|
A shareholders ballot came out in favour of cosmetically de-refurbishing the locomotive
by removing the headlights and restoring the sandbox covers, roof cut in and glass
headcode panels.
The locomotive made its public debut at the Exeter 150 celebrations in May 1994 after
several months of hard work. She then moved on to the Severn Valley Railway. During the first day in operation
on the SVR it became clear that
one of the traction motors was not working correctly and it was isolated
to allow "Exeter" to remain in service.
The replacement of the defective traction motor took place at Tinsley while Exeter was
there as part of the open day displays. Our thanks to all the staff at Tinsley for their
efforts in undertaking this work.
D444 was examined in preparation for main line running by
RESCO,
who bought to light some small problems which were corrected. The main line certificate
was issued at the end of August 1997. '44 was then sent to Brush at Loughborough
for
a main generator clean up, and operated her first mainline trip in preservation
the following year.
|
