During March 1970 D7029 sustained
collision damage. The details of the collision are not known other than it
occurred on or near to the 16th March working 8A02/7, however, what
appears to have happened is that the locomotive was 'sandwiched' between two
other vehicles. The B end cab and main frames were forced downwards and the A
end cab received front end damage to the cab above the frames.
Whilst
Swindon completely stripped, reshaped and rebuilt the B end cab the A end had
the minimum amount of work done to return the locomotive to service as quickly,
and as cheaply, as possible. Rather than square up parts of the superstructure
they simply added new cab side sheets that were bigger to cover the sides to the
cab doors!
Since
we have had the Hymek the A end cab doors have never closed properly and the cab
sides have suffered badly from corrosion. Having stripped down the cab we now
know why! The incorrect gauge steel had been used on the cab side sheets by
Swindon (16 gauge rather than 10 - obviously thinner steel is easier to work
with and form shapes) and we have found a cab door pillar to be a ½ inch out of
'true'.
Rather
than just replace the cab sheets and live with the defect, as British Railways
did for five years, we have decided to correct the defect and replace the cab
sheets using the correct gauge steel. In order to achieve this we have had to
completely strip the A end cab and remove everything!
This
official photograph was kept in the maintenance folder for D7029 held by
Swindon Works and given to us with the locomotive.
The
records in the folder show the collision force had closed the door
apertures of A cab by 1½ inches, the cab doors could not be closed and
the cab side window frames were distorted as well as the nose end dents
and smashed route indicator glass.
The
recommendation was that both cabs should be removed for the work to be
carried out. Only the B cab was removed, A cab was repaired in situe which
resulted in the cab side door apertures being pulled open, but opened too
much by a ½ inch.
B
end sustained the worse damage with both buffers being forced downwards by
some 6 inches.
These
two pictures (below) show the current condition of A cab. It has been totally
stripped out ready for work to be carried out on the cab superstructure
and cab side sheets.
The
two 'new' rusty sections below the cab windscreen centre pillar were
fitted at Swindon to take out the dent in the nose end centre.
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It
will probably take a year or more to sort out the cab door frames in the A end
cab and prepare the superstructure for re-sheeting. Luckily we have numerous
drawings, saved from Swindon on micro-fish, and official books detailing exactly
how to do the work. All this work, time, money and effort to correct a defect
measuring ½ inch!
Whilst
the engineers work on the A cab the rest of us are busy cleaning the
locomotive engine room, boiler room and cooler group compartments.
The
view (below) is looking from B cab towards A cab. The pillars in the middle
of the loco. support the water tank supplying the train heating boiler and
is fitted above the transmission (removed).
The
frames supporting the MD 870 engine are in the foreground.
Below,
is the view looking from A cab towards B cab. The stand in the foreground
with the circular hole is the frame for the Serck cooling fan pump, driven
from a cardan shaft from the transmission.
Next
to this is where the dynostarter sits, both components located inside a
tunnel section built into the cooler group.
Once
the insides have been repainted we will start to reassemble pipe work and
then a full re-wire will be carried out.
