The Annual General Meeting of the Class 56 Group will take place on Saturday 23rd July 2022.
The venue is now confirmed and the meeting will take place in the East Lancashire Railway Training Room , Baron Street Works , Baron Street, Bury BL9 0TY.
As part of our drive to recruit new volunteers , a working party/ tester day is planned for the following Sunday.
Members are invited to attend the meeting as well as the working party which will hopefully introduce potential volunteers to the railway and the facilities where we look after 56006.
The meeting will start at 12:30 (beginning with a short 15 min C56LL/Shareholders meeting ) and we aim to conclude by 4pm. There should be an opportunity for a short tour of the site after the meeting concludes.
Members should meet at the works gates at 12:15 and it is recommended suitable(stout) footwear is worn during the visit. Members wishing to take part in the volunteering taster day on the Sunday should bring appropriate clothing and although not essential it would be useful if members could make themselves known to one of the technical team ( via contacts given inside front cover of Gridiron or via contact links on this website) before the weekend of the AGM.
It is also proposed that a social event ( a beer ,a curry and a lot of chat !) will take place on the Saturday evening and some members may want to stay over in Bury. The Premier Inn is a short walk from the AGM venue , ELR Station and Metrolink/Bus interchange. ( At time of writing a twin room is available for Saturday night at £64) .
As if the AGM is not a big enough draw the Class 14 is out on the ELR diesel turn on the Saturday and 45108 is booked to do the Sunday turns.
The C56G committee and C56LL Directors look forward to seeing members/shareholders on the day and hopefully on the following day.
We are well aware that our attempts to provide updates on the progress of repairs on 56301 has seen a number of ‘false dawns’ in terms of deadlines which have come and gone.
One wheelset was causing issues and it has been away at the South Devon Railway being overhauled.
It should hopefully be returned to UKRL, Leicester in the coming weeks. Once refitted 56301 should go out on another test run and if successful the locomotive should be passed fit for traffic once again.
As the work nears completion we’ll try to keep this page updated more frequently than it has been in recent times.
Regular working parties continue on 56006. These normally take place on the middle Sunday of each month but occasionally vary due to the shift patterns of a couple of key volunteers.
Next working dates are
Mon 14th and Tue 15th March.
10th April 2022 (Sunday)
In an effort to encourage some much needed volunteers to step forward to help we’ll publish images of some of the work we do on 56006 and some more general images of the working environment at Bury Baron Street Works.
Working on 56006 is really enjoyable and our small team of volunteers are a nice bunch and we are really keen to show some willing volunteers what we do and how they can start to contribute to the ongoing work on 56006.
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No 1 end cab after a bit of TLC applied. -
Don’t worry- this image is from 1980 , but explains why No1 end drivers quarterlight was impossible to refit with a standard piece of glazing. -
Emergence brake plunger- this instantaneously dumps the brake pipe in case of emergency.
Time for reflection on what the future holds for both our locomotives. An ongoing shortage of volunteers is going to impact on how soon 56006 is returned to traffic.
Report – after 14th March and 15th March working party
Attendance : 4 volunteers on Monday , 3 volunteers on Tuesday
Following two days at Bury working on 56006 some progress has been made – some is easy to demonstrate in photographs while other work on the rewiring and overhaul of the wheelslip resistor circuits is less easy to show.
Our friends in the CFPS have some spare tarpaulins similar to those being modelled by 40135 in this image. These will need to be opened out, cleaned of any muck and then left to dry. They can then be stored ready for fitting to 56006 ready for its next winter hibernation.
Other jobs done today included the replacement of the on/off push buttons for the parking brake in each of the cabs. These had proved problematic and one was seized solid. A parking brake fault was one of several faults which caused problems when the locomotive was last in service in July 2021. Thanks to Roy Turnbull Fasteners of Ashton-under-Lyne who provided some emergency fasteners to ensure the job could be completed today. https://www.royturnbullfasteners.com
So there we go- a good two days, and a much appreciated extra volunteer , Antony Jolly made a big difference to what we achieved.
If you like the progress made and think you could help out please get in touch. It really is rewarding to work on 56006, and if we see some extra volunteers to do simpler tasks such as painting and cleaning then that frees up the more technical volunteers to do the more involved jobs. Of course for those who want to learn the more technical aspects there is plenty of scope to learn by assisting the technical team.
Please get in touch (full contact details are available from the contact section of this website ) if you’d like to attend the next working party on Sunday 10th April.
C56G members will be relieved to hear that the next edition of Gridiron has finally gone to the printers and is expected to drop through letter boxes in the next couple of weeks.
