We then checked all the usual problems concerning the charging circuit including 'flashing the field' but no luck. We then checked the resistance across the alternator. It read approximately 12 M ohms. It should have read more like 12 ohms. The alternator was obviously at fault. We checked the NJV for a spare alternator but with no luck. The only spare one was the one I had come back from Glasgow with for use as a spares donor.
We brought it back to the unit and greased it up. After a few turns the grating noise was starting to subside. Possibly some rust on the inside. The brushes were changed and the resistance checked. It was about 1400 ohms much more like it. We refitted this alternator and tried again. No luck it still did not charge on the No. 2 circuit. We may have to change the control box.
At least the battery power is now back to normal so the starting problems should have ended. As long as the No. 1 engine fires then the batteries will receive a good charge from that alternator and that should be sufficient. I shall get the failed alternator checked out and rebuilt as and when. I shall also take a look at the other alternators I have in the garage at home and get Dick to check them out.
We were shunted up and down the loop as Dave and the team had finally got the Class 26 to move and wanted to take it out on test. After the final train of the day the loop was shunted and the Class 25 and 26 coupled together. After a couple of runs to the sidings and back, the test was pronounced successful. The Class 26 did the shunt to rearrange the loop and the Class 25 brought back the floating rake. I then tidied up and went home.
After speaking to Dick he is of the opinion that one alternator has main winding failure and the other has small winding failure. If this is the case then a single good alternator should be able to be rebuilt from the two failed ones. I can then get the failed one rebuilt.
With the completion of the external undercoating all external work has now ceased for the winter. I shall now concentrate on finishing off the interior.
Mr. Block should finish the recovering of W55001's seat squabs soon. I will also have to drill and refit the final window frame in the small saloon before refitting the panelling. Then the first priority is to fit the panels above the doors and then the main wall trim.
The seat squabs were ready for Wednesday October 7th so I picked them up. They do look good. Friday October 9th was spent on Bridge 13 helping Andrew et al to gritblast and paint the bridge. Andrew hopes to be 2 7ths of the way through the job by the end of the weekend. I also brought the squabs and fitted them. They look good, far too good. I also put the unit on charge.
The unit was left on charge overnight so that on Saturday October 10th the unit would have a fully charged set for the Diesel Gala Weekend. I went to Bletchley where I had an invite to go on a run of the Fragonset 31s top and tailing on two coaches up and down the Bletchley to Bedford branch.
I was 48 on the Saturday.
Nick and Dick arrived and before we fired the unit up Dick and I changed the alternator for spare one and started up the unit. After changing the fuse the alternator began to work, excellent.
The unit was booked for two return trips each day during the weekend which it performed with ease. The only problem was a worsening of the leak on No. 1 engine of the seal between the crank and the fluid flywheel. I'm not sure if the job can be done in situ but Nick and Dick didn't seem too worried. We have all winter to look at it.
Stuart & Bryce came down for the weekend to do some videoing and the weather was good especially on the Sunday. Stuart obtained some good action shots and Kevin, who came down for the Sunday afternoon, took some good shots of W55003 in No. 1 road in Pitsford Sidings. I should have taken my camera.
Saturday October 17th was the last day of the 31s on the branch so I took the day off and spent the day photographing on the line. W55029 is now named Marston Vale and the 17th was its first day in traffic so named.
The following day I spent at home preparing 13 of the trim pieces ready for next weekend. I also developed the four films taken during the previous week. I also felt very weary so an easy day was thoroughly welcome. Bob phoned during the evening to make sure I hadn't died and generally have a natter.
Well next weekend came around and with all the 13 pieces of trim and enough squabs and backs I set about re-starting the interior refurbishment. The weekend was a success and I managed to complete three sections of panelling and replaced one single two seater and two back to back two seaters.
The following week I was on a seminar in London so any evening work was curtailed. The following Saturday, October 31st, was the day when the Class 27 was to be re-bogied with the refurbished bogies. The day was wet and got wetter but the locomotive was rebogied by 1600 hrs..
Sunday dawned bright and cold and once again I continued with the interior, once I had cleared the guttering of leaves! This was from being stabled down the loop for the bogie replacement the previous day.
I managed to finish all but the small trim in the main saloon side panels. I also refitted two single two seater frames in the small saloon.
At last the following weekend was good weather. Shame I was working inside! I finished off the large saloon trim and refitted the remaining seats on Saturday 7th November. I also revarnished the window surrounds in gloss yacht varnish in both saloons. I refitted the heating vents in the main saloon on Sunday and refitted the aluminium window frame in the small saloon. By this time I had run out of varnished trim so I will have to leave the small saloon until a future date. My final job of the weekend was to refit the double backed seat in the small saloon with its backs and squabs.
The unit itself will be moved from the bay into the floating rake for the duration of the Santas.
The week will be spent in preparing and varnishing the trim ready for a start on the installation next weekend.
the weekend of November 14th & 15th was the weekend of the Grand Work-in at work. Basically this is to ensure a goodly amount of overtime for the Christmas pay packet. I managed to complete all the tasks by 1000 am on Sunday so I went off to the railway.
