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Although the Christmas holidays have slowed things down a bit there has still been some progress on our projects. The first coat of paint has gone onto the repaired front end of class 108 vehicle 51907 whilst the cab has been comprehensively cleaned out inside now that the windows are back in.

The new jumper sockets which have been wired on to trailer 54490 have also been given a coat of preservative paint prior to being finished in black. The sockets have been tested using our electrical test box and have been signed off for use. Whilst the paint brushes have been out the corridor connection parts have been given a final coat of black and are now ready for re-assembly.
A start has also been made on the B exam of the class 104 unit as this has to be done before the Thomas event in February.

While we have not been operating trains at Llangollen our class 141 unit, which is on hire to the Weardale Railway, has been used for feeder services for the Santa Trains. For this purpose it has been internally trimmed out with tinsel and baubles and looks very festive. It is currently working the Mince Pie Specials.
The unit ventured a short way up the line from Stanhope in the direction of Eastgate last week, a section which is not normally used for traffic, as it needed to be stabled out of the way twice a day to allow a steam train to run round. The picture shows it just at the Eastgate side of Unthank Crossing, to the West of Stanhope.

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The front end of Class 108 car 51907 has been completed now and the windows have been refitted. All the recently welded-in metal has been ground down. A lot of effort has gone into cleaning down the whole front end and ridding it of all the old paint ready for a new coat of yellow. As a result the workshop is now also yellow!

The job now looks much different to how it looked last week! Also work has progressed on the corridor connection supports which have now been glossed black ready for refitting.

We have also had a scavenging team out this week finding and collecting parts for our two long-term restorations, those of the Gloucester 100 and Class 104 50447. Many parts which we were missing were collected together and will be used on the restorations in due course.
At the depot a start has been made on wiring in an internal light to the new oil hut.

There has been a big working party at Pentrefelin Depot this weekend with attention being focussed on the Class 108 which is in the workshop. The biggest area of progress has been on the front end welding of the power car. A pre-formed section has been welded into the area above the driver's window and a new piece of bodywork has been cut and fitted above both the driver's and the secondman's window. Both gutters have been correctly reattached to the vehicle, the panels next to the doors have been re-rivetted back on and the skirt has been manufactured and welded into place along the front of the vehicle. Finally both cab windows have now been refitted as has the cab interior, meaning that the job is substantially complete.

The corridor connection supports have returned from the engineering department. These have had the holes at the ends closed with weld and have been redrilled so that they are both the right shape and in the correct place. The remainder of the parts have also returned from one of our members' houses where they have been cleaned up as homework. Once back at the workshop the next job has been to thoroughly sand down the supports ready for painting.

Next they were taken a little way down to the workshop for a coat of red oxide paint and were left out to dry, ready for the next working meeting. Also receiving attention with paint has been the guard's van interior which has been thoroughly washed down, the grey paint undercoated and the ceiling glossed.

At the back of the trailer car the reconditioned jumper sockets have been fitted, wired up and tested. These were required because the ones previously fitted had cracked housings and if left were likely to allow water to enter the electrics.

Also over the weekend the headcode box inside the driver's cab of Class 127 51618 has had some attention as it had got to the stage where it would not stay closed, the Class 104 was checked over for a job this Wednesday and some of the nuts and bolts were moved from the stores to the new tool store.

Plenty going on with the fleet at the moment, with work continuing on projects at both Llangollen and Butterley. Class 108 DMBS 51907 is in the workshops at Llangollen where there have been some repairs done to the cab front, in the process of which we found some rather badly corroded sections of bodywork. The decision was therefore taken to investigate matters further by further stripping down the front end.

The gutters and the outer two cab windows have been removed to reveal that there is substantial corrosion at the top of the windows which will need to be fixed. One issue was that the windscreen wiper motor was not attached to much metal, which explains the repair plate which was fitted to this area when we bought the vehicle from British Railways almost 20 years ago. With all stripped down an order was placed for some parts from our fabricators.

While all this was going on some of the jumper sockets on the trailer, 54490, were removed because they had been noted as having been cracked, a situation which would eventually allow water to enter the electrics. Unlike other times when this repair has been done all came apart reasonably easily and the job now awaits refurbished jumper sockets arriving.

There's quite a lot going on, too, at Butterley with Gloucester Class 100 trailer 56097. A lot more of the paint sprayed around the interior has been removed, the desk has now been dismantled completely and the frame has been taken away for shotblasting and painting. Some components such as the handbrake wheel, instrument housings and so on are also at the shotblasters but they will be powder coated as well. A new wooden top for the control desk has been manufactured and has been taken to a specialist factory for a hard-wearing plastic surface to be added.
On the welding front the driver's side of the cab is now complete apart from the lower valance. The picture below shows the desk frame before the electrics were removed from it.

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Work is steadily progressing throughout the Winter months, although at the moment much of it involves moving parts and stores from one place to another. We have just delivered a number of seats down to our trimmers for attention, including this big pile, which largely consists of a class 108 first class interior and some repairs.Tony contemplates the work ahead.................

