January 2026 Update
- All brake cylinders have now been fully overhauled, with nothing major to report.
- Steve continues to make good progress on the electrical side of the locomotive, methodically checking systems throughout. It’s a time‑consuming and sometimes painful process, but essential work that must be completed before testing can begin.
- The batteries arrived toward the end of December and have now been installed, along with a provisional design to keep them securely in place. We’re hoping to have these fully wired in before the start of February.
- The 2" VAC pipe running the length of the locomotive underneath was found to be missing, but this has now been reinstated. Once an isolation valve and strainer valve are fitted, the vacuum side of the locomotive will be complete.
- All brake valves that were missing from underneath the loco have now been recovered and installed. These were included with the sale of the locomotive but had not previously been fitted.
- Work has also begun on the compressor housing, which was in poor condition and required attention ahead of the testing phase.
- All brushes excluding the traction motor brushes have been inspected and thankfully show plenty of wear remaining before reaching their markers. In the coming weeks, we plan to position the locomotive over a pit to carry out further underside inspections.
- The manual coolant fill pump has now been completely overhauled.
- Finally, the gauges have been loosely fitted into the desk, allowing us to connect the air pipework in the near future for pressure testing. Once this stage is complete, attention can turn to assembling the desk properly.
D8069's first start
After spending 6 days working through various parts of the locomotive to prepare for this day,
on the 22nd November 2025 we finally pressed the big green GO button and brought D8069 to life.