火车修复 P8 - Francis Bourgeois and Chris Harris We Saved A Train S01E08 The Return of the Sta

Big day today. I'm going to kick it off with one of these. How do you do that? If I did that, I'd break my hip. Look at this. I can hear noises. That's an engine running. Stuart. All right? Yep. Full systems go now. I'm Francis Bourgeois, and I love trains. Oh, my God! Oh, God, it's sitting in my mouth. I've roped in my petrolhead pal, Chris Harris, for an epic project. That's impressive. Rescuing a dilapidated locomotive. This isn't a quick fix. No ----, Sherlock. Look at the size of it. Francis hooked me with engineering. That is the coolest phenomena ever fitted to a machine. Look at that. Then blew me away with weapons-grade enthusiasm. Nice one, Danny! I'm all in for a restoration race against time. She just rolled beautifully. Yeah, seven tonnes. We're in the final stages of our epic restoration. We have to get this locomotive ready for when she needs to come off. It's a race against time. Yeah! This is British industry! My dream is to see her back on the railway. I feel like an infant reattaching to its mother's teat. Mine, I can live vicariously through you, is to witness that moment. Absolutely brilliant. After six months of hard work, the team has just six weeks left to restore 025. In time for the tests, they will determine if she will be ready to make her grand return to the mainline, pulling eight carriages and 400 people over 100 miles to Fort William. Today is the last big job, taking her off her accommodation bogies and reuniting her with the refurbished ones. I don't think I've seen this many volunteers at the depot since we've started volunteering here. Are you shunting things around? Yeah. To get this 70-tonne-plus loco off its temporary bogies, the team needs to lift it at four exactly balanced points. Hold stop, hold stop. You've just turned it into a crumble topping. Francis, this is a shambles. Sorry. Fortified by half a crunchy each, our first job is to fit the saddles that will attach the loco body to the jacks. Go. OK? No. Don't get your hand underneath. Drop it down. So we need to shunt it up. You help me, all right? Wait there. So he was up here. He was like this. There's your pin. You on? Yeah. Happy with that? Yeah. Back to the gym for me, I think. You weren't using your body. If you just try and use your arms, nothing ever works. Get your arse into it. Right-o. Who's going to work the jacks? Chris, you're on it. Really? You're on the jacks. Right, serious face. Let's go. My job here is to ensure everything is rising as it should. Nothing's remaining attached to the accommodation bogies. I'm just waiting the call from Chris. I need a minute to focus. I've got the weight of a blue whale at my fingertips and a bill for several grand if I screw this up. OK? Yep. All four jacks going up. Right, up all four. You can see it inching up. It's incredibly nerve-wracking. I mean, the weight involved here is 70 tonnes, probably. I've never seen anything like it. These jacks are doing it effortlessly. Each jack has an observer looking carefully to see what's going on here. Gears and electric motors are amazing things. We're now getting quite high up. We must be near the top now. Whoops! All four jacks off. Amazing. That's it. Chris, I will just say that was mighty fine controlling. What a piece of kit. With the loco raised above the bogies, I can get a rare glimpse of the hidden interconnected parts at the heart of this beast. It's nice to see how it all fits together now. These are inevitably going to connect to the traction motors. The blower there. Chris, do you remember we saw the potty? The loco potty. Yes. Is that self-contained or is there a CET tank? It just runs onto the track. Does it? But this won't run onto the track. It would if somebody used it. Have you used it? No, but... You've got to think if you do use it, what you're doing will end up all over the bogies. Oh, really? Yeah. He's definitely used it. Just out of interest, where's the feed? We're looking at some of the most impressive engineering I've ever seen. We've just lifted a thick end of 70 tonnes off the accommodation bogies and we can see exactly how the train goes together. It's a real privilege for me. And you're working out where the wee comes out. That's the unanswered point. OK, fine. Moving on. So now we slide out the accommodation bogies. Yeah, so we need to take that one that way. Rolling the old bogies out under the loco might seem straightforward, but there's a fuel tank in the way. It looks so close to me. If it doesn't fit under, we'll