At the depot work has continued on the front end of class 108 51907. The cab frame members have been repaired and welded back into place while above the secondman's window a rather nasty piece of bodywork has been investigated and has proved to be thoroughly rotten.
Inside the same vehicle the guard's van has been sanded down in preparation for repainting. One of the doors had to be sanded down to bare wood as the paint had been damaged by water.  The frame for the corridor connection supports has now been sent off to the machine shop for repairs to be done and one of the members has taken other parts home to clean up the threads.
A team has also been working in the class 127/108 set which has been thoroughly cleaned out following the Thomas event. The first class area of 56223 has had a deep clean while the cushions are away being retrimmed and the seat frames have been sanded down ready for repainting.A temporary repair has also been done to the destination indicatior of 51618 as the cover cannot be secured and flaps open in service.

One of our members has been sorting out all the spanners and tools which had been deposited in the new tool store. These are being put in a series of new storage boxes which we have had donated recently. Another jobs which has been done has been the replacement of the step on the entrance to the mess van as the old one had collapsed.

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Work continues in the depot at Llangollen on the front end of the class 108 DMBS, 51907. The rotten areas are now cut out of the bodywork and some time was spent at the weekend in making repair pieces for the bottoms of some of the uprights. Many of these have rotted through and so the cab front is not secured to the floor properly.

The rest of the corridor connection supports on the blue and grey Class 108 unit have also been removed to reveal that all 54 of the holes are badly worn, with some having seized up completely as a result. We've been in contact with the Llangollen machine shop as we are hoping that they will be able to weld in new bushes which will restore the connection to proper working order. Meanwhile a temporary support has been made to hold the corridor connection in place.

We are fortunate in that we have a good covered workshop now in which to carry out winter work. No one would like to go back to the days when we had to restore everything outside!
 
 
 

Progress continues with the Gloucester 100 at the Midland Railway but it has slowed as our main contractor is away on other jobs at the moment. It has been necessary to repair part of the frame on the driver's side where new box section has been welded in to help support the door pillar. A replacement skin has been made for the outer panels and this has been shaped to the body outline and welded in.

Inside the first class saloon the windows have been removed and new glass to current safety standards has been made to fit. We have also been removing the paint which the asbestos removal contractors threw everywhere following the asbestos strip over 10 years ago. The end walls are coming up quite well and the original Formica is in good condition underneath, so it looks as if some of it can be saved and reused.

The Llangollen fleet is currently laid up for the winter but the class 141 has been in service all week at Weardale covering for the home unit which has had another gearbox failure.
 
 

With the running season out of the way at Llangollen it has been time to get stuck into the first of the Winter work projects. The first job was to sort out all the seating which needed to go to the trimmers for attention. There were three items from class 127 51618, a driver's seat from 50528, the guard's seats from 51907 and the entire first class seating from 56223. These were all removed and put in our van ready for onward transport.
The van had brought this year's supply of anti-freeze (35 gallons of it!) and so we also topped up/refilled all the engines on the fleet and then ran them all to make sure the anti-freeze was circulated properly.
The first of the sets to be cleaned up following the recent "Thomas" event was the class 104, and this was cleaned out with particular attention being given to any nook or cranny in which the public could have shoved rubbish (and dirty nappies) down. All the windows were also cleaned of dirty fingermarks.
 
The class 108 is now in the shed and work has started on the corrosion damage to the front. We had to remove a lot of foam from under the driver's desk, which we assume had been put there to reduce draughts. The bottom of the cab front has now been cut off so we could find out what work there was to do.

On the same set there have been problems with the corridor connections where the supporting brackets seem to jam and distort the connection. We have taken this opportunity to start removing all the brackets and we have found that many of the holes have worn oval. The plan now is to straighten everything out and to have the ends of the supporting bars bushed so that they are working correctly again.

In the depot itself we have fitted the shelves to the new toolstore and there were many trips with a wheelbarrow to bring the tools from their former resting place half way up the sidings. There has also been some effort to sort out what we have.
Some loose stones which had been dumped between our mess van and the no 2 road have also been barrowed away this weekend, creating a safer surface on which to walk.
 
 

With three sets in traffic for four days this week there's not been much chance to do much in the way of maintenance but we have used the time to do some more work on class 104 DMBS 50447, which has never run in preservation.
When the engines were revived recently we found that the governor on one of them was not working properly and so this weekend we changed the injector pump on this engine. A fuel leak was also dealt with, thus bringing forward the day when this unit might eventually take to the rails once again.
 
There's been more work around and about the depot as more flags have arrived for the path which is being installed along the siding. Meanwhile the van has been collecting oils and other supplies which are needed for the start of the winter work programme.
 
At the end of the Thomas workings on Sunday there was a shunt of the depot so that the class 108 was in the shed. As can be seen by the photo below there is some corrosion damage to repair as well as some routine maintenance tasks to undertake.

Although the home fleet has now finished for this season the class 141 has been called into action at the Weardale Railway again, following the failure of a gearbox on the home unit on Saturday. It is likely to be running most of this week until parts arrive.

The Gloucester trailer 56097 now has the first of the complicated compound curves welded into the bottom of the secondman's door pillar, it's been a bit of a job but the finished product is an accurate representation of the original. Repairs are progressing on the driver's side of the cab, which appears to be more corroded than the secondman's side - perhaps a legacy of standing next to the sea at Minehead when it was based on the West Somerset Railway?

