17-12-2011, 06:00 PM
The purpose of this thread is to give an insight into the electrical workings and maintenance of a 'vintage' electro-diesel locomotive running on a heritage railway.
The railway jargon will be kept to a minimum and it is hoped this thread will build up over time and become interesting reading for those who would like to know a little more about the subject.
I will need to start with a brief history....
Locomotive 73140 was one of 49 electro-diesel locomotives built between 1962 and 1967 for British Railways. The first six prototypes were built at BR Eastleigh Works on the Southern Region and the production batch of 43 were built at the English Electric Vulcan Foundry at Newton-le-Willows.
This class of locomotive is unusual, in that it is primarily an electric locomotive drawing current from the Southern Region third rail system at 850 Volt DC, but is additionally fitted with a 600hp diesel engine and DC generator to allow it to work on non-electrifed lines.
The original numbering system was E6001 to E6049 in build sequence. The class was renumbered in the early 1970s and E6047 became 73140 under the new system. Our locomotive was almost at the end of the build sequence and entered service in late 1966.
73140 was withdrawn from service in 1998 and stored with many others until 2001 when it was offered for sale for scrap by competitive tender. Paul Hubbard and I had been actively involved since 1996 in running 73003, an early member of the class built in 1962 and had gained a lot of experience over the years. We decided we would like to buy a later example, so we looked over all the locomotives offered and selected 73140 as being fairly complete and in best overall condition. Our offer by tender was accepted (we outbid the scrapman) and all 77 tons of 73140 was taken away by road on a lorry to be restored to working order.
The locomotive now resides on the Spa Valley Railway at Tunbridge Wells in Kent where Paul and I have maintained and run it over the last 10 years. We have restored it to original condition as E6047 in the British Railways blue colour scheme. Visitors from the Forum will be most welcome to visit us and will be able to have a close look at the locomotive internals if they wish (assuming one of us is on site).
Paul and I hope to add regular posts to this thread and answer any questions folk may ask.
A link to the host railway is here:
http://www.spavalleyrailway.co.uk/SpaCls73_04.htm
Some pictures are here:
http://www.preserved-diesels.co.uk/engin..._index.htm
The next installment will attempt to describe the electrical workings of the locomotive in a bit more detail.
The railway jargon will be kept to a minimum and it is hoped this thread will build up over time and become interesting reading for those who would like to know a little more about the subject.
I will need to start with a brief history....
Locomotive 73140 was one of 49 electro-diesel locomotives built between 1962 and 1967 for British Railways. The first six prototypes were built at BR Eastleigh Works on the Southern Region and the production batch of 43 were built at the English Electric Vulcan Foundry at Newton-le-Willows.
This class of locomotive is unusual, in that it is primarily an electric locomotive drawing current from the Southern Region third rail system at 850 Volt DC, but is additionally fitted with a 600hp diesel engine and DC generator to allow it to work on non-electrifed lines.
The original numbering system was E6001 to E6049 in build sequence. The class was renumbered in the early 1970s and E6047 became 73140 under the new system. Our locomotive was almost at the end of the build sequence and entered service in late 1966.
73140 was withdrawn from service in 1998 and stored with many others until 2001 when it was offered for sale for scrap by competitive tender. Paul Hubbard and I had been actively involved since 1996 in running 73003, an early member of the class built in 1962 and had gained a lot of experience over the years. We decided we would like to buy a later example, so we looked over all the locomotives offered and selected 73140 as being fairly complete and in best overall condition. Our offer by tender was accepted (we outbid the scrapman) and all 77 tons of 73140 was taken away by road on a lorry to be restored to working order.
The locomotive now resides on the Spa Valley Railway at Tunbridge Wells in Kent where Paul and I have maintained and run it over the last 10 years. We have restored it to original condition as E6047 in the British Railways blue colour scheme. Visitors from the Forum will be most welcome to visit us and will be able to have a close look at the locomotive internals if they wish (assuming one of us is on site).
Paul and I hope to add regular posts to this thread and answer any questions folk may ask.
A link to the host railway is here:
http://www.spavalleyrailway.co.uk/SpaCls73_04.htm
Some pictures are here:
http://www.preserved-diesels.co.uk/engin..._index.htm
The next installment will attempt to describe the electrical workings of the locomotive in a bit more detail.
