LATEST NEWS
These are the stories of whats going on and what we've been up to!
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December 2007
W55000, the protoype class 122 Bubblecar made a succesfull test run on December 20th with both engines working. |
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33002 pictures courtesy & © Peter Burrow and W55000 pictures courtesy & © Andy Mathews. |
Gronk Aid Gala Pics!
Our annual November "Gronk Aid" Gala was held on 3rd November. This is an in house diesel gala with the proceeds going to the restoration fund of "gronk" 09 002. This year we had the added attraction of our guest for the year, 31 108. The weather was a bit dull most of the day, but the rain held off and a slightly watery Sun appeared later in the afternoon. Nothing broke and I believe everybody went home happy, if with some rather grey photos. We have been rather spoilt with our gala weather in recent years! |
20 110's Cab restoration:
Oct 2007: 20 110's cab has been suffering with the old tin worm for a while. Some new metal was welded in, the cabside window repaired and the loco was smartened up ready for the Gronk aid Gala: |
Courtesy and © Pete Burrow. | Courtesy and © Pete Burrow. | Courtesy and © Pete Burrow. |
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33 002 Progress:
October 07: Work continues with our major project, 33s have an odd arrangement of internal rainwater gutters. Innevitably on ours they were rusted out and blocked up. The workshop have very kindly made us some new ones, to enhanced specification, to try to stop it happening again. These have been fitted. The bodyside door has been reskinned as although it wasn't too bad, it was beginning to swell and lift a bit, the first signs of rusting out, so we bit the bullet! |
The reskinned body door. Courtesy & © Peter Burrow. |
Gutters taking shape in the workshop Courtesy & © Peter Burrow. |
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Neil examines the door frame Courtesy & © Peter Burrow. |
The new gutters in place Courtesy & © Peter Burrow. |
more gutters! Courtesy & © Peter Burrow. |
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D7612 performed well in glorious weather in the August Spa Valley Railway Gala: |
July 2007: Our first generation prototype DMU Bubblecar 55000 had both engines started for the first time since they were rebuilt. So far so good! |
W55000 Splutters into life after years of work! Courtesy and © Andy Mathews. |
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July 2007: D7612 has been hired by our friends at the South East Loco Group and will be based on the Spa Valley Railway, Tunbridge Wells. and went off on the third of this month. The loco will be used on this picturesque line for various galas, driving experiences and specials throughout the Summer. It is expected back for our November 'GronkAid' Gala. The next working will be the 3 day August Diesel Gala from Fri.3rd to Sun. 5th Aug. |
Click on the poster to view the details of the gala in PDF format. |
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33 002 Rebuild Update!
24th July 2007: Well the bodywork is more or less finnished now, just the quarter light windows and a few fiddly bits left. The same cannot be said for the engine, Having got the cylinder heads on we thought we'd pressure test the water system. The first thing we found was that the water filler on the heat exchanger was seized. When we unseized it lots of oily water fell out which means one thing: leaky heat exchanger tubes! Therefore we sent the heatexchanger away to a company in Eastleigh, who took it apart and took the photo below. They reckoned they'd never seen one go into 'wave shapes' like this one. We think this was caused by frost damage. Incredibly though after pressure testing, only a couple leaked. They have repaired it and the exchanger has now been refitted. |
33 002 Shows off it's new bodywork at the summer gala. |
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