor into magnetic saturation, which means the motor can spin faster before the back-emf cancels out the incoming voltage provided by the main generator. In an all parallel configuration traction motors have 4 connections (compared to your 2 connections on the motor of your model train) and this is because the fields (magnets) are actually coils or better yet electro magnets and if you alter the voltage being supplied to them you can change there strength.....hence field weakening/diversion. as we said before you want all of the capabilities of your motors at starting, so as a result all motors and generators start out at full field, (full strength) the motors need full strength to have the grunt to move off, the generator needs full strength to supply those amps! Lets look at the first part of this process. the process start with the drivers power handle in the cab, you are looking inside the pedestal with the power handle above, the shrouds have been removed there are two elements in the centre you can see a group of switch contacts which are operated by cam on the left, the job of these is to make sure that various interlocks are in place (like the power control relay) which then allows the reverser to be operated (the locomotive only changes direction when power is applied NOT when the master handle is moved) the switch gear has no role in speeding up the engine or the electrical output of the main generator. On the middle right we can see an air valve (very similar in construction to the drivers straight air brake valve) as the power handle is rotated and more throttle is demanded this is air valve is pushed further and further inwards, which emits air from locomotives control air reservoir into whats called the regulating air circuit. If you ever go into the engine-room of a working sulzer you will often see a panel like that (accept 26s as it was removed for cost saving) i re-instated that from a donor class 33. Anyway....on the bottom left is the regulating air gauge, as the driver moves the power handle at either end, that will increase/decrease as the driver moves the power handle back and forth. That air then runs down a pipe down the side of the engine..... from there it goes to the front of the engine governor, and provided all is well (all of your interlocks are in place) that magnet valve is energised when the power handle is moved to "ON" and the air is allowed to enter the fuel rack piston in the governor. ERGO the engine is speed is increased by air being sent from the drivers power handle to the governor (0-53ish PSI) the more air the more the piston moves which in turn moves the rack linkage and opens the fuel pumps further and puts more fuel into the engine and speeds the engine up.... A lot of people think the only relationship of the engine to the electrical side is that it spins the generator....but what would happen if we had no control over the output of the generator. Basically on starting the train the generator would stall the engine.....and this is where something called the load regulator comes into play. in the picture above we see an arm coming out of the governor in the background. Theres another view this arm is connected to an oil driven servo motor inside the governor. this arm then goes into this little box of tricks which is the back of the load regulator the front of the load regulator, with a scale to indicate its current position (more on this later) The load regulator is an extremely important device, its job is to ensure that the generator cannot overwhelm the engine, and its principles of operation are extremely simple. As the driver opens the power handle the engine rotates faster, as the engine rotates faster the oil pump (inside the engine) rotates faster, this means that the oil pressure increases. Its important to note that the servo motor is not pressure specific it simply reacts to an increase or decrease in pressure, this then rotates an arm in the load regulator. By using this method, the generator cannot be allowed to increase its field without a corresponding increase in engine speed...and as a result torque... A view of the load regulator with the cover removed, the arm is rotated by the action of the servo motor on the governor. another view of the arm, you can see the carbon brush which completes the circuit... the load regulator is connected via a very big wiring loom to a bank of resistors... The wiring loom from the load regulator to the resistor bank in the locomotive roof. So as the engine speeds up the load regulator rotates and weakens the field in the main generator, which means it generates less amps, but more volts....and the reverse happens as the engine decreases in speed back to idle. THIS IS NOT FIELD DIVERSION we are simply using a potentiometer to change the field of the generator automatically inline with engine speed. Once the load regulator rotates fully (which is quite quickly) the generator is at maximum output, and we cant supply any more volts to our motors and make the train go faster (no good) its here the field diversion process starts, when its rotated a cam operates the switch gear above, these are called (on a 26) pilot motor advance and pilot motor retard. That switch gear operates the power to this motor in the main electrical cubicle...making it advance or retard, this then as you can see operates a cam...which in turn rotates a cam on a group of switch gear. This then (via the switch gear supplies power to the magnet valves, which emit air to a piston, which brings in the contactors for the diver circuits, you can see here there are 3 diverts on the 26 with one contactor for each motor (so 3 groups of 4) (the number of diverts varies between locomotives high speed passenger locomotives tend to have more, class 45s have 6 diverts. This in turn brings in different power resistors into the field circuit in order to weaken the fields of the traction motors, which then allows them to spin faster. The resistors are in banks behind the cantrail grills of the locomotive for air cooling as they get rather warm. When power is shut off, the engine slows down and the oil pressure drops, the load regulator runs back which in turn brings in the switch for pilot motor retard, this then removes the diverts from the circuit, until power is required, if the speed has not dropped significantly the locomotive knows to bring in the required diverts. Although the mechanics vary all of the first generation diesels follow these principles, 56,58s 37/4s and 37/7 and 37/9s have solid state electronic load regulators rather than mechanical ones, but the field diversion process is the same... HSTs are the odd ball....and have NO DIVERTS this is why they have such a low tractive effort. Hope that answers your question @37114 Happy to take any more questions other people have.

