Saturday 13 December

Attendance: Three

As 2008 winds down we had planned to only have one working weekend for December and this was to be the last one for 2008. After the project meeting at the last working weekend in November, Chris Tatton (our Volunteer Liaison officer) had come up with a selection of work dates for 2009 and after discussions with the other group members present its been decided to stagger the working weekends between the D5705 and D8233, with the first weekend slated for starting off with the Co-bo (on 17th-18th Jan) and then alternating between the class 15 on a fortnightly basis, but on this weekend there wasn’t a great deal to be getting on with, just a couple of things that needed to be sorted out after the body side doors were refitted last time. Today we had Dave G & Jim G and Jason and first off we needed to sort out the wiring for the lights in D8233 that had been cut when the doors were refitted after it was discovered that the wiring was fouling the flush fit doors when they are closed, so most of the morning was spent rewiring the lighting in the loco. A new plug had to be fitted, the main cable re-laid through one of the cooler group main electrical conduits and the double fluorescent tube was relocated from the generator compartment into the cab as it is planned to make a start on this area of the loco in the new year.

In the afternoon Dave & Jim got on with some prep work on the nose end TMB mounting brackets and Jason set about relocating some of the non-essential spares into the B end compartments of the loco to make some extra storage space in the support coach. The air starters were moved as were the old air tanks and by the time that was done it was getting dark and we called it a day.

Sunday 14th December

Attendance: Two

The last workday for 2008 and regular volunteer Rob joined Jason. After settling in Rob slapped some paint on the Co-Bo fuel header tank that is currently sat on the workshop bench, before they went up to Castlecroft to make a start on emptying out the Class 14 container of D8233 bits. This is because the container is heavily corroded and is due to be disposed off, so it’s a priority job to get the Class 15 spares out of it before it has to go, the main stuff stored here is the electrical gear that was stripped off the Class 31 cubical for use on D8233 when its electrical system gets rebuilt and since removal these items have been stored here but now need to be bought down to the support coach for further storage. The electrical gear was loaded into Jason’s car and most of it was moved in the first trip. The Traction motor bearing caps, gear cases & suspension links were relocated for storage with the traction motors.

All the boxes of electrical gear have now been slotted away into storage in the support coach, it is hoped that with everything together now a start can be made on the design & assembly of the cubical next year, aside from a few other minor jobs that pretty much concluded this years work effort on D8233.

The support coach now had to be “winterised” before we departed, that is all electrics off & unplugged. The fridge defrosted, water mains shut off and the pipe drained out and every door locked. That done we just like to wish a happy holidays to everyone who has supported us throughout 2008 and looking forward to another year of positive restoration progress on the sole surviving BTH Type 1 !

The next working weekend is on 17/18 January. If you wish to lend a hand please contact Chris Tatton