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Locomotive C226 was built for
Coras Iompair Éireann (CIE), the Irish State owned transport
company by Metropolitan Vickers at their premises at Dukinfield,
Manchester, in 1956. C226 was part of a class of 34 Bo-Bo
locomotives, designated “C” class and numbered C201 – C234
inclusive, which were ordered as part of the drive to eliminate
the majority of steam traction from the railways of the Irish
Republic in the late 1950s. The contract to build these
locomotives was signed at Heuston Station, Dublin, on 5th
May 1954. The thirty-four “C” class locomotives
were assembled by Metropolitan Vickers at their premises at
Dukinfield, Manchester, between 1955 and 1956. Metropolitan
Cammell Carriage & Wagon Co Ltd. constructed the body shells at
Birmingham, the English Steel Corporation constructed the bogies
in Sheffield, and Crossley Brothers at Openshaw, Manchester,
supplied the engines. The electrical equipment for these
locomotives was provided by Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Co.
Ltd.
C226 eventually entered traffic with CIE on 21st August 1957.
When built, these locomotives were originally fitted with a
Crossley ESTV8 engine of 550 hp. However, the Crossley engines
proved to be extremely troublesome and unreliable. In 1969, the
decision was taken to re-engine the whole class with General
Motors 8-B645E engines of 1100 hp. C226 itself was re-engined on
10th June 1972, and subsequently re-numbered B226 to reflect its
higher power classification. Eventually, the letter prefix “B”
was dropped, and the locomotive became 226. Locomotive 226
continued in service with CIE until it was stored unserviceable
with an engine defect on 5th May 1984. The locomotive was
officially withdrawn on 25th September 1986.
Following several years stored outside Diesel No. 1 Shop at
Iarnród Éireann’s Inchicore Works in Dublin, 226 was purchased
by the Irish Traction Group (ITG) on 23rd October 1992 for I£
500 plus VAT. This locomotive had the distinction of being the
first main line diesel locomotive to be preserved in Ireland. It
was moved from Inchicore Works to Carrick-On-Suir for storage 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 restoring 226 virtually ground
to a halt. At around this time, three of the Group’s other
locomotives, 231, G601 and G611, had all been moved from
Carrick-On-Suir to Inchicore Works in readiness for display at
the open weekend to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Works
in June 1996. Unfortunately, the extra work required to prepare
these locomotives for eventual display diverted attention away
from 226 for several months.
Between 1996 and 1999, faced with the constant attack from
vandals at the Carrick-On-Suir site, coupled with other
increasing family commitments of the handful of volunteers who
worked there, little work was done on 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 226. In addition, at around the same time, the ITG’s other
201 (C) class locomotive 231 had just been moved back to the UK
for restoration, which meant that restoration work on 226 was
now low down on the list of priorities. Eventually, in 2003, one
of our most active and enthusiastic members, Aidan Brosnan,
moved to Clonmel and resumed work on 226. To date, significant
progress has been made on the restoration of this locomotive.
Detailed below is a summary of the restoration work done to date
on this locomotive:
Cab No. 2
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. The underside of the
cab floor has also been repainted. Mastic has been applied under
the floor of the cab to prevent water lodging between the floor
and the main girders and also inside the cab behind the desks to
stop corrosion between the cab outer panels and the supporting
frame.
Once all the bodywork repairs had been completed, work commenced
on re-assembling the cab and installing a new wooden floor.
Every single component that was removed from this cab has been
cleaned up and repainted. The wooden supports for the cab floor
were replaced or renewed, and new trunking to carry the
electrical control cables under the cab floor was welded into
position. All of the control air pipes have been re-fitted into
the cab, along with the windscreen wiper valves and a horn
valves. 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. Replacement de-mister elements have also been fitted
and tested.
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 and wired in. The two deadmans’
pedals have been cleaned out and repainted. The foot heating
elements have also been tested and refitted back under the
desks. 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, tested and re-fitted.
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 No.1 cab was originally kept intact as a reference of how to
reassemble cab No. 2. However, once cab No. 2 cab had been
reassembled, work commenced on stripping out cab No. 1. Just
like cab No. 2, 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.
Engine Room and Cooler Group
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 itself has been completely cleaned
of all oil and grease. The engine room walls have been
completely repainted, and all of the internal air pipes and
cable conduit have 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 traction motor blower motor has been fully
overhauled by an outside contractor. The engine compartment
lamps were rewired and successfully tested on 18th November
2006. This was 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. 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 two radiator banks was
eventually completed in February 2009 Both radiator banks have
also been successfully pressure tested. Meanwhile, all the
surrounding ducting has been cleaned up, repainted and refitted.
The cooling fan motor has now also been overhauled by an outside
contractor, and is now ready for re-fitting.
As mentioned earlier, 226 was originally taken out of traffic
after suffering an engine defect. 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. Replacement
engine parts were obtained from former NIR locomotive No. 109
(ex. CIE 234) when it was being scrapped. An attempt was made to
repair 226’s engine by welding the broken piece back into place.
However, the effectiveness of this repair was always in doubt,
particularly when the engine was to be operating under full
load. As such, it was decided to try to obtain a replacement
power unit from a 141/181 class locomotive, as several of this