Inside the cab the desk and all the fittings have had to be completely removed so that the corroded floor could be cut out, as things were somewhat worse than we originally thought. Again there has been heavy corrosion and literally buckets full of rust have been removed from the pockets in the body underneath the cab floor. As can be seen from the photograph the area on which the driver was sitting had been literally suspended in mid-air on a sea of rust.

It's been busy at Llangollen with train operation as we are on our last busy period of the year, the "Thomas" event. We have two consecutive weekends with 1x 4-car and 1x 2-car unit out and midweek there's a requirement for a 6-car for two days. The 104, 108 and 127/108 are all out on these duties and for now the Wickham is in the shed. As a result there's not much maintenance being going on at the depot.

Further North the class 141 has being having repairs to its electrics, now that it is safely back in Wolsingham Depot on the Weardale Railway. The heater over-heat switch on 55533 had become defective preventing the auxiliary heating from running while the low battery protection system has been working early on 55513 but it looks as though this is down to the batteries, which are life-expired.
 
 
 

Progress continues to be made with the Gloucester trailer 56097 with the front end of the cab taking shape. The secondman's window now has its curved corners and the cab pillar has been welded in one the same side. Parts have begun to arrive from the fabricators, including the route indicator box, which will not be fitted yet but which had to have a trial!

The cab floor has now been ripped out and the desk dismantled so that we can have a look at the floor, which needs some welding work. In the first class saloon the windows are being removed and we are restoring the Formica wall covering, which was rather crudely painted over when the unit was cleared of asbestos some 10 years ago. A wiring assessment has been made but it looks as though there is going to have to be large scale replacement.
One particular problem has been that the bottom of the cab pillars is a complicated compound curve shape which the fabricator has made and then joined with strips of metal, the resultant parts are seen ready for welding into the body front.

The Wickham unit is now in the shed where all the "No Smoking" stickers have been removed. It's a number of years since smoking was banned and passengers complain about the stickers blocking their view so we are removing them from the windows and putting a few on the partitions instead. After many years in place the stickers do not give up without a fight!
 
At the depot work has started on installing the shelving in the new tool store, but this won't be finished for a week or two due to the forthcomning Thomas event. Some paving slabs have also been delivered which will be used to make a path alongside the siding where the units are kept and which will reduce the amount of dirt which is trailed into the units by the crews and maintenance staff.
 
Although we did not have any duties planned for the weekend the Railway called us out to work the Timetable A on Saturday due to the lack of a crew for draw-off turns at Carrog. Currently it is necessary to have another locomotive there to pull trains back as run rounds are not possible due to scaffolding under the bridge at the end of the station. The bridge is being repaired prior to the extension to Carrog being opened next year. The 127 is seen enjoying the sunshine at Carrog on a day which saw a record 433 passenger journeys on the two-car unit.

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As the next Thomas event is now nearly upon us we have been completing a list of jobs at the depot so that the three sets required are ready and available for service. The fuel pump timing casing from class 104 50528 had its sheared bolts drilled out and retapped by the Railway's machine shop during the week and so this was fitted to the engine, along with the fan drive and some replacement fan belts. The job had to be carried out in a confined space with difficult access and perhaps explains why we are running a fund to save up for an inspection pit of our own!

Fitting of this part allowed us to complete the FP exam on this unit and for it to be run out of the shed and tested between Pentrefelin and Llangollen Loco to ensure that the replacement fan drive, replacement gearbox and repaired engine were all ok. Unfortunately there were problems with the newly-installed air and axle panel in 50528 which was not showing the correct lights and so this had to be checked out and repaired as necessary. After a long day all was well.

The cab repaint on class 108 54490 was also completed and the mechanical team also completed an A exam on this set. There was not much to report apart from a few loose fittings, a couple of doors with loose striker plates and adjustment being required to some of the brakes. The blue and grey 108 set was then coupled up to the 104 set as it will work its next few diagrams as a four car.
 
The electrical department spent most of the day working on completing the Public Address system in class 108 trailer 56223. This involved dropping all the light covers down and working in the trunking which had been installed within them. This installation has required the manufacture of some glass fibre speaker housings which fit neatly between the flourescent lights.

We have also worked trains for five days this week - Monday to Friday with the Wickham covering all the duties. This set has now been put in the shed where it will spend much of the winter. Our class 141 set has also been active all week at the Weardale Railway while elsewhere our fabricators have been busy making parts which will be used on the restoration of Gloucester trailer 56097.
 
 

Work continues on the class 104, the engine on 50454 which had suffered a blown head gasket is now completed and has been run in the workshop. Before this set could return to service an FP exam was required but during this it was found that the angle drive, which works the radiator fans, on 50528 was loose and on examination fractured bolts were found on the mounting plate. The plate has been removed, as has the casing to which it should bolt and the casing has been sent up to the machine shop for the broken studs to be drilled out and the holes re-tapped.
 
Despite covering around 2,000 miles this year without incident the Wickham unit had again broken down last Monday, with a repeat of the fault which stopped its number 2 engine two weeks ago. On investigation on Friday it was found that the manual fuel lift pump arm was loose and it is suspected that this has been jamming the lift pump under certain circumstances, causing the engine to become starved of fuel. It was decided that the easiest way to cure the problem would be to change the whole injection pump assembly, which includes the lift pump and this work was carried out on Sunday.

