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A re-engined Class 43 floats Captain Deltic's boat
For a demonstration of the cycle of feast and famine which has bedevilled the traction and tolling stock industry, the big 25 Shop at Brush Traction's Loughborough factory is hard to beat.
In the 1960s it was chock-a-block with Modernisation Plan Class 47s. Then came a quiet-ish spell until the late 1980s saw it spitting out a Class 60 a week, plus a side serving of Class 92s and Shuttle locomotives for the Channel Tunnel.
With privatisation it all went quiet again, the staple workload being the up-rating of Channel Tunnel Shuttles from 5.6MW to 7MW plus a steady flow of jobbing repairs and modification. This was interrupted by the Class 57 conversions, which proved to be a useful contract to win.
Brush learned a lot about upgrading old designs from the Class 57 contracts. Such upgrading is something the railway has not really gone in for, unlike, say, military aviation, where new engines and avionics transform the range and performance of a competent airframe. But now Brush is demonstrating what can be done with a 30 year old Class 43 power car.
Launched with great political enthusiasm, HST2, the IC125 replacement, is proving an elusive concept to nail down. That it has now become the Intercity Express Project (IEP) suggests the end of like-for-like replacement.
With IC125 required to soldier on for another decade at least, the argument for re-engineering has become undeniable and Brush has the technology, expertise and 25 Shop to build the bionic Class 43. And a walk round one of the first rebuilds off the production line was mightily impressive.
Keeping track of the various Class 43 re-engining contracts is complicated by the fact that there are two operators – GNER and First Great Western – and three owners – Angel, Porterbrook and First Group. In addition, GNER has decided to pimp their power cars to the max while First Group have gone for the plain vanilla new engine and cooler group combination.
But at the last count Brush is giving 25 GNER power cars the full works and re-engining up to 80 First Great Western units, including the 12 First-owned power cars.
GNER have opted for Brush's own cooler group where First have chosen Voith. From the start the weak point of the Class 43 was the lack of cooling capacity, compounded by a radiator matrix which was easily blocked by dust and seeds. The Brush replacement is the largest they could fit into the available space. According to an engineering chum, it provides ‘awesome heat transfer'.
Brush were always good at control electronics and for discerning customers, they will upgrade their original 1970s technology equipment in the Class 43. This was piloted on Network Rail's flying banana, otherwise the Network Measurement Train.
With the new engine and control electronics the train goes better. So the third modification on the GNER units is a microprocessor based version of the Westinghouse KBRS wheel-slide protection equipment. There is also a new-look drivers desk.
To start each upgrade, the existing engine, cooler group and control cubicles are stripped out and the rolling shell transferred to a separate facility for an internal wash. It then comes back into 25 Shop where the bogies are removed and the body it is put on stands and levelled before corrosion repairs. Here the good news is that, so far, corrosion has been found only where it would be expected, mainly in the bottom corners and in the cant rails.
With a 30 day cycle time from strip out to test, Brush will turn out a re-engineered Class 43 every four days at the peak of the programme. To meet this sustained workload Brush is recruiting an additional 50 staff.
At the end of this process you have, effectively, a new power car above the solebar. The only major traction components retained are the overhauled alternator and the traction motors. Personally, I would have exploited the extra 250hp built into the electric traction equipment in anticipation of the Valenta being uprated to 2,500hp, but you can't have everything.
What really impressed me was the quality of the finished product which exploits modern materials most effectively. The new driver's desk is one example, but the engine room is even better.
If you lift the bonnets of a modern car and its 1980s equivalent you will be struck by the much more elegant layout made possible by advances in plastics and mundane items like hoses. Brush have achieved the same effect with the MTU installation in the Class 43, the silver engine finish complemented by some features, such as tailored insulation blankets, and contrasting with black plastic mouldings.
Despite wearing a cream linen jacket I could not resist a detailed poke round the engine room. There was much ho-hoing at my unsuitable attire when I went in. But I emerged, if not a model of sartorial elegance, at least unmarked.
Now it's up to the Depots to keep the interior pristine.
| Can I point you to a piece of rampant nostalgia in Fun Stuff on Alycidon Rail (www.alycidon.com). It is a BR era cartoon I found in a long lost file which, if you were around at the time, should raise a wry smile. |