A Further Blow!!

Hello everyone again ..........................

News from engineering team work today.

D335

Today we started the 6M/C1 exam on D335 and completed all the bogie lubrication work and tyre gauging and general underframe exam.

Items checked today are as follows:

• General bogie exam and fracture check - none found.
• All grease points on bogies lubricated and axlebox roller bearings.
• Traction motor suspension tube and gearcase motak levels checked.
• Blower and exhauster motors checked and cleaned.
• Wheel profiles checked and gauged. 
• All fluid levels checked and topped up.
• Generator end turbo chargers -oil drained and refilled with fresh oil. 
• One body side even got a polish too.

Now here come's the bad news during tyre gauging it was discovered that axles 3 is on 24mm flange height limit and axle 4 is the same which means D335 will require tyre turning ASAP. I estimate it will cost the CFPS a further £6000 pounds for the associated rail moves and tyre turning even if we use 345 to haul D335 to a wheel lathe. 

The loco will run on ELR diesel gala and the ELR's 1T57 (Fifteen Guinea Special) end of steam weekend at the end of July as planned but after that the loco will be stopped to prevent further wear on the flanges and preventing us from moving loco by rail on a one journey only arrangement.

 We have very little money in our coffers as all recent income has been spent on paying for 345's main generator and repair work at Barrowhill. 

We shall continue to carry out the exam work and keep loco in running order even just for shunting moves to prevent electrical equipment becoming damp.

This another setback we really could have done without and I once again appeal to you to support our society with financial donations or second hand books, model railway stock and magazines. 

A huge thank you to Eric Davies, Richard Clayton, Rob Purcell, Stuart Cawthray and our newest member of the team Joe Chester for their time today as always its very much appreciated. 

345

I am pleased to report that Mark Jopson and Seton Spencer have toiled away on 345 today and removed all the fuel pumps and injectors from 345's power unit so they can be sent to Colchester fuel injection as planned on Tuesday. 

Big thank you to Mark and Seton for their valiant efforts which enable me to carry out some of the other repairs on 345 tomorrow.

Richard and Rob Purcell at Bury also cleaned up and anti corrosive painted 4 cylinder liners in preparation for being installed into 345's engine during winter months.

John Stephens our stalwart chairman has also been at Barrowhill today running the society's sales stand.

 A Big thanks to John to for not only manning sales stand but taking Mark to Barrowhill so he could help Seton. 

New pictures added on today's activities on D335 at the bottom of the blog. 

Thanks for reading and more news soon.

Cheers

Lee

Engineering Work this weekend

Hello again....

This weekend work will be carried out on both locomotives at Bury and Barrowhill.

Saturday.

Team 1 led by myself will be carrying out service check exam on D335 and hopefully if a pit is available underframe greasing and traction motor inspection. (Start of 6M/C1/C2 exam)

Team 2 - comprising of Seton Spencer and Mark Jopson

Will be working on 345 removing injectors and fuel pumps so they can be sent away to Colchester diesel injection. The injectors are being tested and checked over and fuel pumps are going for long overdue overhaul.

This is the most cost effective way of hopefully sorting low horsepower issue out without resorting to pulling engine apart. During last load banking session the exhaust temperatures where checked and they were found to be very inconsistent across each cylinder which generally indicates issues with fuel injection / pumps.

Sunday

I will be attending Barrowhill to finish off removing fuel pumps and injectors on 345 if the team on Saturday do not manage to finish the work. I will hopefully have time to sorting out stuck low water level switch and replacing defective high water temperature Teddington probe switch.

The CFPS sales stand will be at Barrowhill on Saturday and Sunday as they are holding a family open day so if your near by please feel free and come and see us and hopefully one or two of our fine sales stand items may be of interest to you.

The fuel pump overhaul is likely to set the Society back a further £4,000 pounds so please donate anything you can spare to our cause as we really...... really need your support to get 345 fighting fit again.

