ISSUE 47 - JANUARY 2000

INTRODUCTION

This month's supplement is the start of what will be a series on exhausters. Click here to see it.

Future supplements will see how the Rolls-Royce manual deals with them, and one of our members is also going to tackle one and let us know how they got on.

Don't forget to send in your running dates for this year as soon as you have them confirmed, for inclusion the newsletter and on the web site.

A few hours spent travelling on Corkerhill 101s last week make us suspect that these will go very soon, possibly unexpectedly like the 117s, as soon as other sets can be cascaded (see other notes below). One of the Paisley Canal diagrams was a Sprinter, and a failed 101 in Central meant every second train on this line was cancelled. On a trip to Barrhead a passenger suddenly jumped up as steam started emerging from between the seat and window, from the header tank beneath the seat. It was taken out of service on return to Central. (A fitter looking at the 101 and the empty Sprinter already in the platform was heard saying on his radio "I canna couple a DMU tae a Sprinter"!). The blue set is rarely seen on the Motherwell – Cumbernaulds and the set that was operating on this that day had a serious smoke problem. So if you intend to have a final fling on these get up here as soon as you can. And remember the 'Roundabout' tickets cover all the 101 lines at a cost of just £3.50.

Kevin Dowd gave us few notes from the North West area. The first 175 has being undergoing trials lately and was due to be handed over this week. They are expected to take over Chester - Piccadilly services quite soon. The NSE liveried 101 set 840 has been out of action since the 19th Dec., and is not expected to return to traffic.

We hope your DMUs have all proved to be y2k-compliant!

Saturday 12th February is the deadline for Issue 48 of The Railcar.

THE RAILCAR ASSOCIATION

ScR EMUs for sale

You should all now be aware of the Sandite Class 311s up for grabs at Shields. Further information can be had from Tony Hallows of Railtrack (0171 557 8388). Vehicles are:

977844 (ex-76414)
977845 (ex-62174)
977846 (ex-76433)
977847 (ex-76415)
977848 (ex-62175)
977849 (ex-76434)

We are of course grateful to Railtrack for informing us.

Rail 2000

All owners of operational bubbles and railbuses have been contacted and a list sent to David Champion. It is now up to the respective owners to promote themselves. David can be contacted on 01670 528209 and info@rail2000.com.

Magazine Contributions

From Howard Johnston of RAIL: "It is thoroughly encouraging that many magazines are suddenly waking up to the importance of First Generation DMUs.
Remember that RAIL has been providing extensive coverage for almost two decades, and continues to do so. It is also flattering that several preservation writers seem to depend upon it to pad out their columns a few weeks later!
As a vehicle owner and shareholder who has been involved in a host of DMU rescue campaigns over the last few years, I continue to value excellent, long-standing relationships with many DMU groups, and enjoy my low-key liaison work in addition to writing my columns.
For those who don't know how to find me — my e-mail address is hj@howardj.demon.co.uk, while newsletters, etc. should be sent to the RAIL office at Peterborough or faxed to me direct on 01487 832001"

Crystal Ball

The final year of "heritage" railcar operation has arrived. TRA will be keeping up the pressure on Angel Train Contracts, Railtrack, Railpart and the TOCs to ensure that the preservation movement's needs are borne in mind when disposal of vehicles and parts happens during 2000. Thanks to Graham Thornton at the East Lancs for making good progress in negotiations with Railtrack (Longsight Sandite vehicles) and Railpart (bulk sale of obsolete material at Doncaster). Angel Train Contracts have still have not appointed the preferred contractor(s) to whom they intend to sell all vehicles for asbestos decontamination prior to onward sale or scrapping. TRA will continue to sell the alternative approach of decontamination at preservation or other sites before formal transfer of vehicle ownership, thus reducing transport, dealer margin and possibly decontamination costs for preservation groups.

Latest from ATC

Scotrail Class 101s:

These may be taken out of service at the end of February. This depends on the performance of Class 170s, so perhaps not!

Scotrail Class 117s:

Three units are stored at HA including 117310, still a three-car but heavily robbed; the other two are "strategic reserves". The rest are at Perth. All the above do not finish until 31st March at the earliest.

Silverlink fleet:

117 702 and the bubbles reside at BY until 31st March.

North Western:

Some of the vehicles, after recent attention, have a theoretical life until the summer of 2001. The fleet will be progressively withdrawn from June 2000 except 101 665 and the two centre trailers which will come back to ATC on 31st March.