Fortunately on the Wickham it is possible to remove large sections of the floor, thus making access to the engines quite simple from inside the saloon. The replacement pump is seen on the left hand side of the photograph with the injector lines coming out of the top of it.
The unit was taken for a test run on Sunday evening, part of which involved a start from standing at the bottom of Berwyn Bank on one engine but during the subsequent ascent a water hose blew off and this had to be replaced when the unit returned to the depot.
 
The class 108 was also receiving some attention and over the weekend the cab of trailer 54490 was repainted. This unit is also now due an A exam and a start was made on this also, with completion expected for next weekend.
 
Our HQ coach has now been fitted with a heavy-duty external electrical plug so that it can be easily detached from the electricity supply should it be required to be moved so that access can be gained to the stock stored behind it. The depot improvement gang have also been installing lighting in the new oil hut and in the tool store.
 
Our trains provided services at the Llangollen Railway on Monday and Friday and at the Weardale Railway from Tuesday afternoon through to Sunday.

We've been busy out on the tracks again this week with the Wickham being in use on Monday, Friday and Sunday and with the Class 108 running all day Saturday during the Diesel Gala at Llangollen.
Work at the depot has involved routine maintenance and housekeeping tasks in preparation for the release of the class 104 from the workshops, which is due this weekend.
 
The front end of the trailer car of the Gloucester 100 set is coming along nicely now - the front panels are beginning to go back on and the frame has been repaired at the cab corners. The arrangement of the partial load-bearing structure can clearly be seen.

As usual with this kind of restoration there have been a few unpleasant finds, particularly in the area underneath the driver's feet, where there is substantial corrosion on the cab floor, which had not been spotted before.
One most unusual find was this main vacuum brake pipe which has corroded completely through where it runs through the floor. The first "homework" projects are now underway and fabricators are making the steel sections for the first few feet of each side, the headcode box covers for the front and also the complex multi-curved corners for the bottoms of the cab pillars.

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Work has continued on two main fronts this week, namely the rebuild of the Gloucester 100 trailer's front end and the replacement of the head gasket on class 104 DMBS  50454. As it is the autumn we're also heavily involved in running trains at Llangollen. The class 108 worked the all-day A timetable last Monday and Friday and also has done two driver experience sessions.
On Saturday the Wickham worked an all-day four trip B timetable without any problems but on Sunday morning while working the 1015 ex Llangollen the no 2 engine cut out while climbing Berwyn Bank. The service was terminated due to the slippy rails and the unit sent back downhill to the depot for attention. The 108 worked the next two trips and, after being fitted with new fuel filters, the Wickham was put on the front so that the 1600 was a four car, without further problems.
 
Over at the Midland the sheeting has now been removed off the front of 56097 and repairs have been made to the frame. This has involved welding in quite a lot of new sections. As is normal we've found more rot than we could see and so repairs will be needed to the cab floor and corners which were not anticipated.

Back at Pentrefelin Depot much of the effort has been directed at the errant engine on 50454. The problem was that the cylinder head gasket had blown in two places, one of them to a mounting stud, which meant that the stud had become coated in carbon, effectively sticking the head onto it.
Following efforts a couple of weeks ago using normnal mechanical means a hydraulic puller and specialist head removing tool were brought to bear on the job.

Unfortunately this failed to make much impact but we did suceed in breaking the hydraulic tool instead. It was found that the special tool would move the head but not in a straight line, due to the seized stud and so rather more unconventional means (described as "not found in any manual") were used to dislodge the head and straighten it up after each movement. This eventually worked and after 15 man-hours of work the head was off. A trip to stores produced a suitable gasket and the following day the engine was largely rebuilt - there is only about an hour's work to do now before it is ready for service.

A further job tackled was the fitting of a new vacuum hose to the high side of class 108 trailer 54490. This had been reported as in poor condition and so was swapped as a precaution. However this set has been suffering from high vacuum leaks and the replacement of this hose has improved matters, some of the other hoses may now also be changed.
The air/axle panel which had been recently wired up in 50528 was secured to the cab, after some adaption to the housing.

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By way of a change some of our members were across at the Midland Railway over the weekend to lend a hand with their dmu running event. We were in charge of RB004 and, despite one or two dramas, got in all but one of the timetabled runs.
Also at the Midland the Gloucester trailer 56097 has moved into the carriage shed where it is to receive welding work to the front end as the first phase of what will be a long restoration. Some more of the old metal has been removed to reveal the corrosion underneath. Despite the appearances the coach is not in as bad a state as some of those we have tackled before.

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It's been a very busy weekend at the depot this weekend with the target of most of the activity being the class 104 which has come in for some repairs after covering around 1600 miles this year.

The first major job was to change a gearbox on DMC 50528. The no 1 box has been passing oil into the air pipes which feed it - a condition which two new sets of seals has not cured. This results in first gear being late to engage, with consequent "snatching". The old box was disconnected and, using a hydraulic hoist, was on the floor by Saturday lunchtime.

A reconditioned gearbox was obtained from store and was brought into place using a pallet truck. The lift was done using the same hoist, which had been placed in the passenger saloon. Once the new box was in place it was piped up and the shafts reconnected. The old box was steam cleaned and put away for futue reconditioning and everthing was tidy and complete by 5pm.

