Of a Baguley Brewery
2nd June 2019
For a bit of a change...
It's been a very busy week here at the Briddon Country Pile but it's difficult to know how much to tell you. After saying last week that I would be down at the shed on the Monday I ended up doing admin all day which, while beneficial (although you'd never know it from the state of my desk) didn't get anything done at the sharp end of things. Tuesday too was running around, until I rushed off after tea to meet up with Cheedale, which, like Pluto, is having a holiday. Now, I hope it was just the outcome of a busy Bank Holiday but neither of the garages in Bakewell had diesel, and neither did the third garage I tried, but the fourth did (I was beginning to sweat as I didn't have too much in the tank) so I put enough in, I thought, to get me to my destination and back home again next day. Ever since I acquired a new van I have left the display set at performance. If I head south out of Darley, over to Wirksworth and out through Derby, by the time I reach the M1 at Kegworth the van will be showing me upwards of 53mph and sometimes 56/7. I get cranky if on a long journey the mpg drops below 50. When I filled up it was at about 50/51, but as I drove on it dropped and finished overall at 46.1, which I put down to having driven harder than usual to get there in time to get a good night's sleep. But the following day, having seen Cheedale off and into its chalet, the mpg struggled to climb anywhere where it should. Indeed, it only got to 44-point-summat and the tank-full wasn't going to see me home. So, with about 30 miles to go I tanked up again, and noticed further on that the station I had filled up at the previous night was now closed. But the most telling sign was that in the last 30 miles, the average came up to 45.5 overall - not good but clearly showing the effect of the 'better' diesel. I learnt 20 years ago that supermarket dross is a false economy, but what I had bought - from a Shell station no less - was likely the old stuff from the bottom of the tank and meant that I got about £48 worth of fuel but had paid £60 for it. Not going there again.
On Thursday it was time to say goodbye to 1382. It was always intended that the loco would return to its spiritual home - Rocks by Rail as it is called now - and having completed the work we had contracted, the IDRPG were moving on. James took 1382, with the RRA in between, up to Rowsley to meet up with the low load trailer which arrived with a hush-hush, top secret, sheeted down item which our driver, looking at the badgeplate on the end, mis-read as Baguley Brewery, but it might be he just had beer on his mind.
It was amazing that while this was going on, I had no less than 4 car loads of potential passengers arrive looking for a train ride, mostly assuming that as it was half-term the trains would be running, but one quite adamant that she had looked on Peak Rails' website and thought that it was. I attempted to disappoint them gently and diplomatically.
The ramp was duly assembled, the Brewery rolled down and out the way, and James pushed 1382 up on to the trailer with the RRA as barrier.
Andy H was around to record the event. As the low loader headed off, James was coupled to the Brewery with the special coupler that Andrew had manufactured, complete with lorry strap to keep it in check, but rather than tow it, it was propelled all the way back to Darley.
On Friday Steph and I had dental check-ups in Sheffield, so we went together and I called on a couple of suppliers, one of whom said as I went 'next time, bring me a copy of your book in..' Yes, I'm not proud, I'll sell to anybody and especially touched when I get messages back like 'excellent bedtime reading material on the Caledonian sleeper to Fort William last week..' Aaaw shucks, and there was my sister complaining that it was too heavy to read in bed! But I digress: first call was to drop a pallet-load of my Safety Scotches for delivery to a customer, then second was my regular bearing supplier, where Andrew had asked me to get fresh bearings for the jockey pulley assembly on Ludwig Mond. Next call was to my new laser cutters, for various parts including one for RS8. By the time we got back home it was too late to do anything serious, besides, grandson was up with us and Andrew had been enjoying 'quality time'.
First thing Saturday I went in to Matlock to collect more paint and find some washing line. It's a sad fact, I think, that plastic covered, flexible steel rope has to be from China - wasn't it once Birmingham which was dubbed the workshop of the world? Ah well, it should become a suitable cable-pull for the hooter valve in RS8's cab tomorrow, and the Golden Yellow will make Andy H happy and Pete C and I will gain yellow patches from places we accidentally touch. And have I come up with that plan to publicise RS8 in time for the meeting with Netta C tomorrow? No. I'm going to have to wing it.
Anyway, back to Saturday, and after lunch, Andrew and I went down to the shed, where first task was to shunt things around again as I had just left them as they were on Thursday. Ludwig Mond and 03 901 came back to the shed (the former so that we can re-fit the jockey pulley and new belts) reposition the Brewery so it's secrecy is maintained (you won't tell anyone, will you?) and return the RRA to Track 1. Then Andrew started welding up a job of mine from Friday's profiles and finally reassembled the jockey pulley assembly ready to go back on the loco.
Today he and Steph had to take grandson back to his mother's, and I still had elements of month end invoicing and accounts to pay so didn't get down until after lunch. Mostly it was commercial work today - it's piling up somewhat - but Andrew had me measure up the pump adaptors that are fitted to two of the spare Lister engines as he contemplates providing a separate power source on the HATRAMM to get the hydraulic crane functional, at least pending time and other details that will enable a return to full function. Which reminds me we also spent time on Saturday running the Hatz with a 'new' (to us) hand tacho, revealing that it is running to a maximum of 1900rpm and doesn't seem to want to go faster. Andrew wants me to change the fuel filter in case that is the problem after which I am on orders to consult Hatz again. At which point he says he might deploy my Hatz on the HATRAMM and build up another Lister with a pump to run the winch on the low loader. (Either way we need to get on with it - pushing things up and down with barrier wagons is not to my mind as safe as the solemnity of winching.) So that's about it for this week. The calendar for the next few days is filling up and I'll tell you all about it, or as much as I can, same time, same web channel. See ya then?