class were subsequently re-engined with engines recovered from
withdrawn “C” class locomotives. During 2008, a replacement GM
8-B645E engine was successful obtained from Iarnród Éireann.
This engine was recovered from 141 class locomotive No. 149
shortly before it was scrapped, and was known to be in good
condition.
On Sunday 12th October 2008, the original engine and generator
set from 226 were lifted out of the locomotive. The generator
set was then sent away to Bandon Rewinds Limited for overhaul,
together with the exhauster and cooling fan motors. Meanwhile,
the original engine was put on the loading dock inside the Goods
Shed, and will be retained as a source of spares. Following the
removal of the engine and generator set, the engine bed-frame
and general floor area was cleaned and repainted. The engine oil
filter containers and all of the engine water and oil pipes were
also cleaned and repainted.
Bandon Rewinds Limited finished the overhaul of the generator
set in early January 2009. Six coats of varnish had to be
applied to the com-poles before they would pass a 1000 volt
insulation test. The generator set was then re-assembled with a
new bearing. The cost of the overhaul of the generator set, the
cooling fan motor, and the exhauster motor, came to just over €
6000.
On Sunday 8th February 2009, the replacement power unit for 226,
together with the overhauled generator set, were lifted back
into the locomotive. The engine was then bolted down on its
mountings and the generator set bolted to the engine. However,
before the generator casing can be fully bolted down and an
attempt can be made to crank the engine, accurate measurements
and adjustments will need to be made to the generator casing
position to ensure that they are correctly aligned. Meanwhile,
work commenced on connecting the water and oil pipes to the
replacement engine.
As 226’s replacement engine came from a 141 class locomotive,
some of the engine fittings specific to a 141 class locomotive
have had to been changed to suit 226. Some of the parts removed
or exchanged include the exhaust silencers (“C” class ones are
smaller), cooling fan drive shaft, auxiliary generator drive
shaft, air filter box, and a water pipe. The fuel pipe
connections were also found to be different on the new engine.
Suitable connections were swapped from the old engine and the
fuel pipes were successfully reconnected.
The degreasing of the new engine is now complete. The oil filter
housing has also now been cleaned out and new elements fitted.
In addition, the sump of the new engine was cleared of all its
old oil. The engine oil filters, air filters, and all of the
engine water and oil pipes have also been cleaned and painted.
The triple valve, together with its associated control and
expansion reservoirs, has now been replaced at the base of the
cooler group. Two of the main air valves, namely the selector
valve and the relay valve, have been replaced. Furthermore, the
end to end vacuum and air pipes have also been repainted.The
cables to control the engine speed valves, and the cables from
the cooler fan thermostat, were replaced. The speed valve
circuits have also been tested from each of the two power
controllers in cab No.2. The
traction motor blower motor has been overhauled and repainted.
Low and High Tension Cubicles
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.
The interlock contacts for the main generator field contactor
and all seven of the auxiliary contactors have been completely
reconditioned, tested and refitted. All of the thick cables and
copper connecting straps have been replaced. Both starting
contactors and traction motor overload panels have been
reconditioned and refitted. The starting relay, traction motor
isolator and traction motor field divert switch unit have all
been overhauled and replaced. All of the circuit breakers have
been tested and refitted to the fuse and circuit breaker panel.
In addition, 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 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.
Finally, 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 rewire and replacement of components in both the high
tension cubicle and low tension cubicle has now been completed.
General
Both battery boxes have been cleaned out and the paintwork
touched up. A set of good quality second hand batteries has now
been obtained and is expected to be fitted shortly. The battery
cable conduit was replaced between the two battery boxes. The
cable between the two boxes was also replaced, with some
difficulty, through the conduit. Both battery charging socket
and interlock units have been replaced and wired 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 gaskets
that fit between the lamp boxes 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 secondman’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.
A
spare fuel pump motor was overhauled by a specialist contractor.
A good fuel pump was fitted to it upon its return and the
complete unit was then painted and refitted underneath the
locomotive.
226’s roof panels, roof cowls and inspection hatches were all
sent away for shot blasting, weld repairs and initial repainting
on 23rd May 2009. These were returned to Carrick-On-Suir
on 24th July 2009. Most of the roof sections have now
been undercoated and gloss painted. Some of the areas around the
top of the locomotive’s body where the roof sections fit have
been wire wheeled, filled, rubbed down and repainted, as they
had become pitted with rust.
A
second-hand set of batteries has been obtained for 226, which
are periodically recharged in order to keep them in good
condition.
Restoration of this locomotive is still ongoing at Carrick-On-Suir.
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226 on the day of the handover from IE. Photo:
IE.

226 outside the former goods shed at Carrick
on Suir

226 No2 Cab before being stripped circa 1995.

226 No2 cab following stripping. 19 February
2005.

226 No2 Cab nearing completion 30 December
2006

226 High Tension Cabinet 27 January 2007

226 Low Tension Cabinet 27 January 2007

226 Engine Room lights working 18 November
2006 
226 undergoing an engine and generator lift 12
October 08.

The
engine from 149 in an engineers yard in Waterford 16/08/08.
Bob Twigg

226 with engine removed 12/10/08
Aiden Kehoe.

A view of the High
Tension Electrical Cabinet after the fourth traction motor
switch was added - it was practically complete then. The photo
was taken on 05.04.08. |