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March 2012
Once again, due to commitments elsewhere on the railway little work has taken place on our "08" over the winter period. Although once funds are available to purchase new batteries and a few more essentially required parts we hope to have the loco in service working alongside 08 114 in the yard at Ruddington.
03/08/2011
The Class 08 is currently out of service awaiting a replacement set of batteries, as the current set have become life expired. Although costly, it is felt that the acquisition of new batteries will add greatly to the reliability of the loco as they will allow it to be used more regularly in the yard at Ruddington (also lightening the workload of 08114).
Another job which will be required before the loco is fully released to traffic is the repair or replacement of one of the loco's leaf springs which is exhibiting signs that it has one or more broken leaves. This is not only to give a more comfortable ride (is there such a thing on an 08?), but to allow the loco to distribute it's weight on the rails more evenly (and therefore to adhere to the rails better whilst moving trains). At the moment, quotes are being looked at for a replacement or repaired spring, although at the moment a replacement will more than likely be brought from a scrap yard that is dismantling several 08's.
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11/10/2010
The smallest of our loco's 08220 is now nearing the final stages of it's return to traffic, with the list of jobs needed to be carried out becoming smaller each week.
Recent work has seen the replacement of the "Number 1" cylinder head, which had been removed because of a leaking head gasket. Also, the oil feed limiting valve to the top end of the engine has been removed and overhauled so that the top of the engine (rocker equipment, cam followers etc) now receives a metered flow of oil from the engines oil pump as opposed to the "flood" of oil that was being delivered previously. Also, several minor fuel leaks have been rectified, leading up to an all round "dryer" engine compartment. But as always, once one job is completed another rears it's head, in this case an oil leak from a large flexible pipe which feeds the engine oil cooler. This will be replaced in the near future.
Other work away from the engine compartment has seen the loco's speedometer drive repaired and rewired. After testing, this repair turned out to be successful, so now we can tell exactly how slow the loco is travelling (having a top speed of 15mph, to say "how fast" the loco is moving seems somewhat inappropriate).
Material (marine ply) is now also to hand to replace the cab floor, a task that will greatly improve the cab interior now that the doors have also been repaired, after which final painting of the cab interior will take place. This will involve repainting the drivers control desk and also the painting of the interior electrical conduit pipes etc.
08/08/2010
08220 has had the repairs completed to the engine and has become operational again, today it was used to shunt the yard at Ruddington, then after the services was used to shunt the coaching stock back into the yard with no problems encountered, we are having a new cab floor built to complete the cab repairs.
10/02/2010
The loco has entered the shed at Ruddington to have some attention to the cab, and to have the locks fitted to the cab doors, very soon the loco will re-enter traffic after receiving attention to a blowing cylinder head. Then the loco will be seen mainly shunting around the yard at Ruddington.
08/11/2009
The marker lights have now been refitted to both ends of the loco, and this also includes the one marker light at roof height. This is probably the first time these marker lights have been fitted to this position since the mid 70's. We did think we would encounter a few problems with a couple of the marker light positions as they had the remains of some of the fixings which had been left in place for many years and become severely corroded but after some effort they soon started to move allowing us to get the new fittings in place.
18/10/2009
After the successful first passenger operation in preservation, during the diesel gala at the GCRN on the weekend of 10&11th October. We turned our attention to the No1 cylinder head which had been blowing slightly, requiring the removal and cleaning up of the head and engine block to clear years of grime that has built up around it, then the head will be checked over to see where the problems are with it.
04/10/2009
Today seen 08220 undertake a successful test run within the yard area at Ruddington 08220 Test Run Video also the gallery pages have been updated with the latest photos of 08220. The test was carried out after last minute adjustments to the contacts under the drivers desk along with further adjustments to the locos AVR. There was also a few tense moments as to whether the compressor governor would work after last minute repairs. The vacuum exhauster also performed faultlessly after being wired up and with a few minor adjustments produced 21 inches.
20/09/2009
Today seen another milestone in the restoration of 08220 when she moved a short distance under her own power after repairs were carried out on the AVR & some of the contacts under the drivers desk, this was the 1st time in preservation and also the 1st time since 1986. The Compressor was slow at building up the air, so this will be checked over and also the Vacuum exhauster operation will be checked over in time for the forthcoming gala.
