NYMR Civils fleet

Brake Van 955255 has now been fully reblocked with new brake blocks. Bit of a pig as it is double blocked with 16 blocks.

Great strides today (24th Feb) on SEACOW 667.
The new air distributor has been fitted. As was hoped for, it matched up with the existing pipework exactly.
All we need now is the air cart from Grosmont to test the brakes out.

Steve, Rod and Richard then set about the continuing challenge of the stuck centre doors.
Apparently, calling each other ‘Stuart’ all day (don’t ask me why) seemed to have the desired effect – both doors are now out of the wagon!
That means all 5 of 6 can now be reskinned.

The method involved the south end door being jacked up parallel to the pin and then rotated to establish that the door cast bracket was seized on the pin. This was warmed up to melt the grease inside and with hammer power, out it came. No ridging was in the pin, just hard compacted grease.

Another bonus, is that once out in the daylight, we discovered that one of the centre doors has been re-skinned in more recent times. It does not need doing now.
Just four tight linkage pins to take out of the door castings left to do.

Other work – the centre section of the south end has now received a coat of olive drab gloss.

 

Thought it was about time for an update.

No great progress on the Seacow other than exterior body painting. We are waiting for the removed doors to come back from being reskinned.

Lowmac EO 217315 - until about 2 weeks ago, again this had not seen much progress then the engineering works turned up on site and installed the new gridwork assembly forming the floor girders. This is now awaiting inspection by the C+W dept before we fit the timber decking. The new gridwork is actually about 20mm deeper in section than the original I beams which means the floor will be a little bit higher. Probably means that we could up the load capacity but we will keep it as it is.
However it does mean that we could finally fit the ramp timbers.
Not to great a problem until you try and bolt down, then the crossbeams, Brake rigging and Vac pipes all conveniently meet at the one point were the bolt is to fit add to that the low height and your average fat fingered spanner wielder has great difficulty in getting his hands in.

The Coles Crane is gradually having body panels refitted after painting with some attention to framing repairs. The engine is proving reluctant to burst into life though. Our new permanent staff fitter Harry looks like he will beat it though. Our volunteer fitter Rod has done most of the leg work up to now on the engine.
The jib still needs attention from a repair contractor.

Due to the amount of Air braked vehicles we now have, we have started to put together a test rig mounted on an old brake test cart that happened to be lying around elsewhere on the railway. This is coming together nicely by Richard.

 

Bit of progress over the last few weeks.
The LOWMAC has now been completed and is fully decked, new vac pipe fitted and all paintwork finished.
Just needs a final sign off by C+W then it can be put to work on the winter track renewal works.
We don't believe that wagons should stay clean and unscratched once finished, they have a job to do.
Seacow 667 - Lots of hopper platework has been cut out, due to corrosion and now in the process of welding in new steel sheet.

The RUDD spoil wagon has had work restarted on it after completion of the Lowmac.
This has involved overhauling the Air brake system including removal of tank for inspection and also the Distributor which was sent away for overhaul along with 2 others from the Seacows. This has now been refitted to the RUDD. The Air system is now just about complete and needs testing.
Next jobs on this are to fit a Vac through pipe and reskin 5 of the 6 doors
We are retaining Air braking on the RUDD and the Seacows and at present we do not intend to refit Vac braking on these vehicles, but all will be vac piped.

A puzzle arose yesterday while sorting through some long forgotten spares.
Can anyone identify what these 2 items are?
They look like an old version of an Air brake pipe connector but a lot smaller.

Any ideas please?

 

DMU/loco control air blank.

 

Thanks for that.

However the fittings seem smaller than the usual Air Fittings.
We do have some Air fitted vehicles in our fleet.

 

Well its been a busy few months since my last update on the NYMR Civils fleet.
Over the winter work was concentrated on the track renewals at Kingthorpe but since then we have been running a tamper training course. Other machine training will be following on.
The Gresley Coach 1077 / ADE 320427 has been sold and passed on to the LNERCA who have now sheeted the coach and relocated it to Grosmont for the time being.
Tamper 73250 has now been fully passed out with its Computer control system, the results in track quality are amazing.
Tamper 73214 has now been declared redundant after hanging on as a substitute if needed but now it is providing spare parts and then will be scrapped.
Regulator 5077 has been saving an awful lot of shoveling when moving ballast around, no real changes to its condition over the last few months, some paintwork possibly over the summer.
BORAIL B946060 has had its STUMEC Rail cranes overhauled and refitted, these needed specialist work by an approved contractor.
Plasser Crane 81516 is back in action after having an engine replacement.
Coles Crane DE2524 is also now back in action after major jib repair work again by specialist contractor. The rest of the crane has been overhauled with work on the engine, motors and brake gear all being carried out at Newbridge.
Rudd Spoil wagon has had 5 new door skins fitted and this Air Braked wagon has had its Distributor overhauled, the rest of the brake system overhauled, a Vac Through pipe fitted and a repaint from Blue into Black.