Not much to report on either locomotive :-
56006 – following a successful three days at the ELR Gala the ELR opted to use the loco on the Sunday diesel turn. 56006 was removed from the first train with a low power fault. The locomotive could have completed all three trips but would have lost time.
Investigation of the fault resulted in the exchange of a number of electronic modules. A test run was arranged on the Tuesday before the ELR September Diesel Gala . The loco ran to Heywood and back but on changing ends in Bolton Street station ready to return to the shed , a brake fault occurred and several other issues had developed before the loco got back to the shed.
As we know most of the faults are related to the damp atmosphere and lack of regular use it was decided by the four volunteers to lay up 56006 for the winter and focus the very limited volunteer base (generally 3 from a pool of only 4 volunteers) on continuing with the B exam jobs and leave the fault finding until the drier weather in the Spring. The loco has had its tarpaulin refitted and a full length tarpaulin( to cover from cab to cab is being sought).
In order to try and ensure we get as many volunteers a possible we have re-established a regular working party date and these are now set for the middle Sunday of each month.
Recent jobs carried out are:-
Tyre gauging( 56006 is on 70mm tyre thickness , which confirms what we already knew- i.e 56006 is on almost new tyres. ( 76mm is new tyre size and 43 mm is scrap size)
Calibration and adjustment of both main speedometers.
Re piping of the windscreen washer pipework both cabs. Flushing and refilling screen wash reservoirs is next job and then a test of the systems.
A fundraising appeal is about to be launched to raise funds to have the main electronic rack sent away for overhaul as it is an original design unit and the pin connectors are known to be prone to tracking in damp conditions.
Work has started on overhauling the wheelslip protection system as this has been isolated on 56006 for some time and this is one of the main jobs to be completed while 56006 is laid up over winter.
56301– GBRF are continuing with work to comply with the terms of our Peak Forest Hire Contract.(which concluded in early 2019 ). After several delays GBRF are now reporting progress is now being made and we are hopeful of some better news soon.
4/7/2021 Unfortunately 56006 has set out on the 09:15 diesel turn this morning, but would appear to be suffering low power. The loco will come back to Bury where it will come off the train and retire to the shed. Problem isn’t known at the moment but hopefully it isn’t anything serious . We’ll update as we know more once our technical team investigate.
3/7/2021 56006 again performed well yesterday (Friday 2th July -Day 2 of the Gala) apart from a slow release of the E70 after the loco had been on a tail loco duty. Resolved by keeping 56006 in engine only and putting master controller in Reverse or Forward(depending which cab you are in) . Only downside is you have to keep a foot on the DSD pedal and release it when the vigilance beeps at you.
A couple of lambs had a near death experience last evening as 56006 returned from Rawtenstall on the Beerex, Chris the driver slowed as they crossed the tracks and he thought they’d reached a place of safety on the embankment. As he looked back to check they ran under the train and he put the brake full in and we came to a rather sharp stand while the Drivers assistant and Mr Chairman went and looked for what they hoped wouldn’t be lamb chops. They’d run down the train and came out towards the rear. So pacemakers reset and nerves calmed we set of again- The run was supposed to be non stop but Sean and his mate put paid to that but at least we know 56006 can stop when it needs too……..
Loco gang going for a well deserved hearty breakfast this morning and then down to Baron Street to do a few jobs and prep the loco which has to present at Bury South at 14:30 ready to work on the 15:00 departure today.
Please come and say hello if you are attending. During some station stops yesterday we let people ‘cab’ 56006 and will do so again if there is time.
1/7/2021- 56006 performed well on its one round trip today, and will continue its turns tomorrow and Saturday.
In addition the ELR have announced that 56006 should also be used on Sunday 4th July (The day after the Gala finishes) for the normal diesel turn which comprises three round trips ( total 108 miles).
28/6/2021 – 56006 completed its test runs this afternoon making two trips to Ramsbottom home signal with a rake of 6 coaches +50015 +37109 on the rear. Because of a possession on the Heywood line( for tree cutting) the 56 could only work one way as no run round was possible at Ramsbottom as the signal box there was not open today. The runs were successful in identifying a defective load regulator module in the electronics rack and this was replaced on return to Barron Street and tested prior to stabling the locomotive ready for its first gala turns on Thursday.
27/6/2021 – Following several intense working days recently , by a small number of our dedicated volunteers , we are pleased to announce that 56006 is due to go out on a pre gala test run on Monday afternoon.
Assuming the locomotive performs as expected then the loco should be passed fit and ready to take up its rostered Gala duties. These involve 56006 working several trains on each of the three days of the event.
