Class 35 ‘Hymek’ D7018 stands at Williton Station on Friday 10th June 2022 alongside sister D7017 who is now on the wrong side of the fence, having failed with a leaking Number 1 cylinder head joint when working the last service of the previous day. Photo by Josh Brinsford © CC BY-NC 3.0
The second day of the gala went well with all services operating, albeit with different traction on the diagrams that were affected by the failure of Class 35 ‘Hymek’ D7017 on the previous day.
The 87-litre V16 engine in the errant ‘Hymek’ was test run by Maybach specialist Bob Clegg on Friday 10th June and Bob’s verdict was that the number 1 cylinder had developed a cylinder head joint ring leak that had compromised an adjacent transition rubber that carried the oil supply to the cylinder head. This explains both the abnormal noise and the oil that was seen to be leaking from around the cylinder head area.
Although this is not a major failure, the engine needs a partial strip down to access the cylinder head and this will take several weeks, so the loco is going to be out of action for a while until the work is completed.
To ensure the integrity of the timetable for Saturday 11th June, BR(W) 4-6-0 steam locomotive 7828 ‘ODNEY MANOR’ will take over the morning services that would have been worked by D7017. This move allows all services to run as scheduled (NOTE – the 1815 BL-MD and 2200 MD-BL services were removed from the timetable earlier in the week. The 1710 BL departure will run through to MD).
The revised running for SATURDAY 11th June 2022 is covered in the table below:
| Loco Type | Loco No. | First service | No. of return trips | Mileage |
| Class 25 ‘Rat’ | D7612 | 08:00 BL-MD | 2 + 1 x NF* | 86 miles |
| Class 33 ‘Crompton’ | D6575 | 08:45 BL-MD | 2 + 1 x NF* | 86 miles |
| Class 33 ‘Crompton’ | D6566 | 09:00 BL-MD | 2 + 1 x NF* | 86 miles |
| Class 17 ‘Clayton’ | D8568 | 09:35 MD-BL | 2 + 2 x NF* | 92 miles |
| BR(W) 4-6-0 ‘Manor’ | 7828 | 09:42 BL-MD | 1 | 40 miles |
| Class 35 ‘Hymek’ | D7018 | 12:45 BL-MD | 2 | 80 miles |
*NF = Norton Fitwarren extension (BL-NF-BL)
Basically, the morning turns (09:42 BL-MD and 12:05 MD-BL) that were rostered for D7017 will now be hauled by BR(W) 4-6-0 Steam Locomotive 7828 ‘ODNEY MANOR’. The afternoon double-headed turns will be operated by a single locomotive.
We apologise to all for the unexpected loss of Class 35 ‘Hymek’ D7017 and we hope that the revised arrangements work out well and provide another decent diesel gala day.
For the planned timetables for each of the gala days, see below or visit our new DIESEL RUNNING DATES page by clicking this link but please make the adjustments outlined previously.
| Date | Timetable | Locos rostered |
| Thursday 9th June | TT for 09JUN22 | D6575, D7017, D7018, D7612, D8568 |
| Friday 10th June | TT for 10JUN22 | D6566, D6575, D7018, D7612, D8568 |
| Saturday 11th June | TT for 11JUN22 | D6566, D6575, D7018, D7612, D8568, 7828 (steam) |
| Sunday 12th June | BLUE timetable | D8568 |
NOTE – although Sunday is not a Diesel Gala day, the 1000 MD diagram in the BLUE timetable on Sunday 12th June is rostered for the visiting Class 17 ‘Clayton’ D8568.
We have just introduced a new DIESEL RUNNING DATES page and we will be maintaining this in parallel to DIESELGEN bulletins. This new page is a ‘one-stop-shop’ approach to diesel running on the WSR.
The webcams provide a very good way of watching the action from afar. Here are the links:
Bishops Lydeard : http://www.wsr.org.uk/r-cam-bl2.htm
Crowcombe Heathfield : http://www.wsr.org.uk/r-cam-ch1.htm
Williton : http://www.wsr.org.uk/r-cam-wn2.htm
Blue Anchor : http://www.wsr.org.uk/r-cam-ba1.htm
Seaward Way : http://www.wsr.org.uk/r-cam-md2.htm
Minehead : http://www.wsr.org.uk/r-cam-md1.htm
Many thanks to Railcam UK and the WSR for providing these webcam services.
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