ISSUE 61 - MARCH 2001

INTRODUCTION

Saturday 14th April is the deadline for Issue 62 of The Railcar.

CONTACTS

Chris Bull has a new mobile phone number — 078 101 53567.

NEWS

VEHICLE MOVEMENTS Class 117 DMS 51400 has been bought by Ian McDonald, and was moved to the Northampton & Lamport Railway on Thursday 1st Feb.

PARTS & SUPPLIERS

CENTRAL RAILWAYS LIMITED Please contact Chris Bull for information on this firm before you deal with them. 

PAINTER'S LINING TAPE Class 107 Ltd can supply 'TESSA' tape at a competitive price of £7.00 per roll plus postage and packaging. Each roll is 60m long by 25mm wide. Small samples can be sent on request. Tessa tape is well regarded as the best such product available; it is very strong, allowing tape to be pulled taught to keep a straight line. It does not leave any residue, does not pull any paint off and does not leave a feathery edge like masking tape.

PRESERVATION

CHURNET VALLEY 104s A report from Paul Moxon: Autumn 2000 saw the DMU group (Kevin Dowd, Dave Arrowsmith, myself, and my youngest son Christopher) and the DMC (50517) relocate to the former sand quarry sidings at Oakamoor. Having completed about 70% of the restoration of 50517 (bodysides welded, windows replaced, filled and undercoated, interior wood stripped and re-varnished, ceilings re-skinned, cab desk rebuilt, doors replaced, etc..) we turned to 53455, to make a start on the other half of a 2-car unit.

This car was supposed to be a "quickie" restoration job (can I hear the sound of sarcastic laughter, and the comment "No DMU job is a quick job"?) as the unit had been in service with NSE and was considered a "runner, with a refurbished interior". The term "runner" was last demonstrated in 1995, when the CVR were allowed to run trains from the cattle dock at Cheddleton station to the top of the yard, and 53455 was paired with 53517, and its engines and transmissions were found to be operating.

"Refurbished interior" meant that at least the seats were recovered in nice blue NSE moquette, and weren't that faded BR blue that adorns many of the heritage railways' coaches. Refurbishment also covered the varnished window surrounds, in that these had been painted in an attractive pale brown colour, which complemented the faded NSE exterior paintwork.

The "quickie" was reassessed in the light of the following:

Five years of static storage, in a damp Staffordshire valley; corrosion appearing in various parts of the bodywork; water ingress into the interior saloons from the leaking roof; established wet rot in the bulkhead behind the second man's seat; all the large windows on the secondman's side having been smashed; use as a stores coach for timber, glass, batteries and other bits of 50517.

All of the above meant that the interior was not looking quite as refurbished as I had remembered it in 1995.

So we all set to; initially removing the seating in the front saloon and assessing the rotten window ledges, removing the interior panelling, and marvelling at the micro-organisms that were happily hibernating out of sight of the general public. After discussions, (sorry, a management decision) it was decided that myself and Dave would remove half of the front bulkhead, and substitute the spare that Kevin had in the ex- Tyseley toolvan. This was estimated to take two weekends, but ended up as four, as the secondman's side had had a collision in the 1980s and the roofline is about 3/8ths of an inch smaller than the donor bulkhead was tall. We then made the discovery that BRCW must have fitted the bulkheads in two pieces, as when you unscrewed the kickplate and heater grille, you could split the bottom six inches and take it off site to be suitably shortened!

We then both assessed the rest of the vehicle and spent a Saturday and Sunday tagging up the sets, and then relocating them to the centre trailer, 59137. The panelling and glazing strips from the broken windows soon followed, together with 4 buckets of broken glass, window sealant, rotten timber and rust.

Dave then decided to concentrate on refurbishing the cab instruments, and Christopher and myself started on the guard's van. Dave has been happily stripping, repairing and spraying most bits satin black, and de-seizing various knobs and controls that had ceased to function (for example, the panel lights were too high a rating, and had melted the GRP housing that holds the rev-counter, and speedometer).

We have sanded the guard's area (small bedroom size) and Kev assisted by sanding all the ceilings. Rob Simpson appeared one Sunday, and again the following week, and he and Dave got the guard's doors to open without the assistance of a hefty boot. They also removed the chequer-plates that were preventing the doors from opening, and reset the door locks and striker plates. Removal of the chequer plates to inspect the timber underneath revealed a bodged repair on one side and completely rotten support timbers on the other.

