Saturday 2nd

Attendance: 2

The year 2010 began early for the Class 15 Preservation Society as our first allocated working weekend of the year was 2 nd & 3 rd of January, however this year as well as working on the two locos in our care, we will be assisting in the final push to finish off the ongoing restoration of ELR resident Class 14 0-6-0 Diesel Hydraulic loco D9531, This loco has been out of traffic for over a decade but now a plan has been formulated to complete the extensive overhaul. It is going to be a team effort by members of the BHG & ELRDG in addition to some of the volunteers from the C15PS who have pledged their support and will provide manpower and assistance where required. However before any of this work could start D9531 had to shunted out from Castlecroft shed and down to Baron St Loco Works where it will be placed over the pit to allow the brake rigging to be refitted.

Adam and Jason arrived in Bury to greeted by a couple of inches of snow on the ground which was strange as it wasn't snowing where they had both come from (Midlands & North East) yet it only seemed to be snowing in the Greater Manchester & Lancashire area… anyway upon arrival the support coach was still “winterised” in other words all the electricity & water had been shut off over the Xmas and new year period so Jason soon had the power back on but unfortunately the water pipe was frozen so they had to get their water ferried in from the sleeper coach using water containers in order to make cups of tea. Another thing that was of concern was the Co-bo tent which, due to heavy snowfall the week previous, many of the roof tarps were sporting quite a lot of ice and snow on top. This presented a risk of the tent collapsing due to the excess weight, so after checking things over it was decided to try and sort it out later in the day, but for now it was time for Jason & Adam to go up town for breakfast and check in at Castlecroft to see if they were needed for the shunt to get D9531 out of the shed.

As it happened there were enough people around to do the shunt so Jason & Adam were not needed but they stood around for a while to watch the proceedings before going back down to Baron St. Back at the Coach Adam started off in the workshop and found the cab bulkhead door that was waiting for gloss painting, as we now had a replacement paint that was a close match for the original 'Hemp' gloss we had been using. Using that Adam started to paint the cab bulkhead door, Jason on the other hand went into the Co-Bo and finished off the drelling of the divider bean from the removable two piece generator bulkhead. Once that was done he put that to one side then began work on drelling off all the old paint from the lower genny bulkhead section.

Adam by this time had moved onto drelling up one of the radiator side frames, after which he painted it with the green primer. Jason had spend most of the day drelling the large lower genny bulkhead plate on both sides and by the afternoon he had finished it, as it was now getting dark he carried the bulkhead plate and divider bean through to the support coach where Adam was waiting to apply the green primer paint, Jason then locked up the Co-bo and joined him, together they painted the genny bulkhead plate and after this was finished it was time to pack away the tools and wash up.

Sunday 3rd

Attendance: 2

In the morning Jason had to go down to the Co-bo tent and clear off all the snow & ice from the roof, there were also a number of large water sags that also had to be drained away, that done he returned to help Adam with the loco. Adam began the day by gloss painting the other side of the cab bulkhead door then left it propped up in the paint cabin to dry. A paint roller with the green primer was used to paint the opposite side of the radiator side frame that he had done the previous afternoon. The upper genny bulkhead plate was also done and all parts were left in the paint cabin to dry.

Adam went down to the loco and upon inspection of the cooler group voids to see how much progress had been done and began to carry on the unfinished painting in the R/H void after which we did a bit to the back of the cab bulkhead behind the large electrical conduits before returning to the workshop in the coach and getting the gunning gear out to needle gun the bottom of the radiator tank that had the welding repair.

ason meanwhile had broke out the new ‘Hemp' gloss and was putting its colour match to the test on the unpainted shoulder panel above the L/H cab door as this has now been drelled, primed & undercoated and just needed glossing. Jason duly painted in the panel and where it joined with adjacent panels done in the original ‘Hemp'. He lightly blended it in with gentle brush strokes and the end result was a barely noticeable join, with that panel done Jason moved to the opposite side of the loco and began painting the inside of the grille slats on the TMB air intake grille. This was quite a time consuming job but it looked good at the end, Jason returned to the support coach where Adam was now primer painting the radiator tank on the floor, but he had deliberately left the welded section exposed as it needs tidying up. By this time it was late afternoon and getting dark outside so it was time to pack up, given the challenging conditions this weekend we made quite a bit of progress but we're hoping for big things to happen with both locos in 2010

The next working weekend on D5705 is 30/31 January. If you wish to lend a hand please contact Chris Tatton

Above : Primer painting inside the R/H cooler group roof void continues.© C15PS