On Thursday 27th May, DEPG Chairman John Cronin and myself visited the East Somerset Railway to discuss the forthcoming body work repairs with the head of Cranmore Traincare, Barry Buckfield.
Barry and John can be seen next to the loco in the picture.
The loco is currently in the main shed at Cranmore where the cutting out and welding work will be performed before subsequent movement into the carriage maintenance shed for repainting.
I took the opportunity to have a first look at the work done at Brush "in the flesh" and was most impressed.
The new internal wiring to No.2 traction motor can be seen in the picture as well as the newly manufactured set of No.2 right-hand cab steps. Examination of the area around the replaced No.2 traction motor is quite remarkable.
An archive photograph of the same area clearly showing the fire damage is included and makes a dramatic contrast with the current arrangements complete with brand new blower bellows.
Thanks are again extended to Brush Traction for doing the work and to former DEPG Chairman Bob Tiller for organising things.
Back at Williton, the two missing pins for No.1 bogie handbrake linkage have been manufactured by West Somerset Restoration, the two shiny ones seen in the picture. The mechanism was loose assembled on the shed floor and seems to resemble some form of flying dinosaur! Not sure it in quite the right order but confirms that all parts are now present.
With the help of Paul B, the motor stator was separated from the fire damaged No.1 exhauster. The motor of this unit was located directly above the point where the underframe fire broke through the bedplate via an electrical junction box. Despite this, other than some burnt interlinking cables on the brushgear, the main problems appear to be confined to smoke damage. So it is hoped that the motor will be ok following cleaning and re-assembly.