This depends on the successful introduction of Class 175 units, so they may not last out the year.

Angel suggests If we speak to North Western nicely they might let us have one of their units at the East Lancs for this year's DMU gala.

The search for a disposal agent is still happening, but a lot of vehicles come out of service in March. When a disposal agent is found the movement of vehicles is likely to be rapid and they will keep us posted.

NEWS

URGENT The Paignton & Dartmouth Railway has acquired Class 117 TCL 59518 from Craig Emerson. The vehicle, formerly at Old Oak Common, moved to Devon in December. Bogies and most underframe hardware have now been detached from the vehicle. Seats and wooden window surrounds have also been removed. No doors or window glass survived at OC. The hulk will be scrapped in the very near future, so anyone interested in acquiring parts should contact Roger Gingell at the P&D immediately on 01803 553760.

OO-GAUGE 103 Not content with just having a full- size Class 103 to play with, the Williton Traction Groups are planning to get parts manufactured to enable a 4 mm scale Park Royal unit to be constructed. It will be a conversion of the Hornby 110. There will only be one batch made, and the etched sides and white metal ends are expected to be very reasonably priced, but obviously a larger order will make it cheaper. Contact Tony Shackell as soon as possible for details.

101 FORMATIONS

Mossend fire victim 101 688 was the last 101 set operating in its original formation. However, there are still quite a few original formations that can be made from the surviving vehicles if anyone, and we hope they are, is particular about this.

Power trailers:

• 50203 / 56055
• 50204 / 56056
• 51189 / 56347
• 51192 / 56350

Power twins:

• 50167 / 50171
• 50256 / 50266
• 51426 / 51496
• 51428 / 51498
• 51429 / 51499
• 51433 / 51503

Three-car:

• 50291 / 59303 / 50746

While it would be nice to see an example of each formation preserved, it is especially hoped that an effort is made to reform the three-car set.

While no TBS remains to form a proper four-car, there was a batch of four-cars that were originally ordered as three-cars and so when delivered were formed DMBS, TC, TC, DMC or DMBS, TC, TSB, DMC. The green trailer 59539 was from this batch, and although it was from a two-TC set (with 51443/51513/59541) it could join power cars 51442/51512 (a pair from a two-TC batch) or 51435/51505 a pair from a TC/TSB batch) and TSB 59575. All these power cars are from the same batch as 59539.

The other surviving trailer, Matthew Smith's 59117, has lost both its partners 50306/24 but there are still quite a few original power cars from this small LMR batch, but I'm sure Matthew is quite happy with the two he has!

HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND

Both the Wickham Project (Class 109) and the Scottish Railway Preservation Society (Class 126) have had to work through a pile of paperwork required before the HLF will authorise projects to begin. This is mainly contractual elements to ensure that the money is only spent on what it should be, and the projects are viable, with detailed work plans and cash flow projections required. It is believed that the Wickham project is just awaiting some payment issues to be resolved, while the SRPS has just been authorised to commence. The first power car is expected to be moved on Thursday 20th Jan., with the second soon after. Their restoration is being done at Lancastrian Carriage & Wagon, and is expected to take six months.

PARTS & SUPPLIERS

TRANSFERS The order for transfers was placed with Tearnes just before Christmas. They have just been delivered and we will send out 'invoices' with the next issue to those that ordered them. If anyone needs them before that, get in touch. Thanks to Kevin Dowd for co-ordinating this order.

PRESERVATION

NORTHAMPTON 122 55003 A B-exam was done on W55003 on the 8th Jan, and 23 defects were found. Most of them were known about e.g. top up final drives, but with their "responsible officer" (their liaison between themselves and RESCO) they found a couple of jobs not even considered. The main one was the floor inspection panels. They are normally kept in place by accumulated muck, rust and grime but in fact have simple T key locks to secure them. After 40 years not one was in use and not one would move. Most of the holding screws were rusted away and because of this the locks had to be prised out. The wood however was in good condition. Ian soaked the locks in paraffin overnight and with a certain amount of brute force and ignorance managed to free them all the following day, ready for refitting the following weekend. The most annoying defect was that one of the horns on the No. 1 end failed. This horn was one of the original ones that had worked ever since Ian acquired the unit. Trust it to fail with a cracked diaphragm just when he wanted it to work!

DEAN FOREST 108s Chris Bull reports that both trailer vehicles now have working Smiths heaters. 'Lovely Warmth' he says!

NRM 108 The second car has had its new front end fitted and is going to be painted blue with full yellow ends without headcode box.

