26043 Restoration: 2001

More information, and photos from this year can be found on the 26043 fotopic site here.
 

31 March, 2001

Work is continuing on reinstating and rewiring the lighting in no.1 cab and the boiler compartment. After the welded repair to the drivers side settling tank, the radiator frame has been reinstalled, and material is being sourced to replace the weather-sealing flashings. The large internal fibreglass radiator air duct is being cleaned and painted. Both battery boxes have been cleaned, rubbed down and coated with rubberised paint, and one set of the batteries installed. All the carbon brushes in the various motors in both locos have been inspected to ascertain their condition.

30 June, 2001

The loco now sports a full set of batteries and final work has been completed on the boiler compartment and the engine room bulkhead lights. On June 16th, after various Megger insulation tests, the batteries were fully connected and the lights switched on with no faults seen. Both cabs have been isolated from the lighting circuits as there is much work to do rebuilding them. The secondmans side fibreglass radiator air duct has been cleaned and painted, likewise that same side of the radiator fan housing. A replacement fuel lift pump has been fitted to replace the one taken for use on 24081, but a problem was encountered with one of the fuel pipes, so it will be replaced with a flexible hose. Work has commenced on taking the electrical cubicle back to bare metal, & cleaning and painting it. Rubber material has been sourced to replace the radiator weather flashings, and is being fitted on the drivers side.

The radiator frame was re-fitted over the repaired settling tank. This was done in mid 2001, then we began assembling the radiator elements back onto the frame, and reconnecting the coolant pipework. During one of the test-fillings of the cooler group, water was observed coming from the underfloor joint in the balancing pipe between the two settling tanks and the triple pump. An inspection of the joint revealed all three seals had failed, so the joint was removed and new seals fitted. However, this was not as straight-forward as it sounds, as the joint was under the body of the loco above the bogies, where access was severely limited from either inside or outside the loco, and appeared to be a job intended to be done with the loco lifted off the bogies. The solution was to cut a hole through the floor of the loco, but even then it took several working days with Paul Good or myself reaching through the hole and on one occasion Kevin Bridges wedged under the loco to change out the joint, as his were the only arms long enough to reach one particular nut!

The radiators both sides have now all been removed, pressure tested and refitted with new seals. The radiator frame fiberglass airducts have been cut in half to facilitate moving them round in the loco easier, as their size & shape precludes them being removed from the loco without having the roof off. The ducts have also seen repairs in various places, and were refitted with new weather sealing flashes to replace the original leather ones, which had become brittle and badly torn. The radiator area, including bulkheads and pipe runs that are inaccessible once the air-ducts are in place, were cleaned & painted before the ducts were refitted.