Of coolant leaks, fuel and batteries

15th December 2019

It would appear that I've reached the four hundred and ninety-somethingth edition of Weekend Rails, and so may be celebrating Christmas with a 500th. My thanks to those who have sent congratulatory messages about RS8, much appreciated.

Probably a short edition tonight as after the excitement of RS8's return in working order there has been a dose of normality filling the air. Oh, that and a general election. Plus I've been trying to sort out a few last bits and bobs before that annual shindig called Christmas comes on the scene and for a fortnight nothing happens. Orders to complete, bits to order before the January price increases sneek through, etc, etc.

Aside from a lorry-full of machinery arriving, marked by the fork lift going on strike (it seems the fuel gauge may not be as trustworthy as we thought) it has been a quiet week. On Friday Andy H was across and went into mass production of bracketry for the replacement fenceworks, which have been dragging on with inclement weather. After I'd chalked up a basic design on the noticeboard, he set too and produced the basic fabs, drilled a few and got some primed.

On Saturday I spent some time finishing off the drilling of fixing holes in them, and resumed priming and painting. What with the wind and rain outside I was reluctant to stir further out, other than to throw a sheet over some bits that hadn't made it into the PCV. Today though Jagger and Luke were joining me and Andrew, and one of the tasks planned was to have a further shunt to extract Yorkshire 0-4-0DH Jack from the middle road and get it down nearer the shed so that its new owner might be able to get more work done on it. Sentinel 'Tom' was due to take up Jack's position but to access the middle siding first meant moving a rail trolley of possible USA-origin (I knew it well down at Long Marston and it has followed me up here) and a B4 bogie loaded with bits of Wickham bodywork. The Rail trolley seems to be tight on back-to-back as when it encountered check rails it became too much for me to propel on my own!

James has been difficult to start of late - the batteries are old and the stop solenoid, which on the Thomas Hill-wiring system pulls in at the same time as the starter engages, is sometimes failing to go the whole way, leaving the batteries struggling to crank an engine which is not being fuelled. Added to that daily checks before starting show it regularly low on coolant and we have some issues to address. Ludwig Mond also failed to start and Andrew traced it through to a low coolant level trip-out. With RS8 known to have a coolant leak from the bottom radiator connection, it seems things are happening in threes.

Today I gave up on the batteries and with Jagger's help, swapped them for another set in better condition, but even then it virtually took two of us to get it to go. After that the shunt got under way and for a short while James and Jack were face to face.

In between times Luke found his calling and is now our shot-blast-cabinet-operative, starting with two brackets Andrew had welded up weeks ago for the low loader and carrying on with coolant conections for an engine. Andrew tried to make progress on Ashdown.

For some months now the 12ton box van has sat in the shed with half its roof removed, waiting for Andrew to find time to gas the bolts holding the rolled angle that reinforce the ends and thus finish the task of removal. During the week I'd had a chat with Ben Riley about machining the new roof timbers, and decided that grinding the bolt heads would be as easy as gassing them, and could be got-on with now, shimmied up a ladder and ground them off at one end, after which Andrew attacked the remaining ply with a pry bar for that (north) end to be completed. But having lifted the ply by simply breaking it away from its screws, there were hordes of screw heads sticking up out of the roof sticks, all with slotted heads that were rusted, and better off unscrewed than ground down. So with another ladder inside I started extracting said screws with a mole wrench, and am about two thirds done with only the two south end hoops (plus its reinforcement and bit of roof ply) still to go.

The idea is that the box van becomes an engine overhaul module: there's a 230V to 110V transformer waiting to be installed, and a number of strip-lights so that it can be plugged in somewhere when needed. Add a workbench at one end (preferably a steel-topped one for ease of cleaning up after oily engine bits) and the engine turnover stand can go in, followed by Jack's engine, which would free-up quite a lot of floor space, and a weather-tight box van could then go outside and a loco come in.

So that's about it or the week. I've got another tool cabinet to collect on Tuesday, but the rest of the week is still a blur, so you'll have to come back next week and find out what's been happening.  See ya then.