Right up to the closure of the Waverley Route demonstrations and petitions were organised in an attempt to fight the closure. Leading this fight was Madge Elliot from Hawick, seen in Bruce McCartney’s photo below at Downing Street on 18th December 1968, with the Earl of Dalkeith and Sir David Steel before they handed in the petition against the proposed closure.

Listen to Madge describing the Downing Street visit on the following audio file.

 

 

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A very cold day with weather warnings in force saw a limited number of volunteers on site.

Work focused on a good clean in the buffet and exhibition coaches. With floors hovered, upholstery brushed and tables scrubbed.
Jim moved a number of blocks down to the site for the lever frame with some of them split ready for laying, when the temperature rises a little (ideally a lot!!).

Some work was done freeing up the signal pulley equipment brought down to the workshops last weekend. These were freed and greased ready for use next year.
An examination of the lever frame showed that it will hopefully be a reasonably straight forward job to split it to allow the mechanisms to be restored ready for use.

This will probably be the last working weekend before Christmas, so Merry Christmas to all our readers.

Although somewhat cold for laying blocks Jim carried a number down ready for laying and split some of them.

One of the signalling pulleys brought down from the container last week. It was freed up and greased ready for use.

 

A busy day at Whitrope saw a large number of tasks undertaken.

After some assessment over the last couple of weeks it had been decided that the LMS wagon was a better prospect for restoration than the steel wagon. The first task of the day was therefore to swap the steel wagon for the LMS wagon so work could start on this wagon. The shunt was undertaken using the Ruston and we soon had the LMS wagon sitting in the platform.

With the wagon in the platform Davie and a number of others set to work removing some of the perished timbers ready for replacement timbers to be ordered. The steel work on the wagon is in fairly good order and will all be cleaned and painted before the new timbers are fitted.

Jim, Andy and Duncan continued work on the foundations for the lever frame, with a foundation level of blocks laid by the end of the day. The rain that started after lunch came in handy for this job where a dry mix was laid for the foundations and the rain did a good job of watering this in.

Elsewhere painting of fence panels was underway in the shed and some more work was done on the guard’s van.

New volunteers are always welcome, so if you fancy something to get you out of the house and in the fresh air, pop up and pay a visit you will always be made welcome.

The Ruston coupling up to the steel wagon.

The Ruston takes the steel wagon out of the platform.

The steel wagon is being shunted out of the platform and into the stock siding.

With the steel wagon out of the way the LMS wagon is shunted into the platform.

Davie surveying some of his work after starting to cut old bolts off the wagon to allow the wood-work to be removed.

With some of the wood-work stripped out.

The start of the foundations for the lever frame.

For once the rain at Whitrope comes in handy to help set the dry mix concrete for the foundations.

On Friday a group gathered at Hawick leisure centre to witness Captain Chris Smith Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland unveil a plaque to commemorate the Jellicoe Express’s. The service ran between London and Thurso carrying naval personal during both the first and second world war.

Saturday was a wet affair at Whitrope, with limited outside work possible so volunteers on site concentrated on inside jobs. Some cleaning was undertaken with both the Fowler and RB004 receiving attention.

A frost Tuesday morning saw a number of member’s up at Whitrope for a meeting about the Fowler as we explore ways of moving the project forward after the recent set back.

Captain Chris Smith RN Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland at the leisure centre in Hawick to unveil a plaque to commemorate the Jellicoe Express’s.

Captain Smith unveils the plaque.

The plaque which explains the role played by the Waverley route in the Jellicoe Express’s which ran during the first and second world wars. The service carried naval personnel between London and Thurso.

A cold Tuesday morning highlighting some of the work of the spiders at Whitrope

More frosty webs.

A small team did some work on the Fowler checking the air system and making sure the drive systems were operating. The air system was charged using an external air compressor and checks made that the gearbox was still selecting and disengaging. This all proved ok, so the focus now is to try and locate a replacement power unit.

Further work was carried out on the steel wagon with some areas of the body work cleaned up and primer applied. There is a long way to go but at least a start has been made.

Jim continued to work on the foundations at the end of platform and has most of the first set of digging complete.

The team working on the brake van continued the jobs inside.

Joe has stripped the flower beds out and planted up some flowers for the spring.

The flower beds on the platform cleaned up and prepared for the spring.

Work continuing on the steel wagon with some primer applied to areas as they are cleaned up.

Jim continued work at the end of the platform to form the foundations for the signalling project.

A bright pleasant day at Whitrope with a reasonable number of volunteers on-site.
Some preliminary inspection work was carried out on the steel wagon to ascertain the amount of work involved in getting it back into working order.
Jim was working in the area at the end of the platform to establish some levels for foundations for an on-going project that will improve the signal display in the station area.
With RB004 in the platform area the opportunity is being taken to work on a number of jobs during the closed season. Baz started off by giving it a bit of a wash and clean down.
Joe was up for the weekend and is working on various horticultural jobs.
The team working on the brake also continue to progress the work inside the van.

Baz ‘spring cleaning’ RB004, not sure if he is really early or really late?

