NEWS ARCHIVE 2007 - 1, January To June

South Devon Diesel Traction, SDDT

These are the stories of whats going on and what we've been up to!

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Here are a couple of shots of D7612 out and about at the transport gala on Easter Sunday:

D7612 at Bishops Bridge Loop. D7612 at Staverton Gates




33 002 Rebuild Continues!

6th May 2007: After an unbelievable amount of fiddly work, number two cab finally sports three windscreens, well two and a destination indicator anyway! The cylinder heads are steadily going back together so hopefully a water pressure test isn't too far away. The main and Auxilliary generaters are being cleaned up and repainted, with anti tracking paint being used where appropriate.

33 002
33 002 sports windscreens and snowploughs for the first time in preservation.
Why does Jon look so depressed?   Courtesy & © Phil Seymour.

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Peter makes subtle adjustments to the windscreen suround.
Courtesy & © Phil Seymour.

The newly fitted windscreen!
Courtesy & © Phil Seymour.
The Coles Monster from the black lagoon prepares to go scuba diving!
Courtesy & © Phil Seymour.

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The generator making progress
Courtesy & © Phil Seymour.
A cylinderhead is prepared to be torqued down.
Courtesy & © Phil Seymour.
Jon & the Monster are good at torquing!
Courtesy & © Phil Seymour.


16th March 2007: I'm pleased to report that all the liners are back in and all eight pistons, complete with new top rings and big end shells. See the pics below. Thankyou to The Bodmin and Wenford Diesel group for help sourcing the big end shells. You will also see that we have finally managed to get one windscreen in. These are proving a bit of a nightmare due to the totally new frames, the final adjust of which has to be done on a trial and error basis. Dave has done more work on the cab and repaired yet more rust we didn't know we had!

33 002 33 002 33 002
The Crompton sees sunlight
for the first time for a while.
The newly fitted windscreen! The newly repaired door surround
and side.
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Keith gives the new shells
a final clean
"It's dead light, I can
lift it with one hand - Honest!"
A leg goes back into bed,
Where hopefully it will stay!


18th Feb 2007: We spent a happy Sunday manhandling liners back into the block. We got four done, which is what we hoped for. We were slowed down by having to re jack a couple as the fret rings caught on the block. There was a good sized gang today, even Hank and Frank put in an apearance! consequently we made light work of it. As usual, thanks to all for your help, it certainly makes a difference!
The plan is to finnish off the other four next Sunday. Watch this space!

Hank & Frank Brown Funnel Line
Hank and Frank lent a hand
Courtesy &© Jon King
A Liner on it's way home.
Possibly brown funnel line?
Courtesy &© Jon King
The Crazy Gang Old Fitter
Our Crazee Sunday gang
Out in force!
When we opened her up,
this old fitter appeared from within.
Presumably a previous owner's employee?

Early Feb 2007: The liners are on top of the block waiting to go back in, (we were waiting on delivery of fret rings, a modification that wasn't done to the 25 and it's impossible to tell if they've been fitted until the liners come out. Consequently they weren't ordered beforehand.)

The Generator has been painted up and Dave the welder is still working away at the cabs.

January 2007:
The disgusting job of cleaning out the sump has been undertaken with large lumps of metal, sockets and goodness knows what being removed and the strainer being worryingly blocked. This could explain why the big end shells needed replacing!






Classs 25 D7612 News:

Feb 2007: The triple pump is now back in one piece and no longer leaking, we have returned the reducing valve to the water system, it looks like a washer thats the wrong size, so we had removed it in our ignorance. We now have water pressure and no leaks, next comes the antifreeze....fingers crossed! (It's famous for finding leaks, especially in Sulzers!)

Jan 2007: Will the rebuild of D7612 ever really finnish? Thanks to Ian and a coleague from Laira for having a go at replacing the cab floors. We are going down the English Electric style plywood and lino route, due to the non availability of the bakerlite style original which is wrecked. Also Ian and Pete have checked the cylinder head torque and re done the tappets as is part of the running in process. The waterpump, part of the famous sulzer 'triplepump' (water, lub oil and fuel) is being rebuilt with new seals as it had started leaking. Also the Sunday gang are doing an excellant job cleaning up the engine , getting it ready for a repaint after it's rebuild.





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