Whilst this was going on another team were re-setting all the springs on the same car. There had been reports of a spring making contact with the bogie and following investigation it was found that some of the adjustments were incorrect. These were all set up to main line standards and a test run is now awaited so that the springs can settle down and we can check that all is well.

A third team tackled the toilet which had become defective. The main problem was that the waste pipe had come loose from the bottom of the pan and water had been leaking into the floor, creating some rot. A secondary problem was that the flush tank was not working properly and was leaking water through. The waste pipe was resecured and sealed and the flush tank was replaced, not an easy job in the confines of a small plumbing cupboard!
The final job of the day was the completion of the new tool store, with the fitting of the roof.
 
On Sunday the engineering team moved on to the no 1 engine of DMBS 50454. This has blown a cylinder head gasket and so was dismantled so this could be replaced. Unfortunately the cylinder head itself  is proving stubborn and is refusing to move far, something which is common with Leyland engines. A specialised piece of equipment is now needed and will be obtained in time for the next working meeting.

There have also been a number of other jobs completed during the weekend. A new set of cab seats was fitted to class 108 DMBS 51907, a replacement door pull and door panel fitted to DMC 50528, lettering repairs and paint repairs to 50528 and further work to the new stores.
 
Not withstanding all the above we still managed to run some trains, the class 108 was on a B diagram on Saturday and on a C diagram on Sunday.

There has been some more work done on  the early stages of the restoration of the Gloucester 100 unit at the Midland this week. So that the set did not look quite so bedraggled a team has given one side a coat of paint. The work is purely cosmetic but will tidy things up and show that someone does care about the set. In the picture below preparation takes place on trailer 56097.

At Llangollen it has been very busy with the Bus Rally weekend requiring two units out each day (the Wickham and the 104 on Saturday and the Wickham and the 108 on Sunday) and with the 108 being out today providing an early and late train on timetable C.
The 104 has now been moved into the workshops for an FP exam and will have the defective engine and gearbox repaired while it is in there. There has been some complicated shunting this weekend to get all the sets in the right order!

Apart from the shunting there has been some other work at the depot. One of the throttle motors on class 104 DMC 50528 has been giving trouble and so this was stripped, fitted with new seals and cleaned on Sunday. There has been more stores transferred from the old stores area to the new one, the "engine" stores have been tidied up and there's been some more work done on the structure of the new tool store. The new speaker housings for class 108 56223 which have been manufactured have arrived and have now gone away to be fitted with speakers prior to installation.
A new fire test switch has been fitted to the no 2 engine of class 127 51618, a delicate operation which involved mending other parts within the electrical box. 

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The week started last Wednesday with the first team coming in to clean up the units which had been used on the Thomas event. The class 108 was comprehensively cleaned out and externally washed. Another team came in on Friday to do the same job on the class 104.
On Friday we said goodbye to railbus RB004 which was loaded onto a transporter for onward movement to the Midland Railway-Butterley. It is to be stored there until its owner have a permanent home for it.

Operations wise we had the class 127 working a special charter last Thursday - this replaced the 108 at short notice due to the 108 having flat batteries. On Saturday and Sunday the class 104 worked an early-late diagram and the class 104 also worked a driver experience on Sunday. The class 141 completed its long stint of working at the Weardale on Friday after working for 39 continuous days. It has been replaced by the Weardale's own unit.
 
Much has been happening at the depot - we had a delivery of seats from the upholsterer and these were fitted to class 108 trailer 56223, which completes the second class section of this vehicle.

The mechanical team have carried out an A exam on the Wickham unit, which took most of Sunday morning. There were a few additional repairs, the unloader valve was passing air and so was removed and cleaned out, the air tap on the buffer beam of the power car was stiff and so that was removed and replaced and there was a faulty light switch in the cab of the trailer, which was also replaced.
 
One of the spare final drive units for the class 127 was brought out of storage and was steam cleaned and fitted with wooden blanking plates, which will stop contamination of the interior.

An investigation took place into the number one engine on class 104 50454 and it was found that it has blown a head gasket and so that engine is now isolated. We also again had to drain oil from a gearbox air supply line which indicates that the gearbox has a fault. It is now planned to stop the 104 and to bring it into the workshop for these jobs to be done. One of the cab doorlocks was removed and rebuilt as it had a broken key stuck in it.
 
Finally the derelict Rolls Royce C8N engine continued to be stripped for useful parts. An interesting discovery was the amount of solidified gunge which had built up inside this unit during its time in service.

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It's been a very heavy week out on the rails this week which has tied up most of our members. Four days (Thursday-Sunday) have seen three of the four Llangollen-based units out working "Thomas" trains, on two of the days as a six-car unit and on the other two as a two-car and a four-car on different diagrams. In addition we have provided an all-day driver experience on Tuesday for seven people and at the Weardale Railway the class 141 has again worked all seven days.
While the depot was clear there was a big shunt so that the Great Western Society's auto-trailer could be placed at the back of our road where it will undergo completion of its contract restoration. This involved moving the Wickham unit, so the opportunity was taken to refuel it and also to replace a defective indicator for the tail lamp on the trailer. Some more items have made their way across to the new stores area and Leyland railbus RB004 has been extracted from the siding where it was stabled in readiness for its forthcoming move to the Midland Railway-Butterley.