have to remove the spider, a big job which could add many hours, hours we don't have. Do we put lacquer springs on it? You put lowering springs on it, like a sort of Ford XR2. I don't think it quite goes. I mean, it's very close. I reckon we can do it. Let's give it a try. It's too close not to give it a shot. Here we go. Nope. It's millimetres, boys. It's not going to touch now, is it? Oh, my goodness. It could start to touch, and that is a fuel tank. That's all right, we've still got room, we've still got clearance. Unbelievable. Wow. Five mil. Tap it clearance. So, that's a note. Always use accommodation bogies with lacquer springs from now on. They save yourself a load of hours. With the accommodation bogies out of the shed, ahead of schedule, the path is clear for our locomotive to be reunited with its refurbished bogies. The loco's new rear bogie gets pushed in by a shunting engine. It's moving. While we position the new front bogie with pure muscle power. That's quite heavy. Much heavier than the accommodation bogies. Yes. It's supposed to be flat, this feels uphill. God. We fine-tune the position of the bogies so that the body of the locomotive can slot perfectly into the centre point of the spider. Can we all get back in position on the jacks? You're doing the lowering. You are doing the lowering. What we need to do at each end is get the centre and the locomotive to line up exactly with the centre on the bolster. OK. So, we might need to do some fine adjustments as the body comes down. I'll return to my previous jack position. Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Down all four. Going down. If we don't lower the body correctly, it could damage the bogies, costing thousands of pounds to fix. How strong are those things? Phenomenal. A couple of centimetres that way, I think. Very close. What do you think? All four jacks off. This is it, we're now marrying the freshly painted body and the refurbished bogies. Down all four. All four going down. It's not going. In the bonus workshop, the body of the locomotive is not engaging with the bogie. See if it'll move. Yeah, we do need to lift it first. Davy, up all four. All four going up. All four off. Let's try that. The team minutely adjusts the position of the bogies for another attempt. OK, Davy, down all four. All four going down. With the body weighing over 70 tonnes, the pressures involved in this process are extreme. Springs are loading. It's taking the weight. It's loading onto the spider. The spider's transferring its weight through onto the bogie. The springs are compressing. And there we have it. We have body and bogies now assembled. We just need to connect the traction motors and all of the other paraphernalia now. That's in place. We have a complete locomotive. It is like seeing a car with new wheels, isn't it? Yeah, shiny loco, shiny bogies. That's when you see it all start to come together. It looks the absolute dog's bollocks. Before it kind of felt like, especially once it was painted, someone with a nice fitted suit but kind of wearing flip-flops. But now they've just taken a trip to churches and walked out with a pair of derbies. Yeah, look at that. Chris can't make it today, so I've recruited another volunteer. So this is where I've been working for the past six months. Where you've been hiding away? Yeah, the diesel shed. So this is where the magic happens. With the heavy engineering out the way, it's now time to apply the decals. Final artwork that will make up 025's unique livery. I've asked my girlfriend Amy to come and document this significant moment in 025's life. Make sure you get the hail and snow great, OK? With the stakes higher than expected, I pay full attention to Alistair and Mick, the decal experts. I've been curious about how you know where to put the numbers. It's an original BR drawing, 121285, so 40 years old, which gives you the location of the double arrow and onto the shed plate, the data panel. Vinyl decals were first used on trains in the 1960s. Despite innovations like laser sights and high-tech adhesives, the process still has a traditional feel. Right, it starts in the middle, because that's where you want the air to go. We don't want to be pulling it down, because then you'll create a kink. That must be 27001. It's like a squirrel. No, it's... After a masterclass in loco decal application, I'm off. You are just trying to press the bubbles out. Yeah, you are. But I soon discover this isn't like applying a decal to a Hornby miniature. It's got a wee bit of kink in there, so what we can do with that is... Unfortunately, I