26043 Restoration: 2003

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

July

The welding above the windows and on the floor in No.1 cab has at long last been completed, and replating around the cabside windows is underway due to extensive corrosion. Further fibreglass repairs have been carried out on the interior and exterior of No1 cab. All the Secondmans side radiator elements have now been pressure tested, with no leaks apparent, the radiator area has been cleaned & painted and the radiators refitted with new seals. However, one of the Drivers side elements professionally repaired off-site has developed a serious leak, and will have to be replaced, which unfortunately will require much of the work already done being done again in dismantling the air ducting and pipework.

The broken Control Air gauge next to the radiator frame has been replaced with a spare. The fibreglass engine room battery switch cover, damaged from years of being kicked due to it being in one of the gangways, has been repaired and strengthened with an aluminium kick-plate. The engine room compressor has been cleaned down and cleaning of the power unit is underway.

In the boiler room, the two compressor contactors and resistors have been cleaned and checked electrically, and their cabinets cleaned out, painted and reassembled. Insulation testing of the auxiliary circuits is underway, and Megger tests have revealed the Main Generator and traction motors are in relatively good condition considering they have not taken power for several years. New flexible air hoses have been made up to replace those cut and damaged when the air tanks were removed from No.1 cab roof, and two of the air tanks have been test-fitted on the cab roof to ensure the new hoses align correctly.

December

The welding around No.1 cab Secondmans window has been completed and the window frame has been refitted and sealed. New wood supports for the inner cab roof skin are being fitted into the cab roof. The exhauster on that side has finally been re-sited in front of the radiators and reconnected to its electrical and air supplies, and the suspect rad. element removed and replaced with a spare, while the original has been repaired and will now be the spare. Work on the radiators is now complete and the air-ducting and pipework has been reconnected. Repairs to the rotted base of the Secondmans cab desk support pedestal and the bodywork above the cab handrails have been completed, as has a repair to the badly corroded base of one of the bodyside engine room doors. As the original supports for the cab floor under the Secondmans seat had either corroded or been cut away, a new aluminium framework has been devised and fitted, and new flooring panels have been cut using the original ones as templates.

A new wood framework to support the Secondmans side aluminium inner cab skin has been fitted, insulated and the skin cleaned of old paint, primed and undercoated. The top of the rear cab bulkhead has been re-sheeted with aluminium, with holes cut for the airpipes to the cab-roof mounted airtanks. The combined engine oil drain & filler valve was removed and overhauled as it had been dripping oil for some time. It was found to have a chunk of metal lodged inside the valve, which was causing the leak. It has now been refitted under the loco.