A link to the timetable is here. 2021 July Diesel Timetable -Public Timetable.xlsx (elrdiesel.info)
If you are attending, please respect any instructions given by stewards on the platform and train, but please come and say hello if you can.
The Class 56 Group AGM will take place as a real meeting (subject to Government Covid restrictions and guidance ** ) and will take place at the Alexandra Hotel in Derby on Saturday 31st July.
The meeting will start at 12:30 and is expected to be over by 16:30 at the latest.
As has become customary at such meetings a light buffet will be provided courtesy of the Group , however a small contribution on the day would be most welcome.
The Committee are looking forward to meeting to update our membership and discuss the groups locomotives , 56006 and 56301 , and our plans for the future, as well as enjoying meeting our members socially once again.
Any members or shareholders who cannot attend will be able to cast any votes via the usual proxy voting method. Please contact a committee member via the contact section of the website.
** In the event restriction preclude a face to face meeting in Derby, we will aim to hold the meeting via Zoom, on the same date and same time
Update Sunday 09:13 21/3/2021
Unfortunately ,as I’m sure anyone following the progress of 56301 on Friday will already know , the test run was terminated short of its destination due to a fault on 56301. The fault was on the load regulator side of the control system and caused a loss of power . The train was moved into a loop near Kilnhurst and the 60 brought the train back to Chaddesden.
56301 was brought back to Leicester on Saturday afternoon.
We are hopeful the fault is easily rectified and was a result of over 2 years out of use rather than any serious problem. 56301 had made good time to the point the problem occured.
Disappointing as it is, we are encouraged the loco went out on test and is very close to being restored to full working order and ready to resume her mainline career after the lengthy sabatical at Leicester.
Watch this space for more news, and some photographs from the test run, once I obtain permission from the photographers to use them.
Update 12:13 19/3/2021.
The trip to Long Marston cancelled this morning. 56301 still gone out on test, but heading North to Chaddesden to collect a rake of wagons then on to York Holgate.
Times for Chaddersden- York Leg are here :-
Realtime Trains – 6Z56 1248 Chaddesden Sdgs to York Holgate Siding (Flhh)
Original update 20:00 18/3/2021
56301 should have a trip out tomorrow after almost two years out of use.
Loco should lead on outward trip with a Class 60 in tow.
Return trip is 14:32 with a rake of wagons for Chaddesden Sidings.
Unfortunately for operating reasons the 56 won’t lead up Lickey on the return, – so if you see any reports the 56 has failed it is actually planned to be tucked inside the 60.
Realtime Trains – FRGT 0940 Leicester L.I.P. to Long Marston
Realtime Trains – FRGT 1432 Long Marston to Chaddesden Sdgs
The 56 should run light back to Leicester after dropping off the wagons, but no timings currently available.
First of all a belated happy birthday to 56006- It was 25th February 1977, 44 years ago , when the C56Gs locomotive became the first Class 56 accepted into traffic by British Rail.
Due to the restrictions little work has taken place on the loco but plans are being made for the resumption of working parties when safe to do so.
Reports from Leicester indicate 56301 is very nearly ready for release from its B exam with the only outstanding work being some test results on the axle bearings and then a test run.
The loco has had a new set of batteries and the attached video clip shows the start up las Thursday. Amazingly after virtually 2 years out of traffic the Ruston engine started first time and the dirty exhaust cleared almost immediately.
With the Class 69 project at the stage where 69001 is now being tested at the SVR (see link at foot of page for explanation of project and locos numbers) , there are signs that GBRf may still need their remaining ‘ classic’ 56s for a while yet (56081, 56098 and 56312) with a demand for the class and hopefully 56301 will finally have the opportunity for mainline running again.
Of course 56301 can’t run forever and the group policy is to try and earn enough revenue to ensure 56006 (as the groups ‘priority ‘ preserved’ locomotive) has a secure future funded by that mainline revenue. Whether 56301 can join 50006 and become ‘preserved’ in due course will depend on a number of factors but the group will consider all options to ensure 56006 continues to be operational for many years to come.
EXCLUSIVE: The GB Railfreight Class 69 project explained (railmagazine.com)
UKRL report 56301 is now sat down on the replacement set of bogies (with 56301s original traction motors refitted back under the loco)
One traction pad is reported defective and is being replaced and then the loco just needs traction motor cables and bellows reconnected and 56301 should be moving about under her own power for the first time in a long while.
Part of the original contract included a test run following the bogie/wheelset swap and we’ll try and give notice of this event if and when it comes to pass.
Hopefully once 56301 is available again we’ll see some interest which will get her back out on the mainline again.
