As a result of a below solebar thermal incident UKRL were asked to carry out an urgent repair to 73968 by GBRf. UKRL were chosen due to the high level of competence and familiarity its staff has with Class 73’s since repower by Brush Traction. Many of the highly skilled staff at UKRL were part of the Brush Traction repower project for GBRf Class 73’s at Brush Traction and the ongoing maintenance of the fleet before they joined UKRL.
This expertise allowed UKRL to investigate the root cause of the problem, identify the required repair processes and engage the original supply chain quickly.
This meant that UKRL were able to source the correct material quickly and expedite the repair in three weeks from arrival at Leicester to redelivery back to Craigentinny.
The repair involved the removal of internal floor plates in the engine bay to expose the damaged high power cabling and control looms. Replacement of the cabling was then undertaken, along with the removal and overhaul of main compressor, repainting the affected areas internally and externally, full testing of the repair, including load bank.
A typical repair of this nature, without the required expertise could have taken 6-8 weeks.
As a result of this performance UKRL are now assisting GBRf with other fault diagnosis of Class 73’s on load bank relating to alternator performance.
Due to a capacity issue at its normal maintenance supplier, GBRf requested UKRL to carry out a wheelset change to 92014. This was the first Class 92 UKRL had worked on.
UKRL again were chosen due to the ex-Brush Traction expertise it has available.
Additional work was requested by GBRf including full Traction Motor change.
UKRL produced a full procedure, identified key material requirements and, on discovering assembly issues with the original design of the Traction Motor thermal detectors, also offered reliability improvements.
These improvements were undertaken and the completed vehicle turned around in the same 5-week window that the standard wheelset change would have taken if GBRf had used their original supplier.
As a result, UKRL have now contracted a further four wheelset and traction motor changes for GBRf’s Class 92 fleet along with a brake stack and convertor cooler modification programme at the same time.
As a result, UKRL have now contracted a further four wheelset and traction motor changes for GBRf’s Class 92 fleet along with a brake stack and convertor cooler modification programme at the same time, further reducing GBRf’s downtime and improving reliability.
In early 2018 Europhoenix obtained 37901 which had been out of service for an extensive period of time. It arrived at UKRL depot in Leicester late 2018 for assessment and major overhaul began in 2020 to bring it to operational capability.
This involved a major overhaul to key components of the locomotive including, bogies, engine, full cab rebuilds (including replacement of rotten pipework, replacement of rotten blower motor ducting, new cab floors made, repainted, equipment fitted back into cabs, and new drain trays), blower motors, Compressors, Batteries, fitment of GSMR and full config.
A full test running programme was concluded in June 2022.
37901 is now in service on lease via Europhoenix.