47401 PROJECT
Preservation News (2011)
 
CLASS 47 DATA FILE PART 6 - NOW OUT (FINALLY)!
This volume is now finally available and has been posted to everyone who pre-ordered. Some problems at the printing stage further delayed the book (in fact we still don't have the entire print run of 500 even now). The book can be ordered by Paypal through this website by going here!

UPDATE - FRIDAY NIGHT
Timetables are now available for Saturday and Sunday. Locos are 20048, 45041, 45133, D182, 47401.

DIESEL GALA 8th/9th OCTOBER
All being well 47401 will be running at MRB this weekend. Unfortunately as of Thursday night (6th October) we have no timings or disgrams, nor do we know what other locos are running and there is no info on the MRB's own website. Looks like being a bit 'low key'.

Our last running day in August was successful apart from some problems with coolant loss involving a 'pit stop' during the afternoon for a top up. Running with J72 No. 69023 provided the sight of two locos both built by BR only eleven years apart but both carrying North Eastern Railway coats of arms, which you would have thought was a nice opportunity for a bit of marketing and extra publicity rather than publicly ridiculing Project members for even suggesting such a thing.


CLASS 47 DATA FILE PART 6
Apologies to all who have been kept waiting, this is expected back from the printers any time. At least the last minute delays enabled us to include 47488's latest relocation to Burton-on-Trent!

47401 RUNNING DAY - SUNDAY 28th AUGUST
As part of the MRB's Vintage Train Weekend, 401 will be running with the "non-vintage" rake of stock this Sunday.

Departures from Butterley are at 11.10, 12.20, 13.50, 15.05 & 16.15. The steam hauled vintage rake will feature visiting locomotive J72 No. 69023. Two train service will also operate on the Monday but with D182 being the rsotered diesel.

Our closing down sale at the shop will be continuing over this weekend, and the following weekend September 3/4 which will be our very last weekend.

CLOSING DOWN SALE!
To coincide with the Midland Railex Model Show at the Midland Railway Butterley this weekend (13/14 August), the 47401 Project is holding a closing down sale at its sales coach at Swanwick Junction station.

Our stocks of brand new Bachmann and Hornby models which were already 20% off RRP will be reduced to 30% off RRP.

All of our extensive stocks of secondhand railway books will be one third off the marked price, and new books will be a third off the published price.

Railway videos will be reduced to £1 each, DVDs to £3 each. Our huge assortment of photos, postcards and stickers will be just 10p each.


The Project would like to thank everyone who has supported our sales coach for the last 10 years, without which we probably would not have been able to afford the extensive rebuild of locomotive D1516 or the purchase of spares loco 47761. We now need to reduce the amount of stock before having to vacate the coach at short notice so please do consider coming along to pick up some bargains.

We may still be having a sales outlet at the Midland Railway but nothing definite yet. We will still be selling online at eBid.net, search for user name 47401project or follow this link http://47401project.ebid.net


Please note that all visitors must arrive at the Railex event via Butterley station for which there will be a charge, there will be no public access by road directly into the Swanwick Junction site this weekend.

CLASS 47 DATA FILE PART 6
We have just about completed our final edits on this book, it has taken a while but we would rather get things as accurate as possible rather than rush to publication. Thanks to everyone who has ordered the book so far. It will soon be in the hands of the printers and we hope that they will be able to turn it round quickly for us. Part 6 is still available to order from the sales page of this website for anyone with a Paypal account or can be ordered by sending a cheque payable to 47401 Project to 21 The Oaklands, Droitwich, WR9 8AD. Cheques won't be banked until the book is available. 

BACK IN ACTION!
Good news - 401 is once again operational! A light engine test run from Swanwick to Ironville and back on Saturday afternoon 23rd July and all seems to be well with the power unit.
 
Apart from a few minor outstanding jobs, we can now return our attention to 417. 
 
It is pleasing that we have managed to achieve what we have in a comparatively short time, a tribute to everyone's hard work and determination!
 
47401 UPDATE 1st July 2011
Following our last posting from the engineering side, major efforts have been made to complete the repairs to 401. The two errant cylinder heads removed from the power unit were found to have erosion around the sealing lip which sits within the groove in the top of the liner. Although the wear/damage was only 2 thou, this renders the heads useless - unless re machined.  This is due to the sealing method (soft iron ring) which means there is minimal 'take up' in the gasket, instead the seal is reliant on close machined tolerances of the respective components. Our spares locomotive 761 was wheeled out post haste and two heads removed for checking and eventual re-use (after confirming they were within satisfactory tolerance). These were installed on 401 on the same day as they were removed from the donor (the 18th), and torqued down on 25th. Concurrently the injector pumps which were found to be leaking have been replaced with good spares and the fuel rack (which was also found to be defective) removed and replaced with one from A Bank, 47114. Of note, the anticipated problems with A1 have not manifested themselves and all seems well (as well as one may expect in the circumstances) beneath the head.
 
Injectors overhauled as part of the winter maintenance which were removed with the failed heads now await exhange with those on the replacement heads to keep the overhauled set together. The turbo/exhaust studs have inevitably required drilling out - which has been as painful as one would expect!  Whilst removed from the power unit, the opportunity has been taken to clean and repaint the coolant pipes, which should do something to improve the appearence of the inside of the loco. 
 
The coming weekend (July 2nd) will see the reassembly of the bulk of the power unit (rockers, coolant system etc). Although this list seems very short when written, it has taken a few frenetic days of activity on our part and the goodwill of Ian Crampton from the MRB to do short-notice craning for us.

