226

This was the first main line diesel locomotive to be preserved in Ireland, being handed over to the ITG on 23^rd October 1992. No. 226 was eventually moved down to Carrick-On-Suir in December 1992. Over the next couple of years good progress was then made on stripping down the locomotive ready for overhaul and restoration.

However, in early 1996, work on No. 226 virtually ground to a halt. Around this time, three of the Group’s other locomotives that were also stored at Carrick-On-Suir, Nos. 231, G601 and G611, were all moved to Inchicore Works for display at the proposed open weekend to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the Works in June 1996. Unfortunately, the extra work required to prepare these locomotives for display diverted attention away from No. 226 for several months. All three of these locomotives needed repainting prior to display, along with 001 (A) class locomotive No. A3R, which was already at the Works. In addition to the repainting work, locomotive No. 231 also required extensive re-panelling work to be done to the cabs and body sides.

Over the next couple of years, faced with the constant attack from vandals at the Carrick-On-Suir site, coupled with other increasing family commitments of those who worked there, little work was done on No. 226. The subsequent main line operation of our two 001 (A) class locomotives in 1999/2000 also kept our small band of volunteers away from Carrick-On-Suir and No. 226. Furthermore, at around this time, the Group’s other 201 (C) class locomotive No. C231 had just been moved back to the UK for restoration, which meant that restoration work on No. 226 was now low down on our list of priorities.

However, in 2003, one of our most active and enthusiastic members, Aidan Brosnan, moved down to Clonmel and resumed work on No. 226. To date, significant progress has been made on the restoration of No. 226.

This cab was completely stripped out to enable the rotten cab floor to be replaced. The areas under the driver’s and secondman’s desks were the worst affected, having completely rotted through in several places. Corrosion had also affected the supports for the desks themselves. New sections of flooring were welded into position and the desks repaired. In addition, new cab side panels have been welded into position to replace the original panels which were also badly corroded. A new headlamp box was welded to the cab roof, as the original box had almost completely rusted away. New felt lined channels and “jumping-jack” springs have been fitted to the cab droplight windows. All the timber frames that surround the cab doors and windows have been replaced and repainted. Repainting of the underside of the cab floor has also been completed. Mastic has now been applied under the floor of the cab to prevent water lodging between the floor and the main girders. Furthermore, mastic has also been applied inside the cab behind the desks to stop corrosion between the cab outer panels and the supporting frame.

Once all the bodywork repairs were completed, work commenced on re-assembling the cab. Every single component that was removed from this cab has been cleaned up and repainted. The wooden supports for the cab floor have been replaced or renewed, and new trunking to carry the electrical control cables under the cab floor has also been welded into position. All of the remaining control air pipes have been re-fitted into the cab, along with the windscreen wiper valves and a horn valve. Two new vacuum hoses to connect the vacuum brake valve to the train pipe were also fitted. The driver’s and secondman’s desks, together with the central control console, have been completely rebuilt, and new desk tops fitted. The five electrical terminal boards that fit inside the centre section of the driver’s desk have been replaced, along with the cab hotplate. A replacement de-mister element has been tested and fitted.

All the electrical conduits have been cleaned up, repainted and replaced. All air pipes have been pressure tested to check for leaks. The air and vacuum brake valves inside the central control console have been overhauled and tested. The power controllers have been cleaned up, together with all the electrical finger contacts, and refitted back into the desks. The cab heaters have been overhauled and refitted. Both cab seats were completely stripped down, cleaned up and rebuilt. The cab and engine room doors have also been repainted internally and their locking mechanisms repaired. New neoprene sponge seals have also been fitted around the cab doors.

A set of marker light switches have been re-fitted to the bulkhead above the engine room door. The two deadmans’ pedals have been cleaned out and repainted. The foot heating elements have also been refitted back under the desks. The box that houses the switches and warning indicator lamps has been cleaned out. The vigilance box has been replaced on the bulkhead. The “Low Oil Pressure” and “Vigilance” lamps have been refitted to their plate and their labels have been repainted. The two baggage racks have been repainted and refitted. The ammeters have also been cleaned up.

The re-assembly and rewiring of the cab has now been completed. All the various switches, earth fault and overload alarm and reset, the hot engine alarm, low oil pressure indicator and the starting contactor circuits have been successfully tested. A new plywood floor has now also been fitted into the cab. The only work required to complete the restoration of the cab is to replace the original windscreens with new laminated windscreens, replace the inspection covers on the control desk, and re-fit the cab seats and handbrake pedestal.

Cab No.1 cab was originally kept intact as a reference of how to reassemble cab No. 2. However, once No. 2 cab had been reassembled, work commenced in 2006 in stripping out No. 1 cab. Just like No. 2 cab, certain areas of the cab floor had rotted away, however the damage was found to be a lot less severe. In order to carry out the necessary repairs, both power controllers and desk corners have been removed to gain access to the affected areas. The rotten steelwork has been cut out, and the holes squared up ready for new steel plate to be welded into position. One cab side panel has so far been replaced. It is intended that this cab will be completely rebuilt to the same standard as Cab No. 2.

All of the steel framework that supports the roof panels and the cooling fan assembly have been cleaned up, repainted, and refitted back into the locomotive.

