Restoration of Tr 113
2023 So Far
20th August 2023
Keegan hard at work scraping and wire brushing the old grease, oil, mud and paint off one of my locos TR 113 wheels, as part of the SteamRail Wanganui Inc. Sunday morning working bee. He also wire brushed the head stock the week before (the 13th august). Thanks Keegan you are a big help.
8th July 2023
My loco was pulled outside for the first time in ages. It was on display as part of the East Town Railway Workshops new book launch. During its inspections before moving, it was found that a lot of the grease nipples on the main axle bearings had been damaged when the loco was lifted by the crane when I first got it. I have now ordered new nipples for these, and I will replace all the others while I'm at it.
Mid 2022 Update
For a change there's been a few things happening on my loco. Keegan has been using the rattle gun and removing rust from the top of the rear head stock. Getting the area ready for painting. Once this is done, we can then weld in the new bit of steel to replace the rusted out bottom section of the back cab wall. I managed to pick up a new starter motor, one that fits this time (not a smaller after market one that was too small to fit the housing it needed to go in). The new starter motor was tested and has now been mounted into my loco. We are slowly but surely getting closer to being able to turn the engine over and even run the loco. I know the TR's didn't have speedo's in them, but I have also picked up a after market speedo (runs on GPS) to go into it. I've done this to keep a eye on what speed we are doing, specially when it finally gets to run in the Wanganui yard. Photos taken by myself and Ewan Pound.
First Update for 2022
As usual things are happening very slowly with my loco. When I'm at the SteamRail Wanganui Inc shed, most of my time is taken up with paper work issue's and other items due to me being President of the society. However I have now almost finished the cleaning out of the final drive gear box. I have also now fitted the first brake handle (still have to find another).
April 2021
I was offered and picked up several spare parts for my loco from Hutt Workshop during April. These were stripped off sister loco TR 114 (471) before it was scrapped. I managed to get 5 of the 6 engine hood panel doors. Both side windows, the air compressor, a air valve, a seat (including wall bracket) and one of the brake handles. A big thank you to Andrew Peters for his help with obtaining these spares and to KiwiRail for making them available. Its is always helpful to have spares if they are ever needed.
January 2021
I once again, had my loco out on display as part of the SteamRail Wanganui involvement with the Wanganui Vintage weekend. Work has been still very slow on the restoration of this. I'm still in the process of cleaning out the final drive gear box. A lot of my time has been taken up on other issues and aspects of my hobby lately.
January 2020
18th, 19th & 20th
For the first time in almost 2 years I have had the loco outside in the sun, on display as part of SteamRail Wanganui's involvment of the Wanganui Vintage Weekend. The loco is starting to look great in its new paint.
August- December 2019
I have now cleaned up the front Radiator grill, taken off the other sides driving rods to clean them up and dropped the oil, dirt and water out of the final drive gear box to clean this out due to flood danage a while ago. things are still progressing slowly.
May - July 2019
Got some more paint on the front of the Cab and half the engine hood.
Late 2018/Early 2019
I have continued to apply new paint to the loco on panels I have cleaned up. I have also now cleaned up and painted the first set of driving rods. The loco was also on display again at this years Wanganui Vintage weekend.
2018
Now into February and I have finaly been able to start putting the first coat of the loco's final colour on areas that have been cleared and primed.Its surprising how things look so different so quickly.
2017
Started putting black paint over the areas of the underframe that I had primed.
2016
Its amazing how times flies. Because of the flood clean up not a lot has been done on my loco for some time now, as we concerntrate on cleaning up all items in the SteamRail Wanganui shed. Here you can see that I have taken the right hand side driving rods off to clear around the bearings to get the mud off. I have also had the lid off the final driver gear box to try and see if any damage was done from the flood waters. This will be drained shortly and flushed with deisel to clean any mud out before being refilled with new oil.
While the driving rods are off I have taken the time to start to clean and repaint the underframe on the right hand side. During the removal of the grease, dirt and old paint I found the letter RH for Rignt Hand side from when the loco was first build in 1964.
April - August 2015
Things are still progressing very slow with the restoration of my loco. It has been on display again for both a SteamRail Wanganui open day and when Feilding Steam Rail visited with the WAB on June the 14th. Unfortunately I have had a bit of a set back with the loco. With all the bad weather over the weekend of the 20th and 21st of June the Wanganui river flooded. Part of KiwiRail yard was under water (and later mud once the water receded) and this also included the SteamRail Wanganui's shed. Water was up to the axles on most vehicles and the left over mud was over the top of your boots. This has been a major clean up for the group. As we checked everything over we found that water had gotten into the final drive gear box of my loco and two of the clubs locos. We now have to clean these out with diesel and put new oil in. A big thank you to Peter Dent and Grant Pendergrast on their advise on how to go about this.
