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Spondon No.1 Restoration Blog

Updated April 2023

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

Spondon No. 1 spent almost 20 years at the Coventry site. During that time it was operational all the time despite having its hand brake rebuilt and undergoing a full repaint during that time. There was never a high demand for shunting and it was at its busiest during the open days when it worked shunting demonstration trips and again when the site was being cleared after closure and stock had to be shunted into position for removal. The loco moved to Shackerstone in June 2018 and has been used for shunting there. But it was clear to the SERA team that the loco was a bit tired and needed some downtime to have a repaint and some TLC.

The plan was to have the loco serviced mechanically and refresh the cosmetics, including removing some of the modifications made over the years in favour of features more sympathetic to its history. A list of tasks was drawn up and a start made in early 2019.

Cosmetic Work

Work began on this loco in 2019. As the bodywork was being rubbed back we have found what we think was the original colour. The loco has been black, blue and green in preservation and during its working life it was known to be yellow, before that it was a dark colour that was either black, blue or green. We have picked a dark green as our livery choice.

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We arranged to have the underframe needle gunned to remove years of old paint and rust. This was done profesionally and back to bare metal. The underframes were primed and have now been painted gloss black, the buffer beams and buffer shanks are now coated in red. In addition the runner strip for one of the sliding cab doors had become distorted over the years meaning the door could not be closed as intended. To solve this the old strip was ground off and a new one welded into place. The doors have been sanded down, the timber stained and re-varnished.

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The body was taken back to bare metal over the course of several months. As metal was exposed it was covered with a quality primer. The whole loco was then painted in a coat of our preferred green as a first coat to protect the metal work until we are ready to paint the body properly. Welded repairs were needed to the drivers side below the side window and these were undertaken by a contractor. Work has been carried out on the loco's roof with the pantograph support beams stained and varnished with the pan itself repainted black. It has had to be secured in lowered position as it would be damaged if it was raised in error and struck the footbridge at Shakerstone station. The roof itself has been repainted into mid grey. Lamp brackets have been fitted on the left hand side of each bonnet end, these are a concession to modern operational requirements as the loco has never previously needed to have any fitted. The latest task is to repaint the cab interior into a cream colour.

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Electrical and Mechanical Work

As mentioned the loco has never been out of traffic in the 20 years it was at Coventry, it also never had a full service so there was some exploratory work to see what was in need of attention before getting it to work again regularly.

On the front of each end we have fitted headlamps in the style of the original, we were lucky to find an off the shelf make that was very close to those first fitted. These have been modified to include red LEDs so the loco can display either white or red at either end. A Claxon was sourced from a well know auction site that was very close in outline to the original, this has been fitted in the original position between the cab windows at No. 1 end. All the extra equipment meant the cab control panel had to be re-wired in part and the opportunity was also taken to reposition it to a more flush to the cab front, this replaced the previous arrangement where the console was mounted on a hinge at an angle and was very untidy.

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The underframe has been steam cleaned and the electrical cables re-covered in insulating tape. The lubricating wadding in all four axleboxes and the two traction motors has been replaced. Two new charging sockets were fitted, one on each internal cab bulkhead, these can accept a standard loco battery charging umbilical supplied from the site's mains supplied charging unit.

The project continues with volunteers hoping to make more progress during the summer and autumn of 2023.

We are also aware that the traction batteries are getting old and will reach the end of their working life within the next few years. This will be a very expensive project to replace them and any assistance with ideas for a solution are welcome so we can keep this historic loco operational for years to come.