On the 24 th of March, D8233 was lifted from its bogies in a test lift at Baron Street Works, Bury. Special lifting brackets had been manufactured, modifying the original drawing so they can be used with Matteson jacks. This work was carried out by I&P Lifting of Stoke and were without fault. The lift wasn't straightforward though, with the No. 2 bogie stuck fast on its centre pin. Lots of headscratching and tea was consumed before we tried various different methods to release the pins' grip! Portapacks were sourced and we tried to jack the bogie down. We warmed the bolster around the pin but to no avail. The last resort was to gently rock the bogie (hovering 10mm above the railhead) and we started to hear it creak and it slowly descended to earth.

The pin had suffered from rust but the centre casting (like a ball and socket joint) was in good condition just covered in 60 year old black grease and dirt. We gave them a good clean, re-greased both pins and centre casting before it was lowered back on its bogies the following day. Lots of information was gathered from this test lift about the next few stages of this restoration, including the possibilities of putting the loco on to accommodation bogies whilst its own bogies and wheelsets are overhauled. A massive thank you to the paid staff at the ELR for the shunting of the loco around the works and for the jack operators, couldn't do any of this without them. Also to our small band of volunteers, what a super lot they are.

Other work on the loco has been carrying on in the background, such as the fabrication of the deadmans pedals. We do not have any drawings related to these and the original ones weren't with the loco when we acquired it in 2006. They are similar to the ones in the BR Sulzer Type 2, or Class 24, and the 15 shares a lot of the same equipment. A contact in the SRPS (Scottish Railway Preservation Society, Andrew Harper) had plans for the 24 deadmans and forwarded a copy to us. We took those plans and modified them to replicate the pedals. A fellow member had stumbled across some snap lock switches and donated them to us and these fit under the tread plate. These pedals are in the process of being painted and will be stored awaiting fitment to the cab after the bogie overhaul.

The firepull system is also in the process of renovation and when complete will go straight back on to the loco. Although intact when the loco first arrived in Bury, after the cab equipment (what was left of it) was dismantled some parts have gone missing. Lots of hours have been wasted hunting for the absent parts so we've replaced them with new, making the necessary adjustments and creating new fittings. Talking of new fittings, the bearing caps that sit either side of the traction motors have seen the old paint removed and fresh paint applied (black gloss). Whilst the work to tart these up progressed, the oil caps were removed to ease access around them. The oil caps are spring loaded, pivoting on a clevis pin. These pins were in bad shape, heavily worn from years of topping up the oil in the caps (the bearing caps originally fitted to C class Irish locos and sourced as spares for our loco). Amazon provided the clevis pins from a manufacturer of boat spares in Southampton (80 new pence each!) but the springs were proving more elusive. So, we made our own using marine grade stainless steel wire and tool made from bits of scrap metal.

We also have facebook pages too, where we update regular progress - www.facebook.com/d8233

If you are interested in helping out please contact Rob Mason