During the sanding and panel removal in the guard's area, traces of the original interior yellow paint was found along with the 1957 signwriting for the distributed weight of 30 hundredweight (Cwt). My nine-year-old son wanted to know what exactly a 'Cwt' was, so, being the only person present that could even remember these types of weights, I had to try to explain. It has proved quite a job to get a match for this shade of yellow paint, and we seem to be part way between 3P, Williamson's, and Johnston's range. 3P's paint currently seems the closest ready-mixed match, and we have duly applied this to about half the brake area. Kevin will no doubt review the finished product, and decide if we then apply the same shade as a topcoat or we embark on another round of paint mixing.

Other jobs in progress included Kevin alternating between fitting the GRP window surrounds in 50517, scraping and de-rusting the interior panels of 50455, sanding and repainting vestibule ceilings, and stripping and re-varnishing interior bulkheads.

However, with Dave making progress with refitting the different gauges and switches back in the cab, and Kevin receiving a small 24v battery charger for Christmas, our thoughts turned to seeing if the two Leyland engines would work. After a couple of weekends coupling up the charger to 200-yard extension cable, and reeling it all back in again, Dave Turnock (C& W) kindly shunted us in front of the shed doors, and let use the heavy duty (railway type) charger. As Dave T Kevin and Dave A were now visiting Oakamoor during the week, the batteries were left on charge for a week, and by Sunday 11^th March, we decided to see if the engines would turn over. Armed with e-mail advice from Stuart Mackay and Evan Green-Hughes on antifreeze proportions and potential DMU electrical faults, we tried to start No.2 engine.

As the start buttons refused to operate anything, we set about checking fuses and the engine relays. We wanted to make quite sure that having started an engine, we could stop it, and eventually located the engine start and stop relays, and checked and operated them by hand. After a few seconds cranking them over to get fuel into the injector, and the tiniest sniff of 'Easy-Start', No. 2 engine coughed and fired, and promptly shut itself down, as the engine stop relay cut in. A bit of a head scratch resulted in the solution that since there was no coolant in system, the header tank float switches must be linked to the engine relays, and therefore were protecting the engines from damage. A swift 'phone call was made to Kev (at work in Stockport No.2 signal box) to find out where the drain plugs for 50455 were, and to give him an audible demonstration of No.2 engine running.

We then mixed generous 25%-ish antifreeze to water and poured it into the nearest radiator, and realised that the drain plug we had put in was for the engine on the other side of the unit. We then turned to the No. 1 engine, and tried to turn it over. Whilst it was turning over, I thought I heard a sloshing sound from the back of the exhaust system. After nothing happened while turning the engine over on the starter motor we tried a squirt of 'Easy Start' and the engine picked up, and then slowed. We took a pipe off the cylinder head and found no fuel at all was getting to the cylinders. We then traced the hatch inside the saloon, which opened on top of the injector, and bled some air out, and the engine then fired up. The amount of pond life (in the stale rainwater) that we evicted from the exhaust system had to seen to be believed, and was obviously the cause of the sloshing noise heard earlier. (The back end of the DMU is now a delicate shade of orange after the fire up).

'Clearing its throat', 50455 pollutes the Churnet Valley

The following Thursday, Dave was joined by Rob Simpson, and they ran both the engines up, and tried out the various control systems. After closing off the open air cocks under the unit, and sealing up various vacuum leaks they found the air pressure creeping up to 100 PSI. As Kevin had warned, the unloader valve on the air system had stuck shut, and Dave salvaged a replacement from the spares van, and fitted it. Problems with the seized engine start buttons in the cab resulted in another replacement. The engine stop button in the cab was freed off and when pulled out resulted in the engine trying to start itself! The correct "push to break" unit was then fitted to get both the engines to stop together. After topping up all of the oil levels, 50455 then moved under its own power up and down the 200 feet to the shed doors at Oakamoor.

Do you want me to give it a rev for the camera?

An owner gets to drive after all those years

50455, with 59137 behind, waits for other stock to be released (Note the trainee driver (only 12 years to go before Christopher can drive)

Sunday 18^th March saw 50455 shunt trailer 59137 so that the other car (50517) could be moved in front of the shed for battery charging and, at some stage, a fire up. 50517 will be a longer job, as there is currently no cab wiring, and the external start buttons are not connected. I also think that Kevin would like to be present at the next starting "ceremony"!

