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Web ChangesThis is where we'll announce the most recent additions to our web site. If you've visited us before and want to know what's changed, take a look here first. On this page, new text is in red. We now have a news archive, detailing briefly work done on a monthly basis.
Look at the Early Days section, for film and photos of 40118 at the end of its BR days!
Download your very own 40118 screen saver - two versions available
40118 screen saver with sound (2.02mb) or 40118 screen saver without sound (0.97mb)
May & June 2008
As mentioned in our April updates, the major work to be undertaken in early May (8 - 10th) was the return of the battery box to the locomotive, and the re-fitting of two roof section back on the locomotive. All three components had been fully overhauled at ground level with the roof sections being re-skinned and the battery boxes re-shelved. The battery box, has now been welded into position, a difficult process given the very tight space involved. The welding process can be seen in the latest photos section.
The society used a hired in 30 tonne road crane to undertake the complex lifting operations. In addition to these components, the crane was used to lift the two water tanks, turn them over and move them into under cover accommodation where they will be re-built. In effect all the internal baffles will be replaced, as well as the bottom skin of the water tank. This work will involve two fabricators for several months. A new 350 amp three phase welder has been obtained to assist in this process.
A set of photographs showing various stages of the lifting operation can be seen in the latest photos section.
In the weeks following the roof section return, the society have been bolting the roof sections back into place, to ensure that the seal are watertight. This is a difficult task, as, inevitably, the bolt holes did not quite line up, however, tapered punches have been used to bring the holes fully into line, and the roof sections are now fully bolted into place.
Following on from the roof section work the group have moved back onto power unit work. As previously disclosed, all of the power unit bearings will need replacing - with the new bearings already purchased. The little end bearings (which connect the piston con rods to the piston gudgeon pin need to be pressed out of the con rods. Press tools have been made by the society and a photo showing this being tested can be seen in the latest photos section. The actual pressing of the bearings will require the con rod to be heated to about 200 degrees in an oil bath before the hydraulic press can be used to press out the bearings. An oil bath has now been obtained, and oil is being sourced to allow the next stage of work to be undertaken.
Some of the air tanks from the loco underside have been removed and are currently being cleaned prior to visual inspections being taken place. Once visually assessed, the air tanks will be sent away for hydraulic testing and certification.
40118 is now substantially under cover which will allow the locomotive to be re-painted over the coming months.
March & April 2008
As a society we are continuing to overhauls components for the power unit, with work concentrating on the piston and con-rods. As previously announced, the society is replacing all of the power unit bearings owing to the originals being worn beyond safe re-use.
The piston con-rods need two new bearings - the big and little end. All bearings are being replaced with newly purchased bearings. The first con-rods have now been checked and are ready to be sent to contractors for the little end bearings to be re-placed (as the old bearing needs to be pressed out, and the new bearing needs to be pressed into place). The checking process involves checking to see if the con-rods are twisted, and whether the 'big end' is worn into an oval. So far four con-rods have passed these tests and are ready for the little end work. This work will now be done in house, with the necessary press tools being made by society members. The little end work will first be trialed on a scrap con-rod to ensure that all the processes are satisfactory, as the con rod needs to be heated in an oil bath to approaching 200C before the bearing can be replaced. Whilst the con-rods are being worked on the piston heads themselves are being checked and cleaned before possible machining and/or replacement of piston rings. All the piston rings will be replaced, the decision being which size to use (as there are different sizes depending on the life cycle of the piston).
The underside of the locomotive has now received its second and final gloss coat (the first coat can be seen in the latest photos section). The pipes under this part of the locomotive have now been cleaned, checked, primed and undercoated.
The load regulator had been put to one side whilst new contact fingers were manufactured from stainless steel. These have now been delivered, and the task of re-assembling the contactors can begin. However, before the job can be completed we need to obtain new contact tips for some/all of the contactors.
The wiring loom for the load regulator has now been checked and several of the wires replaced with new. This can be seen in the latest photos section.
The control cubicle has now received its final coat of BR blue paint on the 'boiler' face, and had the doors replaced. This work, whilst underway, can be seen in the latest photos section.