All the engine room cable trunking has been cleaned out and repainted. In addition, 40 years’ worth of accumulated thick oil, muck and grease has been scraped out from around the engine tray. The engine room floor has been completely cleaned of all oil and grease, and has now been repainted. The engine room walls have been completely repainted, and all of the internal air pipes and cable conduit have now been replaced. The Duplex Check Valve and the Reducing Valve on the control air circuit have been set to their correct operating pressures. The traction motor blower housing, and the rear fan cover plate have been cleaned down and repainted. The engine compartment lamps were rewired and successfully tested on 18^th November 2006. This is the first time the lamps have worked in over 22 years.

The vertical supports for the cooler group header tanks were cleaned down and repainted. The cooler group header tanks themselves were sent away to a specialist engineering company in order to have their faces machined. This was done in order to ensure a water tight seal once the radiator elements were replaced. The faces were found to be generally straight, but some of them were badly pitted by rust. The machining operation obtained a “like new” surface finish along the faces of the header tanks. Meanwhile, the 40 radiator elements were sent away to another specialist contractor for cleaning, pressure testing and flow testing. 120 new studs were obtained in order to re-attach the radiator elements to the header tanks. New cork gaskets were glued onto the edges of the header tanks where they touch the locomotive’s body.

Re-assembly of the first radiator bank was eventually completed in February 2008. Re-assembly of the second radiator bank was started in June 2008. Once completed, both radiator banks will then be pressure tested. Meanwhile, all the surrounding ducting has been cleaned up and repainted. This will be refitted once the pressure testing of the radiator banks has been completed.

Some years ago, a major defect was discovered on the power unit. A small section of the engine block, where the cam shaft was attached, had cracked and broken loose due to excessive vibration on the cam shaft. This broken piece was welded back into place. The effectiveness of this repair will only be determined when the engine is started up. A replacement power unit from a 141/181 class locomotive may have to be obtained in due course.

Both electrical control cubicles were completely stripped out to enable the electrical control equipment to be overhauled, and for the insides of the cubicles to be cleaned out and repainted. All the inspection panels that fit on the engine room side of the electrical control cubicles have been repainted and new neoprene foam seals applied to the edges of the panels.

The interlock contacts for the main generator field contactor have been cleaned up and refitted inside the low tension cubicle. All seven of the auxiliary contactors have been completely reconditioned, tested and refitted. All of the thick cables and copper straps have also been replaced. Both of No. 226’s starting contactors have been overhauled and refitted back into the high tension cubicle. Both traction motor overload panels have been reconditioned and refitted. The starting relay and traction motor isolator have been overhauled and replaced inside the high tension cubicle. The traction motor field divert switch unit has been cleaned down and refitted. All of the circuit breakers have been tested and refitted to the fuse and circuit breaker panel, which has then been refitted into the low tension cubicle. The battery isolating switch and voltage regulator have been cleaned up and refitted back into the low tension cubicle.

The reverser was stripped down, cleaned up, checked over, re-assembled and then refitted back into the high tension cubicle. The air valves on the reverser had to be replaced as the original ones were found to be leaking. Following this, an air supply and 110 volt DC supply were connected to No. 226. The reverser was then checked using the forward/reverse handles in No. 2 cab and was found to be working correctly. All of the cables for the traction motors have been fed into the high tension cubicle and connected to the reverser whilst the other ends have been laid out down the trunking in the engine room floor.

A replacement bracket to support the main ammeter shunt resistor was fitted, followed by the main ammeter shunt resistor and the main generator cables. All of the control cables were fitted and wired to the main terminal board.

The four traction motor switches were inspected and repaired where necessary. The insulating bars were touched up with anti-tracking paint and the contact tips were cleaned up and replaced with new ones where necessary. Following the replacement of the four motor switches, the control cables were connected and the air pipes were attached. The motor switches were then successfully open and closed as forward and reverse were selected. In addition, a more permanent connection for a 110 volt shore supply to power the engine room lamps was fitted to the low tension cubicle.

The rewire and replacement of components in both the high tension cubicle and low tension cubicle has now been completed.

The battery boxes have also been cleaned out and the paintwork touched up. A section of battery cable conduit was replaced between the two battery boxes. The cable between the two boxes was then replaced, with some difficulty, through the conduit. A battery charging socket and interlock unit have been replaced and the wires fed into the low tension cubicle.

Both engine compartment bulkhead doors have been fully repainted and their handles and locking mechanisms refitted. Two lamp irons for the No. 1 end buffer beam have been repaired. Four marker lamp boxes have been fully reconditioned and reassembled. New cables have also been fitted, as well as the rubber gasket which fits between the lamp box and the locomotive body.

The main reservoir equaliser and the independent equaliser pipes, which go through the buffer beam at the No. 2 end, have been refitted on the second man’s side. A section of control air pipe that goes through the buffer beam at No. 2 end has also been re-fitted. New rubber seals and gaskets for the air brake valves have been purchased from Metcalfe’s, who originally manufactured the brake valves for the locomotive. These will be used to overhaul the brake valve for No. 1 end, and also to refurbish a spare valve. Rubber gaskets have also been obtained from the same company for the mounting of the triple valve.