51922 with it's new front end after painting. Paul Ellis

Paul Ellis wishes to thank those who offered assistance with drawings, etc. for the headcode box. He's hoping to do an article with the help of Dave Dennis from Peak Rail about their 108 and asks anyone having any info to please send it on to him.

• If you can help any of the following groups with their needs or information, please e-mail us at editor@railcar.co.uk

WANTED

Seat cushions - black and grey squares for the first-class seats on 119 vehicles. Railcar Enterprises.

Tungsten lighting - with opaque shades and silver circles. Railcar Enterprises.

Thermostats - we are looking for two fire system resetting thermostats (the ones that sit over the fluid flywheel). Shackerstone DMU Group.

FOR SALE

Pantry Car - Mark One, ex-Royal Scotsman. Would be an excellent support coach. The vehicle had a £90,000 refit in 1990 and has only seen six months use since. Accommodation includes a double pantry with fridge and dishwasher, an office with safe, twin full en-suite bedroom, two single en-suite bedrooms that are inter-connectable, and a storage compartment big enough for a bed. A 240v supply is fitted to the compartments, and the vehicle also has a 3-phase 415v supply as well as the standard 24v system. It has good bogies, wheels and bearings, and would require minimal work for main line registration. Offers around £10,000. Lancastrian Carriage & Wagon.

Brake Feed Valves - we overhaul kits available, costing £15 per set which includes two diaphragms and one seal. P&P is approx. £1. We have only 70, 20 are already accounted for, and when they are gone... Dean Forest Railway

Various - We have some DMU items for sale on our web site at www.sikes.demon.co.uk which may interest you. David Sikes
(I checked this out for those of you that do not have web access - they had sets of driver's controls, a new repair book and a 52J (South Gosforth) shed plate - Ed)

Rolls-Royce engine - I have recently acquired an alleged fully reconditioned 6-cylinder R-R 180hp horizontal DMU engine. It was apparently removed from a Doncaster works engine shop about eight years ago, and has never been fitted. It is complete — as far as I know — and still turns over. It has unfortunately been lying outside, but still has the protective film of engine paint over it. The inlet exhaust ports were still covered up. I would sell for approx. £650, although no reasonable offer would be refused. Chris Hatton

Oleo Buffers - four for DMUs. They are the large diameter type (22"). In working condition. The backplate is 15" x 8", and the gap between the bolts is 11½ " x 5½". Dean Forest DMU Group.

DMU - Class 115 as a restoration project. Epping & Ongar Railway.

QUESTIONS

We experienced a different temperature-related problem towards the end of December 1999. We have been using one of our Class 108 sets during the Santa trains season and generally it has performed very well. In the last couple of weeks before Christmas however, the weather turned very cold and on the last Sunday of operation we found that it was too cold for the air system to work properly. The main problem was that the No. 1 end final drive engaged forward, but could not be reversed. At the time the problem would not have been easy to resolve quickly, so the unit was used as hauled stock for the day. The following weekend some checks and tests were done and all was functioning OK without any remedial attention.

We drain down the air after every use of the units so there will not be any water in the reservoir tanks, but is it possible that water / moisture could have spread its way around the system? Have any other groups experienced similar problems? Also, is it possible to add anything to the system to prevent this kind of problem?

One useful thing we found was that placing sheets of plywood in front of the engine cooling radiators seems to have many benefits:

The heating worked much better - surprise surprise (It is one of the units with "Central Heating" using engine coolant). There was less smoke from the exhausts. There was virtually no oil consumption by the engines. The fuel consumption for a day's work was cut in half.

All these were as a result of the engine working temperature not dropping well below the most efficient level. Other groups, if they have not tried this already, may find that this would also benefit them where only fairly short runs are being done. Longer running distances would probably keep the temperature up a bit better. Having said this, we only investigated this line of modification due to the lack of heat coming from the "Central Heating", which would not be noticed by owners of units with conventional diesel-fired carriage heaters.

Robert Chilton, Diesel Unit Preservation Associates Ltd, Chappel & Wakes Colne.

COMMENTS

From Dean Forest Group:

Re. starter motors. We recently had one from a Leyland 680 overhauled by our local starter motor man in the next town. Took a while to get parts for the solenoid (ex-Yorkshire) — three weeks — but was okay and only cost £108 — for our 108! Beware that there are apparently differing types of starter motor (ours was an old one).

NEXT ISSUE : 16th February 2000

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