Saturday 9 th May

Today was another Co-bo weekend but after the sterling work done on D8233's R/H nose end door during the last weekend Jim was keen to get started on the L/H door and today he had Dave G as his assistant. After some minor adjustments to the door lock handle on the R/H door their attention turned to the opposite door, this door however would not give up without a fight. The door on the R/H is not original to D8233 rather its one of a Pilot scheme loco D8203, it was swapped over when ADB968001 had its last overhaul at Colchester depot in 1979-80, the door on the L/H side is a D8233 original but unlike D8233 door it has suffered the ravages of time & corrosion, the angle iron frame that is welded to the back of the door skin has got rust behind it, this has built up and is pushing the frame out from the door skin. This is called rust jacking and in places the gap behind the frame was wide enough to slide a piece of corrugated cardboard behind it - this was a worry to Jim. Also the door needed adjustment in the frame as it was sitting too high and did not close properly. As we had cut the hinges off the opposite door and welded them back on, it was decided to do the same to this door but first something had to be done about the frame so the door was taken off and bought into the workshop to begin with.

Dave & Jim set about grinding out the welds and separating the frame from the door skin, during this process the frame assembly was cut into 3 pieces 2 large and one small, these were removed from the door skin and the rust was ground off and welding surfaces painted with a special etcher primer that you can weld through. Later the door skin was taken out side and laid on the bench as it gave more room and was a flatter surface to work on, the lower section of the door skin was heavily pitted with rust and Jim wasted to cut the section out and weld new metal in but as no fresh steel plate was available this was left in situ, the door skin itself was bent and warped in a number of places so time was taken to try and straighten it out. After which the rusty areas that were under the frame were ground out and drelled off, the welding primer was then painted on around the frame line.

By this time it was mid afternoon and Jim & Dave had to pack up their gear ready to depart, it had not been such an easy job to sort out this door as it was the last one, still it will be a very time consuming job to sort out all the body side doors and tailor fit each one as required.

The next working weekend is on 6/7 June. If you wish to lend a hand please contact Chris Tatton