Work reports
10 April 2005 - thanks to Ben Williams & Mark Johns for this article
A quick round up of the project's progress..
19 March 2005
Despite this work party being organised for all of the group members to attend, Dave unfortunately couldn't make it down to the CVR this time due to work commitments. However we still managed to achieve quite a lot given the time that we had available.
Mark arrived at the CVR at 0830 as planned to find that the Matisa had been moved and was nowhere to be seen! He went into the mess coach to sign in and asked Dick (General Manager of the CVR) where the machine had gone. He said that due to the wedding that was to be held there that day it had been shunted down to the far end of the line.
After finding it at the buffer stops near the steam shed he set about doing some minor work on the vehicle (checking the electrics and getting more detail from under the chassis.) He had a good look at the drive belts - on close inspection the compressor drive belts were severely worn - frayed and split in half. The alternator belts probably wouldn’t last much longer but the part numbers have been found on them so we have a reference for a later date.
Mark also had time to inspect the Permaquip before Ben and Vince arrived - firstly having a look at the roof and the control box on the upper part of the door in the cab. The box was rotten through but the electrics seemed to be ok. The roof also seemed to be quite rotten in places and some extensive work will have to be carried out to repair these areas. The isolator switch was turned on and it was found that the batteries still had a charge in them. He inserted the key and went through the correct starting procedure to see if the engine cranked over, but the batteries seemed to be dead. When they were removed from their housing it was also found that the battery door had rotten through at the hinges. The earth strap to the battery also needs to be replaced as it is also corroded and has frayed and broken strands.
Shortly afterwards Dick brought the shunter down the line and dragged the Matisa to a position near a power point so we could get on with sanding as planned. We plugged the sanders in and Ben and Vince started sanding the body down while Mark fitted the Fire Extinguishers and First Aid box.
After a while we all went over to the Permaquip and inspected the amount of rust present. Mark pointed out a few things - namely an old aerial wire sticking out of the roof that had been leaking into the fuse box causing the hinge to rust. The roof itself seemed to be in good condition because it is aluminium and tends not to rust if painted well. We also looked at the side trim for the main door - the small triangle piece of metal had rotten through and let water into the cab over the years causing some damage to the interior.
Back over at the Matisa - Ben and Vince carried on sanding and Mark sorted out a few more things - measuring the windows again with a view to ordering the glazing material and also measuring the location of the writing on the side of the cab so that once it has been painted we can replace the graphics. We then filled in most of the holes and dents on both sides and sanded them down so they were smooth. The worst grafittied side is now ready for painting which will be organised for the next work party.
The ceiling and some wall panels need to be replaced as the plywood is warped and (in some areas) rotten through. We are also looking into maybe replacing the flooring inside the cab with a similar non-slip style material to that already fitted.
The Matisa was due to be finally moved into a more suitable location (nearer to the Permaquip) on Sunday 20th March which is closer to the power and compressed air sources.
9 April 2005
Another trip up to the Colne Valley today for myself, Mark and Vince - and very productive it was again. I think most of the scraping is now complete and we managed to get a fair coverage of grey primer onto the worst areas of the Matisa meaning that one side is now completely grey!
Mark was busy sorting out the engine and managed to successfully fit the new fuel pump and a few other parts that we obtained from York last week (see other news article.)
One other piece of news this week - we received some very interesting photos via our Fastline contact that came from a guy up in Scotland who used to work on 68030 in BR days! The photos were taken at Kilmarnock shortly after conversion in 1979 - some of these can be found here.
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