26040 D5340 BRCW type 2 locomotive.

29/05/2026

'𝘊𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘺. 𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘬𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦'. -Quincy Jones from the Italian Job.

Thought I'd come on here & sort of share some interesting goings on to tie loose ends up before a more detailed loco based update hopefully in a week or so.

Of course we all have demands on our time but I felt there was enough interest in matters of late to share. The Moggie Minor foreign jaunt being so.
This post is a bit picture heavy & this is the trimmed down edit.

37042-There's good progress & I've been running it more & more each time making progress but essentially it starts, stops, draws its own fuel from the big tanks now & charges its batteries (😊) without me having to do anything else to keep it alive now. Compressors are also now turning & we've the missing parts to refit. It's still not 100% but next run complete with water pumps refitted intends to be a much longer one so fingers crossed it'll clear itself out.
Brake 'cylinders' are all off for repurposing.
Yes it's getting scarily close but isn't it fab.

Those from the beginning of this page may remember the 'secret mentor' & pleased to say Ken's also been in to see both Graham & I at Weardale. Thanks from both Graham & I.

26040 has really low readings as expected on one of its traction motors. I've only been testing through the cables & after all this dry period intend to chat about this next update. With that in mind & after a bit think about it-I've bought myself a gantry as it'll have to come out (al fresco) regardless, sadly.

Whitrope-I said I'll do one more big job for you & oversee the dismantling of the mk1 coach. This sort of cost me time in terms of effort & also the bloke stripping it was caught out slightly on the scrap value & his costs but this is life I guess. We both won't actively seek to do another.
Sadly there's little sign of activity up there with everything stopped in essence. Of course trying to find a future or way forward & this is why I played my part in stripping the coach.

Moggie Minor
Thought it was interesting enough to put on here but we've been away with the Moggie.
After events I sort of changed our approach & did our own programme.
When chatting to our Andrew the haulier recently (now known as a 'few days early Andrew' ) about taking it abroad & maybe doing the ww2 submarine bases, he suggested St Nazaire.
Seemingly he was there during the war.

I know & can see a lot of you enjoy this page.
The whole recent events regarding 37042 & moving it were most moving. Of course I saw a lot of the reaction & subsequent pics/videos.
A local photographer to the area, Gerald H was astonished the online reaction his vid has had.
I keep saying 'that's the 37042 affect'. Let's hope we can keep it all rolling along.

À bientôt
I, G & the Moggie Minor.

24/04/2026

37042 Lives Again part 2

Well we couldn't help ourselves !
Still issues to work through but this time we let the loco control more of the running & control its own fuelling.
All very undramatic tbh.
Everything just switched back & did what it should.
Progress I guess.
Thanks in advance for any good wishes.

The best part of all this was Graham was there to see it (after he put down his orbital sander).
It's been a manic few days so if you don't mind we're going to 'go to ground for a few weeks'.
I.

37042 lives again (part 2)

20/04/2026

21:30
'Two hundred, six crest, 400, six crest and six crest, 50 to stop'.
(D.Ringer. Nov '95 Ss28 Clocaenog East.)

Thank-you all. That was madness.
A bit like chasing the old RAC rally.
Been fabulous to see. Tears even.
Both Graham & I are looking forward to seeing your pics/videos online. Post them where you wish & enjoy.
I.

20/04/2026

Swapping tractor units & about to set off on the A66 . 14:32hrs

I'm going to update where we are on the route as we go along should you wish to come out & see us/take pics & use/post as you wish.
This is one of the ways we'll be saying thank-you for your patience & keeping away from the loco to keep the heat of us these last 18 months.
We'll be 'double heading' the tractor units on the A68 run south from off the A69 so that'll make a great shot if you can.
Enjoy & 'fill yer boots' .
Our pleasure.
I & G.

20/04/2026

With great joy & a sense of privilege I can tell you that Graham Harris (owner) is relocating loco 37042 to Wolsingham depot on the Weardale Railway, County Durham in the NE of England.

I've been asked to go with the loco & of course we shall have to 'find our feet' again with everything and new surroundings but excitingly I can tell you that we will, on occasion be able to use the shed on a limited, organised basis. The intention is to pick up where we left off with matters and continue to work towards a return to service, which no doubt you will all be delighted to hear.

You've all been very good and extremely patient waiting for some news on 37042 and Graham & I are most excited by this opportunity. Of course it is a massive undertaking & commitment on both our parts but these opportunities are to be embraced & yes they know about our own 26040's aspirations !

Friend of our 26 Malc tells me that he used to watch 37's on this line on cement duties so it seems fitting to be bringing it here.

Should you feel obliged to comment below wishing us well please do as the support is always appreciated & let's us know what this means to you.

However for me I'll finally get these 2 x class 37 water pumps & a set of brake 'cylinders' out the garage at long last !

Speak soon.
I & G.

