Class 33 ‘Crompton’ D6566 (33048) was the vantage point for this shot of WSR ‘Mogul’ 9351 leading BR(W) 7828 ‘ODNEY MANOR’ into Williton Station on the last afternoon of the WSR’s very successful ‘Spring Steam Spectacular’ event. Photo by Natalie Royal © CC BY-NC 3.0
The weekend of 3-6 May was an ‘open shed’ event for the DEPG at Williton, in support of the WSR’s Spring Steam Spectacular. This limited the amount of work that could be carried out in our loco shed, but having the steam locos out of the Swindon Shed for a long weekend opened up an opportunity for us to get Class 52 D1010 ‘WESTERN CAMPAIGNER’ into the ‘Swindon Shed‘ and over the pit, so that we could disconnect the thrust brackets that transmit the traction and braking forces between the bogies and the loco body. These large and heavy brackets are only accessible when the loco is positioned over a pit, and even then the job is very hard and unpleasant, the whole area being covered with dirt and grime from many years of operation.
Our intrepid team was formed by volunteers Neil, Colin F, Viv, Paul T and Martin, and they set to work under the loco on Saturday 4th and by the end of the day, all four brackets had been released, with some bolts putting up more of a fight than others. The next loco was shunted back into our loco shed at the end of the last day of the gala, as soon as the sales stands had been packed away and the area cleared. WELL DONE TEAM !
Class 52 D1010 ‘WESTERN CAMPAIGNER’ was moved inside the ‘Swindon Shed‘ on the morning of the first day of the steam gala, Friday 3rd May 2024 and positioned over the pit. Photo by Martin Howard © CC BY-NC 3.0
Left to right, the frames of the WSRA’s GWR ‘Small Prairie’ 4561 were out on display alongside BR ‘Standard 4 Tank’ 80064 for the duration of the steam gala. Class 52 D1010 ‘WESTERN CAMPAIGNER’ was pictured while being shunted back to the DEPG yard by Barclay 578 (ROF1) at the end of the day on Monday 6th May 2024. Photo by Josh Brinsford © CC BY-NC 3.0
LOCO NEWS:
Class 52 D1010 ‘WESTERN CAMPAIGNER’ – as previously reported, this loco was the focus of attention from underneath while positioned over the pit inside the ‘Swindon Shed‘ last weekend. Now that the thrust brackets have been removed, we are able to prepare for the next trick, which is lifting the loco from it’s bogies and lowering the body onto stands. When completed, this will result in a sight NOT SEEN SINCE BR SWINDON IN THE 1970s. We will try and get this work done before the diesel gala, but such things cannot be rushed and we will not take any shortcuts, so we can’t commit to this at the moment. The good news is that several hurdles have already been jumped and we are preparing to jump the last few.
As stated previously, we will need MORE HANDS to help us get the work done. If you want to see this locomotive back on the rails soon, then PLEASE COME ALONG AND HELP US WITH THIS WORK ! There is a wide range of tasks that need to be done, so simply reply to this email or use the CONTACT FORM on our website if you can lend a hand.
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Above – Neil and Colin F (L-R) were part of the team involved with D1010 on Saturday 4th May 2024 |
Above – Paul T, Neil, Colin F and Martin discuss the need for a special tool which Colin F would then make. Volunteer Viv was behind the camera. |
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Above – Looking upwards under the loco, one of the large and heavy thrust brackets is visible, with the four retaining bolts (the ones with split pins) still in place. |
Above – looking upwards at a different bracket after the four retaining bolts have been removed (only two of the bolt holes are visible in this view) |
Sponsorships for patches on D1010 continue to come in, for which we are VERY grateful indeed. We have many more patches waiting for sponsors, so please support the CAMPAIGN for CAMPAIGNER and click here or on the image further below to get your name engraved into the metal of the locomotive. We will be having another engraving session this coming weekend.
The drawings that have been developed in parallel will provide a formal record of the position of each sponsored patch and this will allow sponsors to look up the location of their patch when they visit the depot at Williton during the WSR SUMMER DIESEL FESTIVAL. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT – and your PATIENCE !
Click the image below to sponsor a patch:
See our CAMPAIGN for CAMPAIGNER web page for more details. We still have a lot of work to do on this massive locomotive, so PLEASE DO COME ALONG AND HELP IF YOU CAN !
