A considerable amount of work has taken place at both sites (Llangollen and Butterley) during the fortnight since the previous report. The biggest job, at least in terms of the number of calories expended by the people doing it, is likely to have been the removal of another vacuum brake cylinder for inspection and refurbishment - this time from the Class 109 Wickham unit - but a variety of jobs was carried out as described below.
It was good to welcome back to Llangollen members of the interior makeover team who continued working their magic inside the Class 105 Cravens trailer from where they left off quite some time ago. The fact that the very same people are multi-tasking between that and a similar makeover in the Class 100 Gloucester trailer at Butterley is evidence of their dedication and explains why we are always on the lookout for new recruits with the required skills.
Class 105 Cravens vehicle no. 56456 (undergoing restoration at Llangollen)
Paint was applied to the timber beads for the wall joint where it meets the metal upstand, the upstand in the first class section, and the two sides of the rear passenger compartment...
One of the large windows was resealed and the two luggage rack backing panels on the driver's side of the first class section were removed so that the holes could be drilled for the luggage rack bolts. One was refitted and the other was left off so that some measurements could be taken.
The lids for the electrical trunking were painted bright orange by someone who just happened to be bright orange even before he began painting...
Class 109 (Wickham)
The no.2 vacuum brake cylinder on 50416 had been guilty of repeated gland failures so, in an operation that was almost identical to the one that was used on 50528 a couple of weeks ago, the cylinder was dropped down, loaded on to a trolley, and taken to the shed where, after the obligatory pause for some sharp intakes of breath and a chance to wonder what to do next ("I know....let's take a picture...")
...it was opened up to reveal the inner cylinder and piston...
The items on the floor at the right-hand side of the above picture are the associated items of brakegear that had to be removed to facilitate the removal of the cylinder so the opportunity was taken to inspect, clean and paint them as appropriate...
The reason for the repeated gland failures turned out to be a worn bronze bush as suspected so a replacement will be sourced in the hope that the refurbishment and reassembly can take place at our next visit. That will include the cleaning and painting of the cylinder on the inside and outside respectively.
Class 127 vehicle no. 51618 (undergoing bodywork repairs at Llangollen)
Work continued on the bodywork with the painting/flatting/painting of various coats (and colours!) of undercoat on three panels.
Further painting of the bufferbeam detail was carried out by one of our members who enjoys the challenge of avoiding getting black on the bits that he has painted white, white on the bits that he has painted black and blue on the bits that he has painted white or black!
The woodwork in the guard's van was finally completed by the stand-in 'chippy' who has been learning, and practising, new skills. It seems that he felt the need to conceal his identity while doing woodwork...
...but relaxed a little once he was back on more familiar territory with a paint brush in his hand applying white primer...
Class 100 trailer car no. 56097 (undergoing restoration at the Midland Railway, Butterley)
Members of the interior makeover team continued their work with the luggage rack panels and, even though there is still a lot more to do, they were able loosely to fit the luggage rack brackets on the secondman's side of the first class section to see what the finished product will look like...
They also cut and fitted some ceiling panels which, as can be seen, made a massive difference to the appearance of the vehicle...
Since the previous report, much work has taken place at both sites - Llangollen and Butterley - with classes 100, 104, 105 and 127 benefitting to varying extents as described below.
Class 104
The main objective was to reinstall the repaired vacuum brake cylinder and all of the associated brake gear under the rear of 50528 - something that was accomplished with much heaving, shoving, pushing and pulling but presented fewer problems than we had anticipated. The following picture shows the completed product with the newly-installed components painted black...
Zooming in reveals that we fitted one non-black item in the shape of the brand new, dark green "sock" that protects the vacuum cylinder's piston rod although, in keeping with everything else, even that had acquired a collection of dirty fingerprints by the time it was installed...
The system was proved to work correctly and 50528 was then reunited with its counterpart 50454.
Class 105 Cravens vehicle no. 56456 (undergoing restoration at Llangollen)
The heater air intake, which was primed a while ago, was painted and the new terminal strips were assembled for the connection boxes for the heater controls.
Class 127 vehicle no. 51618 (undergoing bodywork repairs at Llangollen)
The battery box had its catches and connection boxes refitted, and some packing pieces were produced for each end so that it will sit properly in its cradle. Somewhere around this point a question was asked as to whether we could put the batteries somewhere else and do without the whole battery box, as it would make access to the top-end of the no.1 engine much easier! The whole box was then given another generous coat of chassis black and should be ready for refitting next time.
Most of the bufferbeam details were also finished. A few odds and ends remain, but it was discovered that it gets quite difficult to apply various different coloured paints without the risk of them interfering without each other!
Class 100 trailer car no. 56097 (undergoing restoration at the Midland Railway, Butterley)
Work continued on the panels that go behind the luggage racks and they are now about 95% complete...
The second battery box was rebuilt, with some associated painting carried out, and the conduit runs to the back jumper boxes continued their installation journey from A to B (via other letters of the alphabet as deemed appropriate)...
Finally, if any readers of last week's report have been waiting with bated breath to find out if the speedometer worked, the answer turned out to be 'no' but there is no cause for alarm because the thought that it might was only a speculative one anyway.