Anyone interested please note D335 is rostered to work the Beer-ex on the Saturday 6th July of the ELR Diesel Gala departing Bury at 19:25. 50026 is on the other end.

Thanks in advance to Mark, Seton, Eric Davies & Richard Clayton for giving up their weekend at short notice.

Thank you in advance and more news soon.

Cheers

Lee.

More news on 345

Hello everyone........ today further checks and tests have been carried out on 345 to determine cause of low engine output.

The peak compression tests have revealed that at least 5 cylinder lines have failed the peak compression test and will likely require to be stripped down and assessed.

With these faults there,s a number of small issues that can mount up into causing loss of engine output. It would seem that the engine fuel pumps may also be causing the issue as these have not been overhauled since the power units last works overhaul in 1980/81.

We will of course examine all possible causes before committing to stripping the engine down.

Another issue was found that low water level mobary switch has failed so this will require removal and repair to ensure this protective device works correctly.

A team will be working at the ELR this weekend for the following work:

• Prepare D335 for Diesel Gala (Carry out Service Check Exam)
• Cleaning and preparing engine components to give usable spares on shelf should we need them.

If you wish to get involved with our engineering team contact myself  by email at engineering@cfps.co.uk or engineeringsupport@cfps.co.uk.

More news soon.

Cheers

Lee

Extra workings for D335

D335 was called into action on both Saturday and Sunday 22nd/ 23rd June to cover for loco failures. On Saturday 335 covered remainder of the steam diagram covering for Super D Loco 49395 which was taken out of service with hot running bearing.

On Sunday class 20 20 087 found itself in trouble with loss of power and 335 finished off the diesel diagram.

Seton Spencer carried out a drop light window repair that had become jammed and changed the oil on free end turbo's before it was called in to action.

Thanks for your efforts Seton.

Mark Jopson spent Sunday cleaning up some pistons and fitting new rings in preparation for the possible engine work that may be required on 345.

D335 next working on the ELR will be the railway's diesel gala on 5,6,7th July check ELR website for details.

Thanks All

Lee

345 (40145) Update 23.6.13

As some of you may have seen from the main website that 345 is currently suffering some technical problems following the load bank tests carried out on Thursday and Friday of last week. 

The problems encountered were:

• Overheating of coolant.
• Low horsepower output from the engine. (Only 1400 HP - Instead of 1785 HP to rail head)

The overheating needs further investigation however cooling systems on these locomotives have always been very marginal due to small capacity of the coolant header tanks they were well know in BR days for flash boiling header tanks after prolonged periods of heavy work and it was hot day when loco was being tested. 

Following further tests on Friday evening by Shaun it appears that 4 cylinder lines may have problems with compression being low as evident when the de-compression screws where opened with engine running showed 4 cylinders with poor compression.

Further tests and checks will be made over next few days to determine whether these cylinders will have to be stripped down and assessed to cause of the low compression. 

These will include internal cylinder bore inspection by use of bore scope with the fuel injector removed.

Peak compression tests on each cylinder to determine which cylinders are effected. 

I will post further updates as new information becomes known.

Cheers

Lee Kenny

Introductory blog

Hello Everyone, ......... welcome to the new Class 40 Preservation Society engineering blog. 

This blog has been created for all those who love British Rail class 40 locomotives and who like to be kept informed about the work being done on CFPS owned locomotives D335 (40135) and 345 (40145). 

If you are not aware the CFPS is registered charity with the sole aim to keep these magnificent locomotives up and running for current and future generations to enjoy. 

We are actively raising funds to keep our locomotives in the best condition possible.

 If you can help in anyway please do donate to our cause whether this be with a monetary donation or by donating railwayana, model railway items, magazines or books.
 We can sell these on our sales stands.

Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

For further info please visit our main website page at.... www.cfps.co.uk

Thank you.

Lee Kenny

(Engineering Officer)