The Restoration Story - the 2nd year - 1995
The beginning of 1995 marked probably the lowest point in the restoration of '215. There still seemed to be an impression that all we were achieving was taking bits off the loco instead of putting it back together! The van was full of absolutely stinking cylinder heads that all had to be scrubbed clean. We were making very slow progress trying to sort out '215's electrical lighting circuits and it rained - continually.
Spring came and we were making progress again. No.1 cab was just about complete. A few cylinder heads had been completely overhauled, wrapped up and stored ready for refitting and we starting to get some lights working. Other electrical work concentrated on the cab heaters that had been ripped out.
We manufactured completely new roofs sections to fit inside the cabs and once these were in place the loco began to look functional again.
During the summer of 1995, '215 was put over the inspection pit at Toddington for the first time to allow a thorough inspection 'down below'. Luckily, there was little bad news to report and we were pleased to be able to inspect all the traction motors and find very little damage. A few brush boxes had been removed but electrically they were sound, with no earthing problems.
Things were now starting to go back together. The compressors in No.1 end were checked out and a new head fitted to one. Brake valves were fitted to each cab and by July, the cylinder head overhaul was complete. Attention turned to the engine. A lot of cleaning was carried out in preparation for removing the pistons. Large amounts of waste oil were poured down the bores and the engine barred around.
A lot of electrical work was carried out in the summer of '95, primarily to the multiple working plugs and sockets, the cubicle terminal strips and the fan room junction boxes. All of which were very time consuming tasks. Outside, work had progressed as far as the buffer beams.
As the year progressed a start was made on removing, overhauling and replacing the 12 pistons and their matching liners. At no time did we have all of them removed in one go, as we didn't really have the space to store them. Instead, two or three were done at a time and when the reconditioned units were replaced. A few more were extracted from the engine block. Two liners, four pistons and quite a number of rings had to be replaced, as they were damaged beyond use. All new 'Viton' O-rings were fitted to the liners to replace the worn items that had first caused '215's withdrawal from service back in 1992.
The first of the missing traction motor blower motors was replaced during October with a spare donated by another EE preservation group. By this stage we had also purchased some drivers windscreens and had the other pieces of missing glass cut for us by a local company and so these were fitted.
The fuel pumps were taken away to be repaired and overhauled by a friendly local company and we took delivery of a radiator fan (Ex Class 20) and some cam shaft sections (Ex Class 31) that would be needed to enable us to complete the overhaul.