'The Weardale Railway is an 18 mile heritage line running from a connection with the main rail network at Bishop Auckland to Eastgate in Weardale, County Durham, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Currently a 16 mile section of line between Bishop Auckland and Stanhope has been restored for passenger and freight use' -https://www.weardale-railway.org.uk

& finally a huge thanks to Claire & team at Weardale.

18/03/2026

'𝐿𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒶𝑔𝒶𝒾𝓃,
𝒩𝑜 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓇𝓊𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝒹𝑒
𝐼𝓉'𝓈 𝒶 𝓌𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝓁, 𝓌𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒' - 🎶

The defective bogie is out !
What once seemed beyond reach is reality.

Of course this was always the plan when I decided I was bringing here to be minutes from the house but 𝒽𝑜𝓌...
Normally there's a couple of approaches either up with chains through the lifting eye for overhead gantry cranes/conventional crane or from below with lifting jacks that'll lift it high into the air but I figured out a third way which I think may be a first.

As with a lot of the 040 journey it involves friend of this page, career railwayman our Richard who said 'I remember when (in the Inverness area) there was a dead 26 that they pushed into a siding, built it up on sleepers & changed a traction motor that way'. I never forgot this chat & realistically this was the only option. It was great to recall this conversation & tell him 'it's out' to which he said 'I always knew you would Iain'.

Jacks.
In short the loco weighs 40 tonnes less its bogies, so say 10t a corner. Seeking advice from the usual source I struggled to find 25t jacks but found some new 32's However it was never going to lift it high enough in one go.

EN8 Pins (75mm).
Before picking up the loco lifting points I'd had an idea. Where the shackles for going up fit, my hunch was that some 1500mm long 75mm diameter pins would fit through here & allow me to pack under these to support the loco as I repacked under the jacks to lift again. I did some research & last weekend I lifted the loco up 2 inches, measured a reference point each side & left it for a few days resting the pins on its wooden packers.

Observation.
What seems like an eternity ago I had a student job in a scrapyard. One of the full timers I had a bit respect for once said '𝑜𝒷𝓈𝑒𝓇𝓋𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓀𝑒𝓎' so I watched & developed a 'feel' for working with sleepers/wooden packers.
One example has been working with the pins. I moved the load points quite far out one night but each time the deflected bar came back straight.
The plan was jack from underneath & hang on the pins as I repacked etc.

Centreline.
I'll explain a bit more in the pics but one of my concerns, (as of course this is all new to me) is the loco being centred when the time comes to refit the bogie. It would be embarrassing if I couldn't refit the bogie & this played on my mind.
However I'd already thought of this & taken the veranda metal plates off the brake van & these fitted nicely over the top of the 'sleeper pad' but this had another benefit in that it allows me to fit skates under the lifting points & with Malc on the forklift I can nudge & pull the loco to align it all. This was my biggest worry.

Of course we now think about the traction motors & trying to find the best way forward. I always said one was a dead short & the other had white smoke before being isolated. I guess we need to start to find a baseline with it all & start measuring it. Of course I've peered in and one of the brush springs has broken but they don't seem to have free brushes and are in poorer condition than the working end from what I've seen. I'll need to navigate carefully the way forward without going 'bust'.

This page & progress.
I was recently watching a certain Cumbrian celebrate his 70th surprise party with a group of rally cars & I began to think (a tenuous link but wait for it 🥲) how this was similar to efforts on this page.
There was footage of a swb Audi Quatttro jinking left & right creeping through the corners & I thought to myself this isn't what we want to be seeing, we want to see the full boost with the rear squatting down & the nose lifting as it takes off rifling up through the gears.

This is maybe similar to this page. Nobody really wants to see all the effort of collecting & shovelling a tonne of ballast for each pad or the endless trips cutting sleepers up by chainsaw or trailering them back before handballing it all into position. We all want to see the madness of it all.
A bit like that Audi Quattro.

but...sadly the number 1 cab is in extremely poor condition, much worse than I ever thought & I knew it was bad. Quite sobering tbh. I'm starting to think how I'll approach it though & it's only metal. I'm qualified & experienced enough that it doesn't phase me. I've a few tricks up my sleeve I'll share & I've 'built' & heavy repaired enough of my competition cars that's the sort of specialist skills or creativity needed here. Let's hope for a dry summer.

Top fans.
There's a thing called 'Top fans' attached itself to the page or maybe I selected it. If you could 'like' or even comment it's always appreciated & keeps the page going & growing. In the future I'd like to reward these people.

Interest & Privacy.
There's quite a few of you interested in the page, which of course is great & to which I'll keep the updates coming. However the loco is on a private site, someone's home who has kindly helped us out & where there are kids & grandkids going about.
Please respect our request for privacy & only follow matters online here.

Let's finish on a positive.
Remember that reference to the Quattro above ? that's sort of how I'm feeling at the moment with this project.
Maybe just maybe, I'm sensing the back start to squat down & the nose begin to lift.....
Let's enjoy whatever this brings next.

Speak soon.
IF.