have a problem with a kinky bubble under the numeral five. Sorry. No, no, it's not you, it's just... If it was slightly warmer, it would behave a bit better. Yeah. How's it looking, Amy? It looks great. Proud. Very proud. Come on, go faster. Well done. Despite my run-in with the bubbles, it's not a bad effort. But am I a match for the stag? This is the one that... This is the pièce de résistance, that's all. Right. It's usually the stag doing the mounting, isn't it? Well, I... Just bear with me a minute, sorry. The stag is not just emblematic of our locomotive. Very nice. I thought it would be a suitable time to... To put the T-shirt on, yeah? For the motto, with plenty of thrush and clag, the return of the Highland stag. As we are returning the Highland stag to the loco. And tight as you can. Tight, tight, really pull the corners tight. And then push the corner in. Oh! Squeegee again. Medal out. I can report the eye is on, the eye is on. The eye is on. Brilliant. Hi, Isla. I was thinking, do you remember when we pulled the vinyl off, when it was all knackered? Yeah. We did it ceremoniously together with Chris. And Amy's here on the behalf of Chris today, so I thought it would only be apt for us to pull it off the same way we ceremoniously pulled off the stag on its last antler. Sounds good. Here we go. I think it looks rather marvellous. Ready to go? Indeed. We're very familiar with stags in Richmond Park. Are you? And once we were on a romantic date walking through, and it was during rutting season. We were between the big group of females behind us and the big stag. I did this. He's prepared to sacrifice himself for the stag. I was ready to be impaled, but I think because it was potentially intimidated by this moment of extreme masculinity, it then diverted its gallop. Oh, did it? Yeah. With the decals in place, Jordan, master of the paintbrush, adds a sealing coat of varnish, while my buttocks sample the comfort of the newly upholstered chairs. We must not touch the new paintwork. Now to fit the chair with Guy. I don't know if this is going to work. If we twist. Twist in which direction? Upwards. Rotating, we're just going to end ourselves up touching the door with a scratchy bit. If you come back in your direction straight on... I'm going to have to take the stand off. Are you taking it back out? OK, I've got it. Oh, dear. Is it OK? Might have just scratched the door. New plan, separate the seat from the stand. Do you wish me to come in and twist it? No, he's going alone. He's going alone. In that game Operation, that's what you're playing here, where it goes... If you touch any of the paint with any of the scratchy bits... You're in. Well done, that man. Right, let me bring the stand in. So, big question is, do these fit? They certainly do fit. Get the chair on now. It slides in. Job done. Yes. I'm just going to do the honours. How does that feel? Yeah. Can you imagine? Bit of clag. Good to know you know where the horn is. These machines, man, these machines. I'll be so chuffed when this actually starts moving on its own accord. Yeah. We get this 100-ton beast out on the main line. Job done. The return of the Highland Stag. Indeed. Right, onwards and upwards. After seven months of restoration, the time is nigh to fire up 025 and test her out on the railway. Guy and the team have given up thousands of hours of their free time to get to today. It has been a Herculean task. Wow. Hi, Guy. She's got her birthday make-up on now. Yeah, definitely, definitely. Hopefully the last knockings, we've got various snagging jobs to do underneath. The aim is to get her out today on test. The vast majority of the work is stripping these carriages, putting the wiring into the CDL, basically putting them back together again. It's been a huge effort. I've never been on a project like this. I've worked for some of the biggest transport organisations and the dedication, the effort of these guys. It's just phenomenal. Day in, day out, they will do anything for you. I am in complete awe of the individuals that work here. Just... Oh, mate. Oh, I can tell it's been a real slog, hasn't it? Guy just set me off in whatever direction he may be. The team checks that grease is flowing smoothly to all moving joints. Give it a wee pump, like that. You just come if you see it spewing out. Oh, yeah, move on to the next one. Perhaps I can just clear up the residue. Like honey. Checking the brakes are sound and split pins secure are all parts of the essential pre-test checks. Seven months ago, 025 was a rusting diesel in distress. But now, with fresh tyres, refurbished bogies, renovated traction motors, new seats, restored bodywork and a gleaming paint job, this is the moment we'll know if she's ready for the mainline. 