CLASS 47 DATA FILE PART 6 - D1682 - D1714
We are now taking pre-orders for this latest, never before published volume in the series. Featuring the Western Region's series-parallel locos as well as the former Class 48s D1702-D1706 this book is now completed and due to go to the printers any time. It's 84 pages with a colour cover and around 100 B&W photos inside of all the locos in this batch complete with their histories, allocations, liveries, modifications, scrapping details etc.

Some recent publicity in Traction magazine suggested it was already available, unfortunately these publicity articles have to be arranged several months in advance of their actually appearing and we'd hoped the book would be out by the time the publicity appeared. The book can be ordered through this site using Paypal or by sending a cheque payable to 47401 Project to 21 The Oaklands, Droitwich, WR9 8AD. Cheques won't be banked until the book is available - we would like to ask that anyone thinking of ordering the book does so straight away so we have some funds in place to pay the printing bill instead of having to use money that we should be spending on the locos!

Order Class 47 Data File Part 6 here!

47401 Project at eBid.net
Our mail order sales list of books and models can now be found on eBid.net - user name is 47401project or follow this link:-

For those unfamiliar with eBid it works in a very similar way to eBay but is much cheaper to use, which means we can keep prices competitive. It is free to list items and they can be listed to run until sold, all at fixed Buy It Now prices.


Although eBid has a smaller market share than eBay it is expanding rapidly. Items listed have a good visibility on Google Shopping which means a lot more people will see what we have to offer than if we carried on just using this website.


We'll be keeping this site going for loco news and pictures plus as an alternative way of ordering our Class 47 Data File books. If you want to order any of the eBid items but don't want to join eBid (though it is very easy to join!) then just get in touch with us via the usual enquiries link on this site and we will be happy to sell any of our items on there direct.

UPDATE - 16th May 2011
For anyone who planning to visit next weekend's Diesel Gala at MRB (21/22 May) we regret to inform you that 47401 will NOT be running at this event.

A number of defects which have become evident following the loco's period of winter storage have forced the Project to announce the temporary withdrawal from traffic of the doyen of the class. In short the loco is a little "tired", and while we had hoped to get through the 50th anniversary of the class before a spell of maintenance, it has now been decided to undertake this task in 2011 instead. More details of the work involved is as follows.

The decision has been taken chiefly as a result of additional power unit defects (blowing cylinder heads) being discovered during the recent examinations in preparation for the operating season. These defects, in conjunction with a number of supplementary minor defects have forced us to take the decision to carry out remedial work – including to the long standing issue with cylinder A1’s head. Though a disappointment to the group, and no doubt to those of you wishing to enjoy haulage this year, it will at least see the locomotive in a fit state for her 50th birthday next year. 

Prior to this the injectors had been overhauled by the Butterley Stationary Power group to assess their contribution to fuel contamination to the lubricating oil. The report which accompanied the excellently overhauled injectors indicated no fault found. This finding obviously had an impact on the decision taken to withdraw the locomotive. Additionally, following the ravages of winter, a selection of new radiator elements have been fitted to replace those that succumbed to the extreme temperatures – necessary despite the locomotive being drained of coolant.

It is a disappointing start to the season, particularly for the team who have as ever have put numerous hours into the annual preparation of 401.

47417

Despite the unfortunate news regarding “fleet leader” the project to resurrect our other Generator is being pushed forward.  The bogies recovered from 761 are now being cleaned thoroughly prior to examination and rectification of any defects.  The regular gang who have been undertaking the thankless task of scraping the worst of the “road dirt” (what a wonderful euphemism!) deserve a special thanks for their efforts – well done gents (you know who you are)!

On the locomotive itself, wiring is being focussed on once again, with assessment being made of individual circuits to ascertain that they are intact, safe and operable.  No voltage has been applied to the circuits yet, and will not be until the task has been completed in its entirety.  Wiring modifications have been undertaken to re-terminate the 110V AVR wiring, allowing the extension of the severed cabling without through-crimping.  Rewiring has not been undertaken as thus far it has not been found necessary. The severed feed to the Number 2 roof fan has also been reinstated, using parts collected many years ago. Replacement of the equipotential bonding studs will be undertaken next. This stage of the work was always expected to absorb considerable man-hours for little apparently achieved but we will endeavour to keep you informed of where we are at this very busy time.

D1516 UPDATE - 19th April 2011
The bogies from spares donor 47761 were recovered from under the loco on Saturday 16th April for use under D1516 after the previous couple of weekends had been spent disconnecting the traction motors and speedo cable as well as the bogies themselves. Everything went very smoothly we are glad to say, considering that a bogie swap and lift of a loco is something the Project had not undertaken before.

The next task will be to check over and clean up the traction motors, and generally fettle up and give a lick of paint to the bogies themselves which hopefully will prove to be in a good condition and won't require a great deal doing to them. D1516 will then be lifted and the major task to rebuild our second 'Generator' will have taken another big step towards completion. Thanks to Ian Crampton and Eric Riley of the MRB for their help with the lifting.

Elsewhere on the loco further reconnecting of the various systems in the auxiliary compartment has taken place, in addition to repainting of the cab interiors and new roof section ex-47756, plus ongoing assessment/repair of electrical wiring.

Some photos of the lifting of 47761 can be seen on the 47417 Gallery page.

D1516 UPDATE - 12th February 2011
Our first update of the year, and the news that D1516 has taken another step towards completion. Over the winter period work has involved reconnecting the auxiliary machines, and completing the restoration and hydraulic testing of the radiator section. This culminated this weekend with the craning in of the triple pump and brake frame and then the roof section itself was lifted on. Much reconnecting of the coolant, fuel and air systems remain to be done now that all the components are in place, but it is very satisfying to see 417 looking like a complete loco again after all this time.

Meanwhile the fleet pioneer 47401 has had its fuel injectors removed for overhaul prior to the running season.

Some recent photos can be seen on the 47417 Gallery page.

 
 
  Site Map