2018 Overhaul of Douglas Ferreira
The hire agreement between the Society and the railway company for the Society-owned locomotives states that the railway company deals with any day-to-day maintenance, whereas any significant expenditure (including overhauls) is financed by the Society. The most recent overhaul of Douglas Ferreira was in 2018 and was project managed by Society member Graham Worsnop.
The following report has been written by Graham.
During the 2017 Christmas holiday period, preparations were made for the Society locomotive, Douglas Ferreria, to be sent away for overhaul. The railway company organised the transport using Lawsons Haulage, the cabs were cleared of accumulated equipment and rubbish, and the brass name and number plates were put into safe storage. After Rander 11 returned to Ravenglass on Tuesday 2nd January 2018, Douglas Ferreira was taken out of traffic.
On Friday 5th January 2018, Douglas Ferreira was delivered to the Forth Engineering facility at Cleator Moor.
Thanks to the efforts of Stuart Marsh, a design for new tyres for the wheels had already been prepared which complied with the R&ER wheel standards, and the tyres had already been ordered. Dismantling of the loco began and the wheels were sent to Wheel Sets UK in Rotherham for fitting the pre-ordered tyres.
The wheels were turned down to accept the new tyres, the tyres machined up and shrunk onto the wheels. Additional and unexpected machining was needed to bring the wheels back-to-back spacing into tolerance. This was due to the fact that the original wheels were slightly thicker than expected. This caused a slight delay in returning the loco to the railway.
The engine and hydraulics were all overhauled – and advice has been provided to us for future maintenance to minimise wear of the hydraulic system.
New seats were installed. A new coolant expansion tank and hand filling pump were installed, and in the process it was found that the original radiator cap (totally inaccessible in the engine bay) was worn and leaking.
The fuel and hydraulic tanks were mounted on anti-vibration mounts, so the problem with cracking should be eliminated. The fuel tank was split into two, so that it can be removed without removing the engine bay body shell, should access be needed to the hydraulic pipework behind.
Small mirrors were installed to enable drivers to see behind – on both sides. These were not designed to give a fully detailed view, but to allow the driver to be aware of things going on behind.
The cab interlocks were changed using different equipment. These are much easier to use. A Rander board holder was fitted in each cab, together with a Navigator’s map reading light (from M-Sport) to allow the drivers to read the Rander board on night runs without having to turn on the main cab light.
A number of bushes, joints and couplings were replaced on the braking and suspension systems.
One of the most challenging jobs was the state of the bodywork. The design of the loco results in a number of rust traps, and while this was rectified as far as possible, rust will continue to be a problem with this body shell in the future. However, for now, the rust treatment and new paint have given Douglas an impressive appearance.
The loco was returned to Ravenglass in mid-April 2018, and post-overhaul testing commenced.
An initial test run was aborted at Murthwaite due to the loco crabbing and investigations began to determine the source of this. This proved extremely difficult to diagnose, despite measuring everything in sight. Forth Engineering even checked the wheels in their lathes and found difficulty in getting some to run true. However, when reassembling the wheelsets for one bogie, 3 wheels sat on the axles correctly, but the fourth would not sit true. It was true when placed on the axle, but as soon as the taper lock fittings were tightened, it pulled out of true.
This proved to be the key, as we were then advised that this phenomenon could only happen if the wheel bores had fretted. We then discovered that all the bores had fretted to a taper to some extent. This was because the taper locks are at the outer edge of the wheel bore, but the flanges are on the inside edge, and thus going round curves would cause the wheels to flutter on the axles, resulting in this fretting.
The effect of the fretting, was that the wheels had been machined to take the tyres to a false datum. Several attempts were taken to try and correct the problem, including fitting a different type of taper lock which should have been able to hold the wheel true without relying on the bore being true. They could – but not with the addition of nearly 7 tons of loco sitting on the wheels. As a result, the rear of the wheel bores were fitted with bushes to hold the wheels true – but these will need to be replaced every time the wheels are re-profiled. The wheels were also re-profiled to correct the false datum issue, which will take some life out of the tyre – but we should still get 20 years of life.
Alex Sharphouse, from John Fowler & Co, also noticed that the body movement while the loco was sitting on its bogies (most of the investigation was done on detached bogies) was just a bit odd. This revealed that the side control linkages had seized. The replacement of these was an oversight by everyone. Due to their location, they had been missed.
Refitting everything, the wheels at last sat true, and also their flanges were clear of the rail heads. Moving the loco around the workshop yard confirmed this and led to a successful light test run to Dalegarth and back. Following some minor adjustments and replacement of weeping hydraulic hoses, a test run with a full rake of carriages was carried out. This was successful, and the loco was returned to service on 25th September 2018.