Saturday 25th April.

With many of the regular volunteers unable to attend due to other commitments, the turnout for this weekend was lower than normal but that didn't necessarily mean that any less work was done, in fact far from it.

To start the day off the volunteers went into the Co-Bo and slapped on some primer paint in the cooler group area that had been missed during the last weekend. After this it was time to work on D8233, the tarp was unzipped and pulled it back a little to access the nose end. First job was to apply some grey undercoat to the TMB mounting brackets on the floor which was done quickly and while the tin of undercoat was out the opportunity was taken to paint the inside of the R/H nose door which had been refitted a fortnight ago and with it already in green primer. After doing the outer frame the door was closed and finished off in the relative shelter of the nose end compartment due to it now raining!

Next it was back into the workshop and the two traction motor blower snail ducts sat on the bench even though they looked fully glossed the mounting flange on the bottom had yet to be painted and by turning them on their side it was possible to gloss paint the mounting flanges and complete the painting of these items. After this the other TMB snail duct parts (air guide ring & mesh guard) and the engine governor oil filter assembly were taken onto the bench outside as it had stopped raining and was starting to brighten up. These items needed to de-greased first; the governor oil filter was dismantled and the filter bowl & element were found to be filthy & clogged so it was taken into the coach and washed out using our parts washer. Later the top of the oil filter assemble would also be cleaned up in the parts washer and after drying out the drelling began with the air guide & guard mesh done first followed by the oil filter assembly and bowl & pipes after which the drelling gear was tidied away and all the items on the bench were primer painted.

While waiting for the painted items on the outside bench to dry the focus of the work now moved into the engine compartment on the loco and the area of the L/H front engine bed frame that had been undercoated previously was now treated to a coat of wood pigeon gloss paint. After this the volunteers went back into the nose end compartment and applied some black floor paint to the TMB mounting brackets and this drew to a close the days work, the tarp was re-secured over the loco and the primer painted parts on the outside bench were now dry and bought into the support coach. So ends another good days work.

Sunday 26th April.

Early morning and a trip up to Castlecroft yard was required to sign on site at the ELR Diesel group mess room and while there it was decided to check the governor oil filter (which was still in situ on the original engine) to see if the element it was in any better condition than the taken off the engine in the loco. After pulling back the covering tarp and undoing the filter bowl it came as no surprise to find that the filter bowl was empty & the element missing. This might suggest that ADB968001 had its filter removed when it became clogged and the engine ran without it which would have lead to erratic governor function as it became clogged with carbon deposits - a fault that plagued the locos in the early days and the reason why they were retro fitted with the oil filters in the first place.

The other element had been bought up from Baron Street for comparison and the opportunity was taken to flush it out using the professional safety clean parts washer in the Castlecroft workshop. After treatment the filter element did look better for it. Also a hand priming pump was removed from a seized Rolls Royce DV8N engine that is there awaiting scrapping it was thought that it was the same as the type used as the fuel priming pump on D8233 which isn't working at its best, so was acquired as a spare unit and taken down to Baron street. Unfortunately when compared with the original pump its quite a bit bigger and would require considerable modifications to make it fit, however it was tested and was found to self prime & pump perfectly.

The next task was to undercoat the items that had been primer painted yesterday, these being the TMB snail duct air guide ring & mesh guard and the engine governor oil filter unit & pipe work. Once done these were left to dry on the bench in the coach workshop while work again shifted into the engine room on the loco and power unit painting.

The large vibration damper flywheel on the front of the engine had not been fully painted when it was removed and after refitting some damage was done to paint the outer edge, so instead a palm sander was used to sand down the paint on the outer edge of the flywheel, as it was difficult to reach the whole circumference of the flywheel, the engine had to be barred over using two fitted bolts in the crankshaft flange at the other end of the engine, then a pry bar and short scaffold tuber were inserted and used to carefully bar the engine round bit at a time until all the surface of the flywheel could be reached and sanded ready for a another coat of gloss paint to be applied later. The front of the flywheel was unpainted, it had been drelled previously but had gone rusty again, the fan drive clutch drum was also rusty and unpainted so both areas were drelled and a coat of green primer applied. The L/H front corner of the engine itself was also painted in green primer and it proved to be quite a awkward job to get the paint into all the little nooks & crannies on the front of the engine - still it's a start!

That done and time was getting on, so the tools were cleaned away the loco was again secured. As a final task to end the day the items that had been undercoated on the workshop bench were treated to some gloss, Salmon pink on the filter oil pipes and wood pigeon on the rest, however as we were down to the last dregs on the current tin on wood pigeon paint only one side of the TMB air guide ring & mesh guard we will have to get some more of this paint for next time as their are many things that will need to be painted with it soon.

Another worth while working weekend and next time we should have most of the regulars back in action again.

The next working weekend is on 23/24 May. If you wish to lend a hand please contact Chris Tatton