December

Happy New Year to all of our Visitors and Supporters.
The first working party was on the 1st day of the new year. Doug, Joan, Chris, Alan and John were on site on a rather cold and damp day. Before the new year, it had been decided that the first working party of the new year would be mainly a tidying up session to free up some space for the next shipment of spares which should hopefully be arriving within the next month or so. John commenced building a new cover for the Secondman's control panel in Number 2 Cab. Doug disposed of some of the waste on a bonfire which kept him nice and warm!
Monday 2nd saw just Chris and Adrian on site completing the clearing up and installing more storage racks in the container.
Saturday 7th had Adrian, John and Chris working on site. John built a new cabside sheet for Number 2 Cab, Secondman's side and then fitted the control panel for the Secondman's side at Number 2 Cab that he was constructing last weekend. Chris and Adrian performed general jobs trying to keep warm in the freezing weather! Yet more storage facilities were installed in the container.
Sunday 8th saw Doug, Joan, John, Alan, Dave, Kirsty, Emily and Chris on site - surely a record? Joan fitted out the newly-installed storage trays in the container and then cooked the usual superb lunch that makes the steam workers jealous! Doug continued tidying the old storage container and removing accumulated sandite from under the engine room floor. Alan worked in the fan room for most of the day and assisted John with some minor engine work. Chris worked on the battery charger, temporary loco lighting and the headcode box . Dave worked in the container with Kirsty and Emily providing the Quality Assurance. John made the second panel for the Secondman's side in Number 2 Cab and also the Driver's side panel is 80% completed.
John and Chris collected the water pumps from the repairers on Wednesday 11th and then worked in the container reassembling various components for the rest of the evening.
Thursday 12th saw Alan on site working on the engine and also in the fan room.
Saturday 14th saw Chris and John working mainly in Number 1 Cab. The DSD, power handle and reverser handle holder, footrest on the Secondman's side, the power handle, the reverser handle were reinstalled in the cab. Work continued in Number 2 Cab with Chris removing more debris from under the floor.
On Sunday 15th, John and Chris were back on site. John welded chequerplate onto the outsides of Number 1 Cab and installed yet more components in Number 1 Cab. Chris continued the cleaning work in Number 2 Cab as well as assisting John with the welding. Chris also removed the windscreen washer pipework in Number 2 Cab and installed in Number 1 Cab, the seat back that Joan had re-covered.
Thursday 19th saw John and Alan working in the engine room performing various maintenance tasks on the engine and also preparing the engine to have the water pumps fitted back on at a later date.
Saturday 21st saw John and Chris refitting yet more equipment into No. 1 Cab. The hotplate surround, Secondman's footrest, straight air brake valve, pipework brackets, windscreen wiper motors, windscreen wipers and various small bits of platework were installed.
Sunday 22nd was a busy day for the team. On site today were a gang of 6 and numerous tasks were tackled - Doug continuing with removing sandite from beneath the engine room floor then subsequently repainting the area, Adrian and Alan working on the engine, John putting yet more bits back in No. 1 Cab as well as stripping the throttle valve from No. 1 Cab and after unseizing it, he reassembled it and reinstalled the valve, Joan sorting out a lot of newly purchased consumables and Chris installing the cab lights in No. 1 Cab and then starting to strip No. 2 Cab with the help of Adrian. Number 1 Cab really is starting to look like a proper loco cab again. The cab has not been this complete for years.
On Wednesday 25th, Alan replaced the defective oil pressure gauge from alongside the turbo with another gauge that has just been donated to us from one of the local enthusiasts. Alan then continued his work in the fan room. During this week, John finally found a use for all the beer cans that seem to be hanging around Diesel Gricers Rest - they make good supports for things that are being painted and need to be kept off the ground. Rumour has it that when the paint has dried, the beer must then be drunk!
Saturday 28th saw John and Chris on site. Chris traced some of the air pipework for the turbochargers that we have been having problems with, stripped, cleaned and then re-fitted one of the valves that is connected to this system. Chris also performed some tasks in the engine room. John worked in Number 1 Cab wiring up the Driver's side heater that is located on the floor as well as making some minor alterations to the cab floor near the brake pipework. John also installed the hotplate, cut some aluminium strip to finish off part of the cab side sheets. Dan turned up to make tea.
Sunday 29th had John, Dan, Alan and Chris busy on site. John worked with Alan for most of the day re-installing the water pumps and checking that all was well after installation. Dan surveyed the loco's tail ights to see what was required to get them all to work (currently, only one tail light works with the others needing bulb holders installing and subsequent rewiring as well as quite a bit of remedial works to the reflectors and lenses). It was decided that Dan will fully overhaul our spare tail light assembly and then replace one of the loco's current tail light assemblies with the overhauled one. The assembly that has been replaced will then be fully overhauled and used to replace one of the other assemblies requiring overhaul. Chris continued working on the turbocharger pipework, cleaned the engine breather and also started to remove more components from Number 2 Cab in readiness for the complete renovation of Number 2 Cab.