Attempting to get the rescued Class 21's original Ringfield power bogie running smoothly has proved to be a long running saga. Initially it seemed that the brushes were not being held firmly in place due to a damaged faceplate rivet and so the missing part of the rivet was built up using epoxy. This did not, however, seem to solve the problem and so new hollow rivets were ordered (3.5mm diameter, 5mm long). As the workshop staff did not have a riveting tool, they bodge fitted it with a punch and a vice. It looked good, but running was still not smooth.
At around the same time it was discovered that the armature windings had been "repaired" previously seeming unbalancing things, so a spare armature was found and fitted in the workshop, but the running was still erratic. The loco then entered trial service, but the armature was getting stuck at slow speeds in one direction. This meant that the loco was often unable to reverse resulting in marooned and rather frustrated passengers and so the disgraced loco was returned to the workshops.
On close examination it was noticed that the new bodged rivet was fractionally off 90 degrees and rather than attempt another bodged riveting exercise, it was decided to use a spare faceplate that had been tucked away in a dusty corner. During trial fitting it was noticed that the top mounting clips were in the wrong place for the Class 21's power unit. No spare faceplates appear to be available for this particular power unit, but the careful use of filler (Milliput) meant that a new fixing (self tapping screw) could be engineered.
Now the saga is finally[?] over and BNR's number 12 has entered passenger service, although the paintshop didn't cover themselves in glory with this one. Despite now running fairly well, passengers seem a little nervous
when this one turns up at the head of a service, perhaps the loco should have been numbered 13?
.
.
