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Sunday 21 July 2013

345 update as of 21.07.13

Evening everyone......

Today I have carried out borescope examination on 345's engine and I am pleased to report no issues were found other than general wear and tear.

I noted that some of the piston crowns have distinct signs of poor combustion due to poor injection which usually indicates injectors and pumps are worn out.

Colchester fuel injection who are currently overhauling 345's fuel pumps and testing the injectors reported on Thursday that out of the 4 pumps they have stripped down they have found they are very worn and their operating efficiency was far down from specified output from the pumps.

This was also good news as this confirms that the pumps are the likely cause to the low horsepower issues we experienced when the loco was load bank tested in June,

I am now awaiting an indicative price for the fuel pump overhaul which is likely to be around the £4000 pound mark. The overhaul is likely to take a further week or two to complete.

I was hoping to be able to show you some footage from the borescope checks but unfortunately the LED light on the borescope malfunctioned.

We ended up driving to Mansfield to pick up a replacement unit from Maplins to complete the checks.

A big thanks to John Stephens for his assistance, transport to and from Barrowhill and sorting out the replacement unit

A reminder that D335 will be running at the ELR next weekend taking part in the 45th Anniversary to end of steam (1T57 Gala) Featuring : D9009, D1501, D335 - Steam locomotives - 49395 (Super D) , 80080 (Standard 4 tank), 45407 (Black 5), 44871 (Black 5) & 70013 (Oliver Cromwell).

Follow this link:  http://www.eastlancsrailway.org.uk/whats-on/elr-events/end-of-steam-festival/

This is very likely be D335 last passenger working until the loco has been tyre turned so please attend and show your support. The timetable with locomotive workings is yet to be released so keep and eye on ELR website.

The CFPS will also be having a sales stand present during the event so please feel free and pop down and say hello and buy something from our fine sales stock.

More news to follow soon.........

Cheers

Lee

Monday 15 July 2013

This weekend ...... 335 and 345.

Hi everyone.....

Following a re-measure of the tyres on D335 with thin flanges I am allowing 335 a further outing this weekend to work diesel diagram on both Saturday and Sunday at the ELR.

The turn was originally booked for 20087 but unfortunately the 20 is stopped with electrical fault at present.

On Sunday Its intended to carry out the borescope exam on 345's engine whilst the injectors are out being refurbished. A bore scope is a small camera with an LED which allows inspection of the engine internals by putting camera down the injector pocket I am hoping I will be able to record and capture some of the footage and place on the blog page early next week for those interested.

More news soon......

Cheers

Lee

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Diesel Gala and D335

Evening everyone......

I am pleased to report D335 ran very well over diesel gala and sounded absolutely superb when she hauled the beerex up the bank to Heywood with 6 coaches and two class 50's dead on the rear and did not miss a beat.

D335 also covered a footplate experience course the Tuesday before the gala due to problems with 37324's radiators.

The CFPS sales team did well also over the 3 days bringing in some £1200 into society coffers and we also did well with raffle ticket launch over the weekend too. Well done gang ................

Saturday 13th July.

D335 will be moved to Castlecroft depot this week for the cabs and engine room to be repainted by diesel group volunteers if you wish to assist with this please let me know so I can advise Andy Hardman to expect  .
A big thanks to Andy and diesel group volunteers for their kind offer of help.

Saturday / Sunday 20th/21st July

Next weekend after society committee meeting  I will be continuing maintenance work on D335 and prepping loco ready for 1T57 event at the end of July. Again if your free and wish to help please advise me so I know who is coming and I can allocate work accordingly.

Drop me an email on email address below if you wish to help out on the locos.

I hope you enjoyed the ELR diesel event as much as I did it was an excellent run event and well praised by visiting loco owners, crews and passengers.

If anyone has any photos of D335 from last weekend please feel free to send them to me.

Please feel free to comment on the event if you wish I will pass any comments and improvement ideas onto event organizer.

Cheers
email address : engineering@cfps.co.uk

Lee








Wednesday 3 July 2013

345 update.

Evening All .......

Another update on 345 progress.

The fuel pumps and injectors have been dispatched today to Colchester Fuel Injection for overhaul and should take around 3 - 4 weeks to complete then another week to refit the to power unit. The loco will then go back on the load bank for further testing and setting up.

The cost for overhaul and repair of fuel pumps and injectors will be around £4500 - £5000 pounds.

During the few weeks whilst injectors and fuel pumps are away I intend to bore scope the cylinder lines to check for any damage or distress on piston crowns and liners and carry out assessment on the wear on the engine.

On Sunday I stripped and repaired the low water level switch and wiring to the switch which was causing WTR relay to remain energized even when coolant header tank was empty. The wiring issue was also probably causing the high water temperature switch not to function correctly as its operated via the same relay I will test this next time I am at Barrowhill.

I will keep you posted as further news come in on 345.

Reminder to everyone D335 will be operating during the diesel gala this weekend check the ELR website for further details.

Cheers

Lee

Tuesday 2 July 2013

CFPS Engineering Blog picture page added

Evening all ...................

I have started to receive a number of pictures from our engineering team but there's not a lot of room on the blog page to fit them all in so I have created a Flickr page for pictures that have been sent.

I hope you enjoy the new addition to our new blog page.

Click link on the blog or use this one - http://www.flickr.com/photos/98322611@N02/

Cheers

Lee