Class 33 ‘Crompton’ D6575 (33057) was shunted to number 2 road at Williton on Saturday 11th May 2024 to allow sufficient space on number 1 road for Barclay 578 (ROF1) to collect BR ‘Standard 4 Tank’ 80064 from the display area and return it to the ‘Swindon Shed‘. Photo by Natalie Royal © CC BY-NC 3.0
LOCO NEWS:
Class 52 D1010 ‘WESTERN CAMPAIGNER’ – work continued on the disconnection of the two Bristol Siddeley Maybach MD655 engines to prepare them for lifting out of the loco, to reduce the body weight. The lower the body weight, the lower the stresses that will be placed on the structure while the lift is being undertaken. By the end of Saturday, the air intake ducting had been removed along with various other pipework and connections, so there is not much left to do in this area now.
In addition to the engine work, one of the set of eight lifting brackets that have kindly been loaned by the WLA has been trial fitted to D1010 by volunteers James and Thomas. The trial involved cleaning out the two 5/8″ BSW threaded holes that are needed to hold the lifting bracket in position when not under load, and removing the dirt and debris from the area to make sure that the bracket was properly engaged. The remaining seven locations around the loco will be dealt with by the ‘Tuesday Team’ and will be reported upon in the next roundup.
As previously reported, our objective is to lift the loco body and roll out the bogies for overhaul, then lower the body onto stands. When completed, this will result in a sight NOT SEEN SINCE BR SWINDON IN THE SEVENTIES. 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. Safety first, not just for the sake of people but also for the sake of our irreplaceable locomotive !
D1010 – volunteers James (L) and Thomas (R) seemed both happy and relieved to find that the lifting bracket fitted exactly as intended (after a bit of preparation work!). Pictured at Williton on Saturday 11th May 2024. Photo by Andy Royal © CC BY-NC 3.0
D1010 – a closer view of the lifting bracket, showing the through hole for the lifting shackle and the integral base plate under which is a concave recess that is designed to mate with the domed head of a re-railing jack. Many thanks to the WLA and DTG for the loan of these essential pieces of specialised hardware. Pictured at Williton on Saturday 11th May 2024. Photo by Andy Royal © CC BY-NC 3.0
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.
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 be in use on Sunday 19th May on the 12:30 Bishops Lydeard to Minehead and return service, after which the loco will head for Williton with the Empty Coaching Stock (ECS) and will then hand over to sister D6575 (33 057) who will then take the ECS forward to Minehead in preparation for the start of the BLUE timetable on Tuesday 21st May.
D6566 (33048) – this loco was in use on public services on Sunday 12th May and will be in use again on Sunday 19th May. Pictured at Minehead on 12th May 2024 by Darren Hill © CC BY-NC 3.0
Class 33 D6575 (33 057) – currently stabled at Williton, this loco will take over the role of Duty Loco when sister D6566 (33048) hands over the baton at Williton at approx 17:00 on Sunday afternoon, 19th May. This loco will operate the weekend services from Minehead on the 25th and 26th May. See our DIESEL RUNNING DATES page for details.
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 re-assembled the gear trains and completed the checks to ensure that everything at this level of the assembly is OK and fit for further service. The required spare parts have been taken from the transmission that was previously in use in D7018 until 1995. One bearing is beyond further use and will have to replaced, and quotations are being sought for this rather large and expensive part, but the good news is that this is a standard off-the-shelf part. Work continues !
D7018 – the No. 5 clutch has been rebuilt by using parts taken from D7018’s previous transmission. Volunteer Tim was pictured while checking the operation of the clutch actuator fork at Williton on Tuesday 7th May 2024. Photo by Colin Foxhall © CC BY-NC 3.0
D7018 – the complete geartrain was trial assembled and checked over before proceeding to the next stage. Pictured at Williton on Tuesday 7th May 2024 by Colin Foxhall © CC BY-NC 3.0
D7018 – the only bearing that is so far showing evidence of damage is the large diameter roller type at the input end of the primary shaft. The photo shows the significant amount of damage that is evident on one of the rollers. Pictured at Williton on Tuesday 9th April 2024 by Colin Foxhall © CC BY-NC 3.0
Although we hope to be able to use spare parts that we have available, we will still need to replace seals, bearings, gaskets as necessary and we also need to drain the oil and have new oil available. All of these things cost money. PLEASE HELP by making a donation of £10 or by buying our 64-page A4 HYMEK D7018 BOOKLET (£10) which covers the history of this locomotive from build through to her return to service in 2019 following her major overhaul. THANK YOU VERY MUCH !
Click here or on the donation image above to go to the donations page on our website. If you feel able to donate more than £10, simply increase the quantity when on the donations page. Thank you in advance for your support !
Class 14 ‘Teddy Bear’ D9518 – the re-wiring and re-equipping of the driver’s desk continues, with more parts and more wiring being added every week. The quality of the restoration work is evident in these photos, with almost all of the parts being refurbished from the original 1960s components. Quite a task indeed !
D9518 – the raised centre section of the driver’s desk includes a row of three warning lights with a shroud arrangement that can be flipped over, according to the side that the driver is working from. Simple and effective ! Pictured at Williton on Saturday 11th May 2024 by Andy Royal © CC BY-NC 3.0
D9518 – more wiring and more components get added to the desk each week. Pictured at Williton on Saturday 11th May 2024 by Andy Royal © CC BY-NC 3.0
D9518 – the grey ‘Formica‘ covering has been bonded to the opposite side of the driver’s desk and is covered up to keep it in pristine condition while work proceeds around it. Pictured at Williton on Saturday 11th May 2024 by Andy Royal © CC BY-NC 3.0
D9518 – the cab bulkhead is trimmed with grey-painted pegboard and adorned with orange electrical conduits, a caged lightbulb holder and a red fire bell, all of which are original parts that have been restored to a very high standard by Colin G and the team. Pictured at Williton on Saturday 11th May 2024 by Andy Royal © CC BY-NC 3.0
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.
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 !