The day greeted us with rain and whilst the others went for breaky at Morrisons I set to work on removing some more distorted alloy foot plates from the cab steps, the top plate and bolts chiseled off ok, but the second step was a real expletive deleted to get off, in fact it nearly came off in one lump and in the end I resorted to violence and borrowed a jemmy bar to lever it off. I had to leave this job as the rain was starting to get heavy and it was cascading down the side of the loco and it happened to be running right where I needed to chisel and by this time my gloves were soaked through.
Gareth and the get along gang arrived back from breakfast and we duly started the loco, she stared first time and all systems were working ok, the plan was to put 040 on the pit to check the traction motors but Chris Cheney needed to put his green DMU back together on the pit and guess where one half of the DMU was, oh yes down the end of number one siding so a lot of shunting had to be done first and guess who was the only person available to carry out the shunt moves – ME as both Graham and Tim were not in attendance, so myself and Chris
Cheney had a very enjoyable two hour shunt fest to position the relevant vehicles into the right place!
Chris finally positioned 040 on the pit and Gareth went to work checking the traction motors and whilst Gareth did his electrical tests I repositioned a sanding pipe that had in the past been clobbered and the frame had been bent forward and the pipe was scraping a wheel on one of the bogies.
After last weekends last minute find of a sticking fuel pump caused by excess waste oil contaminating the fuel plunger, a full strip down and flush out of the rocker waste drains and associated pipework was required. This was completed by myself and Keith W on the Saturday, a rather dirty job with much sludge being washed out of the drain pipe. All fuel pumps were degreased and re-lubricated with light oil, before a start was made to check that everything was ok, she started fine with just the parking brake interlock valve causing a slight problem, but built pressure and was ready to go!
It was agreed that we would go for a test run to Yaxham after the last train on Sunday, so she was then put to bed for the night.
Sunday morning (or should that be early afternoon by the time we got up!) was spent shunting and getting things in the right order for the evening’s test run, when all shunts were complete she was positioned over the pit so that all traction motor commutators could be visually inspected. Whilst this was going on Keith W went around the inside of Oystermouth making sure all covers were secure and there was no loose items or tools in the engine room that could vibrate loose and cause us problems. All the cantrail grilles were bolted down and the radiator mesh was secured. As usual last minute checks revealed that the fire bottle head which had been shorted out for testing purposes, required further attention before she could be run. This resulted in Robin getting his fingers slightly warm by the melting copper wire he was holding whilst trying to replace the short! She was then fired up, built air and moved away under power up the sidings to allow the steamer to get over the pit, then back up the MOD road to await her first run on the MNR!
With Chris Cheney at the controls we left Dereham at approximately 18:00 heading for Yaxham. At the Dereham level crossings a little banter between a transit horn and ours raised a few smiles – I’m sure you can guess who’s was loudest! After the level crossings she was opened up and away she went – leaving the crossings in a thick clag! Yaxham was reached at about 18:10 and a few photos were taken. Checks were made to the wheel bearings, oil level/pressure, water level, radiator elements, control modules etc, with everything looking good it was decided that a further run would be beneficial. So onwards we went, numerous starts and stops for operational purposes – crossings etc gave plenty of thrash to test the turbos etc, with a noticeable clearing in the exhaust as we progressed – all good signs! The next observation stop was at the level crossing just before Kimberley Park station, where the above checks were performed again which discovered no problems, the obligatory photos were taken and a discussion ensued as to our next move. With spectators on Kimberley Park station awaiting us and the fact that so far so good, it was decided that a full run to Wymondham was in order. Over the crossing we went and paused in Kimberley Park station to await the crossing gates to be closed behind us, this allowed the party that was going on at the station to come and see 56040.
The party was a wedding reception and the children (and the not so young children) were duly invited to have a look in the cabs and sample the horn, creating good PR for the railway and the group. (Is this the first time a wedding has been gatecrashed by a Grid?). After some thank you cake from the party off we set for Wymondham, again reached with no problems, more photos and checks were made before setting off back to Dereham. The return was made similar to the outward journey with regular checks, on approaching privately owned Hardingham Station a figure on the platform was seen, we stopped and was invited for a coffee. After a brief rest we departed again for Dereham were we went into the MOD road, final checks were performed and she was put to bed for the night. All involved went to the pub for a celebratory drink grinning like Cheshire cats!
The test run was successful and no faults were found, the turbos wound up nicely as required, the radiator elements appear not to be leaking, the AWS worked fine, the DSD worked ok, in fact you could say 56040 OYSTERMOUTH is almost back to her wonderful self, just a little more TLC to her makeover and a bit of pampering to go!