2012 to March 2015
Its been a long time since I have done a update on the progress of my loco. Mainly because my driver training has been taking up most of my time. I now plan to get stuck in and get more done since I have past all my drivers certs. Over the last few years work has continued on with the loco but at a very slow pace. Work I have done over the last few years include:- Cutting out the rusty parts of the cab side and rear walls (I have the new steel waiting to be welded back in). I have started to strip the paint off the rear headstock, this included trimming off some of the bent shunters step. I have also started to clear off the years of muck around the main underframe of the loco. With help from Hamish Coull, we have run the new battery cables and I have brought the new batteries for the loco. Ewan Pound is helping me by making a new bracket to mount my new starter motor. Once this is done I should be able to finally turn the loco over for the first time in over 10 years. A big thank you also to Adam O'Sullivan who donated me the original brass control name plates out of the cab of a TR, which turned out to be the exact ones that I was missing. My loco has also been included in displays/open days that SteamRail Wanganui has held over last couple of years, with a lot of positive comments from the public about the loco and the work I am doing on it.
February - July 2012
Work on my loco is still coming along very slowly. I have continued to strip off the old paint this time on the back of the cab, this has included the removal of the back head light. I have also been straightening out one of the steps off the right hand side of the loco. I am also in negotiations over a new starter motor for the loco so I can return the long term loan one to Silver Stream. Once I have the starter motor in and have brought new batteries hopefuly it won't be too far away before I get the loco running again.
December 2011 - January 2012
I have continued to work on this loco when I can. This has involved taking some of the smaller items off to bring back home to work on when I cannot get over to Wanganui. I currently have one of the sand boxes and the roof hatch over here at Longburn (where I now live) to clean up and prime. Thank you to Hamish Coull for his donation to me of the oil type air filter that was missing off my loco. Also thank you to Ewan Pound who has been helping me straighten out some of the steel body work. One of the side panels has now been totally stripped of paint and reprimed and is now waiting for its final coat. I have also carried on cleaning up the underframe on the right hand side.
October - November 2011
Over the last two months I have removed the two steps off the right hand side of the loco to make it easier to carry on cleaning up the under frame and this also means the steps will be easier to clean up too. I have also started to strip some of the tagging off the windows and given them a good clean. It is surprizing how much more light there is in the cab with some of the windows now clean.
August-September 2011
On days when I get across to work on my loco from P nth I have now mounted a new key on/off switch and start button on the control stand. I have also installed a battery isolator switch. I have continued with the stripping of the old oil/grease and muck of the underframe.
July 2011
It has now been a year since I brought this loco. The restoration has not been progressing as fast as I first thought it would but as the TV chease add says "Good things take time." Over the next 12 months I plan to continue stripping the old paint off so the I can give the loco a new coat of red. I would also hope that I can find the remaining missing parts so that I can run the engine for the first time in several years.
June 2011
Things are still not progressing very fast with this as other items are getting my full attention at the moment. I have though removed the right hand side sandbox from below the cab so I can derust and repaint both the sand box and cab/enginehood where the box sits. I have also started to scrape off the build up of dirt/oil and grease from years of work with the NZR from around the underframe. This is peeling off fairly easily.
May 2011
Since my last update I have now mounted the new fan belt. The old belt was missing when I bought the loco.
April 2011
Things have been a bit slow with work on my loco over the last few months, with me concentrating on one of my model railway layouts more than my loco, but hopefuly now that the WMR&ES Show and Silver Stream Railways Childrens' Day are now over I will be able to put some more time into my loco. I have done a few things over the last couple of months - I have now replaced the pull rope for the loco horn as the old one was worn out and broken then on Sunday at the 10 April SRW full day working bee I took this chance to move my loco so that I could get the last brake block off and cleaned this up, it has now been refitted and the brakes are now working correctly. While Ewan Pound and John Munro were at the yard with the welder for the bracket for the Imlay Price loco we took the opportunity to weld up a hole in the cab roof and one in the air vent cover which came off the roof of my loco. They also welded a new piece of steel plate into a rectangle shape hole that had been cut into my loco engine hood many years ago. Thanks guys for your help. I then pulled my loco outside with the SRW baby Price loco to help get some of the dust off it. This gave me a chance to get some photos of the 3 Price locos together and some good shots of the work I have done on my loco since last July.
The Restoration Begins.
My goal over the next few years is to fully restore Tr 113. It turned up with a few items missing. I have managed to find a horn (thanks to Silver Stream Railway), starter motor, circuit breakers, airhoses, one of the original brass number plates off cab side of loco (thanks to Brian Dawson of Wellington), Engine oil filler cap, wet type air filter off Westinghouse brake pump, fan belts, and batteries and leads. I still have to find the following parts, Brake lever handles out of the cab and gauge off control panel. Since last July I have stripped the old paint off the roof and three sides of the cab, also the engine hood and front (see photos below). these have now been primed. I have had 3 of the 4 brake blocks off the loco to clean the muck off them. They are now back on sitting in their correct positions. I have also fitted the parts that I have found that were missing off this loco.