D1041 Progress Report: 

October 2012

It's been a while since any news on D1041. Work demands, and the work on the loco itself has left very little free time for tying up other loose ends such as keeping the website regularly updated. However, I'm pleased to confirm that work on D1041 Western Prince is still progressing very well and the locomotive starting to take shape in several areas now.

The main focus has been on the re-wire with the main aim to try and get this finished so that live testing can get underway. We're a way off live testing yet, but jobs are getting ticked off steadily.

A lot of time has gone into B-end cab, this is nearing completion with all of the internal desk wiring is now strapped into place permenantly and connections the cab switch panel, warning lamps, master controller, direction switch, push buttons, instrument lighting and demisters etc largely complete barring a couple of panels or components still to be returned to the desk. The B-end horns and horn boxes in the roof have also seen attention.

'B' End cab progressing towards completion of electrical cabling and connections

All the control wiring to the locomotive electrics at B-end is in place and all the wiring that runs to terminals on the power and control cubicle frames under the desk is in place. Except for the cab to cab loom, which is currently being made up, however the large amount of wire needed for the loom means we can only buy more wire to add to it as and when the money is there.

The slow process of 'Belling Out' each wire from the cab to B-end of the locomotive is also being started now. This is to check for electrical continuity of each wire that has been run in, to check there are no breaks, and to ensure that all wires are accounted for and identified correctly on the cable schedule before crimping and connecting to the cubicle begins. All the wiring from the cab to the rest of the locomotive has also been flash tested, in other words checked for insulation resistance to earth, this is to ensure the insulation hasn't been snagged or damaged being pulled through the conduits, which would lead to the locomotive suffering earth faults when made live. As you can tell, all work is being done thoroughly and to the best standards, after the years of electrical faults on D1041, it is our primary aim to have a perfectly reliable Western.

The 'nose' area at B-end, largely complete electrically

Other electrical progress on 41 has included the overhaul of the Davenset unit, which steps down and rectifies the 240v AC mains supply which can be plugged into the locomotive, and converts it to 110v DC for the locomotive lighting and to run pre-heaters without drawing on the batteries. This has been returned to the loco, however I have some further modifications in mind which will result in a much more efficient system, so this may be removed again.

The electrical cubicle frames are also now being built up and the wiring finished off on these, in progress at the moment is the second of the 2 for B-end cab in the form of the control cubicle, and the first for A-end which is the power cubicle frame. These are progressing well and, with the long and tedious job of overhauling the contactors and relays out of the way, the building up and wiring is taking no time at all.

Overhauled Davenset

Control cubicle frame No3 nearly re-wired

Away from the Electrical side, other important jobs are also progressing. Before we start re-building and wiring A-end cab, which is largely the last thing to be done on the electrical side of 1041's overhaul, fabrication repairs are being undertaken. The biggest problem at A-end was the floor underneath the drivers desk which houses the cubicles and all the wiring, this was rotten beyond belief and as a result the whole section cut out. A new pattern will be made up and welded back in place, allowing us to get the underside painted, the floor cleaned and start running the wires from A-end of the locomotive, into the driver's desk.

Fabrication repairs to both front ends are also underway, meaning it doesn't represent much of a Western from the front ends at the moment, but is all critical repair work after 50 years of water ingress in the nose ends, it needs to be properly addressed and put right, to stop any more corrosion.

A-end not looking much like a Western, as with B-end, is having corroded metalwork replaced

A-end of the locomotive which saw the transmission re-fitted at the start of this year is slowly being pieced back together, structural and bracket work is being re-fitted after removing the old paint and giving several coats of primer, undercoat and gloss. Pipework is slowly being needle gunned back to bare metal to check for any weak spots of cracks in coolant pipes, this can then be painted and mapped out, slowly building A-end from the floor up.

In the New Year we have arrangements to lift out B-end cooler group, this will then be taken to our big secure storage warehouse with the overhauled A-end cooler group for safe and dry storage until needed at a later date. We then plan to remove the Dynostarter from B-end which desperately needs some TLC, the pre-heater will also be removed as we plan on fitting newer, far more efficient preheat units, allowing us to set timers for the pre-heaters come on and go off. The B-end reverser will also then be removed for attention or replaced with our spare reverser unit and B-end can then go back together.

A-end cooler group being overhauled, the B-end unit will come out in the New Year

So I hope you will see, plenty of progress has been made, but still a lot to keep us busy for a while longer! As the photographs show, D1041 is really taking shape electrically and besides a lot of crimping and terminating, we only have one cab to build up now, before we can start testing.

As mentioned however, we still need to order a fair amount of cable for A-end and the cab to cab wiring, this doesn't come cheap and if anybody feels they would like to contribute to getting D1041 back to its former glory, then donations are greatly appreciated and can be made on this website with just a few clicks, see the D1041 Help page for details!

From myself I would just like to take a minute to thank everybody who has donated towards D1041, to everyone who has put time and effort into the locomotive, every job carried out whether large or small is as important as the rest. I would like to thank Jeff Targett and the WLA for their support and to everybody who has taken time to have a look at how the locomotive is progressing on here. I intend to keep more updates coming your way so watch this space.

Regards
Matt Lindley