Of a King of Darley Castle 

9th June 2019

I've been watching the series on the NYMR on Friday nights. Having been behind the scenes on some tv programmes I know that the producers try to get the interviewees to drama-up the situation to add tension for the viewer, but does every little problem have to be called a 'nightmare'? And, dear Mr Editor, when cutting from Piglet fighting a 'nightmare problem' on the Schools to another storyline somewhere else, do you think we don't notice that the same loco supposedly in crisis at Grosmont shed just passed hauling a train? That number is a bit of a givewaway.

Judging from the trip counter on the van, it's been a quiet week here at the Country Pile. After clocking over 600 miles the week before, the van racked up less than 50 this week, though it was let off a quick trip to Sheffield which was in another vehicle, but I digress.

Monday of course was Tunstead day, and we saw little of Pete C, who was superintending a change of road markings out the back where contractors were burning off the yellow lines that marked the old pedestrian route across to the offices and re-inforcing the preferred route which pedestrians apparently do not prefer. This cuts straight across the front of the delineated parking bays, which is all well and good, and Tarmac are one of those responsible companies that insist that you reverse park, but it would be helpful if the bays were long enough to enable you to open the back doors of your van without overhanging the outside line of the bay and thus, obstructing the official pedestrian route that passes across the front.

I had gone up armed with that plastic covered steel washing line and soon had the horn valve pull cable strung across to the back of the cab, where many months ago I installed a bracket ready to receive it. I also quickly assembled the pucca operating tab to toggle the clutch detection switch when the cylinder operates. It doesn't show up too clearly so I've annotated the picture to show you how it - ought to - happen.

I found Andy at the back of his van with a peculiar wirring noise. Two motorised rollers, powered from an adjacent car battery, rotated in unison and between them, spinning in the opposite direction, was a litre tin of paint. Now I'm used to these stirring devices which have a large paddle with its own paint tin lid that enters the pot and stirs the paint round, indeed one firm I was at many years ago had a machine that stirred about twenty tins of the same time, dunno why though, they didn't have twenty painters to apply the paints simultaneously anyway. However, this machine of Andy's has the entire tin horizontally rotating and so toppling the paint inside. Presumably dizzy paint goes on better. There must be a 'shaken, not stirred' joke in here somewhere but I confess I can't see it. Having brought a generous quantity of Golden Yellow it was disconcerting to find that Andy H was toppling a tin of Paragon Paints cream undercoat. He had apparently determined that this was a better colour to apply before the yellow top coat than the white undercoat we had put over the grey primer, and proceeded to add this colour layer to much of the loco around cab and fuel tanks.

He had also brought some Paragon yellow, and after much effort, plywood templates and the like, masking taped front and rear buffer beams for the chevrons in accordance with the CAD drawing I'd approved earlier.

Part way through the morning Netta Christie (Discover Buxton) arrived escorted by Reg G. Netta last saw the loco when we did the podcast that came out in May 2017, as we began stripping RS8 back at Darley Dale. To see it in its present condition certainly made an impression. We discussed the plans for another podcast, bringing certain old employees back together for the occasion. Late July is being favoured, by which time we'll be nearly ready (I hope!). One of RS8's features is the recesses for the shunter, which although standard on shunting locos today, and indeed appeared on the first diesel hydraulic Sentinels in 1959, were by no means common. The reason is more prosaic, for there had been an accident with a loco, where the shunter was riding on the side steps and was struck by a wagon that was on a turnout and while not foul of the loco, was sufficiently close that the shunter was knocked off and subsequently died. Whether the culprit was actually RS8 or one of the others is unclear, but the recesses were installed into RS8 as a result and the victim's grandson still works at the quarry so he will be invited in, along with our friend the engineer who is anxious to get to see our restoration. Tarmac will involve one of their PR/Publicity consultants and I again voiced the idea of taking the loco around the Tunstead system and getting 'old and new' photos before it returns to Darley Dale. It wasn't rejected.

Which reminds me, Andrew pointed out that it is 3 years ago that RS8 moved from the Stone Centre, which is a good excuse to publish an old picture of it on the day that it was loaded and ready, and in stark contrast to how it looks today.

I don't feel as though I did a great deal last week - I fitted the three remaining headlight units and ran the cables through inside and made a list of bits that we must get around to to progress things - but the day went by and the loco continues to look better, which is what counts.

I was down at the shed on Wednesday to see a visitor and progress work on one of the commercial jobs but in the afternoon, on a whim, I decided to tidy up the sandbags. When the building work was nearing completion, I had two builders bags of sand only partially emptied and although we have used small quantities since, the bags themselves had been torn and the contents was spreading and sprouting weeds. A couple of weeks ago Steph spotted a brand new builders bag blowing down the road outside the Country Pile and mindful that if it made it to the A6 it could become a traffic hazard I was despatched to corral it. Now I took it down to the shed, set it up on the other side near to the main line and solemnly transferred the contents from the ripped bags to the new one, weeding it for greenery and roots as I did so. It took me most of the afternoon, and as the last shovelfuls were added I suddenly got it into my head that now was my chance to build a sand castle that no tide was ever likely to destroy. So here is Peak Rail by the sea, or perhaps Castle Darley.

You've seen over the last 18 months or more Andrew's low loader. I was sceptical at first, but have warmed to the idea and the savings that it could provide. But at the same time it has taught us much, especially with regard to the lack of rear steering and the weight limtations that meant we could not move every loco in the collection on it. More recently we have attended auctions in the hope of acquiring a bigger, better one but each time the opportunity eluded us. Well, hopefully Andrew's trailer has moved its last load for us, as its replacement - a King - arrived last Friday and for the moment, is almost side by side. It is newer, recently refurbished and can take us up to the 50+ton loco category. The only bad news is that I have taken on the financial responsibility though some of the proceeds from the sale of the Andover will hopefully be coming my way. Still, first thing is to get over and measure it and get all those brackets and rails fitted, and Andrew has been trying to get quotes on crane rails (bridge rails as they are known to n.g. quarry enthusiasts) without success. You'll no doubt get to see more of it later, but here's a couple of pictures to show what I'm talking about.

Andrew was otherwise occupied on Saturday, and what with the weather and the outstanding admin work I had, I didn't get down to do anything. In the evening we were joined for dinner by a couple of Peak Rail shareholders, and Jagger and Phil G popped in on their way back from what they said was an outstanding Open Day at Crewe. Today however we were in action - though Andrew spent most of his time stripping a generator that came off the replacement RS8 engine and I was on with a commercial job. So no pictures to put forward.

So, I suspect I'll be down one day inspecting my investment this week, and of course back to Tunstead tomorrow where Andy H and I are sufficiently trusted to proceed without Pete C, whose daughter was getting married last Saturday and needs Monday to recover. He must have foreseen a helluva hangover. Incidentally having run out of stock of 'The Railway to Merhead' fresh supplies arrived today for anyone who has been meaning to order. Go on, you know you ought to. I'll be back next week, trying to inform and entertain. See ya then?