37025 is going to move under its own power. Here we go! Shit! Fantastic! 025 successfully turns a wheel, but its next trial awaits. Seven carriages, sister engine 403 and a dead loco on the back. 450 tonnes to prove its capability of running on the mainline. As I seek out the ultimate bashing position, it's clear that the carriages are still a long way from being finished, but luckily they have trained deity on their side. Hi, Stuart. I'm pleased to report 025 moves under its own power. Excellent. And we wish you were there for that moment, but I just think that demonstrates how invested you are in all of this. Yeah. You're still doing CDL carriage work whilst, you know, the main event is happening, so... Yeah, I was... Yeah, I was... ..quitely confident... Thank you. ..quitely confident in 025 and we've got some faults with this, so, yeah. As 025 is hooked up, I get a front seat. This is it. So much has been achieved and I'm now willing her to succeed at the final hurdle. I feel like a parent watching their child at sports day. If she fails, there won't be time to fix any major issues. It's happening, OK. We're being hauled by 025. So far, so good. Every yard is a little trickle of success. Each step is a tick box in our kind of lines of success. Here we go. It lives and it breathes. It's snarling. We've well and truly woken the bear up and now it's going to come bounding out of its cave. 403 in unison with 025. 403 is on its last stretch, the last 50 metres, and 025 is raring to go. As she begins to roar, it feels like the community has come out to cheer her on. It's taking load. It's singing. OK, we're hitting the gradient now. This will really test 025. Come on. She's pulling strongly. No hesitation here. Really digging in now. This is full 1,750 brake horsepower. And we're currently racing Janet in her Ford Fiesta. Go on, Janet! I don't know who Janet is. I feel so proud. All of the team's hard work has amounted to this. 025 has crested the hill successfully. It's fabulous. I can't believe it, the significance of this moment. The fact that 025 has just climbed up and out of Bonet with 450 tonnes on the hook. I need to go and say well done to everyone up in the locomotive. But as I leave the carriage, I can feel the beautiful song from 025 sounds a bit out of tune. It doesn't sound great. Is it misfiring? That just doesn't sound right, does it? It's not that nice, smooth V12. After the jubilation of the trip, I now seem to be surrounded by some very concerned faces. Looks like 37's not very happy. We've got a fan clutch that doesn't seem to be particularly grand. When you become so familiar with Class 37's, you know such detail in the sound. And I can hear, in the pulse of the exhaust, there's something just not quite right about its beat. One thing I can clearly see is that the cooling fan isn't spinning. The Bonet team urgently need to return 025 to the shed to figure out how bad the fan clutch problem is and how long it will take to fix. Her engine is still firing, but as our locomotive enters its final approach... Did it just conk out? It did, yep. Oh, dear. I'm guessing the high-water temperature light finally got to us and said, yep, you're done. Right. Now a Solsa locomotive is going to shunt it into the depot. For the team, the most concerning issue that arose was that the cooling fan was not spinning, leading to high engine temperatures. It's still smoking. Yes. Crikey. The engine room feels like an oven. This isn't looking good. What's happened is the clutch has seized onto the shaft of the fan, stopped the fan from turning. It's melted everything, and that's what gave us the high-water temperature. So I can just see underneath there all the strands. Yeah, you can see the melted rubberness. Oh, God, yeah. It spits off what used to be the clutch. This is the clutch that moves up and down. It's very hot, so I wouldn't advise touching it. It might just seize because of the heat, old grease. Something's failed, mechanical failure, we don't know. Until we strip it apart, we won't know. So this is game over then? Unfortunately, yes, this is a terminal failure. And we don't have the parts to replace it within the time frame, five days before the tour runs. The team estimates it will take six weeks to fix, which is devastating. It wasn't meant to be. Wow. It means that she won't be able to haul the train to Fort William, and though the tour must go