In, Out, In, Out.
No, not a reminder to breath! But a simple saga:
One of the locos had been operating with a fault ever since a major overhaul had been completed. At the time the pressure was on to use the loco for a gala so the errant system was isolated and as she was driven carefully, all was well. But she couldn’t stay like that, so a few weeks later Shaun and I were tasked with replacing one of the regulator modules to see if that cured the fault.
A freshly overhauled regulator module was duly dispatched from our stores (a suite of high class containers which sit gently rusting in a farmers field miles from anywhere) and arrived bound up in industrial cling film.
Now the regulator module is mounted under the section of roof that isn’t removable, it fits a hole just too small to allow finger (or tool) room to disconnect the wiring and pipework, and although you can get at both sides of it, it is mounted just too low for it to be lifted cleanly out of the cubicle.
It also weighs nearly 30Kg and therefore requires two people to lift it.
Shaun set to work dismantling the equipment around the regulator, while I started drawing a diagram of which cable went to which stud before removing the cables themselves.
40 minutes later we were able to edge the unit out of its resting place and by use of couple of handy lumps of timber, lift it out into the corridor. We tried manhandling it trough the nearest cab door. But after twisting it this way and that we found that whatever angle it was in, it wouldn’t go through.
At this point we put it on the floor and went for a mug of tea.
During the break it dawned on us that there was another route to the outside world, through another door at the other end of loco, but this was only accessible through the labyrinth that is the inside of the locomotive (All modern i.e. non-steam locos are like this. The class 71 is a notable exception to this rule, as it is beautifully uncluttered internally . . . I digress). After a debate of several minutes we elected to try that route instead.
Initially we lifted the regulator over the clean air intake frame, and past the brake compressor control gear and vacuum exhauster. This allowed us to place the regulator on the floor and relieve our arms. Next we negotiated the main generator and lifted it over the oil filters alongside the power unit, carefully twisted the unit so it didn’t hit the overspeed switch. Then after another rest using the floor plates under the governor to take the weight of the unit, we carefully manhandled it (tautology alert!) under the governor, through the radiator compartment door, and straight through the door in to the No 1 end cab. The whole exercise took over thirty minutes to traverse the 12 metres or so from one cab door to the other. But the regulator was out of the engine room.
From here to the ground was easy, with two extra strong fellows from the crew of the steam loco who’d come down the yard for a breather between service trains. They also helped get the other regulator into the cab. Thanks guys.
As the Haynes manual says, reassembly is the reverse of disassembly, and a two hours later the new regulator was in place. Hurray! Job done.
Our instructions were to phone Tim when we got to this point. Tim is one of a small number of the team passed out as driver on the railway. On arrival he undertook the static duties (inspections and check prior to using a locomotive), started the loco, let the air pressure build up to the prerequisite level, selected forward, selected notch 1 for power, and off we went down the yard. Ok so far.
Having stopped the loco we de-isolated the regulator system. Selected forward, plus notch 1 again and nothing happened…. The fault was still present. Ahhhhh!
A few phone calls to other members of the engineering team and we were advised to replace the regulator again with the original, and try again.
So, with reservations we removed the new regulator, wriggled it through the loco, lifted it to the floor, picked up the old one, and bought it back through the engine-room with increasing numbers of rest periods to let the blood flow back into our arms and calm the complaining muscles. Two hours later it was getting dark as we finished making up the connections by torchlight.
Tim ran the test again. No change. Well, we hadn’t expected one!
A pint sounded nice, and so we abandoned the job, disposed of the locomotive (performed the shut down routines) and made our way to The Wheel Tappers Arms.
The following morning Dzus (who’s real name is Simon), arrived with some specialist electrical test equipment. He and Tim spent the morning trying to test run the loco, for each test they put monitoring equipment on different parts of the regulator circuit. As time progressed they started looking increasing puzzled and there was a gentle rise in the volume and quality of the swearing.
While this was going on Shaun and I started on the job of replacing the filters in the body side air intakes. Not a heavy job, but very dusty if you don’t manage to trap the dust in the filter as you remove it to the rubbish bag.
Eventually a very sheepish looking Dzus appeared and started checking the cable identities on the brake frame. He quickly found one and swapped it for its neighbour the other side of a relay coil. Ten minutes later with the regulator in service the loco was moving off down the yard under its own power.
After much probing, Shaun and I got them to admit that when the overhaul was nearing completion Tim and Dzus had wired it up wrong.
Now it was fixed, Tim asked if Shaun and I could replace the regulator with the new one so the old one could go for overhaul. We advised them that after yesterday’s performance we wouldn’t, and left them to it.