25/02/2026

'When the going gets tough, the Carlisle men get going'. Thank-you once again.

From Waverley Route trackbed to Waverley Route trackbed. I'm sure there's a significance somewhere.

The trouble with phoning our Andrew the haulier is that it's all a bit unpredictable. A call on Monday lunch time about other matters ended with 'oh we're at Carnforth on Thursday so we'll do your brake van on Friday'. Err yes but I'll need to lay some track for it.
Not what I had planned for this week (26040 progress update but that'll be next week now).
Then a phone call last night to say Friday is now tomorrow (Wednesday) are you ready ?

Around Christmas I was in my favourite Carlisle attraction, the used car parts Mecca where a conversation about the loco quickly was turned around into 'well I am looking for somewhere for the brake van restoration' & thus we have opened up a second front again minutes from the house but in the opposite direction to the loco. Depends what way I fall out of bed I guess.
I'd like to say though that I'm quite taken aback that they think enough of what I do here to invite me into the contractors area behind the big gates & closed to the public section. Thank-you MD.

I've touched on it before but the brake van is destined to be a museum attraction just over the border. They're doing all the grant applications atm so fingers crossed.
I'll likely tackle the metalwork but I've asked an 'old school' retired joiner if he is keen to take it on & he's said tentatively 'yes'. Initially I thought it wouldn't be but it is going to be a full strip down & rebuild on the wood front. If it's worth doing it's worth doing right etc.

I'm not sure how all of this is going to work out but I guess we've done the hard part getting it out. The access through the forrestry section is by far the worst I've seen it today & it looks like they're getting ready to haul out of areas further up & closer to Whitrope which'll churn that up next. However it's no longer my worry as they're both out now (loco & brake van) but I wonder if it'll become noticed that fallen trees blocking the access no longer seem to be removed....
I guess you could cut up the Pacers on site rather than remove them if it comes to that. I was chatting to a bloke at Bedale last week who sent one of his 3 pacers away to this fate.

I originally thought April for the Brake Van but we're ahead of schedule & Andrews guys came 3 days early so what can I do with all this extra time I'll have ? 🥲

^IF.

Please note the brake van is now in a private site with no access. I'll continue progress on here though as we work through it.

30/01/2026

Just wanted to pop up & say we've been enjoying our bit rest after events of the last few years & enjoying having the loco in Carlisle.
It's fantastic having it minutes from the house & once again I can't believe how much drier it is here.
We've been backing up or mentally 'revving up' to have another run at it this year & the enthusiasm is coming back again.
Exciting news is I've been given a set of lifting eyes from the loco emporium that is KJ & how to lift the loco has been the subject of much head scratching but we're developing a bit confidence in how to tackle this.
It's my intention to chat about it here as we have been doing.
Sadly I've been retiring to my turret in my cloak & banishing people like on the TV programme 'The Traitors' but this is life. This page is a safe place to be although the door is always open for an apology.
That's really all the news. Just been enjoying being able to have a bit break from it all.
Hope to have an exciting update at the end of Feb as we have a go at loading the loco up on its jacking points & see how it takes the weight.
It'll be to the theme tune of 'Are you being served' & 'going up'.

IF.

23/11/2025

Richard has recently started 'blogging' about his railway memories and I thought this one in particular might interest readers of this page.

I may chat a bit more about the difficulties negotiating the cutting in the 'Christmas Special'.
Worthy of note is this area also dragged me with the Tef20 tractor and topper in to the same angle.
We did well to get the loco out & much respect to Anthony of RSS.
I'll thread it all into the Christmas Special.

IF.

When I was a young man, I used to like listening to a song called 'Living next door to Alice' by a band called Smokie. One of the reasons for liking the song was it always made me think of those people living in the flat...

07/11/2025

'𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘯𝘥' 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴. 🎶
Next up to leave is the brake van.

'& in the end the effort you take is equal to the effort you make'. A bit work lies ahead to reverse the recent years of neglect & the unrepaired steps ripped off in an incident a few years ago but....

I thought these were worthy of a post of their own as we take a last chance to recreate a period correct scene on the Waverley Route.

Plan is that the brake van is kindly off into storage before being incorporated on a long term loan to a museum collection.
It'll be great to see it enjoyed by others & apart from the immediate benefit of being able to use the extra room there's exciting thoughts about it being a virtual reality suite with pull down blinds, screens & 3d headsets ! Thumping bass etc. 😊

It'll be good to see it live on & be enjoyed.
I.

Tef20.
I forget sometimes how much these old things are loved. Of course I'm very fond of it too but when I came out to see a 4 year old & his mum waiting patiently at it of course I remember a bit effort on my part can make someone's day.
I'd passed them earlier in the village & seemingly he had turned to his mum & said 'there was a tractor went by & you didn't look'.
10 mins of my time letting him sit on it, lift the bonnet & running the engine could be the starter for a lifetime of pleasure.
Fantastic.

IF.