With a number of maintenance tasks completed prior to Christmas, 37215 satisfactorily completed its booked duties at the Christmas Cracker event on the 29th and 30th December with the loco running reliably as ever. The shore based pre-heater that we have used for many years now was once again fired up and proved its worth in preheating the power unit before starting – saving much wear and tear on the engine. Preheating really is an essential part of any winter running or starts in low temperatures.
D6948 has been taken out of service to attend to a number of ‘shakedown’ faults which came to light during its two gala appearances in 2016. These include leaking window rubbers, various electrical issues and poor combustion/control faults with the steam heat generator. We are hoping the loco will be serviceable again by early March.
