On Saturday 23rd November the class 108 was used to run a special charter train for the Branch Line Society which, to paraphrase an erstwhile beer advertisement, charters trains to reach the parts that other passenger trains don't reach.
Despite the wet weather, it turned out to be an interesting experience for all concerned because the train visited various unusual Llangollen Railway locations including the locomotive shed (where it started and finished), both platforms and headshunts at Llangollen Station, the River Siding, Pentrefelin Depot, both platforms and an engineer's siding at Carrog, and both platforms and the siding at Corwen.
At all of the unusual places the train had to be preceded by a ground crew who carried out the vital task of clamping and scotching the facing points before the train traversed them.
The following picture shows the passengers boarding the class 108 at the locomotive shed at the start of the day...
The wintry weather arrived in autumn this year as shown by this scene at the Pentrefelin depot on Wednesday 20th November...
Recap: It was reported in the previous issue that 50454 suffered a collapsed wheel bearing at Corwen on Friday 18th October and spent a few days on the 'naughty step' siding there before being rescued by a team of specialist contractors with a wheelskate plus a class 08 shunter and taken back to our Pentrefelin depot.
It was felt that the best course of action would be to swap the poorly wheelset with one from a spare bogie - a tried-and-tested procedure that was used after the previous wheel bearing failure in 2006 - but most of our spare wheelsets are for class 108s which have different axleboxes to class 104s. One member of the team then came up trumps by finding a spare bogie that could turn out to be the ideal donor candidate skulking under some pallets and other paraphernalia in the shed...
The bogie even had the required wheel diameters so a start was made on dismantling it with the removal of the brakegear and the final drive...
The powered (or driven) wheelset was then extracted from the bogie so that its axleboxes could be removed and the state of the bearings assessed...
It turned out that this side has a rumbly bearing (I know the feeling!)...
...but this side was deemed to be somewhat healthier...
We now need to evaluate the available options. One might be to deal with the rumbly bearing so that the wheelset can be swapped for the faulty one under 50454 and another might be for a specialist to transplant the bearing that is thought to be in good condition to the axle on 50454. A case of 'Watch this space'.
The last two compartment windows were completed by fitting the aluminium surrounds and it was time for celebration when the last screw was inserted into the last window frame! ...
A single-piece luggage rack panel was also constructed and fitted to fill in the gap above the head of the person in the above picture.
With the addition of more hands to the pumps (or in this case the racks) the luggage rack sections that had put up a fight on a previous occasion were beaten into submission and installed...
... a success that was celebrated by cleaning another section ready for fitting...
The battery boxes were removed...
It was then a case of working out which bits will need to be replaced and attacking the other bits with sanders, scrapers, needleguns etc. The mounting bolts and insulators were also cleaned up.
When the driver's door was rehung it turned out not to fit, or close, properly due to being the wrong shape in the middle - something that resulted in some head scratching...
After some experimentation, the middle hinge was adjusted slightly, and it now hangs in the intended manner. The interior woodwork and panels remain to be sorted for it, but attention can move on to the next door when we get chance.
Wickham Class 109 50416/56171
Bodywork repairs involving painting have been out of the question recently because the rapid transformation from cold to mild weather resulted in the body dripping with condensation.
It was, nevertheless, possible to carry out some riveting (!) work on the roofs of both vehicles. Quite a lot of the original rivets have given up rather too easily so the way forward would seem to be to replace the whole lot with a more robust item...
Once all of the rivets have been replaced the whole lot will need a coat of paint.
The bodyside aluminium window frames on the secondman's side of the trailer car (56171) were cleaned up so that they can be varnished when the bodywork gets varnished in due course. It all looks much better for it.
Work on the driver's desk continued with the fitting of the setter (the name given to the red emergency brake handle) and the brake module.
In the rear compartment the wall panels on the secondman's side were fitted and a start was made on the panels above the luggage rack line...
The draught strip was fitted around the secondman's door and attention then turned to the same for the driver's door but, as is often the case in preservation/restoration, there was a surprise waiting in the shape of some sections of surrounding framework that moved in an undesirable manner. That will create some unexpected work as will the discovery that the timber strips behind the two lower panels in the rear compartment will need to be relocated so that the panels can be fastened to them.
A start was made on fixing the broken framework for the flat ceiling section outside the toilet door. A fair amount of the original framework has been fitted as a first step although there is still much to do including some homework...
Thanks to Allen Chatwood, John Joyce, Mike Martin and Graham Parkin for supplying the pictures that were used in this edition.
