Frames
The loco frames were in a bit of a state as you will see from the photos although by the time they were stripped down they had been exposed to the elements on and off for few months too. The final drive remained with the frames - Here, along with a several other places, 6 inches of a coal dust/oil mixture of gunk was removed, most likely dating back to NCB days.

Much of the work required just an awful lot of cleaning, preparation and repainting. The whole lot was cleaned, needle-gunned and wire-wheeled/drelled to leave a clean, rust-free surface for priming, undercoat and gloss finishing - many hours work! A number of loose rivets were found on the brake hangers and axle box guides, these were replaced with fitted bolts. Horn guides were re-aligned and shimmed and the springs were removed from the loco for refurbishing off-site.

All 4 fuel tanks (338 Gallons total capacity) have been flushed, cleaned, repainted and refitted once checked for leaks. The top of largest of these form the walkway along the 'A' end nose sides. Similarly the 'B' end battery boxes were cleaned, stripped and repainted. These were populated with a set of new Varta cells with wooden packing pieces manufactured to prevent the cells moving around when the loco is on the move.

New Tyco strips have been cut and fitted all round and all of the bodywork has been cleaned, primed, undercoated and glossed. Nose end and side doors all renovated, headcode equipment refurbished then repositioned correctly and marker lights given the same treatment.

New Main Res and Automatic Air Train Pipe has been installed and air cocks attached to both buffer beams. These are 6 inches thick and 3 holes were required at each end! D9531 was Vacuum only but has been rebuilt as dual (Air & Vacuum) braked.

Wheelset
The wheelsets were all tyre turned to the correct profile on site at Riley's, the middle set was found to be an inch bigger in diameter explaining D9531 previously being a rough rider! All six roller bearings were opened up, steam cleaned, inspected and regreased, and then the whole wheelset repainted. Re-wheeling took place in August 1999.

The brake rigging was taken away for overhaul but sadly had to be reclaimed unfinished and work farmed out again, badly delaying the project. Whilst generally sound, bushes were worn and required reaming out and a new set of brake pins made to suit. Bushes and pins required more work during fitting as did the brake blocks, but as of April 2010 the rigging was installed and pinned up.

All the grease nipples have been been replaced around the bottom end of the loco serving the axleboxes, connecting rods and brake rigging.

After exhaustive searches through stores of spares some of the original brake rigging parts had to be declared missing. We are very grateful to D9500's new owner, Andrew Briddon, for allowing us to remove and in helping to copy items from his loco for D9531.

D9500's handbrake arm and rod were copied at Les Tappenden's engineering works, Andrew Briddon arranged for two copies of the brake cylinder 'dogbones' to be made. As of April 2011 the brake rigging is complete and the loco handbrake can be applied .. the rebuild nightmare finally put to bed.

In September 2012, as part of D9531's first B-Exam, the locomotive's sanding system was completed and commissioned.