26043 Restoration: 2006

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

7/1/06
Winchcombe bodyside further red-oxided. Rivets drilled out of Broadway side cantrail vents. Lighting wiring cab2 replacing. Engineroom window re-fitted (took all day!)

21/1/06
2 bodyside windows re-fitted. AWS CES and conduit refitted to cab 1. Components of No2 cab power controller sand-blasted.

4/2/06
Another bodysdie window re-fitted. Some of no.2 cab wiring re-installed

18/2/06
B'way side cantrail grills painted black. AWS EP valve replaced on no.1 rear bulkhead. More no.2 cab wiring re-installed.

4/3/06
Stuff happened.......but no report.

18/3/06
Heater replaced in No1 cab. Guttering installed on non-walkway side of engine room.

6/5/06
Sorting the batteries out....again. Hauled the batt boxes out. The electrolyte is very low in some cells, as is the terminal voltage. On charge, but current was very low (only around 5A).
Richard painted the non-walkway side internal guttering black on the inside.
Paul and I identified some of the air pipes behind No1 cab against the schematics; the ones which will have to be re-connected before the cab desk can go back in. Bizarrely, the 4 cut pipes have also been cut at no 2 end but no others have been cut, so it's possible that these were cut years before the locos were scrapped.
Alan has made 3 copies of the door latch, so we now have 4, ready to be fitted.
Paul and Richard put another window in (engine room).

20/5/06
No report.

3/6/06
No report.

18/6/06 (Sunday)
Paul and Richard put the centre window in cab 2. Adrian did more work on the heaters in cab 1 and traced more air/vac pipes. Ian was helping with removing the radiator from 24 081.

30/6/06
Paul and Adrian cut out rotten metal on No1 cab drivers side door frame, as the door would not close correctly and cut a slot for the new door latches on the drivers and 2nd man's doors (the latches of the "new" class 33 doors are a different size and in a different position to the original class 26 doors).
Adrian checked the cab heater elements; one of the elements from the four in the large heater at the rear of cab 1 was removed, to be used on its own, on one of the cab sides, as one is missing. Two brackets and insulating collars will need to be sourced).

15/7/06
Richard and Paul replaced another engine-room window and undercoated the driver's front window in cab 2. A template of the window had to be made to aid re-construction of the frame. Ian continued to sort out the cantrail grilles on the Winchcombe side.

29/7/06
Paul applied copious amounts of filler to the driver's window area of no. 2 cab. Ian again continued to sort out the cantrail grilles on the Winchcombe side.
Adrian, armed with photos of 26024, identified some of the spaghetti of air/vac tubing and conduit made a start on replacing it, and took some wooden window-ledge sections away to make copies.

12/8/06
Ian completed the grinding and riveting of the cantrail grilles on the Winchcombe side. Steve, Andy & Adrian re-fitted the AWS bell to no.1 cab ceiling, re-fitted no.1 cab master controller following refurbishment and identified more of the spaghetti of air/vac pipes stored in the Hawksworth van. A start was made on re-fitting the window ledges to the driver's side of no.1 cab and both sides of no.2 cab.

26/8/06
Ian primed the remaining grilles on the Winchcombe side - now just needing the black topcoat. Adrian continued the struggle with the batteries: Some cells have deteriorated over the last year, so that now the engine room lights are very dim. Clearly the cells are not in a state to turn the engine over. A hydrometer will be dunked in the cells to find which ones are bad. More brackets for the roof-mounted air tanks in cab 1 were fitted and pipework identified. The seized sanding pedal in cab 1 was disconnected and taken away to be freed up.
Most importantly: A tidy up was had !

10/9/06 (Diesel gala)
Painting and trial-fitting driver's front window in no.2 cab.

16/9/06 (CMDG meeting)
Paul and new recruit Chris fitted the driver's front window in no.2 cab but had to remove it when a weld cracked. Chris painted the black top-coat on the remaining cantrail louvres on the Winchcombe side.
Adrian re-fitted the vacuum hoses to both ends; the intention being to get the vacuum system air-tight in order to run up the exhausters and test the system. The brake valve for no.1 cab was placed in position; this will be re-fitted soon.
Adrian brought the renovated sanding pedal and bracket from no.1 cab back took away the straight air brake valve and desk from no.2 cab for cleaning.

23/9/06
A successful trial fit was done of both no.2 cab front screens. Just need to undercoat and topcoat the secondmans surround and undercoat and topcoat the small areas Allan welded on driver's side.
Chris L made a start to undercoat the red oxide on bodyside.
Drivers side no1 cab door frame has new section welded in and primed.

