26010 Restoration

WCRC Carnforth Open Weekend - July 2008

Tue Nov 30 1999

Tuesday 30 November 1999: On the weekend of 26 & 27 July 2008, West Coast Railway Company opened their depot at Carnforth to the public for the first time. Visiting locos were invited from all the major rail companies together with a select band of preserved examples. 26010 was one of these and was hauled from Bo'ness to Carnforth on Wednesday 23rd July by WCRC 33025. Special thanks must go to the SRPS volunteers who worked tirelessly to prepare the loco, including Graham Scott, Stuart Sellar, Martin Taylor & David Dibben. At West Coast Railway Company special thanks are extended to Dan Monkman, Peter Walker & Craig Armstrong. Thanks must also go to the "gen men", linesiders and photters for providing gen on the moves and photos for this website.

Published in 26010 Restoration

Working in Scotland

Tue Nov 30 1999

Tuesday 30 November 1999: Working in Scotland

Published in 26010 Restoration

Working in preservation

Tue Nov 30 1999

Tuesday 30 November 1999: Working in preservation

Published in 26010 Restoration

Restoration 2007

Tue Nov 30 1999

Tuesday 30 November 1999: January: 6th: Work commenced on fitting the new exhaust lagging and the new set of batteries. In the evening power was finally re-applied to the loco (first time since 2001?) and we had working lights once again. Triple pump appears to be seized and needs attention - it can wait for tomorrow! 7th: Elbow removed from triple pump and casing loosened off the water impeller. A good sharp tap with a lump hammer allowed movement with a spanner, the corrosion that had seized the pump having been loosened. After a couple of pins were replaced on the battery isolator switch the triple pump was motored a few times and sounded like a good 'un! Elbow replaced together with new gaskets. 14th: Cooling water pipes removed then Heat Exchanger ends removed. Leaking tubes all tapped and sealed and HX & pipework reassembled. Claude & Andy L from WRHA in attendance today, with Al borrowed from SRPS DG for most of the day! February: 3rd: All the broken studs removed from the guard iron threads and new guard irons fitted. Both handbrakes freed off and tested. Cab no.2 internal clean-up & painting commenced on bare metalwork. 4th: Old injectors removed by Stuart S, Scott & Andy Mac & new ones fitted. Crankcase inspected and oil pressure & dispersion checked. Air filters replaced. Coolant added, with a gasket replacement required in the heat exchanger pipework thanks to a leaking joint. One side window fitted, 7 to go! 11th: Problems within electrical cubicle prevent loco from being started. Many broken contactor interlocks, coils and studs need replacing. Several frantic phone calls made and requests for assistance made on internet forums. 28th: Spare electrical panel collected from Northampton & Lamport Railway to scavenge the old interlocks and coils in order to replace many of the ones in 26010's cubicle. These are currently preventing the loco from starting. March: 1st: Commenced refitting interlocks and coils inside the cubicle. Marty T carried on with the restoration of no.1 end cab that he'd started the previous week, with the rubbing down of the roof, one of the doors and a priming coat on the fibreglass roof. 4th: More refitting of interlocks, coils and broken studding in the electrical cubicle. The more that's done the more there seems to be that needs doing! Andy L. continued with the restoration of no.2 end cab, with some disc sanding of various rusty spots, followed by the replacement of one of the internal fibreglass roof sections thanks to Stuart, Mick, Alastair & Andy Mac of SRPS. 5th: Electrical cubicle finally completed (apart from a couple of Blower Relay broken studs that will need drilling & tapping) with help from Alastair. Yesterday's disc-sanded patches in no.2 cab all primed, together with the air tank straps. The last remaining seat in no.1 end removed for overhaul elsewhere. 10th: Cab stripping and repainting continues at no.1 end by Marty T., Ian R., and Steve W. Meanwhile, the refurbished contacts on the blower relay were replaced. Work started on cleaning the auxilliary & main generators, by Keith Buckley, Al Cowan & Andy McLean. At around 9pm the genny was Meggered and low readings were obtained, so a retirement to the pub was called for. 11th: Continued work on the gennies, isolating and testing various sections, and brushes. Eventually, just before 3pm, the decision was made to go for a start. With just about all the volunteers who were in or around the shed assembled in front of the engine, Stuart Sellar duly started 26010 and after a short cranking away it went, spitting and coughing a few bits out of the exhaust. After a few minutes the engine was shut down to adjust the fuel rack & governor due to it idling just a bit too fast. A second start was then made and it sounded a lot better, ticking away like it should. More work will take place on the generators to clean them both up, including the full removal, cleaning and painting of brushboxes. All in all, a good weekend's efforts, with thanks to all the volunteers who helped out, including Neil who made a start on the rubbing down & repaint of the recertified air tanks. 23rd: An evening's work was carried out by Marty T who managed to get the lower half of no.1 cab rubbed down and primed before giving the cab a quick sort-out in readiness for the weekend. 24th: After Steve arrived, No.1 end cab roof had its second coat of Vellum applied, as did the air tank straps. Lower half of the cab was painted Deep Bronze Green and various bits were masked up in preparation for Sunday. 