With the Paxman diesel engine now installed and ready to go, the job now is to complete a massive rewiring programme, as well as other essential jobs that mean the locomotive can go for testing.

In this picture above, Tony Shaw from the 125 Group rewires the electrical cubicle, the ‘brains’ of the machine. New wiring was deemed essential, in the same way as a steam loco restoration always needs new boiler tubes. Just as with steam there are parts from other machines helping bring the HST back to life, in this case from a Class 56, including the short circuiter (designed to save the traction motors if there is an earth fault).

As ever with restorations, ‘simple’ jobs have proved anything but – even cleaning, repairing and repainting the battery boxes took two days.

Other jobs successfully tackled include getting the Cardan shaft lengthened to fit the production engine that’s in it now.

There have also been some ‘homework’ projects – often a part of the railway preservation world, but seldom like this. Above, Gary Heelas from the group shows a circuit board, one of a number he put together at home to keep the restoration moving along.

The ongoing work has also given those helping a rare glimpse into the industrial design of forty years ago, showing that it wasn’t all about ‘surface styling’. Above, the locomotives rectifiers are in an unusual arrangement that is almost certainly unique in British locomotives.

The outside ‘look’ of the final HSTs (aka ‘Flying Bananas’) was of course courtesy of leading industrial designer Kenneth Grange (also responsible for designs like the Kenwood food mixer and the Adshel bus shelter). Grange’s ‘look’ and the good engineering it covers has ensured that the HST remains a style icon, and will remain on the rails for some time to come thanks to the recent programme of refurbishing these units and replacing the engines.

Just how much anyone who uses an InterCity train owes to this most important design is easy to forget. But as Grange himself once said, in an interview on the BBC:

There wasn’t a sign of modernism in Paddington station (when the HST’s were introduced in 1976). So I think the workforce – let alone the passengers – was mightily affected. This was a real symbol of hope for the future – I believe that most fervently.
Porters, guards, everybody were themselves buying little badges of this train.

Thanks to the 125 Group we will shortly be able to hear again the sound of a Paxman in full cry, something we now know to have been the herald of a bright future for Britain’s railways.

Meanwhile, if you want to pore over a sectioned Paxman out in the open for the first time, visit the Anson Engine Museum at Poynton, where the sectioned engine removed from the HST Prototype is now on loan.

Above, the sectioned Paxman Valenta engine at Neville Hill depot prior to being moved to Poynton.

During the work we’ve been doing to cosmetically restore LNER Class A4 60008 Dwight D. Eisenhower since it was repatriated from the US, we’ve uncovered a surprise: a list of names.

In the US, Dwight’s motion was painted with several coats of aluminium paint. Our workshop team have been stripping that back down to the bare metal – and underneath the paint layers, we’ve found the names inscribed into the metal of the slide bar.

A close-up of the names discovered under the paint on A4 Dwight D Eisenhower

Anthony Coulls, Senior Curator of our rail vehicle collection, thinks that these are the names of the American team who painted Dwight in 1984, or the crew who put the motion back together after the locomotive originally landed in America in the late 1960s.

Do you know different? Let us know if you recognise any of these names – or if one of them is you.

That’s not the only surprise we’ve had while working on the A4s for our upcoming Mallard 75 events. The team at Shildon have been stripping paint on Dominion of Canada, and found this strange drawing of a dog…

… and a rabbit.

This is a Brush Type 2 diesel, later to become known as the Class 31 and one of the many classes of diesel loco that were introduced as part of the British Railways Modernisation Plan of 1955. I like the image because it is the first Class 31, D5500, which now lives just below the Search Engine balcony in the Great Hall carrying its later number of 31018 – so everyone researching in Search Engine sees this engine.

That’s the challenge Andrew Goodman of heavy haulage specialists Moveright International has been dealt, on behalf of our museum and the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA – where A4 No. 60008 Dwight D Eisenhower has been residing since 1964.

When Andrew and his team had managed to move Dwight D Eisenhower, all they had to do was to move on to Montreal to pick up Mallard’s other overseas brother, 60010 Dominion of Canada, and move that to Halifax for onward shipment to Liverpool.