Class 09 D4107 (09019) – this loco is stabled at Bishops Lydeard and is in regular use as the station pilot.
Class 33 D6566 (33 048) – this loco will run ‘light engine’ from Williton to Bishops Lydeard on Saturday 11th May to go over the pit in Westridge Shelter for an underframe exam and for lubrication of the bogies and traction motors. The loco will then be ready for action the following day. See our DIESEL RUNNING DATES page for details.
Class 33 D6575 (33 057) – currently stabled at Williton.
Class 35 ‘Hymek’ D7017 – this loco is ready to return to service apart from a very short list of minor issues that will be addressed at Williton over the next few weeks. We have rostered this loco for two weekends of public services in June, the first being 15/16th June and the second being 29/30th June, under the BLUE timetable. Additional dates will be allocated ASAP. Keep an eye on our DIESEL RUNNING DATES page or sign up to our DIESELGEN email bulletin service to get the news as soon as it is released.
Class 35 ‘Hymek’ D7018 – the ‘transmission team’ have been making careful progress with the repair of the damaged transmission, retrieving spare parts from an old transmission and checking them very carefully to ensure that we don’t end up with new issues in the repaired unit. So far so good, the retrieved spare parts are in very good condition and fit properly.
The re-assembled shaft will be trial fitted into the transmission housings and if everything checks out OK, we can move on to the next layer in the housing, which includes the oil pumps and the intermediate drive. Fingers crossed ! Here are some photos:
D7018 – the No. 5 clutch that has been retrived from the transmission that last worked in D7018 in 1995 (without issue). The baulk ring is the inner set of dog teeth that are offset from the driving teeth. Pictured at Williton on Tuesday 30th April 2024 by Colin Foxhall © CC BY-NC 3.0
D7018 – the baulk ring is a separate assembly that includes a return spring. This photo shows the spring and the retainer, all parts that were smashed to bits in the photos shared last week. Pictured at Williton on Monday 29th April 2024 by Colin Foxhall © CC BY-NC 3.0
D7018 – the retrieved spare parts were assembled with the rest of the geartrain so that a trial fitment could take place. Volunteer Tim is pictured at Williton on Tuesday 30th April 2024 while tightening the locknut with a custom-made ‘C’ spanner. Photo by Colin Foxhall © CC BY-NC 3.0
Class 14 ‘Teddy Bear’ D9518 – although the ‘open shed’ made working on this loco somewhat difficult, several of our volunteers did make progress on the cab assembly and with some of the metalwork associated with the driver’s desk. More progress will be made this week and hopefully some photos can be provided for next week.
This loco is the subject of a fundraising appeal so please follow this link to find out more. We need your help ! In addition to funds, we also need plenty of HANDS. If you love the ‘Teddy Bears’ and you are not already a member of the DEPG, please join us so that you can become one of the team that is going to return D9518 to fully operational condition as ‘NCB No. 7‘.
Class 14 ‘Teddy Bear’ D9526 – this loco is now stabled at Williton and is ready for action. Keep an eye on our DIESELGEN postings for details of any workings involving this locomotive.
Class 47 47077 ‘NORTH STAR’ – this loco has worked several services between Pickering and Grosmont on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway recently and we continue to received plenty of feedback on our social media channels, proving that this loco is actually the most popular member of our entire fleet ! We would welcome some more photographs though !
Andrew Barclay 0-4-0DH 578 – this useful little loco continues to be busy almost every Saturday, handling the various shunt moves in the yard, with more moves planned for Saturday 12th. Watch the Williton RAILCAM to see this loco in action !
Barclay 0-4-0DH 578 (ROF 1) was pictured in the North Yard at Williton on Saturday 27th April 2024 after being used to shunt D1010 into the ‘Swindon Shed‘ (behind) Photo by Martin Howard © CC BY-NC 3.0
If you can help by donating your time to any of these projects, then please JOIN US and come along to the depot for an introduction to what we do and how we do it. We currently have people on site from Saturday through to Tuesday and we can open on other days if we can be sure of getting at least two volunteers on site at all times, so there is plenty of scope. We have tasks of all types to suit most capabilities, both skilled and unskilled.
Many thanks to all of our volunteers who give up so much of their time to work on the cleaning, painting, maintaining, restoring, managing and fund raising for our fleet of heritage locomotives !