What next?
Well the fleet of 4 Seacows and a Sealion still needs to be tackled.
But as a challenge the resurrection of the ex Grant Rail S+C Road Rail tamper has been thought about.
But will it get any further than that?

 

Time for an update.
The 15t Coles Crane seems to have taken up residence down at the Carriage shed replacing their 9 tonner, no reports of any major problems just a few electrical gremlins to treat.
Servicing on going on Tamper 73250 along with a gradual panel by panel repaint into yellow.
The Regulator is weeping a bit from one of its many rams, so removal for servicing is being done but a slight problem in that the pivot pin refuses to come out.
It will rotate 360 degrees and move vertically a few mm but is stuck in place.
Tamper 73214 is not long for this world now as the last few salvageable bits are being removed, then the gas torch comes out.
Grampus spoil wagon 998228 has had a newly refurbished Vac cylinder fitted. One slight problem in that we managed to install it the wrong way round and did not spot the error until we had got it remounted on the trunnions and started refitting new hoses.
A couple of comments from residents on here provided some answers and thank you to them.
The Seacow is still in progress having been sidelined while the crane was being worked on.
A sign of progress was the refitting of the first hopper door.
This had been removed along with all the other 6 hopper doors to be reskinned due to rust and jamming from bent bits.
Today one of the centre doors was hauled up into the opening, links attached and wound open and closed no problems at all.
Feeling chuffed with that we then tried one of the side chute doors. We think we tried 13 out of 14 possible ways of getting the door in place but no luck.
We will try method 14 next week.
Other wagons in the yard include the BORAIL loaded with rail ready for dropping off at one of this winters relay sites.
Lowmacs and plate wagons loaded with varying sleepers, F27, G44 Concretes, Timber Pan 11 fitted and Steels all waiting delivery to sites.
Along with everything else I then rope in my other half for a nature ramble up in Newtondale, in reality survey work for one of the relays.

 

How long since I last updated this? Too long.
Those doors were absolute sods to get in position, about a 1/4 inch clearance all round between the door and anything else that could get in the way.

Last week the first Seacow ventured out with a full load of ballast.
This was for a follow up Stone tip, Tamp and Regulate on one of last winters relay sites.


To get to the site a PW Train was run before the last passenger service into Pickering, we passed at Levisham and managed to get started tipping stone about 20.00 before it got too dark. All doors opened and closed as they should without too much effort.
The decision has been made and the old Coal hoppers have now been retired from PW Work.


Meanwhile we are carrying on with the next Hopper in line which will be a SeaLion with both Air and Vac brakes intact.
A lot of patch welding in the hopper and around the frames is being carried out by the welder Neil from C+W at Pickering.

 

Recent work has been concentrating on getting the Sealion fit for use.
Welding in of new steel into the hopper has continued with about 4 full sheets used so far.
The South end has been completed and Neal has now moved onto the North end.

Painting of the bodywork has been progressing but got a massive boost last week when we had 4 Men from Network Rail in York.

3 of them were put to work on painting and the 4th man was tasked with working out the Emergency pump system on the Ballast regulator.
At times all 4 were engaged on the Regulator but only as and when needed.
Such as 1 man on the hand pump in the engine bay, 1 man on the bypass control levers under the reg, 1 man watching which bit of equipment moved and which way with the 4th man recording details.
It is a system that they have not met before but is similar in practice to those systems found on NWR machines.

The Sealion work was progressed through priming, undercoating and even some Olive Drab Gloss was applied.

For all your efforts lads many thanks.

Elsewhere in the yard the Stumec cranes on the Borail was checked over a week or so back.
This is ahead of about 100 rails being delivered this week and which need to be delivered to the 3 renewal sites before the winter works kick in.

The Borail has been out, with a weltrol for added capacity, early mornings this week returning about 0900 each morning delivering rails.
Next the sleepers will need to be delivered and loaded out.

 

Work continues with the wagon repair programme although a bit slower at this time of year as a good portion of the fleet is now in use with Track relay work or in delivering / collecting materials to and from work sites.
Up to now we have completed one relay at Farworth already mentioned on another thread.
We have 4 wagons under load with recovered felled trees with more to collect as and when possible.
These wagons also need to be offloaded fairly soon as they will be needed for recovering track materials from the next 2 relays in Jan and Feb.

