March 2012

The last quarter of 2011 was a busy time for 20 154 with the loco working at the ever popular GCR(N) Diesel Gala and also filling in for the occasional non-availability of a Steam Loco for the regular service trains.
Christmas running with 20 154 has taken up a lot of the group's time towards the end of the year, with the loco being used on the lion's share of the "Santa Special" and post-Christmas running services. This obviously has taken people away from the routine maintenance and restoration tasks associated with owning and operating 5 loco's, but once in a while it's nice to have "a play" and get out on the loco's between Ruddington and Loughborough. 

03/08/2011

After being out of traffic for longer than we all really expected, 20 154's errant "Automatic Voltage Regulator" has returned and been fitted to the loco. Along with this an entire days worth of contact cleaning and general electrical servicing took place to ensure that everything was free moving and clean so as to eradicate as many problems as possible once the loco was re-started after so long out of service. The "State of the art" 1960's electrical systems on this loco (and all others in general) hate standing as lack of use tends to see contacts either sticking open or closed which can lead to numerous faults, so with this in mind it was decided that it would be "time well spent" carrying out this operation. At the same time a fault with the WSP (Wheel Slip Protection) system came to light. (This system prevents the wheels of the loco spinning indefinitely if traction is lost) This fault was rectified, and to date has performed without further issue.

With the loco once again "in one bit", we charged the batteries and fired up the English Electric engine for the first time in 6 months. The engine started first time without any difficulties, and after various checks were made to ensure the functionality of the various control and brake systems, the loco was returned to traffic. This was just in time for the May Diesel Gala. Over the weekend the loco performed without fault in it's usual "20 154 Manner".

11/10/10

Our normally busiest loco has recently been withdrawn from service temporarily due to an electrical fault.
As with all old machinery, brake downs and failures always happen at the most inappropriate of times, and this time it was 12hrs before the spring diesel gala when 20154's "AVR" (Automatic Voltage Regulator) decided that regulating the voltage of the auxiliary generator automatically was a task it could no longer perform. And with no AVR, it is not possible to control the output of the auxiliary generator to various equipment onboard the loco, such as cooling fans, compressors and even the cooker. So with this fault present, to continue to operate the loco would have caused serious, if not irreparable damage to this equipment, we had no other choice than to take the engine out of service.
The loco's AVR will now be removed, and dispatched to a specialist electronics repair contractor to be fully overhauled. Also the loco's main generator has been receiving attention to the banding which had started to deteriorate. Once the AVR is returned this should see 20154 back in traffic in the not so distant future.