50517 is seen in front of the Oakamoor shed doors (taken from the cab of 50455, Note the careful replacement of cab fittings!)

NORTHAMPTON 117 51400 Since arriving on 1st Feb., all interior fittings have been replaced, including the missing window glass and fitments, door runners, luggage racks and light shades. All missing pipe work, vac bags, air pipes, etc. have been replaced and the missing MU cables have been remade and are ready to be fitted. They will be rewired back to the junction box to provide new wiring from there to the MU jumpers.

The missing air tanks are ready for refitting, along with a new cardan shaft and a replacement exhauster. The tacho generator relay panels have been refitted and the missing components in the fire boxes have been sourced and two new fire bottles refitted. The missing fire switch will not be replaced as both will be replaced with sealed units and new pyros as per the latest spec. A spare unloader valve has been fitted. The brake gear replacement is available and just needs refitting, then, once the batteries have been replaced and recharged, it can be started up. The main outstanding job will then just be to replace the Class 107 buffers.

• 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 Frame - wanted one three-seat single frame with hand hold for Class 117 W51400. Ian McDonald.

Seats - Class 108 second-class seat frames available. We require nine Doubles and six Triples, we don't require squabs or backs but would take them if they were available. We have a complete set of Class 108 first-class seat frames available, complete with squabs, backs, arm rests and side panels all in different moquette patterns and all requiring recovering. DUPA.

Mounting Rubbers - Has anyone had any engine mounting rubbers for Leyland 680s made or have any idea where we can get some? Paul Ellis, NRM 108.

Oil Separator - Eric Maxwell, of the Tanfield Railway (Tel. 0191 274 2002) is looking for an oil separator to work with a DMU exhauster.

Circuit Boards - Two Tacho Generator circuit boards, if not available does anyone have a cct drawing? Gwent 108 Group.

Spring - Both Midland Railway Trust power cars have hydraulic fluid self-contained in the torque convertor. Does anyone have any info on the small spring in the quick release valve under the front of the bogie. We require some spares. Midland Railway Trust.

Tyre Gauge - Does anyone out there have a tyre thickness gauge, BR catalogue number 39/29799, that I can borrow? As per the VMI, I am adjusting and checking the speedos. Having made a test rig, I need the tyre gauge to get an accurate reading to set the speedo. Telford Steam Railway.

Glass sizes - Does anyone have the BR Cat Nos. for DMU glass or exact sizes of window panes for our Class 107 vehicles? It would be of general interest I'm sure, if anyone has this information, to produce a summary of all DMU glass and window rubber profiles? Mike Froud, Class 107 Ltd.

FOR SALE

CD-ROM - "Trains Galore I", containing over 2,000 high-quality images of British Railways from the Eighties to present day including many photographs of preserved railways. They depict many liveries, details and scenes which may also be helpful to modellers. It includes well over 100 images of First Generation DMUs from the BR era. More details may be viewed on our web site at www.deesoft2000.com, or contact DeeSoft, PO BOX 3000, NOTTINGHAM NG7 4EE, tel. 0115 924 9645.

Engine Spares - The Cheshire Locomotive Preservation Group have contacted us as they have a substantial amount of Leyland 680 spares, bought as a job lot with some Sulzer spares, which they want to sell. Their five-page list contains everything from a complete overhauled 680 engine to bearings, gaskets and seals, and everything in between. Contact them for a copy of the list.

Glass - I have some items of glass for sale/swap: i) A small number of glazing panes for a Class 116 (or possibly 115/117/118?); ii) Two internal vestibule glazing panes for a Class 103; iii) Approx. 50 sliding quarterlight glazing panes for Class 108s. Kevin Dowd.

Video - "101 Twilight" video, 60 mins duration, featuring 101s in N. Wales and around Manchester. Cost £10 inc. P&P. Cheques made payable to "Gwent 108 Group".

CD-ROM - 101 Twilight CD containing over 100 high-quality digital photos of 20 units, in N. Wales and around the Manchester area. Cost £6.50 plus £1 P&P. Cheques made payable to "Gwent 108 Group".

NEXT ISSUE : 18th April 2001

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