Loco History

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Locomotive D147 was rolled out as new from Derby Locomotive Works in December 1961. The loco was immediately put to work on services via the Midland Main Line to St.Pancras, and also saw use on inter regional services between the South West and North East. In early 1964 the loco was transferred to Cricklewood depot for driver training, only to return North to Derby a few months later. A slight move to the Nottingham Division followed and the machine was to remain there until 1971, when the call of Bristol Bath Road was answered as part of a fleet re-organisation. This involved many class 46 locos departing for the Western region depots, in return for class 45s which would take their place in the Midlands.

In order to replace the then rapidly disappearing diesel-hydraulic locos on the Western Region, 46010 was transferred to Laira Depot, Plymouth in October 1974. There the loco remained until 1980, being stored unserviceable at Swindon Works in October of that year.

A motive power shortage saw the loco re-instated in November 1981, albeit this time at the Newcastle depot of Gateshead. The machine was still being used on services between the North East and South West at this time.

By 1984 the class 46 locomotive fleet was slowly being depleted, many examples being surplus to requirements or being 'life expired'. Due to constant problems with the loco being 'low on power', the machine received a new turbocharger at Gateshead in May 1984 in an attempt to resolve these faults. Unfortunately, this attempt was in vain, the loco returning to its home depot shortly after for assessment. Serious power unit defects were found, these being low compression, sump dilution and coolant leaks and although work was actually started to address these faults, the loco was deemed uneconomical to repair and the loco was dumped, semi-dismantled, and was officially withdrawn on 4th November 1984.

The loco was then moved to Doncaster Works along with several of its sisters, for scrapping, only to be moved across the East Coast Main Line to Doncaster Carr Depot in 1986. This move was in connection with testing new depot protection scotches, being such a heavy loco it was deemed to be an ideal candidate for these tests. This move was to have almost certainly saved the loco from going for scrap.

The loco was offered for sale by tender in February 1993 and was inspected by LDG members. The loco was very heavily stripped and although the tender document stated that the power unit had been removed and the loco had suffered bogie damage, this was found not to be the case. It was decided that the loco was (only just !!!) a viable restoration project and so we decided to bid for the loco. Our bid was successful, so we then set about sourcing many of the required parts that were missing on the loco. The electrical cubicle was totally devoid of any components whatsoever, this was to be a major restoration task in itself.The most notable hurdle to cross being the acquisition of a suitable reverser. There simply werent any class 46 reversers available !! The only choice was to modify a class 47 type reverser. This required many modifications to the bottom of the electrical cubicle and was a major undertaking for us. Another problem arose with the wheelslip equipment, again class 47 type wheelslip gear was modified for the task.

Left : Number one end cab of 46010 as withdrawn     Right : Engine compartment of 46010, note empty cubicle to rear.

Power unit repairs by this time were ongoing and work on the loco was being carried out on an 'off and on' basis until the power unit was ready to be craned back into the loco in late 1998.

Work continued apace and the loco was fired up for the first time in 1999. However, a serious main generator defect was to cause a major stumbling block for us, the machine having to be removed from the loco and sent away for specialist repair.

By July 2000 the generator had been re-fitted to the loco and we were ready for another fire up. This time all went to plan and shortly after the loco was moved under its own power for the first time since 1984. A massive achievement for the group and one that will with no doubt, go down as one of the biggest diesel loco preservation projects ever undertaken.