D1041 General Report: 

Part 2: April - August 2014

After a longer than anticipated gap, its time to recap what has been going on over the last 11 months! 2014 has been exceptionally busy and some of the Western Prince team were deployed to help with Class 14, D9537 which was turned round in time for the 14s@50 celebration.

The following is a digest of what has been going on with D1041 between April to the end of August 2014.

The Bears Are Coming!

With the 14s@50 event approaching, both Stephen and Matt were deployed on and off to help with the electrical restoration of D9537, and whilst this did take the focus away from D1041, plenty still got done.

Martin moved round to the Second Man's side of B-End to continue with repair, replacement and in some cases again new build webbing and gusset work as well as removing sections of the cabside skin and sandboxes, or what was left of them, to gain access and assess what was needed.

Meanwhile Matt has been rebuilding the concentrated central air brake frame. Component parts of the brake frame on a 'thousand' are spread out around the loco, but this section is now ticked off as a brand spanking new, zero-hours, fully overhauled brake frame. Everything was stripped out then all valves and components underwent the Lindley OCD level of overhaul and maintenance, including new seals, re-greasing, setting up and testing before complete re-assembly.

Whilst the ELR does have some colour light signalling, none are fitted with AWS ramps and so many of the locos have this isolated. D1041 on the other hand, will have the AWS fully reinstated as part of the rewire which will be something of a treat!

The AWS relay box tested out ok and the voltage converter awaits testing. The original BR AWS reciever wiring was was found to be all hard down to earth and, as it runs the whole length of the loco underside to A-bogie, it was decided to use the BR(WR) AWS shoe receiver wiring which tested out fine and just mount a magnet receiver on B bogie in place of the WR Shoe. The remaining wiring which runs to A-End cab also tests ok and is internal conduits anyway, so everything under B-End floor will be re-wired as its only requires short lengths and then the floor can go back down.

The Western Prince electrical team being as they are, if the opportunity to complete to underside wiring presents itself later then you can almost certainly guarantee it will be stripped out and replaced! Although for now, the WR wiring is one of the original electrical systems to test out ok.

There's always time for toast!

Once the extent of water ingress damage had been discovered it made perfect sense to do a full 'belt and braces' job and cut away the cabside skins and sandboxes to enable a proper assessment and any necessary repairs to be undertaken.

Mr Tottle was hacking away at the B-End Second Man's side again later in May with more progress on rot removal with the sandbox base completely removed as has been done with the other corners and cab sides.

D9523 and what can be learned

Following the devastating mechanical failure D9523's governor on the Friday of the 14s@50 event the D1041 team had another look at the potential for similar failure in a 'Thousand' and how it might be prevented. Several problems conspired to cause the Paxman power unit to overspeed and the information drawn from the very unfortunate series of events has helped us to consider the potential for failures in D1041 also.

The case for using 3 position taps on the Maybach fuel galleries is strengthened as a result. In the hopefully unlikely event that a similar failure of the governor was to occur on either of D1041's power units, causing an overspeed combined with overspeed trip failure, then at least we would be able to isolate the tap and cut off fuel to the galleries rather than trying to fumble around with the 3 way cocks on the fuel lift pumps.

This would mean the engines could be quickly shut down manually by cutting off the fuel supply. So this will be investigated further and the possibility of having kits supplied to modify the maybach fuel lines. Everyone at the ELR was gutted for the owners of D9523 and wish them well with the repairs ahead.

Whilst the photo above shows the AWS box with the lid back on and suitably annotated with bench test date, it also reveals another significant milestone. As well as being something of a maze with nicely cleaned and painted pipes under the B-End cab floor, the large orange rectangular sections to right of the shot are the main loco electrical trunking sections all boxed up with wiring now in place. This is the first time in 3 years that trunking and lids have been permenantly fixed in place, so much progress in one photo!

Project Summary August 2014

With the Class 14 event successfully completed and D9537 up and running, our attentions are focused again on D1041 and we continue to move forward. Structural and fabrication work is ongoing and the repairs to B-end cab, front end and drag box will soon reach the stage where the outer skin can begin to be attached. Prince has almost certainly seen the most detailed bodywork repairs to a western in preservation and much of the work undertaken was overdue. The photographs contained here hopefully show the scope of the job along with the outstanding workmanship being lavished on D1041.

We clearly wouldn't wish any of this lot on another 'Thousand' owning group, but at least the work undertaken on Prince has gone a long way to uncover some of the problem areas which need attention due to the water ingress that certainly damaged this particular loco and so hopefully the documentation of the job will also serve other groups in years to come.

The rewire is still progressing well with 90% of the wiring looms now fed through the locomotive. The cable has had to stop short of A-end cab due to outstanding welding repairs to the desk and window surrounds, but once completed this should progress quickly.

The focus at the moment is to get B cab fully wired and ready for testing, plus the whole of the cab internals built back up including trim and desk panels being turned out to the highest 'as new' condition. Even the AWS systems will be reinstated as part of the rewire and overhaul, a far cry from the condition of the loco when stopped 10 years ago where many circuits were disconnected or bypassed due to severe electrical problems.

Elsewhere the locomotive's air and brake systems are being overhauled and nearing completion. All valves, solenoids and system components have been overhauled to a high standard and the brake frame finished except the fitment of a new distributor. The loco is ready to receive larger air system components such as main reservoir tanks, exhausters and compressors, as and when they are ready.

The D1041 team would like to extend a huge thanks to everybody who has contributed, be they internally involved shareholders and engineers or those who have sent donations via the website. Thank you.

The sheer magnitude of work required and jobs outstanding for the small engineering workforce involved means that a return to service of this classic and much beloved locomotive is still a way off, but we are not deterred and are looking forward to continued progress in 2014 and beyond. As always thank you for taking the time to have a look at progress.