Field Diverts it is then 37114 keep an eye out for the next blog

all of you seem to be regular readers :) im keen to not rabbit on about bodywork as it gets a bit repetitive for the readers, so I'm more than up to writing blogs about any particular aspect of 26s....anywhere on the loco just put a request or question in. mechanical or electrical questions which are 99% applicable to every other loco. @bcnPete @Halvarras @26power @figworthy @Rich Papper @young37215@Gordon A @chris p bacon@Robert Shrives @JDW@50A55B@stewartingram@41516@Western Star @Mikkel @Tim C@Northroader@37114@Michael Hodgson @figworthy

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 discovered... We saw in the last blog the crash pillar removed, it was badly corroded and the crib plates were missing, when you take apart a loco in this manner you can easily get an idea of its history, and the reason for the corrosion is actually quite simple....at some point the loco has suffered sideswipe damage on this side, and this is evidenced by the patches on the grill uprights for the radiators and the cut in the handrail recess, the problem then becomes when these repairs are sub standard, because the depot needs to get the loco out as soon as possible....and if it was a "hush hush" job hide the locomotive from the sight of management! Particularly when the accident was due to someone being "under the influence". The new crib-plate and side plate have been fitted and welded. Here we see the original pillar (can just make out the lamp bracket at the front) we see at the base a old repair going up we see a large chunk removed by gas axe and again several attempts to fix the grab handle we also see plug welds (which are not original) indicating a replacement to the side skin at some point. The front steel has Anti asbestos paint on it indicating this was original steel, the paint was applied to seal residual asbestos fibres when the locomotive was stripped of asbestos during one of its works visits. After the second-mans side is complete the centre has now been cleaned and fully welded to the correct profile of the front, in the previous blog you saw heavy corrosion as a result of fibreglass matting which has a remarkable water retention capability, coupled with the fresh brand of paint that BR used...the rot present was inevitable. The air pipes to and from the drivers brake valve have been cleaned and undercoated and trial fitted to make sure we don't weld up something we shouldn't. Moving to the drivers side we see the removal of the crib plate and the extensive corrosion to the cable ducting this will all need to be tidied up and new conduit installed before the locomotive re-enters traffic, you can clearly see the 1/2" rivets that hold the crib plates waiting to be hammered out the underframe so new bolts can hold the new plates firmly in place. Also evident is significant crash damage, like no1 end this corner of the buffer beam has at some point been cut off and rewelded into place (likely after the chassis has been jacked up to straighten it, note the wooden spacer behind the buffer being "unique" to suit the dent behind it...this is 3/4" steel plate, a significant impact would be required to deform it in this manner! the secondmans desk had to be removed as it was found the brake pedestal in the centre of the picture was only held in by the pipes, the sideswipe collision had ripped it from its mountings these are being straightened and firmly attached to the floorplate. Drivers side crib now welded in place and a repair section made to the drivers side crash pillar. Final side plate removed and surface prep underway for the final plate at the floor level. The final plate in the process of being welded and secured in place. Unfortunately BR spend years customising the loco to fit its rather bodged metal work, and now we are fixing that...things start to well, not fit....as a result the lower section of front skin now protrudes over an inch further forward than the lower framework......you can see further up a depression where the metal work goes in and then out again... to correct this cuts have been made which allow us to reshape the front, this will allow us to have completely level plate work when the new steel is welded to the front. Further cuts to the side indicate that the framework will need to be complete renewed all the steel inwards of the crash pillar will be cut away and replaced with new angle iron, significant. issues are present in the upright pillar corner. nasty.....again note the complete lack of paint! fully refurbished secondmans desk fitted to No2 end

