It's been a very busy weekend in the workshop at Llangollen this week.
A fault that was reported with the Wickham whilst it was out working on Saturday was that the lights would not turn off and on reliably. This was traced to a weak spring in the contactor release mechanism and so this has been tensioned up with some washers.
The driver's seat base in 56171 had also been noted as loose so that was refitted, although the repair will need to be made permanent over the winter.
One of the issues with the Wickham is that one of the fans is noisy so we have started work on reconditioning a spare on the workbench. This involves stripping it down so that we can fit new bearings.
Meanwhile a couple of jobs were tackled on the 108. A broken oil filler casting on 51907 was exchanged for a spare whilst the hot water tank which had been recently repaired was put back in trailer 54490.
One of the engines on Class 104 50454 had been noted to have been 'heavy breathing' and so this was investigated and was found to be an injector that was not seated properly. This was removed and new copper washers put in which cured the problem.
Rotten stepboards have been chopped off Class 108 56223 and will be replaced with new. This vehicle and its partner Class 127 51618 are currently inside the workshops for attention. As far as 51618 is involved this week we have removed a defective fuel gauge for repair.
More work has been done on Class 105 Trailer 56456. The woodwork that will support the Pascom box has been trial fitted over one of the doors, four pieces of shaped wood were fitted between the ceiling supports and the toilet wall which will hold the roof up, the last of the aluminium strips for the sliding lights were drilled and fitted and more aluminium inserts for the windows were fitted.
Over at Butterley there was some work done on Gloucester Driving Motor Brake 51118. A large number of dome-head nuts and bolts have been fitted all the way down the secondman's side. These replace the prominent rivets that used to hold the roof edges together. Another row of holes for bolts have been drilled out all across the rear of the body and a wooden cover has been made for the corridor connection to keep out both the weather and the wildlife.
Finally one side of Class 141 55513 has received its new coat of paint, which makes a huge difference to the look of the vehicle. It is amazing how badly the original colour has faded over the last 10 years.
Work is in progress to prepare Gloucester Power car 51118 so that it can go in to storage for a while so that any available time can go into trailer 56097.
The corridor connection which was removed during the body restoration has been re-attached, mainly so that we know where all the bits are.
Inside the Guard's van we have sorted out and moved all the seats and other items that were stored there. Two jobs were then undertaken - the painting of the walls where there was still some unprotected metalwork and also the painting of the floor.
The plan is to have the floor completed by the addition of new ribs so that a wooden surface can be laid which will enable the van to be used as our workshop over the winter as we begin the fit out of the trailer interior. You may remember that the floor was found to have rotted through and a previous owner had repaired it by welding corrugated roof sheeting onto the frame! As can be seen stability is now ensured by the use of a sheet steel base.
On the next road the rubbing down of the 141 has commenced as this is now due a repaint. The secondman's side of 55513 is the first area to be treated and the opportunity has also been taken to weld up a small number of cracks that have appeared in the body skirting over the years.
There was some tidying up to do after the gala, and visiting unit 'Iris' was prepared for and returned to Wirksworth following our successful event last week.
Class 108 Power Car 51907 has had its gear controller changed because there have been a couple of times recently when it's been found possible to get the spoon out but with the unit still remaining in dirrection. Further investigations into the cause of an AWS fault have narrowed down the probable cause but we've yet to be able to fix it.
Over at Butterley work has centred round fitting the brackets that will support the corridor connection on Gloucester Power car 51118, as well as measuring up for some work that still needs to be completed on the guard's van floor.
Although the Gala has naturally occupied most of our members this week there has also been some progress on our restoration projects at Butterley.
Gloucester Power Car 51118 has received its second headcode blind and at the same time more work has been done to complete the sealing of the windows and to tidy up the adhesive round the windows.
Inside the same vehicle the remaining paintwork on the inside of the body on the secondman's side has been completed. This has included painting the body strengthening plates and the cross members where the new bodywork panels were welded in, as well as the inside of the guard's van.
