Announcement of working party dates and details of restoration work carried out at working parties.
Ian & Pete fitted three pistons and two heads during the day, Chris B continued working in the no.2 cab of Repulse refitting internal panelling, and I fitted several 16mm & 35mm cables I had crimped new lugs on, where the originals had been cut off & fortunately they were still long enough to re-fit them without incident.
Very busy weekend on site. 50037 saw another two days effort on body preparations for its repaint. Vast amounts of filler were also removed from under the driver's screen revealing the full extent of the dents from a major impact sometime between 1982 and 1984. 50029 saw the spare cubicle doors removed from no 2 cab for storage in BG2. 50008's engine received further attention with more water jacket elbows refitted and head tightening. BG1 had a major tidy up after racking had to be dismantled to enable a new workbench to be loaded within it. And finally both locomotives were winterised with heavy tarpaulins fitted to keep the weather out of the engine rooms over the winter. Bodies on site Chris Dom Tim Pete Steve Sarah Dave Tom Chris.
As I have missed the last two work parties for various reasons, this report will cover the period from the last update on July 4th. Dave & Chris Thorn, assisted at times by Chris Bodell & Mark Burrows, have continued to sort and load the items stored outside into the second BG. Chris B has also made good progress cleaning & painting in 30s no.2 cab, and refitting various covers & wooden trims. Ian & Pete have continued re-fitting pistons with new rings, big end shells and stretch bolts, and torquing down cylinder heads. All the above continued today, and Tim & Dom made an appearance to catch up with our Flying Dutchman; Paul Sturm, who was visiting from Holland. Paul spoke at length with us to see the progress we have made since his last visit two years ago, then very kindly bought us all a drink at the end of the day at the Church Inn by Darley Dale.
Dave made some more space in BG2, before he and myself forklifted 6 turbos on to pallets ready for loading into the north end. We also palleted up a fan motor and scrapped the frame off a compressor. I painted more turbo and intercooler pipework, using our new spray gun.
Ian, Pete & Dave hoisted up and fitted another three overhauled cylinder heads to the power unit, and torqued them, and another head previously fitted, down to 600ft lbs. Chris B cleaned & painted some sections of intercooler & turbo pipework & I carried on tidying the small control cables with cable ties & attempted to fit the last three remaining sections of 185mm cable to the field divert resistors, but found them all apparently the wrong length and with crimps fitted at angles which at the moment prevents them from being bolted to their connections on the reverser.
