WSR :: West Somerset Railway


D1010 Western Campaigner - an update


• Issued by the DEPG...

Following D1010's successful debut after 3 years at the WSR Mixed Traffic Gala in May after a lot of hard work by the DEPG team at Williton, she has been further withdrawn from service for engine repairs and electrical upgrade. Bob Tiller, DEPG Chairman & Director who leads the team on D1010 takes us up to date with progress.

Having successfully operated for a number of years on the WSR, D1010 was constantly plagued by oil leaks from its "B" transmission. This transmission had been previously removed and overhauled by the DEPG Team – a first in preservation – but it continued to leak oil from its output shaft so a decision was made three years ago to pull it out and find the cause. Lifting out a transmission is no easy task, it weights over 4 tons, the cooler group above it has to be lifted out and the engine and bogie drive cardan shafts all disconnected and removed. These massive shafts take the drive from engine to transmission and onto the bogie intermediate gear box.

It was first thought that the labyrinth seals on the output shaft were damaged however with the transmission lifted out, the output shaft sump was removed to find blocked oil pump collector and supply funnels. This was a direct result of water ingress into the sump, this in turn was found to be a leaking heat exchanger. Needless to say the heat exchanger was craned out and sent away for repair and test. At the same time we overhauled both primary and secondary transmission oil pumps which were found to be out of specification.

Whilst the Cooler Group was out, the radiators were all removed and tested, the frame given a clean and new coat of paint. Coolant sight glasses were replaced and also all transmission, engine coolant, oil flexible hoses and connections were renewed– it never pays to reuse that only breeds unreliability.

Whilst this was going on the main electrical systems in both cabs were taken apart, re-terminated, rewired were necessary, contactors and relays checked, the terminal strips cleaned and refitted. Overhauled desk indicators and warning lamps were fitted and most important the heaters rewired.

The "B" transmission always gave problems reversing, this we found to be one of the "directional solenoids" at "B" end going to earth. The cost of overhaul of one of these old units was prohibitive compared to a modern equivalent, therefore a new design using new state of the art solenoids was drawn up and fitted, this has proved very successful and is being looked at by other Western operators.

The train vacuum brake "leak off" from the vacuum chamber side of the drivers brake valve also has seen constant problems. This causes the chamber side of the brake to leak off thus reducing the brake application on the loco – but still braking the train behind. Tests showed this not to be acceptable to specification so the hunt was on for the leak. An overhauled brake distributor and other valves improved the specification but not completely, it became more and more a hunt for a pin hole in a 2" pipe that runs from one end of the loco to the other. We attached the 33 and charged up the vacuum and literally went round the loco and found the hole in almost the worst possible accessible position - underneath the "A" end cab beneath the drivers side cab position between the two floors. There was only one way to do this, so disc grinder in hand we cut out a 18" by 6" hole in the side of "A" cab. Removing the pipe, right across the floor, we replaced with brand new and tested – the brake worked! The hole was then plated and to be honest – you'd never know!

The loco received an internal repaint whilst all these components were removed and then everything was refitted. A quick repaint also saw an improvement in its appearance. A major amount of work was undertaken by a few to ensure the loco made it to the Mixed Traffic Gala with test runs only a few weeks prior to the event and defect clearing to ensure reliability – the loco worked all three days quite successfully except for one fault as described below.

However over the past three years no work was undertaken on either engine. The "B" engine (ex-D1058) was overhauled by us using second-hand components and fitted in 1987 and has worked since with no attention, the "A" engine was original but had cylinder head and top overhaul in 1986, "A" engine was installed within D1010 on purchase from BR in 1977.

During the Mixed Traffic Gala a "Chuffing" noise became apparent from "B" exhaust. We had a quick check during the gala of injectors or fuel problems but agreed amongst us that probable cause was a stuck or worn exhaust valve. We therefore decided to remove the cylinder heads and do a quick change before September's running day. With all the injectors removed and sent away for testing to our friends the DTG - these proved to be not that good! The cylinder heads were removed after camboxes and turbo blower lifted off.

Unfortunately the results found were not good, No6 cylinder showed signs of water ingress, the head was pressure tested with no fault found so a suspect liner pin hole is thought to be the problem. In addition Cylinder No9 piston crown has been badly damaged and corroded by a misfiring injector. The crown retaining caps are holed and the crown not suitable for use. This means that "B" engine has to be removed, the complete engine stripped down and new Cylinder Liners as well has Cylinder Heads required to be replaced. This was a big disappointment to us all.

Every cloud has a silver lining, "B" engine would have failed catastrophically causing extensive damage if we had run it this season, finding this now has saved us considerable costs and time. It will also allow us to continue to upgrade the electrical system by fitment of all refurbished warning lamps and electrical resistors, further rewiring and further attention to the bodywork.

Having the engine stripped down and thinking this would be an easy rebuild we all felt that D1010 would be back in service for summer 2008. However, several things have pushed are target further out and so reluctantly D1010 won't be running this year.

Having stripped the engine upon inspection we found that the main idler gear, which takes the drive from the crankshaft to the camboxes, water pump and governor had some serious gear damage, we also traced damage to the crankshaft gear. This meant crankshaft removal and pressing on/off the gear. So we stripped the engine even further to a bare block, removed the crankshaft and found further problems. The roller main bearings in positions 3 and 4 web and some bad cracking and fatigue, so bad that the case hardening of the outer race was badly corroded and could not be reused. To get over this, we did a swap with the DTG and obtained a spare crankshaft, we purchased seven new bearing races from MTU in Germany and rebuilt the engine as new. We have purchased not just new bearings, but the engine will also have fitted new pistons, rings, liners, gaskets, seals, in fact a thorough rebuild.

Whilst all this work on D1010's "B" engine has been going on we have also be working on the MD870 from D7017. This engine is nearly 100% rebuilt and is awaiting a water pressure test but we cannot work on two engines at once so we have alternated between jobs depending upon material and manpower availability. Camboxes and other items have been overhauled for D7017, next will be D1010's along with all the cleaning and checking of all components before refitting. The aim is to get D7017 running for June 08.

With the few of us doing this work, and of course we all have jobs and lives of our own, other jobs have been left for another day but need to be completed before D1010 can run again. Some really good re-wire and cable work has been achieved and some defects noted from the gala started but all this needs to be completed and it's a long list. Some work has been done, a pin hole coolant leak in "A" end cooler group pipe work has been welded and repaired, the "B" drivers wiper motor removed for replacement. However, there is still a lot of work to do before a fitness to run certificate can be issued and test run take place let alone refit the overhauled engine.

Progress can only go as fast as material and volunteer manpower can be available but we hope that D1010 will be back in service as soon as possible.

Bob Tiller DEPG
26th February 2008