26043 Restoration: 2004

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

April

The second frame holding the two Davis & Metcalf brake valves has been re-sited on the floor under where the Secondmans control desk sits, after new spacers and fixings were made to replace the original corroded ones. It and the sanding valve have been rewired, with new PVC conduit being fitted, as have both cab light switches, the DSD button and the connections for the cab roof lights & Secondmans desk.

All the air-pipes have been re-connected to the brake valves on that side, cleaned and painted. A further test-fitting of one of the roof-mounted air-tanks showed the holes cut in the aluminium plates on the rear cab bulkhead were correctly cut. The wooden surround has been removed from the Drivers side opening window as it was mostly rotten. New timber has been cut is being fitted.

The inner cab-side skin has had a new frame fabricated and likewise been refitted. The inner access hatch to the old cab-front communication door has been freed from where it had jammed against the Drivers control pedestal. A large section of rotten cab flooring on the Drivers side has been cut out & re-plated. The steel support frame for the train air brake has been fitted, the sediment trap and air pipes reconnected underneath & have been cleaned & painted.

New wiring is being installed for the cab heaters, as the old was either severed or damaged, and much of the conduit also missing. The old oil has been drained from the power unit, the coarse oil filter has been removed from its housing & it and the housing cleaned & refitted, and new oil pumped into the power unit. Last but not least, much cleaning and painting has been done in No.1 cab.

December

Restoration has continued at an increased pace during 2004, as we now have several new recruits regularly working on the loco, plus the loco was shunted inside the engine shed in early November. The lower half of the inside of No.1 cab has been painted in dark grey undercoat, ready for applying the dark green topcoat when the cab is nearing completion. 

An inspection of the triple pump revealed the water pump to be badly corroded inside, and it has been removed, stripped, cleaned out & refitted. The triple pump has subsequently been successfully run and the power unit barred over several times this year to keep them free.

The air pipes to No.1 cab horns have been identified, cleaned, painted & have been stored prior to refitting. New window rubbers have at last been sourced, & all three cab-front windscreens at No.1 end have now been refitted. No.1 cab Drivers desk has been removed from the stores van, dismantled, cleaned and stuck valves freed up. Several attempted start-ups in the summer failed because of several dead battery cells, but we have now sourced replacement cells & the loco was successfully motored with the de-compressor plugs out to make sure it would turn over okay.

After removal of the remaining outer air filter grilles, repairs are being done on both sides of the body at cantrail level from No.2 cab to the radiator grilles, to leaks in the fibreglass horn recesses on No.1 cab roof & around the windscreens at No.2 end. The exterior of No.1 cab has been rubbed down & rust ground out, filled as required & painted in red oxide, as has about half of one bodyside from No.1 cab to the mid-body engine room door. The mid-body door has been removed from the other side of the loco to allow re-fabrication of its rotted base and much old filler has been removed from No.2 nose end where rust had got behind it and bodywork repairs are underway around the Drivers windscreen and body-side windows.

All four marker & tail lights have been stripped to bare metal and their interiors cleaned & painted with a reflective paint.