Forward planning
- Fit both front screens no.2 cab
- Undercoat and topcoat the secondmans surround and undercoat and topcoat the small areas Allan welded on  drivers side.
- Sealant in gaps between the 2 skins in certain places.
- Continue undercoating the red oxide on bodyside.
- Horn access top panels. Ali plate to be cut to size and painted. Small metal blocks to be riveted/screwed to the housing with a hole tapped in the middle to take 8mm bolt that will hold down the panel.
- Cab rebuild no1 end: Continue
- Repaint engine room machines & walls
- Door catches to be welded on.
- Secure bolts on inside of doors.
- Fit a yale lock or similar to one door.

24/9/06 (work-day)
Adrian removed the 2nd man's desk, the handbrake wheel and the centre console from no.2 cab, housing the windscreen washer fluid bottles (some liquid still in them...). The removed items were taken away for restoration. The Baldwin (AWS) valve on the rear bulkhead of no.1 cab was re-fitted with secure mountings and the AWS horn was fitted just above. The copper pipe linking these two was located from the spaghetti of pipes found in the Hawksworth. This will need shortening slightly to fit.

30/9/06
Alan welded the new door catches in place. These are necessary due to the ex-class 33 doors with droplight windows. Adrian fitted new wood to cab 2 window surrounds and above the windows, which the fibre-glass ceiling will attach to. Wood is ready which will provide the mounting for the panels on driver's and 2nd man's side.
Adrian started fitting a Yale lock to the driver's door on no.2 cab. The barrel needs fitting - a long metal bar is required to complete this.

7/10/06
Present: Paul, Ian, Richard, Chris L, the Canadian guy (sorry don't remember your name) and Chris T.
Both remaining no.2 cab front windows were fitted, cantrail drain pipes were unblocked and additional drains planned, remaining louvres were top coated, loads of undercoating went on.
Ian got a drawing of mounting blocks to make for the horn covers, filling and fibreglassing were planned, Richard discovered a damaged gutter under one of the resistor banks that will need cutting out and a new piece fabricated, the fire extinguisher pipe was secured back to the bodyside.

21/10/06
Chris L painted more grey undercoat, finished doing round No.1 cab. Richard and Steve dug out some of the soft filler further along the bodyside towards no.2 cab. Adrian took some spare laminate that Andy procured years ago to fit to no.2 cab 2nd man's desk, replaced the fire alarm break glass in no.1 cab and sorted through more piping, ready to make some new pipes out of the many apparent spare pieces.

4/11/06 (Diesel gala)
No work.

11/11/06
Richard continued with the repair of the awkward-to-get-to guttering on the far side of the boiler room, which had corroded into non-existence in parts. As it cannot practically be cut out, a fibre-glass sheet will be used inside the old guttering to effect a gutter.
Adrian (thanks AndyR) identified 8 of the spaghetti of pipes as being from the horn valves, 2 each per side per cab. These were placed in position.

18/11/06
Paul continued with replacing the mountings for the horn grill roof covers, fitting threaded blocks of steel to no2 end so that the cover bolts down in 6 places. He made a start no1 end, adding ali strip to give extra strength between the fibre glass skin and threaded blocks.

25/11/06
Chris L undercoated the Winchcombe side of the engine, following sanding the previous week. It needs some more filling to finish off. Left to do is most of the Broadway side and the cab end, much filling needed on the cab.

2/12/06
The loco is due to be moved out of the David Paige shed imminently. Chris L continued to undercoat the Winchcombe body-side.
Chris T secured the guttering over the 2nd man's window at no. 2 end and sealed the newly-fitted horn access covers.
Adrian completed the fitting of the Yale lock and pushed on with the fitting of the windscreen wipers, with Paul.

10/12/06
Paul fitted a cover on the roof over the exhaust to prevent water ingress while Richard did some grinding on no.1 cab roof. Adrian continued with the fitting of the windscreen wipers.

13/12/06
Paul finished the 2 "new" handrail recesses the Broadway side of the 26, that leaves one left to complete at No1 end 2nd man's side.
The 4 "newly primed handrail channels will need undercoating asap. These channels were welded after loco came to GWR as the old ones had been removed to examine for asbestos.

16/12/06
Adrian fitted the wipers to no.2 cab

17/12/06
Paul made further progress priming bare metal and undercoating the handrail recesses in readiness for the imminent move outside the shed.

27/12/06
Adrian fitted the windscreen wiper motor on the 2nd man's side of cab 1....scuppered by blunt drill bits from doing driver's side. Andy brought back a floor section from cab 1 which he modified to clear the main vac pipe.