We had taken delivery of PWM651 the previous Tuesday so Nick, Dick and myself spent the day in getting it working. I only managed to transfer the air tank into W55001 and deposit the varnished trim in W55003 as far as the units were concerned.
PWM651 worked its first train, the return Pitsford Empties, on Sunday November 15th.
The following week I spent in refitting the window frames and internal panelling in the small saloon. All went well until I refitted the panel over the window. I had to resite the holes for the luggage rack bolts slightly upwards on the right hand side and being an idiot used a drill just too big for the self tapping screws/bolts.
I refitted some trim and left the luggage rack until the next day.
Come the Sunday I dismantled the offending panel and associated trim and started to weld up the holes so as to retap the threads anew. Dick arrived in the meantime and we eventually used his more powerful welder. I then redrilled the holes and off we went again. The panel is now refitted and all bolts fit perfectly.
I refitted some more trim and now the two single two seater frames are ready for screwing down. The double two seater frames will be done next weekend.
This will be done next weekend and hopefully this will leave only the ceiling trim to complete before Christmas.
I received the latest Railcar during the week and have put a bid in for some spare seat backs and squabs in the correct colour for W55003. I also replied to an advert for the Derby Lightweight Group who require a generator and panel set. I just happen to have one. I also hope to be able to exchange some of the 115 seat squabs for EP valves at the same time.
The weekend of November 28th & 29th was partly a working weekend for Christmas overtime. So Saturday was spent in refitting the final trim on the side panels and screwing down the seats. The unit now has all its seats in place for the first time since 1993. Dave was testing the Class 27 so I had a few rides and a quick driving turn around lunch time. Because of the testing the unit had to be shunted into Pitsford Sidings. Not very conducive to working.
I have three pieces of trim above the doors to refit then it's onto the ceiling. Although I have enough wood to do the job I will have to make one piece from two smaller ones.
I finished work at dusk around 1530 hrs. then was Guard on the return empties using the Class 27.
Sunday was spent in work until 1100 hrs.. I then went up to the railway where I found the unit already down in the sidings. All I did was to tidy up the both main saloon and small saloon. I will need to completely tidy up the saloon areas after I have finished the ceiling trim. I also swept out the Guard's van ready for the work to start on the panelling by the Guard's seat.
The railway's Santa Trains got off to a very cold start on December 5th. I brought all the purple fleck squabs plus the three RR type squabs up to put in 55001. However it took over an hour to get them into the unit as both W55003 & W55001 were parked the other side of the road bridge!! I wasn't pleased.
I eventually stated work on the trim in W55003 at about 0945 hrs.. This coincided with the unit being shunted to Pitsford Sidings. It was bitterly cold and I eventually gave up working at about 1300 hrs.. I was just too cold. I walked back with my drills etc. to Pitsford Station for a cup of tea and a warm up.
Adam invited me onto the footplate of the Tkh so I spent two trips firing, just to show these whippersnappers I hadn't forgotten how to fire. What is a whippersnapper anyway??
The rest of the day I spent helping Nick & Dick in rebuilding and replacing the donkey pump back in PWM651. Once rebuilt it can now pump up to the required 300 lbs. p.s.i.. The engine would still not fire however as it was so cold. We suspect the fuel has waxed to a certain degree although blocked injectors may cause the problem.
On Sunday December 6th I had arranged to go the Shakerstone to pick up some spare red seat backs and a couple of seat squabs. The seat backs will allow me to replace all of mine in W55003 should a disaster occur.
I picked Dick up at about 0930 hrs. and we set off in brilliant weather. Dave Pratley was there to meet us and we soon had the backs in the Transit. I had taken a couple of blue/green three seater squabs so a good trade was done by all.
After a look around at all the DMU vehicles we wended our way back to Pitsford. I dropped Dick of and set off for home. I got more or less to the M1 when I found Dick's keys so back to the railway I went. I eventually got home at about 1440.
I had lunch and emptied the van and prepared to set off to return the van the Newport Pagnell. I couldn't find my own car keys!!! I took the van back and on the windscreen of my car was a phone number. I had left my keys in the door of the car when I left the yard!!! I took the van back to Cranfield, picked up my keys, returned to Newport and came home.
By 1700 hrs. I had all the spare squabs and backs safely put away and under cover in my garage.
What a day. I needed a sit down, oh, and a beer!!!
As I had booked myself for Guard's duty over the weekend of December 12th & 13th I took a day flexi on the Friday to do some work on the unit. The unit itself was parked beyond the bridge so it was damp and cold instead of just damp. I started to fit the ceiling trim and by midday had fitted the three that I had prepared the previous weekend. I then prepared the saloon end pieces for the ceiling ready for varnishing.
During the afternoon I had a change and began on the last bit of side panelling that needed completing. This was in the Guard's van by the side of the Guard's seat. I took out the Guard's seat which promptly fell into two pieces. The tubular construction of the seat frame does not take kindly to being bent to far and disintegrated into a back and a base portion. The side panels were ground down and 'Dinitrol'ed the areas. As the day was damp and overcast the application of Dinitrol was not drying so I had to leave the red oxiding and undersealing until another day.
