Following on from the report in April, the bogie springs have returned from Owens Springs in Rotherham after compression tests were carried out and the results were pretty even. This means that we can reuse these springs.

In June, the first bogie frame was shunted under the overhead crane and lifted onto its axles. All of the brake rigging has already been restored, so it was just a case of fitting it all together again. Some very small sections of the frame were found to have paint missing, so that was dealt with. Volunteers have moved the brake cylinders out of storage too and fitted them back onto the bogie.

The other frame was reunited with its axles in July and just like the progress on the first bogie, a start on reassembly of the brake rigging has commenced.

Underframe work is ongoing, when volunteers haven’t been on bogie reassembly. It is slow progress but we’re getting there.

The driver’s controller for ELR resident D5054 has been completely overhauled and is ready to be swapped with the unrestored one. We are hoping this transfer will take place once the Class 24 is taken out of service towards the end of the year for routine maintenance.

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