Dwight D Eisenhower and Big Boy

The whole Dwight D Eisenhower move finally got underway when US customs released Moveright’s box of tricks – a large container shipped from the West Midlands complete with loading ramp, jacks, chains and so on. (The ramp had been built back home in four days – it usually takes a month). On 19 July, this container arrived in amongst the ‘Cheeseheads’ (as fans of the Green Bay Packers refer to themselves – Wisconsin has a large dairy industry and supplies a lot of US cheese).

The ‘box of tricks’ was followed by the flat wagon with rails on top to transport the loco, This came from Central Canada (so, no distance in relative terms!). Then there was the small matter of going sideways 75 feet, which took about eight hours. At one stage this left the venerable A4 looking like it was piloting the US ‘Big Boy’ (if there’s such a game as ‘Fantasy Train Operations’, then that surely is a must).

American wrecker firm on hand to assist with winching the loco onto the flat car

Once that was done, and the ramp assembled, ‘Not A Problem’ Goodman merely had to have some substantial wheel chocks welded onto the rails on the wagon. This and a lot of chains meant that the North American rail system, not famous for its delicate handling of goods, delivered 60008 to Halifax in good order on Saturday 18 August.

Then it was a case of getting the transporter wagon and loading ramp to the Canadian Railway Museum in Montreal from Halifax – a mere 775 miles – so that 60010 Dominion of Canada could follow Dwight to the port for onward shipment, which is planned for 10 September.

Dwight D Eisenhower at Rockingham Yard, Halifax

Loco stored ready for shipping

Given Andrew’s long experience of moving locomotives in the UK and overseas, he had built in a good margin of time in case of problems, although the North American rail system and US customs had managed to take up a lot of the slack.

If the 2008 ‘Great Reunion’ – when four A4s were together for the first time since the 1960s – was a must see event, this ‘even greater reunion’ will make our celebrations of Mallard’s speed record even more of a reason to travel to York. After all, wherever you live in the UK. the journey will be a lot less than two of the main exhibits have taken to get to the party!

Photos courtesy of Andrew Goodman at Moveright International. The rest of the photos are available on Flickr.

125 Group volunteers work in the engine space of 41001

40 years ago the High Speed Train was delivered from concept to testing in only 22 months. 40 years later, the 125 Group’s Project Miller – the restoration to working order of the surviving original HST prototype power car, number 41001 – is currently going at a similar pace.

Hard work by the group and help from East Midlands Trains (who have given the power car house room at their Neville Hill depot) meant that 41001 was able to make a triumphant return to the museum in June, fully braked, for Railfest 2012. There it shared the Railfest site with the largest gathering of railway record breakers ever seen.

It then returned to Neville Hill for a heart transplant…

Working in a shed has its advantages, even in June (!)

Nearby visitor to Neville Hill

When 41001 was preserved, thirty years ago, the intention was that it would be displayed in the Science Museum in London with all the covers off, so that the public could see what made BR’s new ‘cutting edge’ train go. It was to be the diesel equivalent of Bulleid Pacific Ellerman Lines, and to this end the Paxman ‘Valenta’ engine in it was sectioned.

The display never happened – but it did leave the current restoration with a major headache. How to replace the prime mover of such a significant machine?

Fortunately, the museum gets good support from all sides of the rail industry, and when the current HST fleet was re-equipped with new engines, a ‘pre-loved’ Valenta, new in 2000 and with only light usage to 2008, was secured for 41001. At the end of June this engine (S508: a “flat top/wide flanged” Valenta last used in HST 43143) was fitted into 41001. The sectioned engine will now go to the Anson Engine Museum in Cheshire.

Sectioned Valenta seen in daylight for the first time

Carefully does it! Picture by Mike Sawyer

Fitting the alternator to S508

So now all that is required to get 41001 powered up and on the load bank at Neville Hill is a replacement carriage connection and 4 km or so of new wiring. If the architects of the HST, Walter Jowett and Terry Miller, were still around, they would surely be well pleased.

