The class 108 was used for all four of the March railcar 'A' timetable services and then seemingly decided that it didn't want to stop (see the 'Class 108' section below).
The following pictures show it passing Pentrefelin on its way to Carrog with the last (15.10) departure of the day on Saturday 18 March...
Work that has taken place on our railcars at Llangollen and Butterley since the previous report can be found in the 'Unit-specific work' section below.
The corridor connection faceplate was given its final coat of paint...
Following the fitting of the timber along the bottom of the wall panels, and the cleaning and fitting of the last two window surrounds in the middle compartment, the new rubber stops for the sliding lights were fitted...
The small panel above the first vestibule door on the driver's side was fitted with the passenger communication (aka pass com) box also in place...
Having completed all four of the 'A' timetable railcar services during March without incident, the unit caused at least one of our members to stay behind for some unwanted overtime at the depot last Sunday when its no. 1 engine refused to shut down. The fault was traced to a fractured stop arm...
The stop arm, which is operated by the linkage from the stop solenoid, moves the fuel rack to cut off the fuel supply to the engine but the fracture was preventing it from doing so. Once the stop arm was replaced normal service was resumed.
I am told that the nature of the fracture is quite unusual/improbable and yet the Wickham managed to produce an almost identical one last July so perhaps we ought to branch out into the business of choosing lottery numbers? The following picture shows the latest fracture together with the one that occurred last year...
The unit was today wrapped in plastic sheeting in readiness for an appointment with a roof blaster on Monday...
Wickham Class 109 (50416/56171)
One of our volunteers tackled the delicate job of painting the lettering on these reproduction works plates, leading a colleague to ask if we had opened an arts and crafts section...
All being well the plates will be fitted to the unit before its next outing.
Something that required slightly less of a steady hand was the use of Scotchbrite and sanding blocks to clean the window surrounds and restore their shiny aluminium finish...
Varnish was then applied to the cab window surrounds that had already been given the aforementioned treatment...
At the opposite end of the spectrum to 'delicate' was the job to improve the operation of the doors on the driver's side of the guard's compartment using various tools including the all-important persuader (aka lump hammer)...
After much cursing, hammering, some new woodwork and a bracket, it all went together, came apart, went back together again, and the volunteers concerned were delighted to find that the doors worked perfectly instead of jamming as they had done before!
On the other side of the vehicle the fitting of the new grab handles to the doors of the guard's van was progressed.
Work continued with the addition of some paint on the inside...
...and the removal of paint on the outside...
One side of the roof was dusted down, sanded and primed in areas where there was bare metal.
As well as the measuring and cutting of two more window frames, some progress was made with the trial fitting of this passenger communication (aka pass com) box above one of the vestibule doors...
Thanks to Allen Chatwood, John Joyce, Graham Parkin and Martin Plumb for supplying the pictures.
The weekend of 4/5 March marked the start of our 2023 running season and the 2-car class 108 was used to provide the 'A' timetable service on both days. The following pictures show it leaving Llangollen with the first train of the day on Saturday 4 March under the watchful eyes of a group of onlookers on the Green Lane bridge...
The Wickham class 109 unit also got a brief trip out when it was taken for a test drive along the 'Back Road' to ensure that everything was working correctly after its recent 'A' exam...
A brief sortie in one of the Railway's 2-2-0 road vehicles was used to take these two dead buffers to Llangollen Yard...
'Dead' means that they fail to spring in and out in the required manner. One of them was recently removed from the class 104 vehicle 50528, as reported in the previous news item, and the other was an earlier failure that was spotted skulking in a corner while looking for a working replacement for 50528. Both of them will now be taken away for repair and they will hopefully return full of the joys of spring (Uugh. Sorry!).
Work that has taken place on our railcars at Llangollen and Butterley since the previous report can be found in the 'Unit-specific work' section below.
Members of the class 105 restoration team continue to crack on with the installation of the wall panels and the aluminium trim...
Taking a step back from the detail and looking at the wider picture, it can be seen that the inside of the vehicle really is taking shape now...
Wickham Class 109 (50416/56171)
The remaining items on the 'A' exam were completed and the unit was taken for a test run on the 'back road' (see 'Out and About' above).
The fitting of the new grab handles to the doors of the guard's van has turned out to be a bit more awkward than expected, as they can't be installed to match the existing ones exactly - the striking plate for the guard's door is in the way! The long grab handles will also need some reshaping so that they are far enough off the door for fingers to fit behind!
Members of the Cravens/Gloucester team, who are currently busy cutting and installing interior panels in both the Class 100 Gloucester trailer at Butterley and the Class 105 Cravens trailer at Llangollen (albeit not both at the same time!), have kindly extended their remit to produce some new green door panels and some grey wall panels for the class 127 vehicle...
In the case of the grey panels the job involves the removal of the protective, very sticky plastic...
Other work including the refitting of refurbished doors such as the following ones in the guard's compartment and the saloon respectively...
Gloucester class 100 51118/56097 (undergoing restoration at the Midland Railway, Butterley)
The remaining damage caused by recent vandalism was repaired - namely the securing of the fixed quarter light to the steelwork and the replacement of the remaining two smashed windows.
The first two wooden window frames for the first class section were made to fit...
...and were then taken away to be glued, stained and varnished as a "homework" project.
Thanks to Allen Chatwood, John Joyce and Mike Martin for supplying the pictures.