25th: Top half of the no.1 bulkhead painted in Vellum, as were the window surrounds and the mid-section of the cab. All in all a good 3 days work from Martin & Steve. 31st: Window surrounds at no.2 end were "dry" fitted, with various assortments of packing required due to the minor variances in the aperture dimensions. All the air tank pipework was refitted and ends primed. No.1 cab pipework & conduits were undercoated and the firebell received finishing "touch-ups". The cab roof section from no.2 end drivers side (previously test-fitted) was removed and both sections were stripped back as far as possible to a solid base. Finished off the day by applying an undercoat to the two roof sections and the air tank ends primed earlier in the day. April 1st: No.2 end window surrounds were fitted and sections of wood were made up in order to attach the roof sections. No.1 end conduit received its coat of Light Orange, various green parts were touched-up and the day was ended with fitting of the air tanks at no.1 end. 2nd: The tanks fitted the night before had their "front" unions tightened, although access behind the bulkhead is so limited a different method of tightening may be called for. All the wooden sections at no.2 end were fitted after the wood preserver had been allowed to dry overnight and the old wooden roof supports were also refitted - a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. Both the drivers & secondmans cabside switch panels were screwed back in place before the undercoated roof panels were refitted. A coat of Vellum was applied to the roof and top part of the bulkhead after the tank supports were refitted, in preparation for fitting the tanks. 3rd: No.2 end air tanks were refitted, although the middle tank decided not to play ball and the pipe will not fit right through the bulkhead. Further thought & deliberation over this during the next couple of days of recuperation! Thanks to Andy L & Steve W for the Sat & Sun, and to Marty T for stopping the full 4 days and putting up with my ever increasing desparation and annoyance! 132 man-hours put in during these last few days! [Edit: whoops, missed a few hours off- it was over 150!] 6th: Wired up engine room light switch in no.1 end cab and finally found that the lights do indeed work! Thanks to Stuart for finding a suitable switch. 7th: Finished installing the air tanks, with bit of brute force & ignorance working wonders in order to get the 1" pipe through the bulkhead aperture for no.2 end middle tank which had been a struggle for a few days. Stuart spent most of the morning and afternoon getting both cab desks working again, several years worth of grime having had the effect of locking all mechanisms. Eventually, 26024 was buffered up and used for a main res air supply to test the air tank connections and pipework - fortunately all was well and there was just the odd minor air leak which was soon nipped up. The remainder of the afternoon and most of the early evening was spent with Stuart & Mick cursing the no.1 end change-end switch. We did however manage to get no.2 compressor working (no.1 was not working when it was at N&LR) which was a good confidence booster. 8th: Further work was about to take place to find out the cause of the age-old no.1 compressor fault, but when going for an engine-start one of the brand new battery cells decided it had had enough and promptly exploded, leaving battery acid & debris in the battery compartment. After a thorough investigation it was found that the cell in question looked like it could have actually been damaged when it was delivered, so a warranty claim will be the next step. The offending cell was removed and terminals changed on the other cells in the crate to give 47 out of 48 cells for a start-up. Once this had been done the loco duly started ok (as had been done several times during the last few weeks to give everything a good warm-through) and whilst we managed to get no.1 compressor to start, after a short while there was a blue flash and we thought that was the end of it. After yet another searching investigation we found that a brush had pretty much melted itself, the root cause being a severed cable with original sheathing that had obviously been the reason why the compressor had been a sod to get going for all these years. Once it was replaced with a new, crimped terminal piece, it ran like a good-un, giving us two working compressors. As well as this, both blower motors are working fine (after some more terminal reconnecting by Alastair to prevent the thing melting!). Collected Marty from Linlithgow in the afternoon, after his weekend of wild debauchery & partying in Liverpool & Glasgow :-) and he duly got stuck into cleaning & painting no.2 cab once again. Andrew & Gavin Harper removed the offending copper studs from the electrical cubicle that would prevent power being applied to the traction motors, as the studs had somehow become two pieces instead of one - these will be replaced with brand new studs, which for some strange reason are threaded 1/2" BSW at one end and 5/8" UNF at the other. Thanks to Andrew for organising the delivery of new copper bars, the dies for threading them and for all the help with this onerous task. Marty and myself continued in no.2 end cab until well after 11pm, etch priming all the bare, cleaned aluminium and sorting out the beading above the windows. 9th: Cleaned no.2 cab out ready for next week, and gave it a good vacuuming, then had to make a dash to see a couple of DRS Tractors thrashing about in the locale on a couple of workings! Thanks to the recent birthday boy Andy for sorting out the battery box and the dodgy cell after we'd scarpered.