@KLee55 Here’s the list and also add 45123 to it Right the following defintely had full Toton repaints around 1980 - 1981 after Toton E exams and had the Toton dark grey roofs 45101 45105 45106 45124 45128 45134 45138 45141 45143 45144 & 45146. 45143 & 45144 lost their dark grey roofs at their last overhaul (45143 in 1981 at Derby & 45144 in 1984 at Crewe) However both 45143 & 45144 re-gained their toton dark grey roofs in 1985, 45143 when it was painted for its Waterloo - Exeter job & 45144 when it worked the royal train in May 1985 All the 1980-1981 E exam repaints with dark grey roofs lost their grey roofs at theit next works overhaul.

Not for much longer you havent they are being phased out and returned to the leasing companies

Neither :) they are a wooden door with a fibreglass skin so a dark cream. But if they were in civil quite often the original yellow and blue would show through.

And it's had a governor overhaul and still going strong...bar a few transition rubber leaks...

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.... As cab be seen at the base.....again...the scabby steel at the bottom is the original skin... the later skin just plonked over the top... The panel new removed....with a token gesture of some insulation.....this will be removed... The panel and drivers side window now removed showing the extent of the corrosion, again you can see the original skin underneath the newer blue one. More exploratory cuts were made to find out how bad things really were....pretty much as expected...they were bad... At this point we were having far too much fun to stop cutting....so we didnt stop... (yes i know the top isnt straight....we will sort that out later! Cutting carried on to the opposite corner to find...a lack of crib-plate and an interesting repair.... At which point we cut the other side off as well, this picture shows after the left hand pillar has been removed.... So on the drivers side we see a sort of intact crib plate with extensive corrosion to the steel work and the cable ducting....this will all need to be replaced... Ick...the centre gangway doors with fibreglass matting for draft proofing....which holds lots of water and causes lots of rust.....lets get rid of that... on second thoughts....lets put it back!!! As before the step remains but the side supports are long gone!!! moving to the secondmans side whats lefts of the crib plate meets.....well bodge! and then the corner where....well they just couldnt be bothered.... and then to the side where....it doesn't get much better... and again you can see the original skin...the side window will also be removed as well! In this view the corrosion is starting to be cut away the centre step has been plasma cut out and will be deleted and replaced with a solid steel plate the area now cleaned up dramatically... New steel fabricated for the upright and a new cribplate trial fitted to the left the crib plate primed and ready for top coat black prior to installation the remants of the old platework and corrosion all gone and ground flat and primed ready for new steel. the new side plate (made to the original drawings) ready to be installed down the side of the cab. More steel waits to be cut above the windscreens but this work will be completed first.

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!

Modern anti freeze contains a corrosion inhibitor, older anti-freezes were known to "seperate" in the event of a long period out of use. Its worth noting BR did never use antifreeze, they trialed borax and a few other treatments in the early years but all locos tended to run on fresh potable water. draining locos is the worst thing you could do because the water system is vented and you allow oxygen in and that allows bi-metallic corrosion to take hold in the radiator system tanks. But also its very difficult to fully drain a loco so you end up with water present still in the heat exchanger and between the flanges of pipes and the triple pump (if you have a sulzer) and it will freeze more readily than full loco and cause all sorts of problems. however..in the winter your a brave person if you dont drain your water filled loco....

