The Restoration Story - Start Up Day - 5th July 1998
Now the rebuild was complete it was time to go for a start up. A lot of effort was put in up front of this to ensure that Lubricating Oil was circulating properly, the fuel system was fully primed and that the batteries were charged and in good order. As many electrical items as possible were isolated so as not to interfere with the power unit start up. At 10:50, Paul Good, the technical officer who has overseen all the restoration work, pushed the start button and within seconds we had ignition. Combustion was remarkably clean considering all the work that had been carried out. Next, we spent some time monitoring the power unit for leaks or anything out of the ordinary and everything appeared O.K. Now we turned our attention to the various electrical motors such as the exhausters and blower motors. The only problems we experienced here were that the blowers were noisy due to worn bearings, something we suspected when they were first installed.
It was now time to test for power but we had to make an adjustment to the wheelslip circuits first. Then she moved ! I don't think any of us could believe just how well this was going. We then discovered a problem with one of the traction motors so we were dragged over the inspection pit by the Class 25, D7629. After a few adjustments '215' then moved quite happily up and down the yard under her own power.
Things had progressed so smoothly that we decided to go for a test run down the line once the days services had finished. Taking D7629 and 47105 along for the ride, just in case, we set off steadily at first but all was not well. The first field divert came in as expected but the load regulator did not run back. Hence the loco spluttered along unable to take any more power sounding more like a sick Class 20 than a Growling 37. A five minute stop at the Winchcombe home signal gave us time to look at this problem and then we were away again. After a platform conference at Winchcombe it was decided that as we had come this far we might as well push on to the end of the line. So we blasted off through Greet tunnel (which was more reminiscent of Cowlairs tunnel at 05:50 in the morning) and on to Gotherington. With every mile we covered the engine sounded much better, as things settled down and warmed up.
The return trip was uneventful but thoroughly enjoyable. The only sore point being when putting 215 back onto the shed, the Control Circuit Breaker tripped after the High Water Temperature Relay Coil burnt out. I suppose it brought us all back down to earth but that's not such a bad thing.