This weekend we have been up to our ears in the Thomas event at Llangollen with three of the four operational units out on each day of the event. Back at the depot there has been recovery work going on to salvage parts from the remains of an engine which originally came out of class 127 power car 51618. The engine put a "leg out of bed" and damaged the block but there is still much which can be re-used.

Over at the Midland Railway we have started work on the renovation of our Class 100 unit. This is the only survivor of its class but is in very poor condition. The first job has been to strip some of the sheeting off the cab front of trailer 56097 to find out how bad things are. The steel has been ordered up which will be used for the repair, which awaits space in the workshop.

Inside the set all the rubbish has been cleared out and the interior parts have been sorted to see what we have to assist in the restoration. The set is a gutted shell because the asbestos insulation was removed some years ago when the units were put in store. However we would have had to strip it down to this level to carry out the restoration which we wanted to do.

Finally the class 141 has been working all week again at the Weardale Railway and has now done almost a month of solid service. It will probably be in service for a few days yet as repairs are ongoing to the Railway's own unit.

This weekend has seen the Wickham out covering two long diagrams for the 60's event, leaving the shed at 0815 each morning while further North the class 141 has completed another solid seven days service at the Weardale Railway.

In the depot work has concentrated on getting units ready for the Thomas event next week, for which the 104, 108 and 127 are all required. Our new "Daisy" face has arrived, painted to match the character from the book by local artist David Kynaston, seen here fixing his handiwork to class 108 56223.

As well as the usual preparation work there was a complicated shunt to do to release the 108 from the shed and to multiple this up with the class 104. At the end of the weekend the Wickham had to go inside with the other three units lined up outside the shed door so that they are ready to start first thing on Saturday morning. There were also oil levels to check and the 108 had an FP exam, which revealed that a repair was required to one of the seats and to a light fitting, these were also completed.

The cab of 51907 has a few finishing touches, including a quick repaint of the desk and some stickers. This cab has had a repaint/refresh, rather than the complete restoration which was done to 56223 last year as it cannot be spared from service for long periods at the moment. RB004 has been prepared for onwards transportation while on the depot itself there has been some more electrical work to the shore supply for the mess van, which is being fitted with a heavy duty external plug and to the oil shed which has received some more paint attention.

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There has only been one duty at Llangollen this weekend, but Sunday saw the 104 Birmingham unit working the first and the last passenger train of the day while in the gap between services the unit was used for two "Driver Experience" courses, which give members of the public a chance to see what it is like to really drive a train.
However, unusually, our class 141 has also been out all week at the Weardale Railway where it has been covering for the resident unit, which is out of traffic with a number of faults. 141113 worked all seven days between Bishop Auckland and Stanhope.

At the Llangollen Depot the weekend gang have fitted the new exhausts to class 127 51618, not without difficulty as some of the studs mounting the components to the bodywork had broken off and had to be drilled out. The secondman's windscreen wiper motor has also been repaired on the same vehicle while underneath there has been more work to cure troublesome leaks on the torque convertor heat exchanger.

The exhaust repair has involved the manufacture of the special rubbers which hold the mountings to the back of the vehicle. This was accomplished by using the mechanic's best friend - the large adjusting tool!

In the depot there has been work to install a new location box which now carries the main power supply for the mess coach and the attendant stores vans. This has been mounted on a concrete plinth and is being fitted with a high capacity plug and socket so that the vehicles can be moved without having to call on the services of a trained electrician each time.
 
Pictures this week by Ian Bradbury

With weather completely the reverse of that predicted by the forecasters it's been a bit hit-and-miss out in the yard this weekend. The Wickham had battled valiantly against the elements on both days and has added another 128 miles to its credit, with no problems reported.
 
Class 127 power car 51618 has had some exhaust leaks for some time and so the old exhausts to the rear of the van have been ground off this weekend, a new elbows has been fitted to one side and both have had new exhaust stacks made. The job wasn't quite finished as new rubber mountings will also have to be made.

However the replacement parts are now welded up and are sat on the bench awaiting fitting.

There have been some repairs carried out to the woodwork and fascia panels above the driver's door in the cab of class 104 50528 due to rotten wood finally giving up. The class 108 unit is inside the depot and has been receiving a cab refresh to power car 51907. This has been repainted out and now awaits only its new stickers and seats which will be fitted when available.
The class 127 has also visited the fuel station and has been refuelled.

Depot improvements continue with work now advanced on the erection of the new tool and small parts storage area inside the main shed. The rest of the wall cladding was fitted over the weekend as was the door and lock. This area will gradually be brought into use over the next few months.
 

Finally the biggest thanks must go to the low life who "broke" into the depot compound and stole 450 litres of diesel fuel from our fuel tank last Wednesday night/Thursday morning. They also made off with our trusty twin-wheel Ifor Williams plant trailer  which we use for moving heavy parts and when changing engines. The damage comes to more than £1500. We hope they sleep easy in their beds.
 
Pictures this week by Paul Williams.

