It's been a busy weekend this weekend with the Wickham working long hours for the Llangollen Railway's 1960s weekend and the 141 working both days at the Midland Railway's Diesel Event.
While the 141 mainly worked shuttles between Butterley and Swanwick the Wickham worked shuttles from Llangollen to Glyndyfrdwy, running into the evening on Saturday to bring campers back from an event in Llangollen.
Cravens trailer 56456 has seen some work this week. The fitting of the timbers round the large saloon windows was completed and some more aluminium frames were fitted. Work continued on the modification of the saloon partitions, some of these have been removed and their shape modified.
Over at Butterley the preparation and painting of the driver's side of the Gloucester power car has been completed and it is now possible to get an idea of what the completed vehicle will look like.
The new wiring for the PA system was installed in the Gloucester trailer car and some more work carried out on the internal electrics.
With our welder temporarily seconded to other duties it's given us chance to do some body preparation on Gloucester Power Car 51118. Exposed areas of the frame have been needle-gunned down while the driver's side of the body is now receiving its first coat of anti-corrosive paint.
A scabbler is being used on the secondman's side to remove all the old paint and to bring the body down to bare metal state. This will assist us to decide which bits of the body will require replacing when work starts on that side in a couple of weeks time.
As can be seen from the photographs all the doors are now back in place and correctly aligned with the new bodywork.
We have had two units out at Llangollen during the week.
On Saturday the 104 was used for a Driver Experience train while on Sunday the Wickham provided a second service while the other diagram was covered by a steam train.
Sunday saw a team at the depot where an 'FP-Exam' was carried out on the Class 108, this included attention to a window glass that had come adrift from the scissors. The unit was also refuelled.
Clas 104 Car 50528 had some attention to its driver's door locks, both of which were removed and reshimmed then adjusted. One required all the screws drilling out and then the holes retapping to provide a secure base for the door lock. One lock also required a new ram fitting. The driver's seat was also re-secured in the same vehicle. A new cab buzzer was also fitted.
Dismantling jumper fittings has been the job of the week at both Llangollen and Butterley with the different teams co-incidentally ending up doing the same job. Those at Llangollen are spares but those at Butterley are for Gloucester trailer 56097.
Gloucester Power Car 51118 has had attention to its body side in preparation for a first coat of protective paint. The new metal is being rubbed down and a slight fill is applied where there are machine marks or weld marks on the bodyside.
Trailer 56097 has had the new framework for the ceiling below the toilet tank fitted, new conduit fitted in the cab for the speaker wires and the lightbulb holder below the toilet reinstated. Work to remove hundreds of screws and nails from the ceiling frame has now been completed.
The highlight of this week has been the unusual operation of a four-car set during the Llangollen Railway's Transport Extravaganza weekend. The Class 108 and 104 sets worked a diagram which saw them shuttling between Glyndyfrdwy and Carrog for most of the weekend, covering 102 miles each day.
Photo By Neil Jones
Pentrefelin sheds has seen work carried out on the interior of the Wickham unit. Some of the decorative 'hockey sticks' at the sides of the seats have been damaged and so the seats were stripped down so that the parts could be replaced with new ones which had freshly arrived from the trim shops.
The Class 104 also received an 'FP-Exam' during the week so that it would be ready for service during the weekend.
Work continues at Butterley shed on the Gloucester unit. Repairs to the gutters and roof edges on Power Car 51118 have now been completed and all the dummy rivets have been installed along the roof edge. The floor in the front saloon is now completely removed, the interior walls and jacking points are complete and painted, the old door tread plates have been removed and all the doors on the driver's side have been refitted and correctly 'gapped'.
Trailer Car 56097 has seen a continuation of work on the ceilings with the removal of hundreds of surplus screws and nails left over from when the previous ceiling panels were torn down. The old jumper cable boxes have been removed and an assessment made of the wiring that will be required. Further wiring work has taken place in the cab.