06/09/2009
The loco is now complete mechanically after the exhaust section was refitted at the weekend, this went back together easier than we thought. Also the sanders were put back together to complete the look of the loco. The next stage is to carry out some final checks on the electrical side, then we will be onto testing for power, which all going well could be as early as next weekend so if you are around the Ruddington area you may just see 08220 moving under her own power for the 1st time, But as with any restoration project we will not know how things will go until all the systems are tested on the day.
18/08/2009
The wasp stripes have now been fully painted on the cab end after the loco was moved into the main shed we were able to gain access easier to the top end of the loco, and the silencer box has been repaired and refitted to the loco, also with being in the main shed this gave us access to the pit road enabling us to examine the electrical equipment underneath, so very soon the loco will be tested moving under her own power.
09/08/2009
The loco now starts & shuts down via the control handle on the drivers desk, after we had issues of the loco shutting down with the slightest touch of the starting handle but this was resolved after finding a problem with one of the contacts under the desk. Also all the axle box's pads have been removed and cleaned with new pads fitted. The loco is now in the mainshed at Ruddington for the Silencer box to be refitted to the loco and the remainder of the roof sections once the small holes in them are welded.
21/06/2009
sorry for lack of updates recently, the following work on 08220 has been done. The locos AVR & also the wiring under the control desk has all been wired up, All the drive belts for the radiator fan/ Aux gen & traction motor blower have now been refitted. Attention is now turning to getting the cab doors refitted and we have had new door stops manufactured due to the others being beyond repair.
26/04/2009
Today we managed to start up the loco, which was the 1st time in preservation and the loco has not been started up for just over 23 years after being withdrawn from service in March 1986. We started it up without the exhaust connected up due to this still receiving attention and the noise was amazing.
19/04/2009
Today the loco was taken out of the shed to be have some fuel put in the header tank, and for the newly fitted radiator to be filled with water, which proved very succesfull with only a couple of small water leaks which were soon rectified when the joints were tightened up. And as far as we could see none of the liners were leaking which was a big result. The newly aquired batteries were also put on charge and are taking a charge so hopefully they will be ok once been on charge and eventually be able to kick start the loco into life for the 1st time in over 23 years. The cab end was also marked up to get the correct measurements for applying the wasp stripes and the bottom end of the cab now has the wasp stripes applied and has started to transforn the look of the loco.
11/04/2009
The restoration is progressing well on the loco with the pipes & radiator elements refitted to the newly attached radiator, the air tanks under the front of the loco have also now been cleaned up and the pipe attached between the two of them & the coupling gaurd has been put back on to prevent damage to the pipe and tanks also one side of the loco is now in BR Blue. The Cab restoration is also progressing well & the AVR has now been refitted in the loco. Hopefully soon we should be able to try starting the loco for the first time in over 23 Years & if all goes well will be starring in the forth coming Diesel Gala
05/04/2009
Today there was a major step forward with the restoration progress with the radiator being attached to the loco again, also the roof of the loco has now all been painted in undercoat blue along with most of the loco framework apart from a couple of sections that still require cleaning up, the next stage is applying the wasp stripes to the cab end and connecting the radiator elements & shutters to complete the radiator restoration.
29/03/2009
The radiator and the cab end have now received a few coats of yellow paint and are now awaiting the black wasp stripes to be applied. Also one of the cab handrails which was pushed against the bodyside has managed to be straightened out & the generator room doors are now back on the loco.
07/03/2009
Today we continued with changing the appearance of 08220 even more with blue primer and more british rail blue was added to the cab area & exhauster compartment, then the new radiator received a coat of paint ready for receiving wasp stripes & the small hole in the bottom of the radiator was welded up ready for testing soon.
28/02/2009
More work was done on priming the frame ready for top coats of British Rail blue in the coming weeks, and a start was made on refitting the lifeguards but this is being made more difficult with the bolts being rusted into place on the underframe. Also both battery boxes are now painted in a rubberised paint to help prevent any corrosion.
21/02/2009
After our recent trip to Booths for some spare parts, we needle gunned the new generator compartment doors back to bare metal and started to apply a coat of blue undercoat,and also started putting the vacuum exhauster compartment back together and sorting out the battery boxes
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