But quite a few preserved diesels are unable to run on anti-freeze due to the age of the liner seals... Normal maintenance for me during the year...is a battery level check at 6 monthly intervals, (increasing as the batteries age) fuel pump and injector checks (are your fuel pumps leaking from the top O ring, or sides). And is fuel leaking from the injector tell tales....normally ill do that 6 times a year. At the start of each season i will top up the oil reservoirs for the traction motor bearings. As well as motac And then at the start of each season a full BR B exam is completed as per our SMS to ensure fitness to run. Other routine maintenance is a brush and commutator inspection of all motors, and the main generator. I only use oil samples to tell me the condition of the oil.....generally every oil sample i take will tell me there is wear going on in the engine.......the only values im generally concerned about is fuel content, and oil viscosity, i generally monitor oil pressure vs oil and water temperature at various points of the engines duty cycle to build up a reasonable idea of what the condition is of the engine. On 45149 routinely ill inspect brake cylinders bi-monthly, as they are not obvious to the driver if they are functioning correctly. Other than that its as things break, like resistors and brake valves and bulbs...

TBH with the current rhetoric from the welsh government i think that was inevitable.....remains to be seen however if.....if port talbot remains viable in the long term....if not you have killed one of the remaining major employers in south wales, if does remain viable then...the green credentials take a serious hit after you have imported container ships of coal...from thousands of miles away when it could quite easily have come from 10s of miles away...

1023 has a transmission fault, and as its a north British built transmission Voith are not keen on repairing it...

you have a PM :)

From a BR first generation diesel point of view (up to and not including class 56 and specifically excluding "the twins" and the other oddball locomotives at the time..). As you probably know already all the first generation diesels dual braked or not had 2 brake handles Straight AIR Brake (which operates the locomotive brakes only) Train Brake (which operates the train brake primarily and depending on the setup the locomotive brake proportionally) Proportional????? What do we mean by proportional....we mean that a part of the braking effort is shared by the locomotive.....the amount of braking effort depends on 2 things... 1 the timing in use (is it goods or passenger) 2 the valve types in use on the brake frame (this primarily in my knowledge applies to Davis Metcalfe fitted locomotives Without a train attached the locomotive is controlled by the straight air brake....effort will be instantly applied to wheel-sets on the locomotive.. the driver is able to precisely control the amount of effort on offer to a pre-described amount (58 to 60 psi) You can use the train brake without the straight air brake to stop a light locomotive but....there are several things to consider.... 1,) The braking effort on the wheels will be considerably delayed until either the vac pipe has dropped to a predetermined level or...the ABP has dropped to a predetermined level. Therefore your not going to stop as quick... 2,) The braking effort on the wheels will be considerably reduced (will explain later) as its applied proportionally to the level of braking requested in either the vac pipe or the ABP. (this gets more complicated later) 3,) locomotive power will be lost completely below 15" on the vacuum brake pipe and below a certain level on the ABP....because why would you want to power against the train brake?? You can power to your hearts content against the locomotive brake...for reason as mentioned by our resident train drivers above....such as buffering on creeping forward etc etc... So in a nutshell....if you were to operate the train brake on a vacuum brake train (assume fully fitted) the brakes on the train do most of the work, the brakes on the train come on first. \ To give you an idea.. in vacuum 21" = full release (no brakes) You would have this prior to departing a station or a signal stop and the train would be held by the operation and release of the locomotive straight air brake....(why its a lot quicker than a vacuum brake) below 21 and above 15" = a light brake application on the carriages and.....about 5- 10 PSI in the locomotives brakes (again depending on the timing and the valves in use on the brake frame but thats another chapter) 15" to zero....more brake on carriages more brake on the loco....in an ever increasing proportion until you reach 0 int he vac brake pipe and on some classes over 60 psi in the loco......in other words....drop anchor!!! Air works in the exactly the same...way but the value will be in PSI and theres no vacuum involved....i could explain in detail but i think you all get the picture....instead of reducing vacuum...you reduce the air brake pipe and again a proportional amount of braking is applied to the locomotive. could you stop a train on the straight air brake only.....yes you can but.... 1,) if you have a passenger train your passengers will end up squashed against the bulkheads because the locomotive will stop before the carriages do...the carriages will go into the locomotive and the obviously laws of physics apply to the contents...this especially applicable to screw link vehicles..... 2,) as the train buffers up against the locomotive it will stop forcing the loco forward....doesn't do your wheel-sets any good and then the train will concertina until all the inertia is gone...or derail....either way...its going to be a mess inside.... 3,) your braking distance will be exponentially increased....this is why light locomotives always have a speed restriction applied! the idea of the proportional brake is that the locomotive stops at exactly the same time as the carriages...nice and smooth.... the bonus complicated bit..... NO Dual BRAKED or VAC ONLY LOCOMOTIVES (excluding the twins or the other oddball types around the time) operate the mechanical side of the locomotives brakes using Vacuum even if....your are hauling a vacuum train it is always air. WHAT????????? Thats right...the mechanical bit....ie the brake cylinders are exclusively air. Vacuum does not directly operate any mechanical braking systems on the locomotive, it only influences it. This is because as mentioned a diesel loco (excluding the twins and the other oddball types) does not have a vacuum cylinder...unlike a wagon or a carriage or a steam....or the twins or the other oddball types. Every dual braked locomotive has 4 brake gauges 1, ABP (air or automatic brake pipe) 2 VAC Chamber/Vac Pipe (normally a duplex gauge) 3, Bogie brake Gauge 4, Main Res pipe gauge (not all locos have this though) also Main reservoir gauge (not really a brake gauge but....included for complete ness) In vacuum on a dual braked locomotive when you operate the train brake valve in vacuum you are influencing the amount of pressure in the Automatic brake pipe. as this pressure reduces a valve in the brake frame will reduce vacuum accordingly (by a predetermined level) by gradually venting the vacuum pipe to atmosphere this then reduces the vacuum in the pipe on the train and causes the vacuum brake cylinders to apply the brakes accordingly. Additionally in the locomotive and as mentioned above there is also a vacuum chamber, and this is simply a tank about the size of a fire extinguisher which is constantly kept (regardless of braking) at 21" this is there as a reference....a second set of valves on the brake frame then compare the value of the brake pipe with the value of the chamber, and the difference is translated to a proportional application of the locomotives straight air brake automatically by admitting air in defined amounts to the brake cylinders. The timing switch (goods/pass) allows this process to be completed by different relay valves which have chokes in and that determines the amount of proportionality applied. If the level of vacuum in the chamber falls the braking proportionality will be reduced, if it falls to zero the locomotive will no longer have a reference and therefore will never apply its brakes. The only influence the train brake valve in a dual brakes locomotive has on vacuum is in emergency when a mechanical flap opens on the brake pipe which is operated by pushing the handle to emergency which immediately vents the brake pipe to atmosphere instantly reducing it to zero and applying the brakes in full as described above. As the brake pipe is vented by a large opening the exhausters cannot overcome this and will never be able to create more than 1 or 2 inches of vacuum. The same effect would be achieved by the train parting! On a vac only locomotive there is NO ABP (it doesn't have air train braking) so instead of the valves associated with the air brake pipe telling the valve to vent the vac brake pipe, the venting of the vac pipe is controlled by the train brake handle itself, after that the principles for applying the proportional locomotive air brake are the same. most dual braked electric locomotives work exactly the same way...but i'm not sure of the wood-head locos i believe they are the same as a vac braked diesel If anyones interested i could quite happily do a video of it in operation this weekend.