Published in 26010 Restoration

Preservation: On the move - January 2006

Tue Nov 30 1999

Tuesday 30 November 1999: On the 26th & 27th January 2006, 26010 moved away from its home for the last 10 years. After being propelled to the load/unload point at Chapel Brampton the loco was moved on a low-loader to Quorn on the Great Central Railway. Unloading at Quorn took place on Friday 27th January, with helpful assistance provided by the GCR p-way team & 25265. Thanks must go to the Northampton & Lamport Railway (especially Gordon & John), Nick & the Great Central p-way lads, plus the Heanor lads, Andrew Goodman and all who helped out. 26010 will remain at the Great Central Railway where it will have a full bodywork restoration & partial repaint before being moved to an established railway in Scotland where it will receive mechanical work, running-in & top-coating in its new livery. On Monday 6th February 26010 was moved from Quorn to Rothley for its repairs to take place.

Published in 26010 Restoration

Restoration 2005/2006

Tue Nov 30 1999

Tuesday 30 November 1999: Work on 'minor' parts commenced in 2005 starting with a number of pressure gauges which were cleaned, calibrated & repainted prior to refitting. Progress has also been made in the fabrication of a new set of marker discs after borrowing a set of original drawings from those kind SRPS Diesel Group chaps at Bo'ness. The bodywork overhaul commenced at Rothley in February 2006 and it is anticipated this will take until late summer to complete. Not shown on the photos is the replacement of the drainage channels in the engine room and some of the electrical trunking which was also badly corroded. Along with the bodysides and cabs, the no.2 cab floor is to be replaced and several other "special" parts will be going back on the loco - check back at a later date to find out which ones! Several droplight doors have been acquired for replacing the panelled ones on at the moment. These will enable 26010 to look as it did when it was built. Thanks to Ken Joy & Anthony Philp for help tracking these down. By mid-April all the rotten parts of the bodysides had been replaced and work had commenced on replacing the cab fronts & sides. Around 150 bolts have been replaced on the all the roof sections, about 60 of which required re-drilling & tapping. The new engine room door has been fabricated & fitted, next up for fabrication is the new pair of radiator grilles. During the third week in May one of the "special" parts was reinstated on 26010 - for the first time since removal in the early 1970s a set of nose-end gangway doors was fitted to no.1 end. It is quite possible that this is the first time such a task has been undertaken in preservation, certainly on a class 26. Apertures are all ready in the doors for fitment of marker lamps & discs, all of which are already fabricated to original drawings. By mid-June work had started on no.2 end whilst materials were still awaiting delivery to complete no.1 end, most notably the new brass headlamp parts. A further droplight door and spare panelled door was collected from Northampton & Lamport Railway and delivered to Rothley. Bufferbeam hoses have been refurbished and spare (brand new) turbo parts have been acquired - see the parts page. New vac hoses have been acquired, thanks to West Coast Railway Co. at Carnforth for the assistance and the re-banding of them. By mid-July the work on no.2 end was well underway with the majority of the framework in place. The brass parts for the headlamps have arrived and a number have been assembled (and look great!). Once all the no.2 end framework is on attention will turn back to no.1 end completion, with all panelling and lamps, discs etc being refitted. Towards the end of July the framework at no.2 end has been completed and work restarted at no.1 end. This involved the welding in place of a vertical strut in the centre of the nose end gangway to allow the doors to lock. Three of the marker lamps have been riveted into place and the drivers & secondman's sides front panelling has been installed. On these panels the refurbished tail lamps have been welded back in place together with the lamp brackets at the sides, these parts being the only original parts on the lower half of the cab to have been refitted! Next up comes the fitting of no.2 end to the same point followed by filling, sanding, full rub down, repainting and fitting of the train reporting discs. No.1 end had all but received a coat of red oxide by the second week in August, the new look frontage standing out proudly even in this colour! The cab side windows have both been fully sealed & replaced. At no.2 end work continues on preparing the cab, although the gangway doors have been installed and just the cab front panels were required to be fitted. Work also continues on