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Restoration diary

Reports of restoration work on 50029 and 50030.

Announcement of working party dates and details of restoration work carried out at working parties.

Working party report 6th September 2015

A slightly frustrating day was had.  Ian, Dave and the mechanical team struggled all day to try and fit the last remaining piece of oil pipe to the power unit so they can pump oil round it, but despite cutting more and more off one of those big hardened steel plates holding the supporting sleepers together, they still co...
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Working party reports 26th July and 9th August

Working party reports 26th July and 9th August
Refitted oil (pink) and water (blue) pipes leading to the heat exchanger recently refitted to the 50008 power unit.
The oil filters and strainer were refitted to the power unit recently. The grey caps above the blue water pipe are the tops of the oil filter housing. One of these contains the strainer with the rest being filters.
Dave Rolfe continued to make progress cleaning out the air filtration compartment between the radiator and engine rooms.
The new CU5 radiator fan control unit was test fitted into 50030 and is seen alongside the CU7 ETH field detector unit.
On 26th July Pete and Ian rifled through our extensive spares collection to find pipework needed to refit to the ex-50008 power unit as its rebuild continues. I carried on refurbishing and painting the electrical cubicle doors and framework. I also rediscovered a large quantity of Class 56 electronic units that we had speculatively bought from scra...
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Working party reports 12th and 19th July 2015

Working party reports 12th and 19th July 2015

On July 12th, Mark Burrows went through our stores area sorting out the doors for the electrical cubicles of both locomotives, to see if any were missing, and if so, which ones. We seem to be missing just one small door for Renown. Ian Kemp, Pete Carter and Dave Rolfe refitted the heat exchanger onto the ex-50008 power unit, including the replacement end piece recovered from the power unit in Repulse. Dom Jackson assisted Andy Rowlands belling out cables inside the electrical cubicle of 50030, as part of the completion of the electrical system and in continued preparation for the first fire-up of the locomotive.  At the end of the day, Dave, Ian and Pete covered the PU with a new large tarpaulin as the old ones had started to deteriorate.

 

The work party on 19th July was attended by myself, Dave Rolfe, Peter Carter, Ian Kemp and Mark Burrows.  Mark spent most of the day making a start on clearing one of our sotrage areas, as its current location is required by Peak Rail to extend their engine shed.

At the last work party the heat exchanger was repaired, cleaned, painted and refitted to the ex-50008 power unit.  This allowed Dave, Pete, Ian and myself to refit the pipe work around it.  The main aim of the pipe fitting is to complete the oil lubrication system so we can hand prime the oil around the engine which will lower the risk of damage to the bearings when the engine is barred over. By the end of the day all of the main oil pipes had been fitted, except one which cannot be fitted as the sleepers that the power unit is sat on are in the way. We now need to order new oil filters before the filter housings can be fitted.  The main image for this entry shows the refitted heat exchanger together with the pipework we managed to reinstall during the work party.

I spent the afternoon assessing the cabs on Repulse with a view of restarting the repair work on them, then I made a start on checking what cab parts we have in store and what reusable parts are in the e- 50037 cab.

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Working party report 28th June 2015

Working party report 28th June 2015
This work party was attended by myself plus the "Three Amigos": Dave Rolfe, Ian Kemp and Peter Carter.  Dave and I fitted a couple more water and oil pipes to the ex-50008 power unit, I then swapped a water pipe from the power unit inside 50030 to replace a damaged one on the new power unit.
 
The main news from this Sunday centres around the heat exchanger which was removed from storage, due to the size and weight this was no mean feat but between the four of us and the use of our winch we managed to move it out for inspection. When we purchased the ex-50008 power unit we were told the heat exchanger had been swapped for the one currently in 50008 as it had a leak. When Ian inspected it, it was clear the end plate had corroded through in a couple of places (this plate is around 5mm thick so it's surprising it has rusted so badly). Thankfully the rest of the exchanger looks to be ok but we will need to pressure test it at some point. The rest of the afternoon was spent removing the end plate from the heat exchanger inside 50030; although this is quite rusty it appears to be in much better condition and should be easy(ish) to swap over.

 

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Working party report 31st May 2015

Working party report 31st May 2015

Ian Kemp, Peter Carter and Dave Rolfe carried on fitting oil, water and fuel pipework to the ex-50008 power unit, but on the side facing Renown, so no photo opportunities were possible today.

In preparation for the open day on June 21st, I washed down the outside of the electrical cubicle frame in 50030 and undercoated it, as it had become dirty from repeated handling since it was originally painted about five or six years ago. I also cleaned and undercoated the two cubicle doors from the fuse and MCB compartment. I brought three more cubicle doors home to clean.

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Just a reminder that we are having our Open Day on the afternoon of Sunday June 21st where RRRG members will be on hand to give guided tours of the project and discuss progress. We hope to see you there!

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