Loco restoration – there’s always something needs painting

A small matter of new wiring required (!)

The sun is shining and a whole team of people are hard at work preparing for Railfest as 2 June gets closer.

Here is the team working on laying a 15” gauge track ready for Hawk and Synolda, under the watchful eye of a member of the Kirklees Light Railway.

Meanwhile West Coast Railways are busy helping with the shunting required to get everything in place.

Whilst an Edwardian velocipede gets an airing alongside Deltic Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.

There is of course still much to do before Britain’s biggest rail show opens its doors: watch this space for more updates.

Sometimes the idea of working in a museum that covers the whole of railway history (ie from at least 1604 to now) seems a tall order. The machine that dominated the railways for over 150 years – the steam locomotive – ends up appearing to dominate the narrative. Hence titles like ‘the York Steam Museum’ or ‘Steamfest’ appear in the press or forums no matter what we try to do.

Thankfully though, as we work closely with volunteer groups and other interested parties, we can balance things up. Hence the recent success of the group restoring Deltic Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, the group working on the APT at Shildon – and now the 125 Group with Project Miller, the restoration of the Prototype HST.

No doubt some of those waiting at Colton Junction in March for new build A1 Tornado to go past were surprised when the surviving powercar from the prototype HST went past the other way, towed by a class 31. Project Miller had gone through a whole host of hoops before then to make the journey possible. But now the restoration is underway and with hard work, much help and determination, this most iconic diesel train will run again.

The group have secured the help of East Midland Trains, who run Neville Hill depot near Leeds – the place where the prototype lived when still out and about for testing nearly 40 years ago (has it really been that long?). At Neville Hill, the team can work on the unit unmolested.

In June 1973, the train took the world speed record for diesel at 143mph. The crew on that occasion included a driver who had started with the London, Midland and Scottish Railway before the war, and whose experience ranged from firing 8Fs in Persia (now Iran) to working Deltics up the East Coast Main Line. That record was broken 14 years later by production HST 43159 – and Railfest 2012 will feature the two locomotives side by side for the first time.

The 125 was of course forced through in 22 months. BR hoped for the miracle of the Advanced Passenger Train to help see off road competition. The architect of the project was Terry Miller, BR Chief Engineer at the time, and a Doncaster apprentice who had started in the Gresley era. It is therefore surely appropriate that the two power cars will find themselves alongside the post-war steam speed record holder – Sir Nigel Gresley. For if you ever wanted a steam-powered HST, surely it would be a train with an A4 like Sir Nigel Gresley at both ends?

Sir Nigel himself would also surely have not been surprised that a powerful train with a steamlined front and rear, complete with good smooth running bogies and a comfortable interior, would do well on Britain’s railways. He had produced a similar train for the East Coast Main Line in the 1930s.

Let’s hope the rejuvenated HST (P) will excite enthusiasts in the same way that a tuned-up A4 does, and help lay the ghost that somehow the National Railway Museum is only interested in steam.

Six teams from across the country competed – they each had exactly the same pieces of kit to use, and they were randomly assigned a train to light.

On Friday night the students’ designs were judged by a panel which included four members of staff (including myself)  and an independent lighting designer. The students were judged on:

• how theatrical their lighting scheme was
• how well their scheme showcased the stories of the vehicles
• how easy it would be to maintain and run their scheme
• how well they had thought about the conservation of the vehicles
• how well they had thought about our visitors’ needs

The winner on the Friday night was the team from Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, who lit Maude, the Stanton wagon and the LNWR box van. They were the judges’ winners because their scheme was spectacular from all viewing positions, they had really thought about the stories of the vehicle and they used the environment around the vehicles as a really effective backdrop to their scheme. They had also paid attention to conservation, health and safety and the sustainability of their scheme.

We weren’t the only ones who got our say though – when the event opened to the public on Saturday night we asked them to vote for their favourite. Their winner was the team from Rose Bruford College who lit Gladstone and Queen Victoria’s saloon. As well as casting their vote on Saturday, we asked visitors what they thought of the displays. Here are images of each team’s effort, along with just some of the many comments that we received.

