The Restoration Story - the first year 1997
37099 was inspected several times during the early part of 1997 by Steve Beniston and members of The Growler Group and a deal arranged for Steve to purchase the locomotive. Overall, the loco was in a sound condition with a relatively small amount of components removed to keep others in the class in traffic.
The main reason for concern was that the main generator armature had a down to earth fault (not good), which the maintenance staff at Canton had tried to remedy by cleaning in-situ. Unfortunately for them, their efforts were unsuccessful. The bogies were in a sound condition, which was encouraging. Inside the loco, No.1 exhauster was missing from the nose end and the 'A' bank turbocharger had also been removed. The fan clutch plate and small drive shaft were missing from the radiator compartment and the batteries had been removed. Some electrical cubicle components were missing, including the start panel, traction motor contactors and some small relays, the cubicle was otherwise complete.
A cheque was handed over for the necessary amount and one last visit paid to Canton, to arrange for the loco's removal from site. Unfortunately, since our previous visit a bogie change had taken place and '099 now stood on a set of bogies removed from 37275, which were on their last tyre turning size and were missing all six traction motors and some brake rigging items. Needless to say, this caused some concern at the time but eventually a deal was struck and another set of bogies were acquired from a loco that was being scraped elsewhere in the country. The upshot of this was that a bogie change would be necessary but we now had a spare set of bogies into the bargain which were more than suitable for using on a preserved line.
37099 at Dereham during 1997. Photo by Steve Beniston.
The loco left Canton during May of 1997 and was moved straight to the Mid Norfolk Railway. The route of movement was Cardiff - M4 - M25 - M11 - Overnight stop at North Weald truck stop - M11 - A11 - A47 to Dereham. This included a trip over the newly opened 'Second Severn Crossing' bridge.
The loco was positioned on a length of track next to the Station at Dereham due to the absence of proper unloading facilities. Whilst at the Mid Norfolk Railway, only light work was undertaken as there were no facilities or plant to undertake heavier restoration work. Tasks undertaken included the installation of a set of batteries, re-assembly of the electrical cubicle and a general clean out of the loco which had miscellaneous parts strewn around the cabs and engine room. An effort was also made to clean the main generator armature, but to no avail, the generator would have to have professional attention.