We are very happy to announce that one of our restorations has been nominated for an award - namely the Railcar Association's Railcar of the Year. The nomination is for the work done to Gloucester driving Trailer 56097 which has been rebuilt from a near wreck over the last two years. There are more details of the nomination and of how you can vote for us at this link.
Meanwhile at Butterley work continues on the Gloucester set. The cab front of Driving Motor Brake 51118 is gradually being removed to reveal more and more rust. Drawings have been produced of the pieces required and these are currently being made by our fabricator. There is evidence that this vehicle has been involved in a collision at some time in the past as the corner post is detached from the frames.
The retrimming of the seating of the Class 141 is now complete, with the new seats being fitted to the cabs last week. The reworking has improved the ambience of the interior considerably and passengers will first be able to sample this on Sunday January 8th and every weekend after that throughout the winter.
Eight of members were down at Pentrefelin this week to undertake several tasks on the home fleet.
The rain gutters on the 104, 108 and 127 were cleaned out, it was thought the job wouldn't be too bad as they have only recently had a clean out. This proved to be wrong! At the end of the day the units where shunted round ready for the Winter Warmer Gala.
The route indicator in the Wickham was renewed, including fitting it with a new rubber seal. The power car bogies were reconnected fully after the earlier lift as part of the M exam. The EP airline filters were removed, cleaned and had new felts fitted. Unfortunately, this turned into a larger job when one of the cover bolts sheared during the process. A vacuum leak on one of the two brake cylinders on 50416 was fixed by fitting a replacement seal.
Spare seats for the centre saloon of 50528 have been disassembled ready to be shipped to the fabricator.
A small amount of work was carried out in the Cravens. Short ceiling supports where fitted, and some ply clips to hold the electrical trunking in place within the roof space.
Work this week has been concentrated on the Wickham at Llangollen where further body preparation has been undertaken on both the power car and the trailer - with special emphasis on those rivets!
At Butterley dismantling of the cab front has been under way on Gloucester Power car 51118 with a view to preparing the drawings for the fabricator. The rust is so bad, however that some of the measurements are having to be taken off the already-restored trailer while the centre windscreen merely fell out of its own accord.
At Llangollen the Class 104 has been out and about running along the route of the Santa trains so as to condition the rails and to prevent a recurrence of last year when the trains were delayed for a considerable time due to slipping on the rails. The unit made several trips up and down Berwyn Bank and was pictured at Deeside Halt.
In the workshops at the weekend the same set was given an A Exam and 50454 had its recently-repaired heater refitted. The other heater on the same vehicle needed a new control box and so that was done also. The guard's door was eased by planing some of the wood away that is underneath the metal tread plate.
At Butterley work is going well on Class 100 Driving Motor Brake 51118. The doors on the secondman's side have now been refitted and 'gapped' and the welding completed.
Work is now ongoing to repair the roof edge which was originally riveted and which had lifted due to corrosion. Where necessary specially folded pieces are being let in and dummy rivets used to complete the effect. This work is now about half done.
Finally the retrimming of the Class 141 is now almost completed with only two seats and the cabs to do now. The set is next due to work at weekends in January.
