Saturday 11th April.

As it was Co-Bo work weekend you would think that all the work would be done to that loco, but it was not the case today. Rob turned up early and as it was a nice day took both of the TMB snail ducts outside onto the work bench and painted them in grey under coat, they were left to dry but inside of one of the snail had not been painted so later on the new volunteer that Chris Tatton bought down (Matt Lindley) went out and painted the inside of the one snail that had been missed, also at Jason request he went into the nose end of D8233 and slapped some primer on the bear metal TMB mounting brackets on the floor, this would be all the work done to D8233 today.

Sunday 12th April.

Another glorious day and one that would see significant progress on D8233 even though it was a Co-Bo weekend, Jim had turned up today and was keen to get cracking on the TMB ducting mods in the cooler group but unfortunately there was no spare steel plate that he could work with so instead he turned his attention to the R/H nose end door. This door is not a D8233 original, rather a replacement door taken from ADB968003 (D8203) when both locos were at Colchester in 1979-1980. D8203 was stripped of spares and D8233 had its original R/H Nose end door replaced with the one off D8203. As D8203 is one of the pilot scheme locos the design is slightly different and the door has never fitted quite right on D8233.

The hinges don't fit properly and the door edge was catching on the adjacent body panel when it was opened. So with Jason providing assistance the door was removed and it was decided to start from scratch and cut the hinges off and re-weld them so an angle grinder was used and the hinges were lopped off, they then offered up the door into the frame but it was found to be twisted and the edge that was catching the near panel was bent. The door edge was rested the sole bar with Jason & Matt holding it up while Jim flattened it out with a large hammer. The door was also found to be slightly twisted so a block of wood was placed on the floor and the door rested upon it, while Jim jumped on it get the twist out. That done, the door was offered up again making sure to space it out slightly at the bottom to provide clearance which a piece of aluminium plate, the door was then wedged into position with a piece of wood against the shed wall along side, Jim then got out the welder and welded the hinges in position. The door was then removed again so that the inside hinge welds could be done, however when the door was refitted it was found to still be catching on the next panel, this time at the bottom, however on closer inspection it was found that one of the fillet welds on next panel had broken and the panel was sticking out slightly, also there was some grit stuffed behind it forcing it out, so the door was taken off again and a screw driver stuck into scrape out from behind the panel, this was a mistake and all the welds broke off behind the panel and it came away from the body side up to half way. This was job that was not anticipated so even though the door was now OK and fitting correctly it was the next door panel that was now the problem so it would have to be re-secured and welded back up properly this time.

Jason got out the drill and fitted a huge drill bit, he then drilled a large hole at the bottom of the panel through to the frame behind, after cleaning up the surfaces and clipping down the panel with mole grips Jim then welded in the large fillet weld. Then working up the panel the process was repeated three more times, the edge of the panel was also secured to the frame with thin beads of weld, after which all the welds were cleaned up with the angle grinder and after it had cooled some touch up paint was applied.

The door was refitted and the clearance checked, the door now opens fine without catching and when closed it fits beautifully flush with the frame and there is an even thin gap around the out side, as a finishing touch we temporarily refitted the door handle and the door locks correctly, so it was definitely worth all the effort.

Meanwhile Matt as final job of the day gloss painted both the TMB snails ducts in the workshop. After that the tarp was pulled back over the days work drew to a close, admittedly we were supposed to have been working on D5705 today but on reflection making that door fit properly was well worth the effort and we had something to show at the end of the day.

The next working weekend is on 25/26 April. If you wish to lend a hand please contact Chris Tatton