on, hundreds of paying passengers will be very disappointed with the news. It's tricky. When I came here this morning and saw 025 completely glossed, this was its big day. It's not this time. We've come close. Whilst today is a failure, as we are part of the team, we're turning our attention to focus on getting the coaching stock ready for the tour to Fort William, because that's the next imperative. And, yeah, we've fallen right at the last hurdle, but I'm just proud to be a part of this group. What could have been? Oh, hello, Mr Magpie. It's been two days since 025 broke down. Had the loaded test run gone well, today would have been her mainline test, something Chris was determined not to miss. It was a big day, the test run that we did here. I felt like I couldn't really tell you on the phone. I thought it might be best to tell you today. We got up to the top of a hill and we realised something wasn't quite right. We realised that the fan wasn't spinning, the cooling fan. It got to the doors of the depot and it died. It overheated and there's a protection system that will just cut it if it boils over. Is that not running at all any time soon? I'm afraid not, Chris. 025 can't make it for the tour. Oh. Let's have a look. Oh. It looks aesthetically ready to run. Yep. Beautiful. But, you know, that's what test runs are for. We're trying to find faults, we're trying to work out all of these little difficulties that might be under the surface, but it's come at a time where, you know, we had our expectations raised for the tour. This is what preservation is about. You seem very positive. We can have a look at some of the failed parts. The cooling fan clutch. What we're looking at here, that's the melted fragments of the underside of the clutch plate. It got so hot in there that the surrounding aspects of the fan system, this is just all melting away. It's actually quite a small component to have failed on such a big thing. Mm. Oh, that's a shame. I do feel like we need to just have a moment with 025 before moving on. Like, just... Yeah, OK. I'll do that. It's a lovely machine. I feel rather sad. It'll run, though. Both hands. Regardless of how we are feeling, with or without 025, the Fort William tour needs to happen. And with two days to go, the team needs to check that the central door-locking system on the carriages is safe by testing them out on the mainline. 403 is doing the honours. If this test fails, it really will be curtains for the tour, and SRPS will lose tens of thousands in cancellations. I see two magpies there. Yeah. And I'd say that that's a good sign. Be patient. Yeah. I am really keeping my fingers and toes crossed for this test run. Otherwise, there is no tour, is there? I've asked Chris to take us to North Queensferry Station. Now, this is a rare thing. Does that remind you of being young again? HST. It is one of the finest spotting locations in Scotland because of what it's right next to. The most famous railway bridge in the world. It's just on the bridge now. How long is the bridge? Three signal blocks' worth. There's a little heat haze coming on, isn't there? Has anything ever broken down on the fourth bridge? I'll go and try and jinx it. Now's not the time for that conversation. Yeah, I can see it. Where's that yellow snout? You see it now? Yes! There she is. It's powering up. Yeah, it's showing off. I'll call that a run. This is bittersweet for me. It's so sad that I'm not watching 025. But she'll be doing this soon. And I must admit, 403 looks magnificent. Smoky. I'm going to enjoy it. With the resplendent 403 passing, it seems Chris is just as thrilled as I am. Loving custard, VR blue, and warning yellow. It's a nice combo. Effortless. So that's what we're going to be riding on, on the 2nd of May. Fingers crossed. And by the looks of things, that test run is going swimmingly. That's your bite to eat. After 3 hours and 100 miles of rigorous braking and door locking tests, reaching speeds of 80mph, the train returns to Bowness. Do we know the outcome of the test? That it was successful? Yes. It's a bit of a relief, I suppose. A massive relief. A lot of happy punters that will be totally unbeknownst to all of the work. With the central locking system getting the green light, the team now has just 2 days for those all-important finishing touches. Presumably, this is just like a weed killer device. And Guy has given us a bespoke to-do list. Does this not worry you that we've been reduced to washing the side of a train? Where's the water? Do some scrubbing. Once it's on, you give it a scrub, then you wash