The Electrical Volunteers Report Sunday 19th. September 2010

[asbibby]

Jonathan was again to be found in our workshop at BBS on Saturday working on the stripping and painting of carriage plugs, readying them for rewiring.
On Sunday Jonathan, John, Len, Clive and myself arrived bright and early which was more that could be said for the weather.

Jonathan and Len carried out the usual fire alarm call point checks at BBS and The Trackside and recorded their findings.

We all then went outside our workshop to give a good send off to the 26B's Black Five 5337, in it's all black and unnumbered livery as yet.
A fantastic return to service by all the members of the 26B group and a much needed boost for eveyone connected to the railway.

Simon the Company full time electrician was in today to give us all some training on the electrics of Mk1 railway carriages, this training will enable us to catch up on the electrical maintenance of the carriages.
We all made our way down to the Carriage & Wagon shed to do the testing on the RMB1833 which is due to be outshopped shortly, a much needed addition to the RMB fleet.

All the lighting fuses were checked first, then the condition of the carriage plugs, electrical conduiting, the generator brushes and commutator, drive belt and pulley for any slackness.

Then we dissconected the ETH (Electrical Train Heating) plugs to test to earth and check continuity of the heating elements, we recorded the readings both to earth and the resistance of the heating circuits.
The fuses were then tested for continuity and then the bus bars were tested for earth leakage.

The batteries are then checked to ensure they will take a charge and topped with with dionised water not tap water, as tap water does nickel alkaline batteries no good at all.

We then went back to our workshop for lunch, after lunch we started to make up some conduit (imperial type) to replace some rotted conduit on RMB1883 this will be completed next week when we have sourced some metric to imperial converters.

We will endeavour to do the electrical maintenance on the carriages as and when they come into the C & W for routine mechanical maintenance.

[rmb]

I overheard some of the college class today. It sounded complicated so i went back to my grinder and pot of red oxide. Well, you can't be good at everything. Sounds like you will be busy lads. See you in C/W.

RMB

[mike-smashing]

The batteries are then checked to ensure they will take a charge and topped with with dionised water not tap water, as tap water does nickel alkaline batteries no good at all.

Interesting reading, and good to hear 1833 is making progress. However, I thought most BRA1-type cells were lead-acid?

Did Simon show you guys how to take an electrolyte sample with a hydrometer to check the health of the electrolyte before topping up?

I found a good page from the Railcar Association on DMU batteries, but most of this should apply to coaches as they are 24V as well, hope it's useful:

http://www.railcar.co.uk/mechanical/batteries.htm

Also, the same search found a good page from the SRPS C&W team about battery sulphation - a type of degradation that would affect BRA1-type cells that have been left unused for a long time:

http://www.gotopcs.net/batsulph.htm

If you're able to in the coming weeks, can you guys check out the batteries on the Mk2a BFK 14073?

They seem to be in a poor state and are rarely able to make it through a day.

Being part of the air-brake set, it shouldn't be in service for most blue timetable Sundays, so you may be able to arrange to get at it during your normal Sunday turns now, assuming it's stabled somewhere you can safely work on it.

If the batteries are fine, then something else isn't right with the lighting on that coach, and maybe a course in Mk2 electrics is next on the agenda!

Mike

[asbibby]

Hi Mike,
Simon is still looking after the batteries himself, we are just doing the carriage electrics so far which is lagging behind in maintenance schedule.
The batteries are normally lead acid, but a few have been changed to nickel alkaline due to us been given some free gratis, they have a much better recovery time after being discharged.
Any problems re. batteries need to be directed to Simon.

[mike-smashing]

Hi Mike,
Simon is still looking after the batteries himself...

Any problems re. batteries need to be directed to Simon.

Thanks for the info.

Wonder if you or someone else who works with Simon could get a message to him to take a look, as I'm not going to be in Bury for a month now.

It seems the guards who work the train are diligently writing the fault up but nothing seems to get done, so I don't know if Simon is getting the message or not, or whether it's recieved but given "low priority".

It's terribly frustrating to work a set, only to come back several weeks later, and find the same defects going unrepaired.

The air brake set I daresay will be needed for the diesel gala in 4 weeks, and probably for the steam gala the week after. With the nights drawing in, lighting (and possibly heating - which won't work on Mk2s without healthy carriage batts) may be needed.

It would be welcome if it could be addressed before then.

