Project Update, November 2020

Progress has been steady as much of the background work progresses. We recently decided, to focus mainly on the compliance side for the project. This covers the design , development and the production of the locomotive.

Our main areas of activity have focused on:

* Computer-Aided Design
* Purchasing drawings
* Research into documents and manuals
* Compiling a components’ list
* Locating critical components

* Safety and compliance of the build

* Appointment of the projects ICP (Independent competent person)

COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN (CAD)

In September 2017 we gained a new Committee Member, Andrew Thomas who is a full-time CAD engineer working in an industrial business. Andrew has taken on the role at Project 22 as Head of Design Engineering.

Andrew’s work is intense and time-consuming, and provides Project 22 with the critical drawings needed to gain the costings for specific aspects of the project. Andrew has been in close discussion with the now appointed ICP for Project 22, and ensuring we answer all the questions regarding safety, construction, production and compliance to name just a few. Above are the first two rendered CAD images of the Mainframe stretched assembly, the as you can see identify the individual parts through the colouring of said parts.

Independent competent person

In November 2020 Project 22 appointed an Independent Competent Person (IPC), this a very important role for any new build project and below is an explanation of why this is and what they do and cannot do for us.

Safety verification by an Independent Competent Person is required by the Railway and Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) regulations 2006 (ROGS) for new and altered rolling stock projects and is the regulatory regime for rail safety including, mainline railway, metros (including London underground), tramways, light rail and heritage railways.

The IPC should be involved in: –

• The design selection process.
• Identifying or setting standards and conditions for the verification process.
• Setting out the inspection and assessment plan.

The Office or Rail and Road (ORR) expects the IPC to guide, advise and challenge but not instruct or approve, but the operator (Project 22) carries the responsibility for producing safe equipment and operating it in a safe manor.

Safety Verification provides a process to ensure safety standards and performances are maintained on the project, the IPC’s task is to help the operators devise and carry out effective safety verification, mainly by checking the operator’s arrangements, based on information provided by the operator.

The operator must consider the views or recommendations of the IPC, but may challenge them, and ultimately reject them if they wish.

The ORR expects the operator to work with the IPC to overcome any difference of view.

The Safety Verification Scheme is a written specifically for the project as it develops and will usually cover the following points: –

• Selection of IPC and appointment details, communication arrangements etc.
• Requirements and intended purpose of the project.
• Design criteria and standards adopted or set.
• Examination and testing.
• Making and preserving records of:
  • Testing and examinations.
  • Remedial actions recommended.
  • Remedial action  performance.
• Communications from IPC to relevant operator’s SMS duty.

The IPC will normally use systems engineering principles to verify safety arrangements are complete and robust throughout the project from design selection to testing and on-going maintenance.

It is necessary for the IPC to draw up written reports at various stages culminating in a letter to the operator explaining his findings and recommendations.

The process should assist the operator produce a robust and efficient safety case with a satisfactory outcome.

We at Project 22 are in the very fortunate position of having access to copies of virtually all of the original North British Locomotive Co. Ltd. drawing but it is not as simple case of build the locomotive to those drawings and we can operate it.

At all stages throughout the build we have to proceed in the correct manor, keep records of our design decisions, for example which modern steel specifications to use to replace those quoted on the original drawings, justification as to which fabricators we use, their competence and experience in the relevant field of manufacture, refurbishment or replacing of components used in the locomotive etc.

Having an experienced ICP involved is a great bonus to us, advising how to proceed correctly at all stages and he will help prevent us making mistakes due to lack of experience.

Become and Investor and donate to Project 22! We won’t get it built without the commitment of people like you!

Download the form from the ‘Button’ below, print the last page and post it to us; or go to menu and select ‘Become an Investor’ and use PayPal.

For a small monthly amount you can support Project 22 and help us achieve our aim of building a D6300 locomotive.

All donations are currently going into our Transmission Account to be used as match-funding when we apply for grant to help secure to purchase of a Voith LT306 R transmission at some point in the future.

Project Update, November 2020

Progress has been steady as much of the background work progresses. We recently decided, to focus mainly on the compliance side for the project. This covers the design , development and the production of the locomotive.

Our main areas of activity have focused on:

* Computer-Aided Design
* Purchasing drawings
* Research into documents and manuals
* Compiling a components’ list
* Locating critical components

* Safety and compliance of the build

* Appointment of the projects ICP (Independent competent person)

COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN (CAD)

In September 2017 we gained a new Committee Member, Andrew Thomas who is a full-time CAD engineer working in an industrial business. Andrew has taken on the role at Project 22 as Head of Design Engineering.

Andrew’s work is intense and time-consuming, and provides Project 22 with the critical drawings needed to gain the costings for specific aspects of the project. Andrew has been in close discussion with the now appointed ICP for Project 22, and ensuring we answer all the questions regarding safety, construction, production and compliance to name just a few. Above are the first two rendered CAD images of the Mainframe stretched assembly, the as you can see identify the individual parts through the colouring of said parts.