The lighting circuit conduit that runs behind the boiler is in the process of being replaced, work which involved the drilling out of a sheared stud behind the boiler in the most inaccessible place imaginable. This work needs to be completed before the roof sections and battery box can be put back on the engine - work currently scheduled for early May. New conduit has now been manufactured and fitted into place, which has, in turn allowed the fire pipe and the two inch vacuum pipe to be fitted - both of which blocked access to the broken conduit.
A great deal of time has been spent on preparing for the 9 May, the date planned for the return of the battery box and roof sections to the locomotive. This preparation work involves the positioning of the roof sections to allow the crane to reach safely and also the preparation of the weld sites to enable the battery box to be welded back into place quickly on the day.
January & February 2008
Power unit work continues apace, with planning of the sequence of work for the piston and cylinder head overhaul taking place. As previously reported, all of the engine bearings are being replaced. The little end bearings (between the piston gudgen pin and the con rod) are a 3 - 7 thousands inch interference fit and will need specialist press tools to undertake the replacement work.
It is likely that the society will manufacture the necessary press tools before subcontracting the actual replacement work to an outside contractor.
The piston con rods themselves are scheduled for checking for crack as part of the overhaul. This uses a dye based detection process, where a special penetrating dye is applied to the area undergoing checks and then a developer spray covers the red dye. Any cracks show up a bright red lines in the white developer. A con rod being tested can be seen in the latest photos section. So far six con rods have been tested and all have passed without difficulties
We have now retrieved three spare con rods from storage to start work on the overhaul of these which will allow a pool of overhauled piston assemblies to be produced, which will speed the re-fitting, as when the next pistons are removed, overhauled assemblies will be ready to slot straight into place (the work can be seen in the latest photos section). We have now checked the 6 con-rods removed from the loco and storage, and believe that three or four will be useable with the balance likely to be scrapped.
After crack detecting, the con rods need to be checked to ensure that the 'big end' of the con rod has not become worn or oval in shape, if they have, then the individual con-rod will need to be replaced. Fortunately, the society has a full set of replacement con-rods should the need arise. The task of checking for ovality is being done 'in house' by society members. So far one con rod has been scrapped, with three being checked and found to be satisfactory at this stage.
Working alongside the con rod overhauls, are the piston head overhauls. The piston rings are being replaced with new rings, but before that is done, we are checking the actual piston grooves to ensure they are not worn outside the correct parameters. So far, those checked are all satisfactory. New piston rings will be fitted, and many will come from the societies pool of new spares, but given the number of different size permutations required we have needed to order new piston rings. These should be delivered in the next few days to enable the first three piston overhauls to be completed.
Once all the work has been checked and re-assembled, 40118 will have pistons with new main bearings, new big and little end bearings and new piston rings. The work is to be undertaken in phases, with pistons being removed in 'groups' of three or four to reduce the storage commitment.
Planning for the replacement of the two roof sections (Boiler and Cubicle) and Large Battery box are being formulated. These three items have been off the loco for some years, having been fully re-constructed with new sheeting. It is hoped to crane these back into place in the next couple of months.
Work on the locomotive underside cleaning continues, with a large area fully cleaned and painted into primer. This will receive a second coat of primer in the coming week before undercoat and gloss paint is applied. Once done, it will allow our attention to be turned to the first 5 of the underside air tanks which will be cleaned internally and externally before being sent for pressure testing. The loco underside where the water tanks are fitted has now been painted into its second coat of anti corrosion primer, with the first of two undercoats being applied. The work can be seen in the latest photos section.
Some work has been undertaken on the main cooling water gallery that feeds the cylinder heads. This has had new rubber elbows fitted and the mounting brackets removed and modified to allow the pipe to sit at the correct angle.
Internally, the damaged conduit discovered behind the boiler has necessitated the manufacture of new conduit fittings which are ready to be fitted once the cleaning and painting of the area surrounding the conduit and boiler is completed. This area will also have all the fire and air pipes replaced at the same time. The conduit and associated air pipes removed from behind the boiler have been cleaned and painted ready for re-fitting. The first of the new conduit sections has been re-fitted with the next to follow soon. New wiring will be installed to re-connect the lighting circuits disconnected before Christmas 2007.
November & December 2007
Our suppliers section has been added to - these are all suppliers who have helped the society. If you need parts or consumables, please contact them to discuss your requirements.