Team 1, Rose Bruford College – Midland Spinner, dining carriage, sleeping carriage, 6-wheeled coach and WCJS Travelling Post Office

“Simple, but effective.”

“Subtle lighting. Atmospheric. Brilliant.”

Team 2, Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts – Maude, Stanton wagon, LNWR box van

“The more I looked, the more I saw. Subtle yet striking use of light and shadows. Colours all tied together and sympathetic to the train. Outstanding.”

“It captured the power of freight at night.”

Team 3, Rose Bruford College – Gladstone, Queen Victoria’s saloon

“Brought it to life.”

“It had the ‘wow’ factor when you entered.”

Team 4, York College – MR ‘Crab’, royal support coach, King Edward’s saloon

“There was an illusion of movement.”

“Soft opulent colour evoking comfort, misty atmosphere giving an air of mystery.”

Team 5, Amersham College – LSWR M7, LSWR tri-composite carriage, BR fish van, GWR fruit van, GNR brake van

“Reminds me of the sun setting.”

“Romantic theme, a reminder of the film Brief Encounter.”

Team 6, Rose Bruford College – J52, BR banana van, United Dairies milk tanker, PLM ferry van, LMS brake van

“I liked the way the engine was lit so that it looked hot.”

“Simple and effective.”

Finally, congratulations to all the teams involved – I’m sure you’ll agree that they all came up with some really beautiful and inspiring ways of bringing our collection to life.

See more Locos in a Different Light photos

As well as artwork and posters, the exhibition will feature an LMS horse-drawn dray, like the kind used by the LMS to publicise their poster series. In 1925, the LMS used a similar dray to display the Royal Academicians’ posters, dressed it with flowers and entered it into a trade and commerce procession in Blackpool. It was a winning entry for the company.

Below you can see how we moved the dray out of its usual home in Station Hall to the back of the Art Gallery ready for installation. The safest way to do this turned out to be with the use of a large shire horse named Murdock, a resident of the Bradford Industrial Museum. Murdock did a great job of pulling the dray out of Station Hall, along Leeman Road and back onto site through the yard. He also generated a fair amount of excitement among the museum staff.

Here are some photos of Murdock (and driver Louise) in action.

Murdock bringing the dray out of Station Hall

Travelling down Leeman Road

Moving back onto site

Bringing the dray into the yard ready for installation in the Art Gallery

Murdock having a rest and a bit of breakfast before heading home

The Art of Advertising is part of Art in Yorkshire and opens on the 15 October 2011.

Our original plans for a Period III livery scheme (1940-49) were changed when Adrian Ashby, painter and leader of the Duchess support crew, had the idea of recreating the Coronation Scot livery to match the Streamlined 6229. This is what we did – and the carriage will now be coupled behind Duchess of Hamilton for the LMS Shuttle Weekend this weekend. The carriage will then be on display in Great Hall.

The 5987LMS 3rd Brake in 2001 in Standard LMS livery.

The repainting of the 5987 gave us the opportunity for an application of varnish fix transfers: it was and still is common practice to apply the Company Crest, and frequently numbers and letters, using special transfers. If you’re familiar with railway or airfix models, the method has similarities with the application of water-based transfers, only in full scale rather than on a 00-gauge model.

"Publicity That Sticks". Application instructions on the back of a historical tansfer dated 1957

The transfers are produced using screen-printing methods from companies specialised in railway transfer insignia. Although transfers come with instructions, the LMS Carriage Association has produced a technical sheet with a detailed description of the method.

Taking no risks. We tried several different varnish/solvent mixes and drying times before the actual application.

The application of the transfers took place in two stages. We used a test panel to try different mixes of varnish and drying times. Once we found the ideal formula, we applied two LMS crests to the centre of the vehicle’s sides.

The LMS Crest transfer on the side of the carriage. The final coat of gloss is yet to be applied.

Instead of boring you with how we did it, we shot a quick video that we hope will be self-explanatory.

A future post will be dedicated to the conservation work carried out on the LMS 3rd Brake.