PURCHASE OF DRAWINGS

Doug Parfitt, our Project Manager has been working for 3 years to list and locate the relevant drawings needed to provide Andrew with data needed to produce the CAD drawings.

We have a fully-catalogued list of all drawings needed and are methodically locating them and purchasing both hard and electronic copies. It will take another 3 years to collect all the drawings we need, which are purchased in order of priority.

Getting drawings is not as straight-forward at it seems. We have listed those we need but it takes several weeks to locate batches of 20 at a time. Actual numbers of drawings purchased will be updated in the next update

RESEARCH INTO DOCUMENTS AND MANUALS

In addition to the multitude of blueprints we need there are many other documents needed such as component manuals, brake and wiring diagrams. Much of this information is available from the National Railway Museum, and regular visits have been taking place with many more planned for the 2021.

COMPONENT LIST

A critical area of development is the completion of a complete component list for a D6300 locomotive. The list will identify the components used in the original locomotive and cross-reference with those available and compatible that can be recovered from existing locomotives, where components may be available from preservation groups or industries in the UK. This list will also identify what new components can be used as replacements, an option preferred by Project 22.

This is a massive job which is progressing slowly.

LOCATING CRITICAL COMPONENTS

As we have already located and purchased an NBL/MAN power unit, the next task is to find a transmission. We have located several around the world. This is the “holy grail” of the project – the Voith LT306R – as it is the defining diesel hydraulic component.

Due to the complexity of negotiations we choose to not provide any detail or specific information until we have some actual information to share, other than saying we have located two transmissions that could be made available to us in the future, and we are confident that we will secure one for Project 22.

THE FUTURE

There are many other projects going on within the group and we are still spending many hours slowly moving forward. Our policy is still to keep our heads down and work on the important design and development work before we rush out making announcements. Project 22 will come back to the public eye when we are prepared.

We think our decision to reduce the level of marketing was the right move, as we were very much in danger of peaking too soon. Project 22 become very public before it even got started, which gave the impression that it was for more mature than it was. It is going to take us a few years before we realise the real potential of the project. Slowly but surely a strong sustainable structure is developing. We still have a long way to go before we can really start the actual stages of costing the build in real terms and setting out to raise the funds needed to build and maintain a locomotive.

We still need to recruit working members who can help use reach our aim, of the first stage of assembly by 2022. There are many projects as shown above where we need more people to help. We are not at the stage of needing a great deal of manual help, but this project is bigger than the six active committee members currently working on the project.

Become and Investor and donate to Project 22! We won’t get it built without the commitment of people like you!

Download the form from the ‘Button’ below, print the last page and post it to us; or go to menu and select ‘Become an Investor’ and use PayPal.

For a small monthly amount you can support Project 22 and help us achieve our aim of building a D6300 locomotive.

All donations are currently going into our Transmission Account to be used as match-funding when we apply for grant to help secure to purchase of a Voith LT306 R transmission at some point in the future.

 Well we are still here, not that you would notice if you were waiting for any news or an update! Project 22 is still the most realistic organization if you want to see a North British diesel locomotive re-created. This is a new build project, not a rebuild or a conversation, this route was adopted when the difficulties of converting a diesel-electric locomotive was investigated and ruled out due to the amount of work needed to alter the mainframe to take a hydraulic transmission, as the structural complication outweighing any saving in cost to build a new mainframe.

With that explained what about an update, well that’s more complicated as P22 doesn’t really have the infrastructure to be pro-active with any aspect of the society or even the website, consequently the lack of updates which has given a poor impression of the Society to investors and the public and has been for 12 months or more.

Internally, P22 is progressing, admittedly slowly, but, certainly. There is a small technical team beavering away building the CAD designs, purchasing drawings and manuals and we are still investing money into the group with the view of purchasing a transmission when we are ready (or when we find one)

P22 started out of the traps like a whippet and made fantastic strides in the first 2 years, we seemed to have a winning formula. It wasn’t long before we could see that we had to acknowledge that our marketing was working so much faster than our ability to provide any real technical or tangible progress allowed. We were also experiencing some real issues within the committee on the best way forward for P22, which did very nearly finish the project. If it wasn’t for one or two committee members refusing to give up it would have folded 2 years ago.

This was the point we realized that P22 was a fantastic project and as a team, we knew how to build the loco and we were confident of raising the funds. Our downfall was maintaining a committee, there were some big egos in there including mine. At this stage, we had the option of stopping and honoring our promise of returning any funds donated back to investors or keep on going with a low profile and building a proper sustainable technical case for building a new locomotive. We chose the latter, even though I didn’t believe we would be able to hold it all together. My job has been to look after the money and keep it safe and not let anyone spend it unless it provides value to the build.

We have an original NBL/MAN engine and a number of other components in storage, we have gained an incredible amount of information and specific details relating to Class 22 locomotives and how they were built, maintained, the history and the data we have is vast.