it off. Have you washed a car before? You're rubbing the gritty bits into the paint. No, I've not. It's still on there. Well, give it a go now. Maybe I can squeeze the end. Let's change. Oh, there you go. My simmier than thumb, as you see. Sorry, that was a sorry. This just reminds me of what I used to do in the garden when I was younger. For their money, the customers will also expect a high level of comfort. We've been reduced to putting bits of cloth on seats. I'm not sure they're happy with our work. This is one step up from cleaning toilets out. Look, I have an engineering degree and I still need to work my way up. It's still there, the bugger. It's going to have a tablecloth on it. It's the day of the tour and at 5.30am, 025's replacement, 401, leads the way with 403 tucked right behind. Right, this is our carriage. Is it? Yep. Mr Crit. Aha, the new CDL. There we go. Look. Which side are we going, down here or left or right? Down here. And we're taking part of 025 along for the ride. This is the best seat in the house. Is it? Yeah. Yes. As we pull away, both locos fire up in unison. Chris knows the drill. It's time to absorb the thrash. We're on to the fourth bridge. Look at this. After crossing the fourth bridge, the train turns away from the coast and heads inland to the Highlands. A chance to reflect on what the team at Bowness almost achieved. My gut feeling when we started 37025, I reckon it would have been a two-year project to get where we're going to be. So to achieve it in seven months, quite something. And that is all down to volunteers. And seven months with a very, very cold, long winter. It was cold, wasn't it? Yes. Seeing Chris and Francis' faces sometimes. Three hours into the journey and we hit the Highlands. Look at the snow still even here. It's amazing. Absolutely amazing. It's probably safe to say that this tour wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for you. Not only are you gods, but you're a god that everyone should believe in. GCMG, this is Stuart. God calls me god. It's been fun. Maybe. I suppose we were so close with 025. Very, very close. We had to literally park 025 until we have time. It's sad that we haven't got the old girl here, but on reflection, this is about a lot more than just one locomotive, isn't it? It's about your society and how you juggle your resources. And that's just one of the resources. And that will come good soon, won't it? 025 will be working soon. Frustratingly close to working today, wasn't it? After eight hours, the train arrives at Fort William. But it's not our final stop. As you all may know, there was an effort to try and get 025 to Kyle of Lochalsh. And it will get to Kyle of Lochalsh. But in the meantime, we're going to take the nameplate to the buffer stops and we're going to instil some Highland spirit so when it's reattached to 025, there might be more of a spiritual chance that it will get to Kyle. My story, and I hope Chris's story too with you guys, is only just starting. It's been an absolute pleasure. I'll second that. I like trains now. Fort William isn't the end of this story. It only feels right to end in a location so deeply connected to 025 and my family. Beautiful light now. I can picture it here now, can't I? Frumming away. It's more tugboat. Honorary basher, but yes, there's work to do on my Class 37 impression. Here, look, there's a bit of... I'm just transferring the spirit of Kyle of Lochalsh's buffers. I've loved doing this with you and I do love you, but I was hoping just for this final scene you might not weird me out for once. Basically scratching around near my abdomen with two pieces of rust from the buffers is odd. Well, it's ceremonious. Baptism. Yeah, what's the one you had when you were 12 years old? Circumcision. I wanted that to feel special, but... It certainly felt special, Francis. Oh, right. Yeah. From 1961 to infinity. You can hold it as well. OK, you're too tall. Drop it down a bit. 025 has made it in spirit. And for now, that will have to do. Back at Bowness, we have one last job. It seems like a nice way to close this chapter. I'm not saying this but, because I believe we will still carry on our connection with 025. There you go. That's it. Oh, look at that. I have to say, that looks pretty majestic to me. Yeah. Chris, it's been an amazing time working on this machine with you. Absolutely phenomenal. Yeah. It's been a bit more than just renewing a train, I'll give you that. Do you mind just looking away for a minute? Yes. Right, you can turn around now. OK. Right, shall we do the rest of the bolts then? Yeah.