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28th June 2021

APPEAL: Raise donations for Llangollen Railcars whenever you shop online!

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!



Out and About


Aided and abetted by the class 109, which was used to move this pesky wagon out of the way...


Class 108 blocked by a wagon

...the class 108 left Pentrefelin Yard yesterday (Sunday) morning, ostensibly setting off on a pollen-ridden trip to Barmouth...


Class 108 leaving Pentrefelin

...but, in actual fact, going to Llangollen Station and back. It was only a short journey carried out for the benefit of the staff but it was, nevertheless, the first time that one of our DMUs had visited Llangollen Station since 25th August 2020 (306 days earlier!)


Class 108 at Llangollen Station


Unit-specific work


Class 104

Repairs were progressed to the ceiling in the toilet compartment and also the seat, and the area behind it, in the Guard's compartment...


Class 104 toilet compartment ceiling repairs

Class 104 Guard's seat (before)

Class 104 Guard's seat (after repair and primer)

Class 104 Guard's compartment wall

Some attention will be needed to prevent further problems being caused by water ingress.





Class 108

The repairs to the Guard's compartment were completed with the finishing of the gloss painting on the walls and ceiling, the application of a coat of chassis black on the floor, and the reinstallation of various fixtures and fittings...


Class 108 Guard's compartment

Class 108 Guard's compartment

Class 108 Guard's compartment

The unit was also given a thorough clean inside and out to prepare it for service when the time comes...


Class 108: Washing the outside

Class 108: Cleaning the inside



Class 109 Wickham

Following various jobs associated with the servicing of door locks etc. the unit was given a thorough clean inside and out to prepare it for service when the time comes...


Class 109: Washing the outside



Class 127 vehicle no. 51618 (undergoing bodywork repairs at Llangollen)

Some new planking for the inward-opening guard's door on the driver's side was cut, profiled to suit, fitted and primed. The door was then trial-fitted to ensure that it opened and closed correctly (it did) and a new draught excluder strip was fitted to seal the gap between it and the neighbouring door.


Class 127 Guard's compartment

Please don't be put off by the loosely-hanging draught excluder strip on the top of the door in the above picture because that is still on the list of things to attend to.

Other jobs included the servicing of more door lock mechanisms like this one...


Class 127 door lock mechanism

... the construction, staining and varnishing of some trim to go round one of the passenger doors, the cleaning and subsequent trial-fitting of two windows that were removed during the bodywork repairs...


Class 127 Cleaning a window that had been removed from the vehicle

Class 127 Re-fitting a window

... the grit blasting and painting of the pull boards for the doors on the driver's side of the vehicle, the priming of the rear bufferbeam, and the gloss painting of the blue jumpers on the ends of the vehicle using a custom mix of BR blue and ceiling white...


Class 127 Painting the rear buffer beam and jumpers

Thanks to John Joyce, Mike Martin and Martin Plumb for supplying the pictures.

14th June 2021

NEW: Raise donations for Llangollen Railcars whenever you shop online!

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!



General

Information about the work that was carried out on the DMU vehicles at Llangollen and Butterley since the previous report can be found in the "Unit-specific work" section below.



Unit-specific work


Class 104

The project to tidy up the woodwork and ceilings in various parts of the unit led to the discovery of a rotten windowsill behind the guard's seat on the secondman's side of 50454...


Class 104: Rotten window frame

This was another problem that had been caused by water ingress, and the subsequent removal of rotten timber uncovered a problem area that was somewhat larger than anticipated...


Class 104: Damage caused by water ingress

Class 104: Water-damaged timber panels

Fortunately the removal phase ended and a start was made on the repair by cleaning/priming the metalwork...


Class 104: Repairs to the area behind the guard's seat

A new window frame will need to be constructed and it will be necessary to locate, and repair, the source of the water ingress in order to prevent further damage.

A repair was also carried out to one of the inward-opening guard's doors, which had been dragging on the floor, and to the toilet ceiling if only until the hot and humid weather made working in such a confined environment rather unpleasant!





Class 105 Cravens vehicle no. 56456 (undergoing restoration at Llangollen)

Various jobs were carried out including the fitting of more wall panels...


Class 105: New wall panels



Class 108

With the application of Goose Wing Grey gloss paint the guard's van started to look like a guard's van once again...


Class 108: Guard's van repairs



Class 127 vehicle no. 51618 (undergoing bodywork repairs at Llangollen)

The seemingly never-ending job of removing each door in turn for sanding, cleaning and servicing has reached the point at which every door on the driver's side of the vehicle has now received some attention even though there are some components still to be refitted. The sanding of one door led to the surprising discovery that it was yellow at some point before it was blue...


Class 127: Different colours of paint on a sanded door

and an eagle-eyed inspection of the edge of this door after sanding made us wonder who G E Burgoyne is or was...


Class 127: Who is, or was, G E Burgoyne?

Answers on a postcard please :-)





Class 100 trailer car no. 56097 (undergoing restoration at the Midland Railway, Butterley)

Various jobs were carried out including the completion of the installation of thermal insulation behind the heater duct on the secondman's side of the centre compartment...


Class 100: Thermal insulation behind the heater duct

Thanks to Allen Chatwood, Phil Deane, John Joyce and Mike Martin for supplying the pictures.