Lets start getting 31463 dressed again.
April and May has seen 31463 repaint progress greatly, starting with body sides they’ve both receive 2 coats of primer paint and is a nice shade of red.
The removed nose cover from no. 1 has also been painted in primer and then internally painted into gloss. During the GCRN model event for the first time in a while the nose cover was fitted to no. 1 cab so the new frame on the lower part could be marked for the new bolt holes. The nose cover was then removed so these could be drilled and tapped with the cover going back to storage. While cover remains off we have removed the DSD timing reservoir as this has a hole in it so we are ordering a replacement.
‘A’ side radiator grill has been painted from bare metal to gloss and has been refitted on the loco. More of the small grills have been painted in undercoat, a tedious job but will look great when complete. The centre section to the coolant radiator covers were both prepped for the next coat of paint.
Both engine room doors have been removed and taken outside for the fins to be needle gunned and you’ve guessed it, more holes were found. The inside of ‘B’ side engine room door has been cleaned and partially painted in primer, the fins were left until after the welder visit and the doors were refitted to the loco. These holes were repaired by our trusty weld Ian at I W Locomotive Fabrication Limited and will be painted soon.
As mentioned above Ian at I W Locomotive Fabrication Limited has been with us repairing a number areas of body rot uncovered when we stripped the body work. He has also welded on the head code box cover we had in store and fabricated us one for the other cab. With weld repairs complete it means we can now start painting the cabs.
The inside of no. 2 cab head code box was rubbed down and the head code cover was painted in primer.
Both cabs and no. 1 nose end was treated to a vacuum clean as this hadn’t been done for a bit.
Some may remember the multiple working socket on no. 1 cab had been cable tided closed as the spring had failed so the cover has been removed, annoyingly one bolt snapped so this has been drilled out and the thread cleaned up. Upon inspection of the cover it was found the torsion spring has rotted so we will get a replacement sourced.
We’ve taken delivery of the new floor material for the cabs and this will start to be fitted soon.
During April it was the reunification weekend for the GCR and GCRN and in May it was the GCRN model railway show with a number of fantastic layouts. Thank you to everyone who came and had a look at the loco and a chat.
In May we had our EGM & AGM at Lovatt House in Loughborough and it was nice to see 1705 in the up through while service trains were out and at the end of carriage siding D8098 could be seen.
See our photos below to see progress over the weeks.
