Please consider turning your everyday online shopping into FREE donations that will help to support the maintenance and restoration of our railcars. You can do that by shopping via https://easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/llangollenrailcars/ or, in the case of Amazon purchases, signing up to Amazon's fundraising site https://smile.amazon.co.uk and choosing Llangollen Railcars as your chosen charity. Each eligible purchase will then result in the online store making a small donation to our charity. Every little helps so thanks in anticipation of your support!
On Tuesday 20 July the Class 109 Wickham unit provided a special train from Llangollen to Berwyn and back for a visit by the Welsh Assembly Government's Deputy Minister for Art and Sport, Dawn Boden. The Deputy Minister took pride of place behind the driver...
and posed for a photograph with the Wickham and a group of representatives from the Railway at Llangollen...
Meanwhile the class 108 has been busy providing the 'normal' passenger services by doing six return trips to Berwyn every Friday, Saturday and Sunday since Friday 9 July. The following pictures show it resting between duties at Llangollen on Friday 16 July, passing the Class 109 Wickham at Llangollen Goods Junction on Friday 23 July, and waiting to return from Berwyn on Sunday 25 July respectively...
Swapping Partners: The two halves of the class 104 have been granted a temporary divorce such that the DMCL (Driving Motor Composite Lavatory) vehicle no. 50528 has been moved into the shed, for work to be carried out on it, and the Derby trailer no. 56223, which has been standing idle in the shed for quite some time, mainly because its normal partner (class 127 power car no. 51618) has been undergoing bodywork repairs, has been brought out into the daylight and paired with the other half of the class 104, DMBS (Driving Motor Brake Second) no. 50454. The resultant hybrid blue/green class 104/108 was then cleaned inside and out in readiness for it to operate passenger trains and it will, no doubt, feature in 'Out and About' in the not-too-distant future...
As part of the shunting exercise that was carried out to achieve the above swap, the class 127 vehicle no. 51618 made a brief trip to the outside world where it was able to show off its bodywork repairs to good effect...
Information about the work that has been carried out on our vehicles at Llangollen and Butterley since the previous report can be found in the unit-specific sections below.
The woodwork that supports the treadplate under the guard's door of 50454 had to be trimmed so that the plate itself could be lowered and allow the door to open and close without touching it...
Elsewhere on the unit, the interface between the gutters and the roofs was sealed, the guard's seat received its final coat of paint and will be ready for refitting once the wall behind it has been repaired, some more vestibules were painted, and some doors were attended to.
Following the discovery that the unit was losing its "high side" vacuum when the engines were shut down between trips, some hoses were replaced. That resulted in some improvement but further investigation will be required.
Recent bodywork repairs have focussed on the ends of the vehicle. At the back, a new steel patch was welded in to replace a corroded section...
and the exhaust pipes were subsequently removed to facilitate the painting of the back at a later stage.
At the front of the vehicle, the lower part of the cab front and a couple of frame supports were found to be rotten but past experience has told us that such damage is typical of Derby front ends and it did not cause any surprises.
The backs of some door pull boards were painted so that they are ready to be refitted...
Class 100 trailer car no. 56097 (undergoing restoration at the Midland Railway, Butterley)
The wall panels for the first class area were delivered and one of them was test-fitted...
The yellow device that can be seen through the window in the above picture can, as well as providing safe access to the vehicle roof, provide a segue to the other class 100 news item which is that several of the roof panels that cover the vent holes were removed, cleaned and refitted...
Thanks to Allen Chatwood, Jim Jeffrey, George Jones, John Joyce, Mike Martin, Graham Parkin and Martin Plumb for supplying the pictures.
Please consider turning your everyday online shopping into FREE donations that will help to support the maintenance and restoration of our railcars. You can do that by shopping via https://easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/llangollenrailcars/ or, in the case of Amazon purchases, signing up to Amazon's fundraising site https://smile.amazon.co.uk and choosing Llangollen Railcars as your chosen charity. Each eligible purchase will then result in the online store making a small donation to our charity. Every little helps so thanks in anticipation of your support!
The group was delighted to be able to play its part in returning passenger train services to a small section of the Dee Valley with the class 108 DMU working twenty return trips to Berwyn during the three-day period Friday 9th - Sunday 11th July. It is seen here passing Pentrefelin on its way to Berwyn on the Sunday...
We now look forward to the chance to venture further into "them thar hills" after the repairs to Berwyn tunnel have been completed.
Information about the work that has been carried out on our vehicles at Llangollen and Butterley since the previous report will be included in the next one.
Thanks to Mike Martin for supplying the above picture.