By our standards it has been a quiet week this week. The only duty we had was an all-day timetable B on Sunday which was worked without incident by the Wickham unit. Back at the depot efforts have been confined to progressing the new tool store structure which is being built inside the main shed building. This has progressed well and it is hoped it will be finished next weekend.
Two final drive units have been obtained from a class 115 DMU which was being dismantled at the Dean Forest Railway which involved one of our members working a very long day with a van to go and remove them and take them back to Llangollen. These units are the same as are fitted to the class 127 and are heavier than the standard ones. We currently have only one spare on site and that is actually on loan from another Railway and so the purchase will enable us to return the borrowed unit.
We have a spare class 127 bogie and this is being assessed for a rebuild which will eventually see it refurbished and fitted to the front end of 51618.

The Wickham has been doing the honours this weekend with timetable Bs on both Saturday and Sunday. There have been quite good passenger numbers and this morning a party of Japanese visitors were most taken with the unit.
On Friday there was a big shunt round in the yard and some vehicles which were buried way behind our stores and messing vehicles were removed. this resulted in the unusual sight of an eight-car DMU towing two Mark 1 coaches as we had to clear the yard out to make some room. During one of the moves long-derelict Birmingham class 104 power car 50447 was pulled out so that we could get a better view of the secondman's side. Despite the raggy appearance it is not in bad order considering the number of years it has been in open store.

Because of the gala last weekend we've not had many staff on but Saturday saw more work done on transferring items from the old stores area to the new one. A water leak on class 127 51618 was done as was a fuel leak on the Wickham. A broken vacuum cylinder cord was also replaced on 51618. One axle on class 108 trailer 54490 was also reblocked with one of our younger members, Paul, learning how to carry out this work and how to adjust a trailer car's brakes.

We've also been able to cut out a new mask for the front of class 108 56223 which will eventually be a new "Daisy" face and some more upholstery has been loaded up for shipping off for recovering. Some damaged woodwork in class 108 power car 51907 has been filled ready for repainting and there's even been time to start applying a coat of paint on the new oil shed.

Phew! What a gala weekend. Fifteen trains each day each way, four DMUs, a railbus and a steam autotrain on the line at at one time. We managed to operate everything but not without one or two small snags. Nineteen members of the group were on duty each day in roles ranging from drivers, sales stall assistants, responsible officer, supplement collectors and mechanics.
We're happy to say that visitor numbers were up once again, beating even last year's record. We've had many letters and mails of congratulation from happy customers and the enjoyment had by all made it all worthwhile. RB004 (almost)behaved itself and only missed the Saturday evening BBQ special workings due to a brake fault.
There will be a special page going up soon with pictures of the gala.

So what happened during the rest of the week? Well, Wednesday saw the van in deepest Derbyshire again where it delivered more seats for recovering and which are intended for 56223. Friday the 108 worked the normal mid-week service train while in the depot some members worked on RB004s air system again, finally discovering a leaking compressor head gasket, which was duly removed and repaired. A couple of the units were cleaned out ready for the weekend and there was a big shunt so that everything was in the right order for Saturday morning which almost went to plan until we discovered that we'd still managed to park them up in the wrong order! The sales stall items were also collected from the lock up and were brought down to Llangollen by van.
The units are now all coupled together so that they can be moved out of the way on Friday when there is a big shunt in our area of the depot.

As may be expected a week before our gala we've not being tackling many major projects. However, services carried on as normal and the Birmingham 104 set was active on Friday's A timetable and on a B timetable on Sunday. The units are now all positioned ready for gala day.

Our van arrived with the stores delivery which consisted of some reupholstered seats for class 108 trailer 56223, the monthly supply of engine oil and also some transmission convertor oil for the 127. There was also a stack of rags from one of our sponsors, transfers for cab refurbishments, paint brushes and other supplies. The van was then filled with more seats which will be on their way for retrimming this week.

The class 127/108 was pulled out of the shed and given a thorough wash and brush up, another gang had been in during the week to clean the interior. The unit was given an FP exam  and there were some repairs to do to the cab lighting, the wipers and one of the exhausts. The no 2 torque convertor, which has had a new heat exchanger, was topped up with convertor oil once the engine was running and the batteries were charged on both vehicles.A final check was made of the paintwork and some touching up was done.
The first of the replacement seats were fitted to 56223 and very nice they look, too.

There was also some more work to reduce air leakeage on RB004 while in the depot the opportunity was taken to sweep out the shed and clean the benches. Some stores were also transferred from their previous location to the new stores area and re-shelved so we know where everything is!

Again only a small number of diagrams last week, a timetable A on Friday, followed by a driver experience, both covered by the Birmingham class 104.
The week's work started with a van trip last Wednesday to pick up some reupholstered seats from our supplier in Ripley, Derbyshire. These will eventually be fitted to class 108 trailer 56223. While we were there we called to the Midland Railway to continue sorting out the items stored inside our Gloucester 100 set. We dismantled a number of redundant seats in preparation for scrapping them, which will make room to work inside the unit.
On Friday we had nine volunteers in at the depot with a further two out manning the train. The first job was to refuel both the 108 and the 109, which have seen most use recently. 1,100 litres of fuel later both were taken away from the fuel point so that the 104 could pass them to work the day's service.

