Restoration diary

It is April 1984 and 50030 is approaching Bristol Temple Meads from the south west, passing beneath the Bath Road overbridge in this shot by an unknown photographer taken from the end of the platform. Unfortunately we can't identify much more such as the exact service that Repulse was hauling, as the sub-par lighting conditions make it difficu...

To help pass the time during the current lockdown, we've been going through the RRRG image archive to pick out some workings from the BR careers of our two locomotives. We'll be posting these occasionally to hopefully stimulate a bit of discussion but also just to show some photos that have probably never been seen before. The date is 25th Jan...

​We haven't posted anything for a while by way of updates. Winter is always a quiet period for RRRG; Peak Rail is often closed in January and we concentrate on off-site work before resuming work parties in March. Except of course this year the global coronavirus pandemic struck and non-essential travel was curbed. So we couldn't resume on site work...

Carl and Sofy Looker joined me today on site. They started scraping loose paint off the inside of the engine compartment, then washing areas with White Spirit and very soapy water, to see which shifted the accumulated oil film and carbon soot better. The best combination seemed to be White Sprit first, followed by the soapy water. They washed off t...

Wes Needle, Mark Burrows, Robert Burrows (Mark's son) and I were on site today. Wes carried on sorting 50030 No.1 cab desk panels to make them fit properly, including fitting new hinges, Mark and Robert painted yellow gloss over the new steel on the cabsides and No.1 cab front, to protect them over the winter. I painted the fire extinguisher tubes ...

I went up again today as welder Ian needed access inside Repulse. Ian Kemp and Peter Carter were also there barring the ex-50008 power unit round and pumping oil through it. We do this as a mattter of course at each work party just to ensure this power unit remains in good internal condition ready for insertion into 50030 later this ye...

This weekend we had Ian Williams the welder on site, starting the bodywork repairs on Repulse. Joining me today was Mark Burrows, Carl and Sofy Looker.Ian cut out rotten steel around No.1 cab end and along the 'non-visible' side, where we had identified the worst corrosion. He did most of the cutting out yesterday, today was clearing the rusty debr...

Ian Kemp decided to go to site today as it was a bank holiday and he wasn't working. Wes Needle was available too so I went as well.Quite a productive day, Wes was in No.1 cab again, fitted the windscreen washer control and washer button he'd overhauled, and made a repair to a conduit under the floor. He took away a section of cab panelling to rep...

I went up to site yesterday as Ian Kemp was bringing some helicoils as a possible solution to the radiator resistor backplate problem (see previous work party reports). After we'd looked at them and decided they may well solve the problem, Ian and Peter Carter took measurements off the power unit for the upcoming lift, barred the engine round as th...

Our medium term goal is to restore 50030 to a state where the Diesel engine can be started up and the locomotive's systems checked. To this end we are concentrating on both the power unit and generators plus the air and vacuum systems. We already have an overhauled vacuum exhauster in secure, heated storage off site and we have a number of compress...

A good day on Sunday, despite the Arctic wind in the morning. Wes Needle had a very productive day. He started the day by cleaning the debris from under No.1 cab floor on the second man's side. Then, with Dave's help, they checked the operation of the handbrake mechanism under the floor. They found that the pivot nut required tightening and a new s...

Dave Rolfe, Wes Needle and I were on site on Sunday 17th February. Peak Rail have been reorganising their site during the first weeks of 2019 and opportunities for work parties were also limited by the weather. Dave was removing the brake adjustment parts off the bogies, as he'd identified some that were either worn or where there appeared to be ...

Ian Kemp, Peter Carter and Dave Rolfe have been finishing off fitting pipework onto the ex-50008 power unit, and have started removing the injectors for inspection, before they go off for overhaul. Dave has been overhauling, cleaning and temporarily fitting items onto the brake frame so we know where everything goes. They will need removing to get ...

The frames for the air filters at the radiators end of 50030 were corroded, warped and generally unusable after 25 years or more out of traffic. Although we had a number of spares they likewise were not much good having been stored out in the open or in damp environments. We decided to "bite the bullet" and place an order with an engin...

I have been offline with PC problems for the last few weeks so work party reports haven't been added! So here's a bumper update rolling up all the work on site during the last month or so since the last report in mid July.The last three workparties saw myself, Dave Rolfe, Deborah Stokes, Wes Needle, Carl and Sofy Looker and Mark a...

​Mark Burrows, his son Robert and I were on site today. Mark and Robert carried on scraping, bashing, fibreglassing, filling, sanding and priming around the no.1 cab of 50030, while I had a good tidy up on the shelves opposite the electrical cubicle, then Mark helped me fit the three rad resistor backplates along one side of the rads. Apart from th...

Mark Burrows and his Robert plus myself were on site today. Mark and Robert carried on where my partner Mae had got to on the no.1 end cabsides of 50030, removing rusty paint bubbles, grinding and sanding smooth where possible, then adding filler, sanding again and priming, then painting with grey undercoat. When purchased in 2002, both 50029 and 5...

When we originally reported on the installation of the overhauled radiators into 50030, we promised some more pictures showing what we did on the day. I took a lot of pictures during the lift day and we hope these will give an idea of everything that was done on the day, and why it was such a long day! ...

​My fiancee Mae joined me on site today, along with Carl and Sofi Looker. While Mae was hammering, poking and scraping at rust spots around the lower parts of the no.1 cab on Repulse (a recent target area we had decided to tackle), Sofie was top-coating one side of the six radiator fan resistor backplates, while Carl and I lifted and bolted tw...

We have previously reported on the work done in the radiator compartment of 50030 once the radiators were originally lifted out to allow the compartment to be refurbished. We had hoped that we would be able to lift the radiators back into 50030 following their refurbishment somewhat sooner than now but a combination of bad weather and oth...