D9531, The finishing touches - late April and early May roundup
Report by Project Leader, Chris Baily

Over the last couple of weeks, since the turbo bracket change, there has been a concentrated effort from the team to finish off the outstanding work ready for the running day on Saturday the 19th of May.

The side rods have been cleaned and polished by Rob Mason over a few days, Chris Mills has been busy in the cab giving it a final coat of gloss all round. Alan Lee, Graham Thornton and Chris Mills have also completely dismantled the desk console and cut and applied a brand new formica top, then the cab has been rebuilt and the remaining labels applied.

I've been busy painting all the underframe and wheels black, as well as changing the turbo mounting bolts for correct length ones following the bracket swap. Carl Holt finished off the floor in cab door wells with chequer plate which looks fantastic. He also took the power and direction handles away for chroming, these also look superb, a very nice finishing touch!

Jason Lovell has fabricated missing panels for the cab desk and the missing bufferbeam side plates. Gilbert Hammond and the paint team have been busy second coating the dark green, wasp stripes and bufferbeams then flatting them down before varnishing.

The Heritage paint team, www.heritage-painting.com, have applied the British Railways roundels, painted the numbers and name 'Ernest' on the cabsides, then applied varnish to the whole loco. As a finishing touch, two new works plates have been fitted which read 'Re-Engineered BHG BURY 2012' to signify the rebuild and modifications. The original worksplates will be fitted at a later point alongside these.

So its been a busy couple of weeks, and the result is a very shiny and impressive locomotive. On the 12th of May, Ernest was utilised to shunt a few things around to allow the bogies from D5705 to be hauled up to Castlecroft ready for overhaul, which the workgroup team will be tackling next. It was then used to pilot Hymek, D7076, on the 14:30 ex-Bury to Rawtenstall and return as a shakedown test, with the loco performing and sounding well. Unfortunately, when we got back on shed, a split coolant hose was discovered on the top of the turbo water rail. This will be changed during the week leading up to the 19th so it will be ok for the day.

So the 19th brings to a close the overhaul and rebuild of D9531. Over the last 15 years the loco has been back down to a set of frames then rebuilt, repaired, renewed and, as the worksplates rightly say, re-engineered.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank EVERYONE who, over the years, has toiled and grafted either hands on or behind the scenes and been so understanding. The project has had it ups and definatlely it's downs but we came through in the end. The result is effectively a brand new, user friendly and hopefully reliable locomotive, something we should all be very very proud of.

D9531 is now available for hire to other preserved railways for diesel events etc, please contact Chris Baily to discuss - chris.baily_at_d8233.org.uk