preparing the handrail recesses with brand new handrails to be fitted once the loco has been painted. It had been intended to re-chrome the originals but this would have been at a prohibitive cost so a decision has been made to use new polished stainless steel handrails instead, giving a very similar look. Whilst all this work takes place at Rothley further small items have been removed from the locomotive for refurbishment elsewhere. The last week in September saw the locomotive looking almost ready for undercoat. The whole loco had been red oxided, filled and machine sanded smooth, and it meant it was just the hard task of hand sanding smooth that was left - a difficult job. After it is all smoothed off it will have the remaining aluminium moulding fitted around the cab windows and will receive its undercoat. To all intents & purposes it looks like a class 26 once again. Once the undercoat had been applied in the first week or so of October it was down to the business of glossing the loco. The main paint used is Deep Bronze Green, as originally carried. This is topped off with a light grey roof, off-white cab surrounds and a small yellow warning panel. As of the 16th October 26010 looked very much the part as D5310, lacking only the final off-white banding that runs all the way round the loco and the discs on the front ends. The following day the discs were attached at number one end and it was quite apparent we were drawing to a close with the bodywork restoration. By the last week in October the aluminium moulding had been riveted in place, surrounding the windows and doors on both cabs. After some painful research by John Robinson the original moulding profile was tracked down - comparing this with a "similar" moulding showed subtle differences and the loco looks far better with the correct type in place. On 27th October number 1 end bogie was glossed black, after the previous day's preparation. With a bit of luck both the underfame & other bogie will receive the same attention next week. The following week, the first week of November, the bogie at number 2 end was cleaned off and repainted, with both battery boxes receiving attention and the underslung air receivers and pipework. A full bodywork rub down was applied followed by a second coat of gloss all round, plus a third coat for the yellow panels to give a deep colour. By the middle of November the off-white banding had been completed and numbering applied together with British Railways lion & wheel crests to the bodysides. The bufferbeams had also received attention as well as the fire boxes and the warning panels had their multi-working blue stars applied. Final lining out & varnishing was complete by the third week in November so attention turned to the completion of other small jobs, such as the finishing touches to the small cast signs that run along the underframe length, cleaning and painting inside & outside both battery boxes, lining the axle boxes, bufferbeam & fittings and inside both nose end gangways. Windows to be fitted the final Monday (27th) in November, ready for the move north to Bo'ness which will take place this week (29-30th November). All work is being carried out by John Robinson with the Great Central Railway receiving a percentage of costs for use of facilities. Thanks to John for the use of a selection of photos during restoration. Please note that the shed at Rothley is not open to the public.

Published in 26010 Restoration

British Rail Days

Tue Nov 30 1999

Tuesday 30 November 1999: A BRIEF HISTORY OF 26010 Starting life as D5310, the loco entered traffic on 6th January 1959, based on the Eastern Region at Hornsey. It was transferred north to the Scottish Region in 1960 and it was whilst based at Haymarket that D5310 became a popular loco on Edinburgh to Carlisle stopping services on the legendary Waverley Route, regularly traversing Falahill & the mighty Whitrope Summit until the line closed in 1969. In September 1964 D5310 hauled some of the final trains between Carlisle & Silloth on the last day of operation on this branch. During its life in Scotland it was also based at Inverness & Eastfield. Its number of D5310 became 26010 under British Railways' TOPS scheme, gaining the livery of BR Blue & yellow ends, losing the gangway doors in the process. In the mid-80s the 26s underwent a Heavy General Repair and 26010 emerged from this devoid of its headcode discs, carried since it was built, and sporting a fresh livery of redstripe Railfreight Grey. In 1992 26010 suffered a turbo charger fire and was withdrawn from service, ultimately being sold for preservation.

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Preservation: Early days, N & L R

Tue Nov 30 1999

Tuesday 30 November 1999: Preservation: Early days, N & L R

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