Restoration diary

Dave, Chris & Tom spent a marathon five days on site. Dave sorted the spare brake rigging and began cleaning & un-sticking various parts, Tom continued working on the interior wood surrounds on the quarter-lights & drop-lights in 30's No.2 cab & Chris fitted the three remaining sections of 185mm cables to the field divert contactors, as he & I had decided a fresh pair of eyes might be able to devise a solution from pictures he had taken of the cables in 50050. He has also taken the auxiliary contacts off the 'proper' 50 reverser, to see if he can fabricate a new mechanism for the second reverser for Renown & begun cleaning debris from the No.1 end clean air compartment.

Dave spent the weekend on site clearing up the stores shed, then on Sunday helped Ian & Pete stretch 12 more stretch bolts on three big ends on the power unit, having made a new tool during the week. Having forgotten to reconnect the rad fan fuse last week (despite posting that I had completed the wheelslip board), I did so, then fitted the small relay board behind the fuse & mcb cabinet. This board has the Overload Interlock relay OIR, Generator Field relay GFR, No.1 motor blower relay BMR1 and the lighting time switch load resistor Z59. Two of the mounting bolts again required loosening slightly to fit the board in the somewhat tight space, and the resistor was removed to ease fitment. The lugs on the large cables to the GFR & BMR1 were cleaned and they were bolted on to their connections on the rear of the board, which again was time consuming due to the confined space to wield spanners.

Dave spent the weekend on site having a general tidy-up of the coach and container, then helped Ian & Pete torquing the big-end stretch bolts until the tool broke! After I had returned the wheelslip relay board to my house after the previous workparty, I removed the contact fingers from the relays and cleaned them (not the easiest of tasks as the fixing screws are tiny & probably hadn't been removed since the relays were originally made), straightened two of the contact fingers on one relay. They were re-assembled and fitted back onto the paxolin board with new brass cable connection bolts to replace to broken originals, checked for operation by dabbing a 110v DC supply onto the coil contacts and were found to be still working. The associated three 10k ohm resistors were also removed, cleaned, checked with a meter to see they were still working, and refitted. The brass rad fan fuse mounting pillars were missing, so they were taken from the spare broken board, cleaned & fitted. The mounting pillars for the plastic relay covers were removed as they were rusty, & were de-rusted, painted & refitted. The filthy relay covers were cleaned and refitted. Today, the completed board was mounted in the elec cubicle in Repulse, but required a small piece cutting off one corner as some cables that go past the board were hard against one edge, and two of the mounting bolts needed to be loosened as they didn't quite line up with the mounting holes. The board was then fitted and bolted in, the rad fan fuse was fitted & the external connections have been made.

Chris & Tom Thorn & Dave again spent the weekend on site starting to remove the removable rad grille section and the air filter frame in the passageway, to get at the motor blower inside. Chris B joined them today & by the end of the day, they had unbolted & removed the blower snail housing out through the hatch for cleaning. It is hoped the motor itself will follow soon, but due to it's weight, it will probably have to be lifted out through the roof. Ian & Pete removed all the cam followers from the power unit's B side for cleaning & to blow out the oilways with the compressor. I rewired part of the rear of the cleaned wheelslip relay board, using new brass nuts & bolts, as the original cable mounting bolts had all been sheared off sometime ago. Once the wheelslip resistors have been cleaned, and I have verified the relays are still working, the board will be reassembled & can then be fitted into the elec cubicle.

Chris T continued sorting & tidying in both coaches, and applied the 'Smartwater' security stickers to the coaches & both locos, Tom continued work in the no.1 cab of Repulse, Ian & Pete continued fitting the water jacket flexible elbows from the engine block to the cylinder heads, but found two that seemed reluctant to fit, so left them for next time. I tested all the wheelslip resistors with my meter to make sure they were still intact, then removed two, without breaking the mounting bolts, to go with the one I had previously removed, and brought them home to fit to the board I took home last time once cleaned. Chris T thinks he has found a supplier of the Londex wheelslip relays, in case the original ones prove unusable & I will investigate this further. I persuaded the recalcitrant mounting bolts I mentioned last time to align with another relay board's mounting holes with elbow grease and a nylon hammer, test fitted the board, dismantled and cleaned the auxiliary contacts of the relays on said board and started cleaning the somewhat soiled 35mm cable lugs that connect to them.