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 connected when working in multiple) (white) then you have the 27 way multiple working plug (out of view to the right) and then the red Main Brake pipe which is used for controlling the brake pipe on other locomotives or air braked stock. The brackets either side of the coupling are for the centre plough a pin would go through these to secure the plough to the locomotive. Just below the red pipe you can see the former steam heat pipe now long gone. To the left of the coupling hook is the vacuum pipe and then you have a second yellow and white pipe. only one of the two is required to be connected. The front right crib plate after extensive modification in order to fit and weld to the very distorted second-mans corner of the chassis COPEX has now been fitted to the completely rotten cable ducting (which has now been removed) you can see evidence of the impact in the distortion of the beam behind the buffer. Its likely this was a "depot" repair as no evidence can be found of an unclassified repair of 26043 (or D5343) in the 1970s. This means it was likely a hushed up repair to avoid any "paperwork" the repair was simply to return the buffers straight on level and various bodges were used internally to fix the other issues that were a result of the crash. as can be seen on the left on the framework holding up the desk. Two views of the modified side rail to get it over the hump of the front chassis, not a simple feat given the new rail is 6mm thick steel the cuts are seen here just before being welded up. On the drivers side, the side window has been removed to ensure no corrosion is present beneath the upper structure as the seal bead had failed, and the resolve the rather erratic riveting on the lower edge. the window is quite filthy but the aluminium polishes up quite well as seen in this picture The window after cleaning, we are yet to decide how to "fill" the extra rivet holes.. The first of the new steel has now been welded on to the cab-side work continues under the secondmans seat in the cab cleaning the area for paint, this area is completely unpainted which is the main reason for the heavy corrosion. the last area of attention is the power supply for the AWS module which is looking very very scabby, its made of aluminium so its likely heavy corrosion is present under this module here it has been unwired and being made ready for removal. Surprise surprise the unpainted aluminium surface has sweated and caused considerable corrosion. Here we have the pipe runs between the second-mans side ad the drivers side, with the large main vacuum pipe going in to the floor to the front of the locomotive, you can see the AWS power supply which is the light grey box beneath the washer bottle, in the good old days this is where the cooker sat. A lot of cleaning and a coat of primer later.. the primer is then followed by a thick layer of black paint the plate is quite thick here...so although quite pitted its still pretty strong. the thoroughly cleaned and repainted base is now re-installed ready for bolting down and rewiring. The secondmans side has now had a coat of primer the pipes now picked out in white.... yes got a bit messy with the white paint... And finally black with a bit more to do when the paint is dried. The air pipes have been reinstalled in the front and primed as well as the metalwork behind then this will be the last time they see the light of day... Drivers seat pedestal has been rubbed down and given a shiny coat of gloss black same has been done with the secondmans pedestal the hole is for the sanding pedal which will be plated over as the sanding system is pretty much redundant in preservation, and is just a source of air leaks so has been completely isolated. A side door (which was removed to delete a broken middle hinge has been cleaned primed undercoated and now given a top coat of "morning mist" the standard BR colour for the engine-room... because it makes perfect sense to paint an engine room......white....! the corrosion around the door frame will be tackled shortly. Replating has started in anger with the centre and drivers side sections tackled first The upright drivers side is now trial fitted. And welded.... followed by the final piece which covers the corner pillar. The metal is being allowed to cool before the welds are complete to avoid distortion caused by expansion of the metal during welding, the corner piece is made from 1.5mm steel where as the rest is made from 2mm steel, as built the 26s were 1.6mm steel throughout on the body for weight saving purposes. The reason for leaving off the secondmans side for now is that its been found the front projects about 1/2" too far over the cribplates and the reason is seen here after cutting away the corner.....basically the front isnt attached to anything! As can be evidenced by the absence of weld marks on the pillar the pillar looks scabby but is very strong and will be cleaned and painted...but shortly after this photo the pillar was cut to the pen line at the bottom of the yellow panel the scabby steel at the front of the pillar is actually the original front skin! various layers have been added over the top over the years.....which is why the front is so far out...rust has formed between the layers and jacked them outwards.... the pillar will be replaced where it was cut! And then rewelded to the base! Nearly a whole reel of welding wire used so far!