Scaffold that is starting to go up alongside RB004 so work can be carried out on the unit in the closed season.

Some assessmnet work being done on the steel wagon, including trying to open the end door.

There is a great deal of cleaning up and freeing off work required on the brake system.

Jim working on establishing a foundation for an ongoing project.

Joe up and working on the flower beds on the platform.

A dry and cool day up the hill at Whitrope. A reasonable numbers of members were up and a number of jobs were completed.
The Ruston was use to move the steel wagon from the head-shunt line across the level crossing and into the platform. This will allow a small group that are going to start working on the wagon better access.
More work was carried out inside the brake van.
A general tidy up was carried out with a walk around all the site to check on items and ensure everything was locked away.

Ruston running across the crossing will shunting the wagon.

The weather station that has been fitted to the signal gantry as part of the exhibition on the local Whitrope environment.

RB004 running into the platform.

RB004 and the steel wagon sat in the platform at the end of the shunt.

Jim carrying out some work on the signal gantry.

The steel wagon sat in a more convenient spot so some of the volunteers can start work on it.

 

The major shunt planned for today to release the Fowler from the stock siding, unfortunately did not go to plan. The stock was being slowly moved out of the siding when the Fowler suffered a catastrophic engine failure. The picture below show the extent of the damage. Basically the engine suffered a complete breakup of number 2 cylinder and the piston was fired out the side of the engine. The engine is now a complete write off and for the time being the Fowler will be in abeyance until a way ahead can be formulated. This is obviously a huge blow to the team that have put in so much time and energy into the project, but a way ahead will be found and the group will keep going forward.

The Fowler was winched back into it’s original position after an early lunch and David welded the steps access back onto the MK1 workshop coach. Malcolm was also up and continued his work on the woodwork inside the brake van.

Not the greatest day up at Whitrope, but no-one was hurt in the failure and although a blow we have overcome similar challenges in the past and come back stronger.

RB004 is started up and the air system charged before the stock move started, on what was a lovely clear but cold morning.

A picture that shows the massive damage to the engine, with the huge hole were the piston fired out the side of the engine.

Some of the remains of the piston and cylinder wall recovered from within the engine bay.

The hugely damage piston crown, showing the scale of the failure.

Another view of the engine block with clear evidence of the forces involved in the failure.

A very dank and misty day saw a good number of volunteers on site working on a range of tasks.

The team working on the brake van were working on the inside, with the weather precluding any exterior work. Malcolm continued carpentry works that is slowly bringing the interior up to standard, ready for use.

The main thrust of the days activities was to carry out preparation works for the shunt that is scheduled for next Saturday. This involved a number of small tasks, which cumulatively filled all of the day. RB004 was run and coupled to the Mk2 coach, then with the air line connected the brake operation was tested. Once the handbrake was released (well done Baz!) this went well. Next the access steps to the Mk1 workshop coach had to be removed. With these out of the way the Fowler was coupled up to the MK1 and gently shunted backwards and forwards a few feet to check everything was OK. With that maneuver completed the Mk1 was coupled up to the class 26 and the formation again moved to check freedom of movement. Once again the Fowler performed faultlessly and even with the wet greasy rails moved the stock without any real issues. It was really pleasing to see the Fowler demonstrate that it can operate under load.

Alan and Bill were also up, but missed the Fowler moves as they headed down into Hawick early to attend the Campaign for Borders Rail AGM.
Joe was also on site doing some grass cutting.

Next Saturday will see all the stock shunted around so the Fowler can be released from the stock siding. This will allow the next phase of the restoration to be undertaken, with running in trails.

Jim cutting the steps off the Mk1 coach.

In true railway fashion, one person working, 3 watching and one taking a photo!

The inside of the brake van, which is coming together very nicely.

The Fowler ready for it’s release from the end of the stock siding.

The Fowler coupled up to the Mk1 coach.

The working day on site had been put back 24hrs due to the poor weather forecast, which turned out to be accurate as the Saturday was a complete wash out.

Work on the Fowler started with stripping and cleaning a reducer that was causing problems. Once cleaned and reassembled it performed fine. The second set of steps was fitted so the loco cab can be accessed from both sides. The rest of the day was then spent in the cab, rebuilding the control panels.

The brake van is coming together well, with work both internally and externally progressing well. The application of the top coat has really lifted the outside of the van. It will be really good to see this vehicle trundling up and down with the Fowler.

Hopefully over the next couple of weeks a major shunt will be undertaken which will free the Fowler from it’s current spot at the end of the stock siding. This will allow work to continues on the Fowler with some running in turns planned.

The brake van showing some of the work undertaken through the summer.

The ongoing work is visible. The aim is to have the vehicle available fairly soon.

One of the new vestibule doors that have been fitted and painted.

Another sign of the Fowler coming back together with the fitting of the second set of cab steps.

With all the new air pipes now run and tested the cab control panel is being re-fitted. The observant will notice that the air pressure gauges and the oil pressure gauge are connected and working.

Ongoing work on the control panel, all these bits go somewhere!