All thoughts of maintenance and work on the units was swiftly quashed this weekend as DMUs where pressed into service to cover for a further ban on steam traction given the hot weather that is sweeping the nation.
The 104/108 hybrid, and the 109 ran two round trips on Friday, an electrical fault between the two units was apparent which required two drivers throughout the day. This was later tracked down to a damanged jumper socket, and the sets where marshalled the opposite way round for Saturday.
On Saturday the 104/108 hybrid, and the 109 ran three trips without fault. On Sunday the two units ran on seperate diagrams, almost a mini DMU Gala! The only item of note was the 108/104 hybrid finding some foliage on the line on the first trip.
Over at the Midland the 141 has been deployed to run for the Indie tracks event, it is one of the most intesive periods of continuous running for one of our units, and we carried around 4000 passengers for just the one event alone.
This weekend we took part in a wider volunteer recruitment day at Llangollen Railway, with two of our members running a stand explaining the ways that people can get involved with the group. If anyone reading this would like to get involved feel free to drop an email to contact@llangollenrailcars.co.uk
The 110 which joined us for our 2018 gala, and stayed through June and July will sadly be leaving us to return to the East Lancs this week, it was cleaned out, refuelled, and shunted to one side ready for its departure. Thank you to the owner for allowing us to borrow it.
An air leak on 50454 was dealt with, it had been tracked down to a loose air pipe. A seat back in 56223 was also secured after it had come adrift recently.
In the afternoon attention was turned to the saloon in 50528, the heater ducting has had an initial clean, the floor has recieved a clean in all the places you can't easily reach with the seats in place, and most of the woodwork has had a light sanding ready for painting.
A week of very little running, quickly turned into a week of quite a lot of running. Owing to an ongoing steam ban, the Wickham covered the last train of the day on Monday, followed by a full day on Tuesday. The 104/108 hybrid covered the passenger diagram on Saturday, while the Wickham ran a driver experience trip, and on Sunday the Wickham was out again on a passenger diagram.
A brave group of our members took to a sunny afternoon of seat assembley for 50528. Given the weather some unusual headgear was required. The assembley is now complete and all that remains is to fit them into the vehicle, once the saloon has been tidied up.
Another group tackled the vegetation which is starting to build up around the depot, a much needed job which stops our vehicles from being damaged.
Work also continued inside the Class 105, the woodwork is continuing to progress with the 3rd vestible panel now in place. Five brackets where fitted which involved drilling and tapping the metal frame of the vehicle. Excellent progress is being made on the restoration.