When the class 104 made its 2024 debut in time to play an important part in the October Railcar Gala, we expected to make good use of it for this year's remaining timetabled services but, unfortunately, the Driving Motor Brake Second (DMBS) vehicle (50454) suffered a collapsed wheel bearing shortly before arriving at Corwen with the second train of the day on Friday 18th October.
As luck would have it, the rostered driver and secondman that day were both qualified drivers so, after splitting the two vehicles, one of them was able to shunt 50454 into the siding at Corwen (hastily designated as a new 'naughty step') while the other returned the passengers to Llangollen using the other vehicle (50528) as a single-car unit. Meanwhile another driver went to our Pentrefelin depot to prepare the class 108 for action and then assisted with the transfer of 50528 from Llangollen Station to Pentrefelin.
That teamwork resulted in a delay of only twenty minutes or so to the departure of the last train of the day and even though we, as a group, don't normally make a habit of blowing our own trumpet, that was rather impressive given the circumstances!
The following picture was taken from the front of the class 108 at Corwen Station on Saturday 26th October and shows the errant class 104 vehicle 50454 in the siding in the distance...
With the class 104 out of action, the services have all been provided by the class 108 which was assisted by the class 127 on Sunday 20th October when a 4-car was requested by the Railway.
The following pictures show the class 108 on Saturday 26th October - a day that began with mist and fog and then developed into blue sky and sunshine. It is seen at Corwen...
...and at Llangollen...
Information about the recovery of 50454 from Corwen can be found in the unit-specific section below.
It's that time of year again! In preparation for the cold winter weather, the antifreeze levels in all of the engines were checked and topped up as necessary, and the toilet water tanks were drained in all units except for the class 108 which still has a couple of turns to complete.
As reported in 'Out and About' above, 50454 suffered a collapsed wheel bearing on Friday 18th October and was shunted on to the 'naughty step' in the siding at Corwen...
...prior to various heads being scratched wondering what to do with it next.
The outcome was that a team of specialist contractors was employed to construct a wheelskate to enable the vehicle to be moved with the poorly axle remaining stationary - an operation that was carried out on Wednesday 23rd October...
The vehicle was then taken, by class 08 shunter no. 08202, to the depot at Pentrefelin where the wheelskate was removed. The following video shows the train preparing to leave Corwen for Pentrefelin...
The last two ceiling panels and the last saloon light were fitted...
Before the smaller end ceiling panel could be installed it was necessary to construct a small, shaped piece of wood in order to provide something for the aluminium bead to fasten to. As is often the case, that was time-consuming work for something that will not be seen in the finished product.
The final wall panels were installed on the driver's side of the rear compartment...
Attention then turned to the luggage racks, the first of which had some rivets replaced and was cleaned...
Surprisingly, though, the trial installation on the secondman's side of the vehicle...
...highlighted a problem insofar as the mounting brackets failed to line up with the corresponding holes in the side of the vehicle. In theory, at least, nothing should have changed in that respect since the luggage rack was
removed, along with all of the other internal fittings and fixtures, prior to the asbestos removal several years ago. And yes - it was confirmed that it was the correct luggage rack for that side of the vehicle! Perhaps the vehicle
somehow slipped through a gap in the space-time continuum while we weren't looking?
Some progress was also made with the electrical wiring under the desk in the cab...
Shortly after the Railcar Gala the Wickham was taken indoors for repairs to its bodywork. To begin with it was thought that the work would require a small number of minor repairs to the filler around rivets, followed by a coat of green gloss paint and a coat of varnish but it was soon realised that the first of those stages would be much more involved than anticipated because several 'popped' rivets required attention especially on the river side of the unit which is subjected to the worst weather conditions.
As a way of providing better lighting on the subject, a special bracket was produced to support a striplight. As shown in the following pictures, it fastens to the gutter and a window frame and can, therefore, be moved along the unit relatively easily as the work progresses...
Gloucester class 100 51118/56097 (undergoing restoration at the Midland Railway, Butterley)
The newly constructed wall for the toilet was fitted...
The sections of desktop will need to be removed again before being installed for the final time but, as the above pictures clearly show, it has made an amazing transformation to the cab!
The beading that fits along the top of the large glass windows was fitted to the four windows on the driver's side of the middle compartment...
As well as the aforementioned, some draught excluder was fitted round another door, and the wiring was completed in one of the jumpers on the front of the vehicle.
Thanks to Allen Chatwood, Dewi Davies, Mike Martin and Martin Plumb for supplying the pictures and video that were used in this edition.