A higher quality copy of the film "40118 at Vic Berry's" has now been put on Youtube. A lower resolution copy and many other 40118 resources can be found in our Early Days section of the website.
November has started with a number of jobs being continued with. Inside the engine room, work to clean and repaint the bodyside adjacent to the boiler has been underway, with this work finding a piece of broken lighting circuit conduit. This will entail the removal of a section of conduit behind the boiler and replacement with new. The new conduit has now been manufactured and is being painted prior to re-fitting. The opportunity will the taken to re-new the 6 wires that pass through this conduit.
Work on the removal of the power unit cylinder heads and pistons continues, with one further head and two pistons removed. The piston heads have been removed from the piston con rods and the little end bearings found to have worn to an unacceptable extend (which, given the state of the big ends was not surprising). These will, therefore all be replaced with new items. As all the remaining heads and pistons are removed, all will therefore receive new main, big and little end bearings. The heads themselves are joining the 'production line' of heads being stripped and overhauled. Photos of the cylinders and con rods can be seen in the latest photos section. When each piston is out of the power unit, work to clean each of the oil ways is undertaken as several (if not all) are heavily contaminated and oil flow is seriously restricted. All of the main bearing bolts need replacing, as they are nylock nuts which have a limited number of uses before replacement. The new nuts have been manufactured to order for the society. These will be fitted along with the new main bearings over the coming weeks.
As each cylinder head is stripped, the valves (four on each head) need re-lapping - this involves the use of abrasive paste to smooth out any undulations in both the valve and the valve stem, to ensure a gas tight fit. In order to do this job a tool has been manufactured in our workshop which will allow the valves to be overhauled efficiently.
During inspection, one of the cylinder heads has found to have elliptical valve seats. These would prove extremely difficult to rectify, as a result one of our spare cylinder heads will replace this now scrapped head.
The valve stem tubes on two cylinder heads have been removed for examination and were found to be worn (as expected). In consequence 64 replacement followers have been purchased to enable the complete set to be replaced. 60 of the 64 have so far been delivered into stock. We have manufactured a tool in our workshop to enable the safe removal of these tubes.
We have now purchased a full set of little end bearings, to replace the worn set. These will require a tool to press out the old bearings and this is currently being manufactured in our workshop. An example of both a worn and new bearing can be seen in the latest photos section.
Finally work has been undertaken to establish which piston types we have, and to check our stock of piston rings. Each piston has three different types of piston rings, each fulfilling a different function. These are available on four different sizes to allow for piston wear. For example, the compression rings are available in 0.187" thickness (standard size) and three 0.020" increments upwards. So far we have confirmed that we have 0.020" & 0.040" piston ring fitted pistons. We have a large stock of standard and 0.020" compression rings, with a smaller stock of 0.040" rings. Depending on the exact mix found in the power unit we will replace the rings from stock, and then purchase any additional rings required.
The main water pipe feeding cooling water to the cylinder heads is receiving some attention as it was found to form a kink in to the silicone hose elbow adjacent to the radiator room. This problem has been traced to a mounting bracket next to A4 cylinder that is about 1/2" too long. This has been removed and is being modified before refitting. The pipe in question can be seen in the latest photos section.
New valve rubbers for the air/vacuum control valve have been obtained and have now been fitted to the locomotive. This can be seen in the latest photos section.
The underside of the locomotive is still being cleaned ready for painting. All the oil, dirt and paint has now been removed from a large section of the underside and this has been -degreased ready for painting. The underside work continues with a large area on the 'A' side of the engine now primed, and waiting for further paint to be applied. This can be seen in the latest photos section.
The load regulator resistor bank has now been fully wired and, the covers refitted. The fully wired resistor frame can be seen in the latest photos section. The section of conduit replaced in October linking the resistor frame to the load regulator connection box has now had new wires drawn through ready for termination.
All the pipe work that links the control air tanks above the boiler/cubicle area have now been cleaned, repaired and are being painted ready for re-fitting. This will allow the control cubicle air system to be fed from the control air equipment for the first time in many years.
A considerable amount of work has been undertaken on our workshop coach, and this is illustrated in the Coach Restoration section
Media Coverage of 16 SVT SocietyFrom time to time 40118 is the subject of magazine articles. Below is a list of the more significant coverage, for you to look up and read!
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