A team of volunteers kindly gave up 3 extra days of their time to focus on several projects at the Depot. What a great time it was, plenty of work done, much laughter and camaraderie which really helped the team push on despite a few things fighting back at us, but we didn’t give up.
Power Unit 430 With the phasing case recently delivered back from Compact Orbital Gears a team of 3 set about reconnecting it back onto the unit. This is not an easy job as it involves many fixings, some of which are difficult to access, or you have to lay on your back. Once it was physically connected and the Quill Shafts aligned the TDC, Top Dead Centre tool was affixed to see if all was lined up correctly, you are allowed a max of 5 deg tolerance, without any adjustment as the unit had not been touched since the case was removed, the 3 corners were just over 3 deg out so there were no worries. Once this was done the team set about reattaching other various items to the unit before the Generator is attached.
Next in line is PU 423 whose phasing case is away at Orbital Compact Gears, please donate if you can towards this at https://gofund.me/d08b5d0b £17.7k required, plus any parts required, we do have some. Bearings are the main issue to source.
PU 417, fitted inside D9015. Another 3-man team set about trying to identify the issues the unit had back in 2024 with a bit of rough running, as previously reported Power Engineering had visited site with a Borescope and confirmed that it was not De-phased. Since then, the Injector Nozzles have all been replaced. Firstly, all the fittings were checked to ensure that all was Ok. The fuel was primed, a few small leaks were found but soon rectified. Next, the fuel filter casings were removed only to find that one of the top faces was slightly bent out of line, this was replaced by one of the ones recently refurbished, the decision was taken to exchange the other one as well, the filters and seals were also replaced.
Once refitted the schrader valves were tested and bled through. 13 of the 18 injectors needed some attention and tightening with 5 being replaced. The engine was started and ran well for about 15 second and then started to run unevenly, just like back in July 2024. The engine was shut down. Fortunately, one of the fitters was lay on his back adjacent to the engine on the 2nd man’s side and heard the sound of air being sucked in somewhere. The only place it could have been was the Fuel Filter Strainer Bowl. This was removed and stripped. It was found that all of the gaskets were in need of replacement. The team, assisted by others, carefully removed the old gasket material which had set hard and new gaskets were cut and installed before the unit was rebuilt then fitted. The engine was run up and it was running a lot better but is still in need of a bit of tweaking, for another day.
D9015. Whilst all of the above was taking place in the engine room one of the Delectricians, later joined by another mid-way through the 3 days, sorry dragged in, set about identifying and tracing all loose and unconnected wires in both cabs. This job was completed with all cab heaters now working as well as all the screen wash motor pumps at both ends.
They also repaired and rebuilt start contactors No 2 which had gone to earth via its own bakerlight base, very strange. As a result of this one of the guys nipped out to an auto electrical place 4 miles from the depot and took a similar contactor and another relay from the stores with him to see if they could do anything with them. Fortunately, they can, and they also have a 3D Printer so can also recreate the insulated casings.
55009. The main aim on # 9 was to progress the bodyside painting. Day 1 saw the finishing touches to the prep work before a good wipe down with Tac Cloths. Day 2 the whole of both sides, cab door to cab door were painted along with 2 of the cab/nose sides. Thanks to Jamie Swanson from the GCR Carriage Dept for giving up his time to assist. The other 2 are awaiting completion of minor bodywork repairs. All 4 bogie frame sides were painted along with the red coil springs and the white brake pipework.
The final task was to start to apply a rather fitting embellishment not seen on a Deltic for a good few years, Finsbury Park white cabs!
DEPOT STORES. Yet more sorting and reorganising has seen much progress on this project with some of the racking having their horizontal beams adjusted to make room for more pallets due to the condensing but mainly organising of our stock. Our new stores manager who has done over 100 hours and sorted 26 pallets in his first few months has kindly been given by his engineering employer 2 days per month paid leave to progress this project. There will be a computerised stock control system. Many thanks indeed to you.
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Another great step forward is that he has manged to get one of his professional suppliers to come along and set us up with a completely new ‘fixings’ system for all of our nuts, bolts, split pins etc which they will visit and service on a regular basis. This is something other companies have declined to do due to our low useage. They came back on day 3 and made a start with a completely new ‘Linbin’ system for us and a racking unit for them, unfortunately he cannot make it William proof!! Another useful contact was introduced is an Electrical Rewinds company who have offered to do some initial exploratory work on our spare electrical motors such as compressors, exhausters, traction motor blowers and even the aux gen units. Unfortunately, at this moment due to commercially sensitive reasons I am unable to name these companies and give them thanks for their support, but they know who they are, Thank You.
If you would like to come and join us, please contact me, Mike Hallam-Rudd. Volunteer Liaison Officer via our website or details inside Deltic Deadline, DPS Membership required.
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