45132
THE BEAST
HISTORY
British Railway Service
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Built at Derby Works and released to traffic in April 1961, D22 was initially allocated to Derby Shed. However, she spent several periods on loan to other depots for crew training, including Tinsley, Neville Hill, Holbeck and Gateshead.
D22 was originally fitted with split headcode boxes either side of the nose ends, and was finished in all over green livery. The loco gained small yellow end warning panels in 1962, and by 1968 was painted in the standard BR blue livery with full yellow ends. The loco was dual braked during overhaul at Derby in 1971 and in 1974 underwent ETH conversion to become 45132, when she was now allocated to Toton Depot. She was the last of the 14 Class 45/1s fitted with split boxes to have them removed during a heavy general overhaul at Derby, being released from works on 12/06/1981. The loco then settled back into traffic working top link Midland Main Line expresses, until ousted by HSTs and was then kept busy on more secondary services to and from St Pancras, on the North Trans Pennine route and of course on cross country services, parcels and freight.
On 23 November 1986 it was transferred to Tinsley depot along with the other surviving 45/1s. On 8 May 1987, 45132 worked 1P13 17:35 departure from St Pancras to Derby, but was failed at Kettering with a defective triple pump. This turned out to be its last mainline working, as it was withdrawn at Tinsley depot on 11 May. Repairs were not authorised due to a surplus of 45/1s created by the timetable change that month, which spelt the loss of the Trans-Pennine diagrams. On 21 May 1987 45132 was hauled, along with 45118 and 45133, to March for storage in the yard, joining many other classmates exposed to the elements and the attention of vandals. Fortunately, it was recognised that the loco was virtually intact and not too difficult to repair and agreement was reached in 1989 for it to be moved near the entrance to the depot for safekeeping.
The Peak Moves To Hampshire
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In 1991, the locomotive was bought by current owner Roger Bray following a series of inquiries. 45132 had already been sold to Booths, although had not yet been collected. A fitter from Eastleigh went to March Depot to inspect the loco and advised that there was comparatively not much work that was required to return the loco to operational service. An agreement was reached with Booths to buy the Peak from them and, on 5 March 1992, was towed behind 47214 to the Mid Hants.
Work soon commenced on restoration and fault finding. Engine leaks were traced to faulty transition rubbers, which were all replaced and all 96 battery cells were rebuilt by Roger, John Brooke and Dave Franklin. As cells were finished, they were refitted to the loco and eventually there were enough to turn the engine over. The engine room grilles were removed and taken to Newbury for shot blasting. Finally, the loco was resprayed and handmade numbers and logos added. Exactly 2 years after arriving at the railway, 45132 made its debut in preservation at a diesel gala on 5 March 1994.
The loco was then used intensively, proving very useful to the railway. During the mid 90’s the loco used for Film and TV three times - “The Canterville Ghost” with Patrick Stewart and Cherie Lunghi in 1995, BBC drama “The Great Kandinsky” with Richard Harris and Ian Carmichael, and an Alliance & Leicester ad with
Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry (although only coaches were seen).
Sadly, disaster struck on 3 March 2000 when the main generator banding burst whilst the Peak was hauling some dead locos and coaches up the 1 in 60 gradient from Alton. It soon became apparent that the damage was severe and would be expensive to repair. Whilst out of service and fundraising for the generator was ongoing, work continued on restoration, including rebuilding of the No.1 nose end and reinstatement of the split headcode boxes at that end. The generator was lifted out on 29/07/08 and sent to Bowers Electricals for repair.
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Essex Peak
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45132 departed the Mid Hants Railway for a new home at the Epping & Ongar Railway on 15 September 2014. Work continued inside the locomotive with refurbishing the cabs, repairing radiator leaks and more. When the generator returned from Bowers it was reinstalled and all the hard work reassembling the loco finally completed. To the delight of the owner and volunteers, the loco was started up on 26 March 2019, making the first moves under its own power the following month.
A series of commissioning and light loco runs were undertaken during the summer of 2019 before a loaded test run was planned. Unfortunately, during one such run on 17 August 2019, a defect on the generator again became apparent and the loco was stood down. The only thing for it was to send the generator back to Bowers for investigation; this was lifted out again on 22 November that year. Presently, the generator is still at Bowers, waiting to be rewound, but in the meantime work progresses at North Weald with tidying up the interior and bodywork repairs.
