Help get this unique diesel loco pulling trains again after 50 years
A MATCH funding nationwide appeal to help return the sole surviving Class 15 diesel to traffic has been launched.
The Class 15 Preservation Society, the custodian of D8233, the now-unique British Thomson-Houston Type 1 locomotive, which is being restored at the East Lancashire Railway (ELR), has issued the appeal to restore the bogies.
The work needed includes axle journal restoration and tyre turning; the remanufacture of the traction motor linkages; the overhaul of the traction motors; the manufacture of new gearing; replacement of the bogies’ air pipework; rust removal; the painting of the superstructure; crane hire; and locomotive jacks.
The design and manufacture was a collaboration between several companies: BTH (the main contractor) provided electrical equipment, Paxman supplied the power units, and Clayton