My last sight of Tim and Dzus on that day was a few hours later, still in the engine-room trying to get the regulator under the governor……
One of the locos had been operating with a fault ever since a major overhaul had been completed. At the time the pressure was on to use the loco for a gala so the errant system was isolated and as she was driven carefully, all was well. But she couldn’t stay like that, so a few weeks later Shaun and I were tasked with replacing one of the regulator modules to see if that cured the fault.
A freshly overhauled regulator module was duly dispatched from our stores (a suite of high class containers which sit gently rusting in a farmers field miles from anywhere) and arrived bound up in industrial cling film.
Now the regulator module is mounted under the section of roof that isn’t removable, it fits a hole just too small to allow finger (or tool) room to disconnect the wiring and pipework, and although you can get at both sides of it, it is mounted just too low for it to be lifted cleanly out of the cubicle.
It also weighs nearly 30Kg and therefore requires two people to lift it.
Shaun set to work dismantling the equipment around the regulator, while I started drawing a diagram of which cable went to which stud before removing the cables themselves.
40 minutes later we were able to edge the unit out of its resting place and by use of couple of handy lumps of timber, lift it out into the corridor. We tried manhandling it trough the nearest cab door. But after twisting it this way and that we found that whatever angle it was in, it wouldn’t go through.
At this point we put it on the floor and went for a mug of tea.
During the break it dawned on us that there was another route to the outside world, through another door at the other end of loco, but this was only accessible through the labyrinth that is the inside of the locomotive (All modern i.e. non-steam locos are like this. The class 71 is a notable exception to this rule, as it is beautifully uncluttered internally . . . I digress). After a debate of several minutes we elected to try that route instead.
Initially we lifted the regulator over the clean air intake frame, and past the brake compressor control gear and vacuum exhauster. This allowed us to place the regulator on the floor and relieve our arms. Next we negotiated the main generator and lifted it over the oil filters alongside the power unit, carefully twisted the unit so it didn’t hit the overspeed switch. Then after another rest using the floor plates under the governor to take the weight of the unit, we carefully manhandled it (tautology alert!) under the governor, through the radiator compartment door, and straight through the door in to the No 1 end cab. The whole exercise took over thirty minutes to traverse the 12 metres or so from one cab door to the other. But the regulator was out of the engine room.
From here to the ground was easy, with two extra strong fellows from the crew of the steam loco who’d come down the yard for a breather between service trains. They also helped get the other regulator into the cab. Thanks guys.
As the Haynes manual says, reassembly is the reverse of disassembly, and a two hours later the new regulator was in place. Hurray! Job done.
Our instructions were to phone Tim when we got to this point. Tim is one of a small number of the team passed out as driver on the railway. On arrival he undertook the static duties (inspections and check prior to using a locomotive), started the loco, let the air pressure build up to the prerequisite level, selected forward, selected notch 1 for power, and off we went down the yard. Ok so far.
Having stopped the loco we de-isolated the regulator system. Selected forward, plus notch 1 again and nothing happened…. The fault was still present. Ahhhhh!
A few phone calls to other members of the engineering team and we were advised to replace the regulator again with the original, and try again.
So, with reservations we removed the new regulator, wriggled it through the loco, lifted it to the floor, picked up the old one, and bought it back through the engine-room with increasing numbers of rest periods to let the blood flow back into our arms and calm the complaining muscles. Two hours later it was getting dark as we finished making up the connections by torchlight.
Tim ran the test again. No change. Well, we hadn’t expected one!
A pint sounded nice, and so we abandoned the job, disposed of the locomotive (performed the shut down routines) and made our way to The Wheel Tappers Arms.
The following morning Dzus (who’s real name is Simon), arrived with some specialist electrical test equipment. He and Tim spent the morning trying to test run the loco, for each test they put monitoring equipment on different parts of the regulator circuit. As time progressed they started looking increasing puzzled and there was a gentle rise in the volume and quality of the swearing.
While this was going on Shaun and I started on the job of replacing the filters in the body side air intakes. Not a heavy job, but very dusty if you don’t manage to trap the dust in the filter as you remove it to the rubbish bag.
Eventually a very sheepish looking Dzus appeared and started checking the cable identities on the brake frame. He quickly found one and swapped it for its neighbour the other side of a relay coil. Ten minutes later with the regulator in service the loco was moving off down the yard under its own power.
After much probing, Shaun and I got them to admit that when the overhaul was nearing completion Tim and Dzus had wired it up wrong.
Now it was fixed, Tim asked if Shaun and I could replace the regulator with the new one so the old one could go for overhaul. We advised them that after yesterday’s performance we wouldn’t, and left them to it.
My last sight of Tim and Dzus on that day was a few hours later, still in the engine-room trying to get the regulator under the governor……
posted by TonyB at 2:25 pm
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