Restoration diary

I found another 10-12 conduit and pipe clamps that I need for in the generator room. I cleaned these up with wet and dry sandpaper and a wire cut brush, then white spirited them and painted them. Also put another coat of paint on the 40-odd clamps that I did last time I was on site.

I also re-secured 50029’s tarpaulin which was loose and flapping around a bit on one corner.

Dave Rolfe was on site as usual and continued with painting a second coat of paint onto the radiator grilles.  I took a few photos and noted how good they were looking; we will share these here soon.

Dave continued cleaning & painting the second turbo, and yesterday examined the two remaining turbos on the power unit & found they both rotate freely, which is good news. Ian & Pete torqued down two cylinder heads to 600fpt, then examined the camshafts in the power units still in the locos to see if they were in better condition than the section that has some water damage in the ex-008 unit, but found both sections examined were in similar condition due to having stood idle for so long, so an off-site repair is looking likely. Chris Bodell continued his dirty work cleaning the clean air compt at No1 end, and has almost finished the one side now. I continued wrestling with the field divert cables, but found one marked for the one position that appears about two feet too short, so this will need further investigation.

Ian, Pete, Chris T & Tom washed down both locos for their appearance at the upcoming PR diesel gala & by the end of the day, both locos looked pretty good. Chris B has taken on the unenviable task of cleaning debris from the No.1 end clean air room, and by close of play it was difficult to see where his overalls stopped and his head started! Dave Rolfe has dismantled and freed off the stuck turbo and is now cleaning and painting it. I fitted the last two missing sections of 185mm cable to the field divert resistors, and spent the rest of the day wrestling with the six 3mtr lengths that drop down to the reverser, as they need to be fitted in a certain order to avoid having them tangled, which requires fitting and removal multiple times until you get it right, not that easy due to the confined space of the thin-man's passage and they are quite stiff due to their size.

As I was unavailable due to having a bad back, this report is from Chris Thorn. "Dominic, Tim and Mick Ratledge cleared the roadway to the shed and re-graded the surface. They also sorted the scrap pile ready for collection and helped little Chris refitting cubicle doors to Renown. Tom completed painting the cab vestibules, refitted overhauled ceiling vents and the warning light cluster. Dave opened up all the loose brake cylinders and added the corroded ones to the scrap pile. Ian and Pete sorted the latest arrival of new engine parts and refitted some more pistons. I brought up more parts from home, continued sorting our spares and shifted the heads in the shed to clear the floor space ready for new arrivals."

Chris Thorn & his brother Tom spent four days doing a marathon session over the Easter weekend, making great inroads into cleaning back loose paint and sanding on the entire interior surfaces of No.1 cab, fitting better wooden shelving to the pallet racking in the coach, did further sorting of spares, listed what we are still missing, removed the remains of the brake frame piping and cleaned & painted the frame & structures behind.

For various reasons, the last two work parties had to be cancelled. We decided to postpone the one that fell on Mother's Day to the following weekend, but in the event that one had to be cancelled too, so today was our first visit in nearly a month. As Ian's power unit parts have not yet arrived, he, Dave & Pete fitted two cylinder heads. I tidied the elec workbench in the coach and found homes for many items, then wired the first three warning resistors described above.