One team set to to replace the cylinder head gaskets on RB004, a mission which took most of the day to complete and which involved also changing three of the injectors and an injector rail. Although this was completed within the day a start wasn't possible due to flat batteries.

Work continued into Saturday when the compressor was stripped down and checked and some air and water leaks were dealt with. There was a successful test run to Deeside Halt and back in the evening, following which an emergency air line and coupler were tested. We only now need to have a clean out and RB004 is ready for the gala!

Another team spent the weekend working on the roof of the 108 set. One of the problems we have is that mould grows on one side of the vehicles due to overhanging trees and so from time to time we have to steam clean the roofs and repaint any damaged areas. This time it was 51907 and 54490 which were done with the repainting being done the following day.
At the same time one damaged seat back was replaced in 51907 and an area of damaged paintwork was temporarily rubbed down and repainted.

There were some maintenance jobs on the list, too. One of the throttle motors on Wickham 50416 needed adjustment as in the mid-range on engine was doing all the work which made the train difficult to drive in slippy weather and a top exhaust mounting on class 127 51618 had broken its rubber which was replaced. On the same vehicle the recently-fitted heat exchanger had replacement 0- rings fitted and the door connecting the guard's van with the saloon was removed and adjusted because it was fouling the floor. The headcode box on the 127 was rubbed down and given a final gell coat of white and the gutters were repainted as they'd been damaged when sanding the roof.

Finally as usual there were the depot jobs to do. All the seats for the Cravens 56456 which had been stored in 51618 were removed and placed into safe store, while a number of seats intended for 50447 were removed from one of the stores vans and placed for store into 56456. As the roof jobs are finished for now the scaffolding was taken down and stored while there was also a reorganisation of the personal lockers which have now been moved up the shed a bit so that there is room for a new tool and small parts store which we want to build. There was a shunt round to do so that RB004 wasn't in the way, the usual stockcheck of oil and parts so we know what to buy during the week and even the carpet in the mess van got a vacuum!

The 108 covered this week's solitary diagram, on Saturday (although our class 141 has also been running every day since Wednesday up at the Weardale Railway).
It's been a bit quieter in the depot this weekend. As the decision has been taken to thoroughly investigate the cooling system on visitor RB004 we have removed the cylinder heads with the intention of renewing the cylinder head gaskets. Parts are now being sourced for the rebuild which should happen within the week.
The seats have now been refitted in the rear saloon of class 127 51618. These had been removed so that the radiator header tanks could be taken out during the recent operation to renew all the water hoses. The no 1 engine air cleaner was refitted complete with new ducting and during the week the replacement flexible exhaust pieces were fitted for the number one engine behind the number two radiator. The 127 should be released from the workshops next week subject to a final bit of touching up of the paint and a small job to the heat exchanger.
Further attention was given to the roof outside the toilet in class 104 vehicle 50528 and the lamp glass was refitted.

The Class 108 was used on passenger services on Friday, Sunday and Monday.

A very busy weekend in the depot. On Saturday both the Wickham Unit (50416/56171) and the Class 104 (50454/50528) were in for A exams. Fortunately we had 10 members available and so the work was completed within two hours. A couple of the "hockey sticks" on the sides of the seats in the Wickham had been damaged and were replaced.
The next job tackled was to move the interior panels, luggage racks and trim which had been removed from the Cravens (56456) during the recent asbestos inspection from the workshop and back into the Cravens itself for storage. There's rather a lot of it to say the least.

Following on from that the Cravens was securely sheeted over until we have time to do something with it.

Attention then turned to visiting railbus RB004 which needed an A exam and a Fitness to Run exam as it is new to our Railway. These jobs were carried out and then we had to fit a coupler to the Llangollen end, as the bus had been delivered without one. This was accomplished (not without considerable difficulty) by the end of the afternoon. We also had to remove all the steps fitted to the unit as we had discovered that it was out of gauge.

While all this was going on another team were putting the finishing touches to the new oil hut. Shelves were installed and all the oil stock, pouring cans and so on were moved in there. We have decided that the hut is so good that we ought to have an opening ceremony and we are looking for suggestions as to who could be the Guest of Honour at the ceremony.

In the evening we took RB004 out on its first test run on Llangollen metals, reaching Carrog and gauging all the platforms and structures on the line. A second run was made to Deeside following which it was decided that we ought to do some work on the bus' water system before the gala. The unusual single car is seen at Deeside Loop.

Sunday saw one team working on RB004, sorting out various water leaks, while other members worked on the exhaust system of class 127 51618, which is having a broken pipe replaced behind the no 2 side radiator. The cab dome on the same vehicle was also gell-coated to give it its original all-white appearance. The 108 had dropped an alternator drive belt and so this was cut off to prevent it derailing the others in the set.

On Monday further work was done to RB004 - the water pump was removed and checked and refitted, as was the oil cooler and the thermostat. The annual fire extinguisher check was done across the whole fleet and the gutters were touched up on 51618. A leaking toilet in BRCW car 50528 was investigated but despite removing the ceiling the leak could not be found. Eventually it was decided that there were a number of problems, including a leak from the toilet down pipe and the valve fitted to the header tank. The leak has obviously been around for a while as the floor has been very damp and is damaged. The roof was put back as the work involved cannot be achieved before the gala.

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