Big news in the world of 45132: The generator was lifted out on 29th July 2008

The story is told photographically on the fotopic site (click images in the left hand bar). Our thanks to all those who made this possible, particularly to the Bob Allen and Colin Chambers (Mid Hants MD and crane driver).

Well the website has been away for some time now, but now I'm back. Not necessarily with a vengence, but back nonetheless.

Since last time we've made good progress with the rotating electrical machine - the generator is now disconnected from the engine and we're awaiting a date from the railway's crane department to get it out and sent away.

In other news, the air box has been pretty much refurbished, and the silencer is still in need of re-fabrication. Batteries don't look too good either, but that's been known for a long time

No dates will be committed to (publically at least) for the next pressing of the go button, but it certainly seems as though we're nearing the end of the tunnel. Either that, or the light is the headlight of an on-coming train...

A couple of pictures showing the disconnected generator have been added to the fotopic page.

How long since the last update? So, where are we now? Pretty much fully moved into our container. We have to finish connecting the permanent electricity supply, which should be done within the next few weeks.

The usual fundraising continues. This machine is never going to run again unless we have the money to pay for things, and the batteries appear to be write-offs as far as actually starting the loco goes - they'll run the lights & some pumps, but cranking the engine will probably be too much for them.

Work on the interior continues, with the roof hatches receiving a thorough clean and a coat of paint - the idea being to paint it white to improve the lighting situation inside the loco. This will of course last 5 seconds once we're up & running, but there's a long road to walk before we get there...

The generator hasn't been forgotten either. We have been working on the tools required to remove it from the loco, for which we have one vague diagram. So getting those right does unsurprisingly feature a large element of trial & error, and of course foul language.

The nose has unfortunately stagnated now, as we cannot work on the nose standing in the six-foot with trains running up and down on the adjacent line. Some space away from the main line will be required before we can finish the wiring. It should be a relatively quick job once we have that, which makes it doubly frustrating.

Some attention has been given to the bodywork of the loco, as shown in a few pics added to the fotopic page.

We've moved into the container and out of the running shed, to allow the floor in there to be concreted. Fortunately, such comodities as lighting and racking were already in there, which cut down the time it took quite significantly. However, as anyone who's ever moved house will know, this is the kind of task where you discover mountains of stuff which you had forgotten about - this was no different. A major task over the next few weeks will be to sort out the contents which will give us much more space.

We have also been taking advantage of the last few weeks of the season to continue fundraising - a seemingly endless task, and a thoroughly boring one!

In between that, work on the nose has continued, with lots of studding replaced and the lightbox, which was so well restored in the first instance, removed for more attention as sitting under a tarpaulin has done it no good at all.

Recent action on 45132 has been relatively good, despite the distraction from Thomas the Annoying Engine's week long playtime at the Mid Hants Railway. (Though thankfully the piped theme music was not present this time, and to be quite honest when I was 8 the racing between thomas and 08288 ('Diesel') would have been the best thing in the world. D199 will be challenging Thomas to a race, whether he will accept is another matter entirely...). The special tools for shifting the generator around have progressed and even recieved some paint. We have been given clearance to adopt a container, which will ease the storage situation greatly, but first we have to empty it into the neighbouring container. Which is easier said than done.

A few new pictures added to the fotopic site, and a whole string of sightings added to the sightings page this month.

The latest 'state of play' on the generator, as men in suits might call it is as follows:

• Endoscope pictures of the generator damage have been taken, and sent to our prospective repair contractor, Knowlton & Newman.
• Agreement has been reached with the Mid Hants Railway regarding use of the steam crane to lift the generator.
• Production of special tools to disengage the generator from the engine has commenced.
• Almost all electrical connections have been disconnected.

The other parts of the loco have not been neglected:

• The turnbuckles have been disconnected from the generator to allow the engine to be barred over - and it's very free, thankfully!
• The triple pump is run regularly, to ensure the engine remains happy to turn, and the turbo is manually spun to keep that free.
• The nose refurbishment continues, with all internal welding work now completed, and only the awkward jobs of rewiring and sealing the air system remaining outstanding.
• The partial refurbishment of No.1 cab continues, though a lack of storage space means there's twice as much work involved in shifting stuff to allow access to work in the cab!
• Maintainance of the batteries continues to show a gradual decline and it is now deemed highly unlikely that they will even turn the engine over, never mind start it!