24s are the odd ball, they were never selected for dual breaking even though it would have been possible after the elimination of the steam heat boilers (but this would have required removal, and although isolated im pretty certain they retained them to the end, they lost the water tank but the steam heat boiler was left in situ....However.....24s remained on the A series engine whereas 26s were updated to the B series later on (nothing spectacular a slightly enlarged water jacket on the turbo and bigger pumps and higher pressure and volume fuel injectors) But....what this did mean is that they could share heads and turbos with 27s and 25s and 33s also fuel pumps and injectors with 25s 27s 33s 45s and 47s...plus a multitude of other engine components between the classes like...liners and pistons.. ergo the 24 remained on the a series engine...and effectively that made them non standard....and if you squinted as a result...a prime candidate for withdrawal. Thats conjecture...it could well be they were surplus to requriements and the reasons above made them a prime target... CP equipment......its true that CP equipment was phenomenally more expensive than the equivalent brush/GEC/BTH/AEI ive also been told many a time by a driver that CP equipment generally takes anything you throw at it...however ive not seen anything in the manuals that shows CP kit is better in reliability aspects in terms of its design over the others....and indeed CP kit still suffers from the same failures as the other kit... From experience most of the CP equipped locomotives however seem to have (if 45149 and 26043) is anything to go by...vastly simplified electrical systems...and its my belief this contributes greatly to electrical reliability... @Artless Bodger mentioned about 33 reliability...and longevity in terms of longevity you could look at the fact that the 33 is the southern regions 37....mid power go anywhere machine.....so the usefulness of them could never be underestimated...reliability.....there is some conjecture...that they were "mollycoddled" and subject to far more care attention by the southern region so this may skewed the reliability figures somewhat. @D9020 Nimbus mentioned about the 26s longevity....and the cp equipment...class 26s were given a massive investment and life extension program during the HGR in the mid-80s this program included a full rewire.....which was unusual...bear in mind there are 47s and 37s currently running about on the mainline that have not been rewired! The unusual decision is further compounded that under the original specification from the BTC to BRCW the class 26s by this time were life expired! However the intention was...to keep them in service until ~2000 but the massive downturn in freight traffic resulted in a surplus of higher powered locomotives (37s) being available. Considerable investment would have been required to get them through another overhaul, particularly on the cylinder blocks and tyres, corrosion was major issue also. Sprinterisation was the final nail in the coffin as they had also lost passenger traffic also. by this point 26s were the only 6 cylinder mainline diesel left on BR, the component pool had shrunk drastically with the withdrawal of the other type 2s, and as a result heavy engine components...such as liners, which by 1990s were unique to a 26 and pistons which could only come from a 33, meant effectively...they too had become non standard.