We are not yet ready to relaunch, but we are not far away, our aim of starting some form of construction by 2022 is certainly on the cards. We would like to take to the road again next year with the sales stand. Unfortunately, our current committee can’t support this action and this needs to be addressed we need to attract enthusiastic committee members who can pick up the reigns and help take us forward. Over the past 4 years, we have many dozens of people volunteers to help P22, but we haven’t had the resources to allow us to utilize this help and give leadership and guidance.

It would be a shame to see all the hard work and commitment that has been put into P22 be wasted as we still firmly believe there is a will to see this locomotive built. This project is possible and very probable, but it’s also very vulnerable. While this isn’t an appeal for help, it’s the truth about where P22 is today.

Having said that, we really do need help! We are open to hearing any comments or advice and welcoming any hard-working like-minded people to step up as we need to build a strong committee again, something that must happen if P22 is to succeed.  We especially need people who know how to run and manage a charity, a full-time webmaster and a host of others.

Richard Benyon

Chairman,

On behalf of the Committee.

We still have our heads firmly planted in a deluge of decisions and paperwork. Project 22 is like trying to complete a massive jigsaw puzzle when you don’t have all the pieces yet. We have the picture, but now we must create the pieces.  It is a long uphill process that is going to take a lot of time and effort for those tasked with the challenge.

Project 22 is moving forward, we are about to publish “Lister” D6302 our third journal, bursting with Class 22 related data and pictures. We are also looking at new formats for our magazine, other than the Easy flip version, as well as expanding the content to other diesel hydraulic groups.

“Lister” will provide more detail about our activities and offer an insight into our plans and progress. How we are attracting more working volunteers to the project? How are we going to build a locomotive? How is the project being put together, and what’s holding it together? Our thoughts on business structures and fund raising.

Please look out for Project 22 and support us where you can, we are not too far away from achieving the firm foothold we need to take Project 22 many steps closer to completion. With the business and management structure, being our critical foundation to success is taking shape, while constantly expanding. By broadening the strategies that are being put in place, 2017 is going to be a year of expansion of the team. We have received many offers of assistance from followers and members but have been in no position to really take them up. It’s been hard enough for eight of us to be coordinated, it would have been impossible for 26 of us to get anything done. We are now becoming better prepared to accept the kind offers of help and invite more people into Project 22, without the threat of everyone tripping over each other and complete confusion raining and us working in the dark. We have been through this and it almost caused P22 to self-destruct some time ago. We are still not quite there yet but we are back on track.

This Project is still as viable as it always has been, we are leaning to walk before we can run. It may seem like nothing is happening. Well, to some degree that is by design and how we have chosen to control the Project. Please don’t think that our decision to keep a low profile is a sign of the project losing pace. It’s our way of keeping a firm control of what we are doing and keeping our heads out of the clouds.

Thanks for your continued support.

We are still alive and well

Can you believe we are already 30 months into a 120 month project? It’s been quite a journey so far, having to deal with issues typically faced by voluntary organisations. We have had to learn and learn quickly how to manage a project like P22. We have been through the pain and panic, as well as the excitement of taking our information stand to galas and meeting people; the people we depend on to provide the initial income and skills needed to build a locomotive.

Project 22 is making very good progress. As you may know, we have an engine, number 220, which is safe and sound at “The Cab Yard” – the home of Project 22. We have a small but steady income stream, which includes the very popular books, ‘A Pictorial Salute to the Class 22’ and its follow-up, ‘The Second Pictorial Salute to the Class 22’. Any guesses on the name for the next one?

In 2016 we launched our ‘Donate & Invest’ option, and have seen many people become monthly contributors to P22, providing important income towards the build cost. All investors become shareholders in Nelly (our pet name for D6358 – it rolls off the tongue better when you are mentioning her so many times in emails and meetings. Don’t worry – there won’t be a name plate made!)

2017 is going to be a year of calling to arms and mobilising our members and followers to become more instrumental in taking P22 forward. There are many developments in the pipeline for the project. What we are doing is vast in concept and requires a lot of planning and consideration. This is a first, a new build diesel locomotive, and we fully understand the importance of demonstrating progress, because we have been asked many times when will we start the build? The answer is still the same, we can’t start or consider building anything until we make significant progress with the planning and design module of the project. Work on this is continuing daily – it’s a long and detailed process. This is where we need to attract support, in order to bring the planning stage to a point where we can actually cast some aluminium. We would estimate that we are 10% into this process and we will need to be at least 60% complete before we can make anything.

So now we need to look at momentum. During the past 30 months we have learned much about the Class 22 locomotive, and attracted many contributors. The information and knowledge bank is bursting at the seams. We are collecting data and small amounts of memorabilia, with the view to making this information available for those interested. We want Project 22 to become ‘all things class 22 related’. Our Journal “Lister” is developing nicely and is going to evolve further in 2017.

2017 promises to be the year for Project 22, where we plan on taking some substantial steps forward. Not only progressing with the build plan, but also lateral growth: expanding the scope of the project so we are better prepared to meet the challenges ahead of us. We are looking forward to welcoming investors, members and our followers to take an active role. “Just wait for the call – it’s coming!”

There will be much more news to share, so please look out for “Lister” – the journal of the Project Class 22 Society