345 work 16.11.13

Hello everyone ....

Today I have been working solo on the snagging list on 345 here is the work completed.

1) completed fitting turbo charger storm drains this will enable rain water to drain from the bottom of turbo and not collect in exhaust system this will prevent any corrosion from taking place on the turbo impellers and nozzle rings. Excessive water in exhaust system can lead to hydraulic lock when trying to start.

2) A number of cab doors have been fettled as they were binding in frames making them difficult to open and close.

3) No1 end screen washers have been repaired and are now working the fault was traced to intermittent switch contact on drivers desk, switch has been replaced. No2 end washers have been checked and fault traced to faulty washer pump. I think a trip to local scrap yard will be needed for a replacement pump.

Our next working date for our team is the 7/12/13 there's a lot to do on both locos if you wish to get involved on the engineering team please contact me on engineering@cfps.co.uk. As they many hands make light work. 

Cheers Lee

More work on 345

 

This evening I have spent a few hours on 345.

The loco coolant system has been drained and the correct length sight glass  fitted and system refilled with anti freeze. 

I also fitted new turbo charger storm drains to A2 and B2 turbo charger.

I will continue this job on Saturday.

There's still a lot of jobs to complete on 345 to get her 100 % fit.

That's all for now

Night all.

Lee

345 goes home

Today 345 (40145 )  and of course D335 returns home to the East Lancs Railway I from Tyseley TMD. 

Both locos have arrived safely back at the ELR with no issues either.

Tyseley TMD staff have been brilliant and a pleasure to work with. Once again thanks chaps.

 

Thank you to Mervyn Allcock at Barrowhill for making us welcome as always.

Also thanks Shaun Wright and the 40013 gang for all their help and support.

And Finally Harry Needles for his assistance and use of his facilities at Barrowhill.

I am somewhat relieved and pleased it all went well and also to give our members a taster of the healthy 345.

I'm pooped so I will say good night all.

 

Cheers

Lee

D335 goes to Tyseley & 345 returns to mainline action!!!

Hello everyone .............

I am sure you've heard by now that on Monday 4th November 345 returned to service back on the mainline working 13:40 0Z41 from Barrowhill to Tyseley.

The loco performed well just a couple of niggles to iron out these being an minor oil leak on B5 cylinder head and No.2 cab main generator ammeter is sticking.

The loco also hauled D9009 and D335 from Barrowhill to Tyseley for tyre turning. As I write this 345's tyres are being turned and the other loco's have been completed.

A big thank you to London Midland at Tyseley for accommodating us and make us welcome when we arrived.  A huge thanks to the lads at HNRC who have helped us through our difficult time with both locomotives and putting up with us for so long!!

On Friday 8th November 345 will once again haul D9009 and D335 back to Barrowhill this time dropping of D9009 before continuing home to the East Lancs Railway.

345's first passenger working for 3 years.

345 will be hauling the ELR Saturday diesel diagram departing Bury at 09:30 to Rawtenstall. As it is now heat season Class 47 D1501 will also be attached to the train for heating purposes. It is also the CFPS Annual General Meeting which is being held at the Grants Arms in Ramsbottom starting at 12:30 prompt.

I am sure many of you will be asking when will be the next railtour?? We are looking at running our first tour in over 3 years during spring of 2014 and details will be announced when we have finalized the itinerary.

We have a number of jobs still outstanding on both locomotives that need attending to during the winter and I am hoping to have one of our locos ready to work Saturday diesel diagrams with working steam heat boiler.

Much of the work requires money to spent on parts and equipment to help us extend life of components such as batteries. Its been on the cards for last 3 years to install battery chargers on both 335 and 345 to ensure batteries remain in good condition as a new set of batteries costs over £5000 pounds.

So we do still need your help with donations and items we can flog on our sales stands to help me and my team on the engineering side to continue to make the improvements to both locomotives and help to finance long overdue repaint of D335.

To all of you that have donated and supported our cause over the last 3 years with 345's repairs a big thank you.

Finally I personally would like to say thanks to our excellent engineering team over last 3 years on 345 its been a long slog but we got there in the end!

Cheers for now...

Lee

p.s anyone who has any pictures of 345 from Monday's jaunt or Fridays returning working I would be much obliged if you could send me a copy for inclusion onto the blog.