May

7th May saw the first working part of the month. Chris and Alan were on site. Alan continued with the brake cylinder overhaul, re-assembling it today. Alan and Chris removed the worst condition brake cylinder from the loco and then replaced it with the overhauled brake cylinder. The improvement has to be seen to be believed with the brake cylinder actually doing what it is supposed to be doing and without any air leaks either! The brake cylinder that has been removed is in need of a more comprehensive overhaul with replacement of more parts than the first brake cylinder required. The most significant part being the plastic collar needs replacing as it has worn away completely at the bottom. Chris and Alan then commenced permenantly attaching the headcode box outer panel to Number 1 nose. Many holes required drilling to secure the panel with the top and sides of the headcode box surround being the easiest to drill. The bottom of the surround is made of a much thicker metal and so consumed a few drillbits in the process! The top, both sides and some of the bottom of the panel were riveted to the surround by the end of the day. We had to use longer rivets for the bottom section due to the thickness of the metal surround, these longer rivets took quite some time to use compared with the short rivets used at the top and sides.

Wednesday 10th had Dan and John on site for the morning. In both cabs there is a switch that will sound one of the horns at the opposite end of the loco. Ever since the loco was purchased, the switches in both cabs had not been operating the horns as they should be. John refurbished one of the defective solenoids (Number 1 end) and replaced the defective solenoid at Number 2 end with a solenoid bought from C.F. Booth last month.

Sunday 14th saw Doug, Joan, Alan, Chris and Dan working on the loco. Joan commenced making two display boards ready for the steam fair at the end of the month. Chris completed riveting the headcode box outer panel to Number 1 nose shortly before a super lunch cooked by Joan. After lunch, Joan gave the newly-secure headcode panel a new coat of black paint. Joan then painted the bufferbeam and buffers. The loco will definitely look a lot better for the steam fair. Doug continued painting under the engine room floor and assisted Chris and Dan when they were checking the battery levels. Alan disconnected and removed one of the horn valves from Number 2 Cab. Alan dismantled the valve completely, cleaned it up, reassembled it and finally re-installed it in Number 2 Cab. Dan changed the oil in both turbochargers with Doug's help. Dan also changed the oil in the top compressor at the end of the day. Chris cleaned both bogies ready for greasing and oiling during the next week. Joan and Doug tidied up the area around the loco removing any weeds that they could find. Chris and Doug moved 6 Class 31 wheelsets along the track to the end of the track furthest from the loco. The wheelsets are stored temporarily on our test track while delivery of another steam loco takes place. Three of the wheelsets are destined for use under a steam loco tender on another railway while the other three wheelsets will be scrapped. At the end of the day, Dan and Chris tested the air system for the horns at Number 2 end. A couple of faults were found and another horn valve will be needed to rectify one of the faults.

Tuesday 16th saw John working on the loco assisted by a couple of mates. One of the bogies was fully greased and oiled after Chris had prepared the bogies at the weekend. The other bogie was also oiled but still awaits greasing. John put the headcode box back together inside Number 1 Nose and then reconnected the electrics. John installed lightbulbs into all of the bulb holders and then we had a working set of marker lights at Number 1 end for the first time since preservation. The re-chromed power handle and reversing handle were finally fitted today after the holes' threads had been fettled.

Sunday 21st saw Alan and Chris on site cleaning the loco ready for the steam fair over the bank holiday weekend.

Tuesday 23rd saw John and Alan working on the loco. Alan assisted John with attaching the double arrows BR badge and also the Cardiff Canton replica depot plaque. The loco really does look the part now!

Chris worked on the loco on Thursday 25th and gave Number two nose a coat of paint and also did other jobs to smarten the loco's appearance. The engine room floor was laid back down and then secured. Chris worked on the compressors in Number 1 nose to ensure that they would be ready for the coming weekend's fun.

Chris was busy on the loco again on Friday 26th. Number 2 cab was cleaned out ready for use as a bedroom for Adrian to use over the steam fair - not everybody gets a room with this much character! John joined Chris in the afternoon and helped arrange the access arrangements so that visitors could visit Number 1 cab to see how things have progressed since the last steam fair. Chris touched up the paintwork in a few places to make sure the loc looked its best.

The big steam fair happened on the bank holiday weekend with the event being on all three days and we all felt a bit worn out afterwards! Number 1 cab was open for visitors throughout all three days and certainly stretched our volunteer resources to the limit! We lost count of the number of people who visited the loco. It was very pleasing to be congratulated by people who had visited the loco over the past couple of years and were seeing it running for the first time. We received visits from people who had never been in a loco before to a man who had built engine components for English Electric's 12CSVT engines - perhaps he even worked on our engine? We had a former driver of Class 37s visit and it had been at least 20 years since he had sat in the Driver's seat of a Class 37 and it made his day. As well as having Number 1 cab open for viewing, we also had a sales stand nearby and a display stand showing various components that we have restored or were under restoration. Many people appreciated the time we took to talk to them about the differing aspects of the restoration and the fact that they could view the components that we are restoring. The sales stand did well with the model railways selling out completely as usual. The weekend saw the release of a booklet giving the history of our loco, the restoration story so far and the booklet also contained numerous pictures of the loco. The booklets sold very well and many people now have souvenir to remember us by. Copies of the booklet are still available for a modest £1.25 including postage and packing - contact us using the email address on the main page if you would like a copy. Thanks go to Doug and Joan for working very long hours to get the booklet finished (and this year's new edition key-rings). Thanks to the following people without whom the event wouldn't have been such a success: Adrian, Alan, Chris B, Chris McN, Dan, Dave B, Doug, Edward, Emily, Joan, John, Kirsty, Moff and Natalie.