The 73/0s (otherwise known as the JAs) were built to the hastings gauge and sound wise they were the same as the 73/1s (JBs) they were slightly different electrically and slower (80 mph) and the JAs had the ability to heat stock off diesel (while stationary only)

@Covkid 27s had a large enough internal reservoir for dual braking as well as the tanks in the roof. 26s don't have the larger internal reservoir as built they only had the 6 small tanks in the roof, this was deemed to be unsuitable for air braked freight working so the additional tanks were added in the place of the boiler water tank. The additional tanks would have exceeded the design capacity of a single D+M exhauster so a second was added in the boiler room (there was nowhere else it could have gone in the locomotive its likely it was put in there for weight reasons also. The fitting of an additional compressor presented other problems as well in that the 26s auxiliary gen was never designed to run 2 compressors (which draw considerably more current than an exhauster) as a result to prevent overload and problems with the AVR a delay relay was added so that the boiler room compressor doesn't start until about 15 seconds after the engine room one has (on air only of course) as a result also 26s do not have a compressor change over switch, which means if your in vacuum and the engine room compressor fails....you need to be recovered as the loco cant switch over to the other compressor like conventional locomotives do. the 27 has a westinghouse compressor (as far as i know) and i think but i might be wrong it only has 1 but they are significantly larger. so could handle larger reservoirs.

I think it was more of a case of the fact that you would have had 1750hp going into 4 traction motors on the 31 instead of 6 on the 37...they wernt actually de-rated as such as far as i know. The HP was lost through the lack of intercoolers.... which would have meant for a less stressed and more reliable engine.... In addition to this...it would have required major modifications to the load control of the main generator....so keeping it within an acceptable range of the mirlees unit was an easier and quicker option rather than going through all the testing of a new engine and load regulator setup (and thats before you look at field diversion on the motors)....especially at a time when reliability of diesel electrics was key! lack of intercoolers is one of the reasons why....the 26s outlasted all the other sulzer type 2s in scotland...(excluding the 24s but they were vac only)

Looks pretty damn accurate to me based off some of the videos of US railroads ive seen on youtube!!!

a 6lda has the same tick over as a non ETH 12lda 250 rpm, remember type 2s are completely unsilenced they will sound a lot different to a type 4 even though....a 44 45 and 47 is effectively two 6ldas in the same crankcase.. someone mentioned 24081s lumpy tick over....this is because its governor drive is worn, 24s are still on the original bevel drive for the governors whereas all the other type 2s were updated to the spline drive this means its much more suseptible to wear and as a result 24081s governor has been removed and sent away for overhaul. 26043 also had a lumpy tick over this was due to a fuel pump being out of calibration on one of the cylinders.