As for wagon repair work we have put together a bit of a plan that we might or might not keep to.

2018 General Repair work

PLATE B933122 Defective vacuum cylinder to change.

FLATROL ADB 900119 Full repaint. Check condition and integrity of through air and vacuum pipes.
PLATE B934380 Oleo buffer to change
GRAMPUS DB991840 Two flanged brake blocks to change


SEALION DB982595 Completion of full body and mechanical overhaul. Air and vacuum brake overhaul. Repaint in departmental olive drab livery.
C & W fitness to run exam.

20T Brake Van B955225 Full overhaul (principally significant body framework repairs & renewal of side planking). Repaint. C & W fitness to run exam

WELTROL EF E230908 Full mechanical & bodywork overhaul To include lift from bogies at New Bridge depot Repaint, C & W Fitness to run exam.

SEACOW First available in line at Levisham. Recover to New Bridge for component recovery, in advance of future overhaul.

OTM

12t Plasser Crane ongoing maintenance work.

Tamper 73250 Door repairs and window rubber renewal. Bodywork repairs Completion of the bodywork repainting.

Regulator GR5077 : - Assessment of condition of hydraulic hoses. Hydraulic controls. Systems filter /oil change. NW ram overhaul. Exhaust blow & broken bracket.

 

Well we have been out spending again.
Today saw the arrival at Newbridge of an S+C Tamper to work along with our existing Plain Line machine.
73307 is another ex Jarvis machine or should I say it is another one from the York Area ACE's squadron.
Acquired from somebody in the Midlands area.
This tamper has over the last few years been used on contract jobs around the country.
We think it is one of only 3 remaining S+C 07 machines in the country.
Will need a bit of TLC before it is let loose and another couple of operators trained up.

If anybody is interested in being a machine operator contact me and we will see how things go.

Some photos on the NYMR Unofficial web site.
http://www.nymr.org.uk/unofficial/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=640&p=12265#p12265

 

Update time again.

Those who have been watching some of the film clips of the Gala last weekend may have noticed the freight train.
Lurking within the train were 3 21t hoppers that we have now passed on to the Pickering wagon group.
These hoppers were originally purchased by York Area Group from Rowntree Mackintosh in York, in all there were 9 but some have been scrapped, sold or converted.

Our current workload is with 4 vehicles under way.
Tamper 73307, removal of TPWS etc, maintenance, bodywork, recommissioning of the electronics and painting.

Brake Van B955225 Full overhaul and rebuild. This is a back burner job for falling back on if anything else is waiting.

SEALION DB982595 Completion of full body and mechanical overhaul. Air and vacuum brake overhaul. Repaint in departmental olive drab livery.
C & W fitness to run exam.

WELTROL EF E230908 Full mechanical & bodywork overhaul To include lift from bogies at New Bridge depot Repaint, C & W Fitness to run exam.
Bogie lift carried out this week, now awaiting confirmation of date for shot blasting.

 

The Weltrol was shotblasted and primed then reunited with its wheels about a fortnight later.
Once on its wheels it was moved into the shed where it was again lifted and the North end wheelset rolled out.
This now allows all the brake rigging to be overhauled.
We also want to dismantle the bogie itself, after studying the drawings acquired from the NRM a few months back, we think we know what needs looking at.

However is there anyone out there who has any experience in dismantling LNER diamond frame wagon bogies for overhaul.

If so, was there any specific problems in removing the main vertical bolts ? Those either side of the springs.

 

We are carrying on with the dismantling of the bogies and gradually the reluctant bolts are getting removed.
Painting of the frame is almost on the scale of the Forth bridge, well maybe nearly.
Once we get the bogies sorted out then we will move on to fabricating new floor carrying beams.
All the old ones have been removed and had their cast ends removed for cleaning up and painting.
New beams will be made from old rail cut to size, as was done by BR.
All 4 corner gusset plates will need cutting out and renewing.

 

Quick question.
On the headstocks, are the holes for the Buffer shank a standard size for all vehicles?
Or do they vary with wagon type?

 

Thank you for keeping this thread up to date. It is easy to underestimate how much work goes on behind the scenes!

 

Newly refurbished Centre castings.


Newly painted bogie parts.


Unimog going for scrap.

Part reassembled North bogie

It's been a while since I updated this thread.
On the ground it does look like not a lot has changed, especially as 2 big items have not moved in the last 8 months.
These being Tamper 73307 and the Weltrol, but looks can be deceiving.