Mike

[mouldyjamontoast]

The air brake set I daresay will be needed for the diesel gala in 4 weeks, and probably for the steam gala the week after. With the nights drawing in, lighting (and possibly heating - which won't work on Mk2s without healthy carriage batts) may be needed.

The blue & grey corridor MK1's were in traffic this weekend as a set (BSO W9356 & others I believe) was failed by the RO on Sunday for having no available lights (The lights on this set are usually very reliable, therefore I can only attribute this to having not been charged overnight)

I would imagine the MK2's will not be in service during the steam gala, as they are ETH only, with no provision for steam heat.

Whether they are required, or will be rostered for service during the diesel gala, is questionable.

I'm not sure whether 1848 (as 1837 is now out of traffic) is dual brake and as 1871 is currently working vac only, it would not make sense to put the Mk2's out with the current lighting and presumably battery related issues.

[asbibby]

Hi Mike,
Simon is still looking after the batteries himself...

Any problems re. batteries need to be directed to Simon.

Thanks for the info.

Wonder if you or someone else who works with Simon could get a message to him to take a look, as I'm not going to be in Bury for a month now.

It seems the guards who work the train are diligently writing the fault up but nothing seems to get done, so I don't know if Simon is getting the message or not, or whether it's recieved but given "low priority".

It's terribly frustrating to work a set, only to come back several weeks later, and find the same defects going unrepaired.

The air brake set I daresay will be needed for the diesel gala in 4 weeks, and probably for the steam gala the week after. With the nights drawing in, lighting (and possibly heating - which won't work on Mk2s without healthy carriage batts) may be needed.

It would be welcome if it could be addressed before then.

Mike

The electrical workshop is located under the stairs at BBS, is there a duplicate of the defects report, one of which will stay in the book and the other one can then be put in an envelope and posted underneath our door, marked up for the Electrician's attention.
This way we will get to know of any defects, because the communication between C & W and ourselves is not too clever!
If there is no duplicate copy a small note will suffice giving the carriage number & a short description of the fault.

[mike-smashing]

I would imagine the MK2's will not be in service during the steam gala, as they are ETH only, with no provision for steam heat.

Odd. The stock list I've been given says the Mk2a rake is dual heat. I'm sure I saw steam bags the last time I saw that rake...

Whether they are required, or will be rostered for service during the diesel gala, is questionable.

Well, four trains are needed for both the Steam and Diesel gala weekends.

Unless it's a DMU on the Rammy shuttles, we'll need 4 sets of LHCS.

I'm not sure whether 1848 (as 1837 is now out of traffic) is dual brake and as 1871 is currently working vac only, it would not make sense to put the Mk2's out with the current lighting and presumably battery related issues.

I worked a set with 1848 a couple of weeks ago. It's dual-braked.

Mike

[mike-smashing]

The electrical workshop is located under the stairs at BBS, is there a duplicate of the defects report, one of which will stay in the book and the other one can then be put in an envelope and posted underneath our door, marked up for the Electrician's attention.
This way we will get to know of any defects, because the communication between C & W and ourselves is not too clever!

Ah. This may explain why things have dragged out.

14073 does not have one of the "normal" carbonless copy defect books, where you pull a chit out of the book and put it in the thing outside the guards' office.

It has an A6-sized notebook which seems to stay with the brake van.

Mike

[Union Pacific]

Hope you don't think I am bieng a bit thick here, but is there any way the charging system could be changed on these coaches?, like do away with the dynamo thing and fit an alternator type of system, just a thought. It might be worth experimenting with p'raps.

[asbibby]

Hope you don't think I am bieng a bit thick here, but is there any way the charging system could be changed on these coaches?, like do away with the dynamo thing and fit an alternator type of system, just a thought. It might be worth experimenting with p'raps.

Most of the carriages in use have on board battery chargers which we fitted some time ago, underneath the guards step on the brake carriage is a bulkhead light which illuminates when the 240v supply has been connected up to the mains supply at the end of the days work.

Sometimes, if they have not been plugged in overnight and because of the low mileage the carriages do, they never get a really good charge unless they are plugged in overnight.

Has for charging the batteries they require 24v D.C. fom the belt driven D.C. generators, an alternator generates A.C. no good for 24v D.C. batteries.

Any defects relating to the electrics are reported to C & W and a copy of the report put in an envelope and posted underneath the door to the Electricians workshop, underneath the stairs at BBS

What is required for the batteries is that they are maintained correctly and that the guards at the end of their shift ensure that the carriages are put back on charge via the onboard chargers, JOB DONE.