The Guard's window I cut back and it is now ready for a new refabricated inner frame. The outer panelling is complete except for the piece under the window. This I will make from some spare plywood donated by Kev when I first arrived on the railway.
I have a spare Guard's seat to replace the broken one. I also coated the wooden supports for the Guard's seat in 'dry rot' preventative solution. This will ensure the new seat will have something solid to sit upon.
As mentioned earlier Saturday and Sunday were spent on Guard's duty as well as training the Trainee Guards.
The weather during the following week continued to be very cold and so it was into the weekend of December 19th and 20th.
I decided to concentrate on the Guard's van panelling on the Saturday. The Dinitrol had dried so my first job after being shunted into Pitsford Siding was to red oxide the exposed areas and then underseal them. I then began constructing the inner frame for the window. The old window must have been slightly smaller than the replacement one that is from a Class 117 although I don't quite understand why. Anyway the frame was soon built and in place. The only problem is fixing the top right-hand corner bracket. I will have to take off the vacuum gauge to get at the corner properly.
The two remaining original top panels were soon tacked in place and the window frame slotted in. All that remained was for the panel for under the window to be fabricated. This was made from a spare Kevin donated Nokia box panel. Once all panels were fitted in place I dismantled the lot and filled the cavities with fibreglass. I then replaced everything and tacked them into place. I shall screw them in place next weekend.
The fabricated panel I took home and undercoated ready for fitting.
As it was getting windier and windier and colder and colder I decided to abandon any further work after removing the aluminium door cross pieces ready for scraping down and repainting. I finished work after lunch about 1400 hrs. and made my way back to the station.
During the week I began work on the window cross pieces but the going was very slow. I initially tried some Ronseal paint remover then used a blowlamp. I am now going to try grinding the paint off using 'flapper discs'. If this doesn't work it's back to the blowlamp. I would like to get these finished by the year's end.
Next weekend is Christmas so I will only be able to work on the unit during Sunday & Monday December 27th & 28th then it's off into another year.
As mentioned earlier I had started on the door cross pieces. I had gone into MK Tools & equipment and bought myself a new angle grinder and cordless drill. The angle grinder is a 4 1/2 " Atlas Copco and with this I began on the cross pieces. The flapper discs removed the old paint admirably and by Christmas Eve I had five of them finished and in bare metal. I promptly used the etching primer on them ready for undercoating later.
The etching primer I am not convinced about. Nick & Dick assure me it is aluminium etching primer but as soon as undercoat of any variety is put on top it lifts and is absorbed by the undercoat itself. However by Christmas day evening I had five pieces ready for top coat.
On Boxing Day morning we went to Joan & Keith Jackson's for lunch then back home via Kempston. In the afternoon I applied the first top coat of beige to the cross pieces.
Well the 27th was wet and windy so I didn't even bother going to the railway. I cleaned down the other seven pieces and etched primed them. I then finished off the first five with a second top coat. Two of the pieces deserve mention. One is off a Class 119 no. 51104 whilst the other is off Class 116 no. 50096. This unit has the distinction (?) of being one of the first two withdrawn because of fire damage in 1972. That evening the chap from the GCR (Nottingham) DMU group called to see if he could pick up the seat squabs.
So I was off to the railway early in the morning of the 28th to get them out of W55001. Dick gave me a hand and we soon had them in the Escort ready for transfer. I also took the undercoated piece of panelling for W55003 and made sure it fitted. I also checked to see that the vacuum gauge in the Guard's van came off easily so I can finish off the inner window frame correctly. It requires a 9/16th Whit spanner and does come off easily.
The chap arrived at about 1115 hrs. and went for a ride on the service train with his wife and daughter.
As there was no booked Guard, Adam asked to stand in. I went with Adam on the first run and was quite happy to let him Guard for the next couple when Chriss had asked to take over.
After the run we transferred the squabs across and I was paid the required amount. It is good to speak to other groups to see what is going on and how they are doing.
Back home for the afternoon I put the first coat of undercoat on the remaining seven pieces. I will put the second on tomorrow and top coat ready for the end of the year.
As 1998 comes to a close I must look back on another momentous year. W55003 has run faultlessly on both Diesel Galas, has all her seats back in, is now in full undercoat green, has the Guard's van fully panelled and is ready for finishing off during 1999.
W55001 has finally arrived and I have purchased enough spares to rebuild her more or less completely.
I have also cleared out my stock of surplus seat squabs and backs and have acquired a full set of spare seat backs in the correct colour for W55003.
PWM651 is a working locomotive although requires some remedial treatment to most parts, basically a full inspection and overhaul where required.
The railway has started expanding, at last, both North over Bridge 13 towards Merry Tom and South across the Viaduct towards Boughton Crossing.
Finally although most of the work has been done by myself thanks must go primarily to Dick Morris, Nick Wilkes and Kevin Dingle for all their help and encouragement.
On the Northampton and Lamport Railway, Bob and Barbara Faulkner, Dave Stokes, Brian Burgess, Martin Harris and Gordon Titmuss.
Personal thanks go to Mark Herbert and Keith Jackson. Lastly to Angie, my wife, without whose support and understanding I could never have taken the project on.