Firstly the Road / Rail Unimog tamper was finally put out of it's misery and went for scrap back in February. Too many hydraulic hoses to replace made it beyond economic repair and the new tamper has taken on it's proposed work, ie. Tamping of pointwork.

The 40t Weltrol was moved into the shed and promptly jacked up, Bogies out, Wheels rolled out, bogies split down to individual parts.
Needle gunning of the frames followed by lots of painting.
New gusset plates in the corner of the frames have been fitted as the old ones were classed as Sacred Objects due to their holy nature.
New oak packings for the Buffers.
All the bogie work has been needled, sanded, ground or beaten straight with heat and a big hammer.
The same story was done on the bolts holding the bogie together, some were stubborn to extract, some were easy and nearly fell out while others took 4 of us 3 days to extract with heat, oil, hammering back and forward or freezing with an extinguisher.
The centre castings have been removed, reprofiled, drilled out and bushed. New pins also acquired along with an additional lub pipe installed to the castings.
New bogie bolts of varying sizes have replaced some of the extracted damaged bolts.
The axleboxes have also seen attention with all being remetalled and profiled. New oil pads have also been fitted.

As of last thursday the first major reassembly took place with the North end bogie being reassembled and 1 wheelset refitted.

Tamper 73307
Not much to report on this other than removal of all NWR electronic equipment such as TPWS etc. Some of this was then passed on to Grosmont for use of Whitby engines.
Some repainting has been carried out subject to available staff when not working on the other tamper 73250 or the Weltrol.

Tamper 73250 has seen some use early in the year doing the tamping on last winters relay at Greenend.
A few failures put paid to more tamping of some rerailing sites and a shortage of trained operators did not help, but people have jobs and familys to think about as well.
it was hoped to run some training sessions and a number of volunteers have come forward.
During the last training sesssion it was noticed that some of the engine mounts were looking worn, so last weekend the engine block was carefully jacked up and 2 mounts have been removed with an order placed for replacing with some new items.

Other wagons have not needed anything other than routine looking at and maintenance.

Will add some photos later.
If any one is interested in joining us we usually work Tuesdays and Thursdays at Newbridge.
No skills needed other than basic DIY.

 

A few more notes and photos.
Maintenace on the Ballast Regulator included replacing a number of the Rubber Bristles.
Sleepers for the resleepering site at Fen Bog this winter needed drilling, all 1000 of them at 6 holes per sleeper.
Then all were placed out on site.
A replacement turnout was needed at Grosmont this was prebuilt at Newbridge prior to installation.
More bits on the Weltrol. Refitting buffer shank.
New crossbeams fabricated out of FB rail but needed new cast brackets that will need rivetting in place.

One original crossbeam in situ.


New brackets.


New Crossbeam brackets.

Making up new pointwork.



Refitting buffer shank.

Sleeper drilling

 

One other point I nearly forgot about.
Many thanks for the odd bits and pieces that have been carried out for us by the MPD at Grosmont and by the C+W at their Kirkby Misperton facility.

 

I think it's about time I updated this thread.

However for the obvious reason, there has been very little progress to report, but here goes.

March 2020 - Apr 2021 Nothing at all that was not essential and only invited staff or volunteers only.
Biggest job was stripping 4500 plus sleepers donated by Network Rail from the Esk Valley relay.

Main items worked on during 2020 - 2021.


Br 27 renewal - Contractors and minimal NYMR staff to enable completion

Newtondale Halt reballast. minimal NYMR staff

4500 scrap sleepers processed from NWR Danby relay 2 - 3 volunteers and 2 staff.

Beck Hole landslip 5 volunteers on Tamper and Rgulator.

Trout Farm Carriage stable, volunteers and NYMR staff.

Weltrol very little progress, awaiting new springs before any further work.

Lowmac 905100 full redeck required. Old deck stripped ready. Plus frame cracking to repair.

904152 Lowmac to redeck, old deck stripped ready.

Tamper maintenance 73250

Tamper painting 73307. Replacement Engine Bay doors recovered from a scrapped machine in Sheffield, these to Repair, Paint and fit.

Regulator renew all 150 brush tubes in the brush box.

CO detectors fitted to all machines.

Survey work for next Track Renewal at Farwath.

Delivery of new track materials to renewal site using Plate wagons and BORAIL with STUMECS.

Continuation of sorting stores material.

Snowplough 18 to Kirkby Stephen.

Drewry Diesel 16 to DVLR Murton.