Of drains and trenches
3rd November 2019
Welcome once again to another edition of Weekend Rails.
I am stuck with another week of next-to-no photos because well, there maybe hasn't been that much to photograph? It is inevitable that from time to time I cannot maintain progress let alone take time out to record what's going on.
Knowing that there would be no Andy H at Tunstead last Monday, I decided not to make my customary dash up for nine a.m.and instead made a liesurely start getting up there for 10. The pit was, as expected. well provisioned with rain water and the adjacent work room was still locked so I went in search of a key and was spotted on the way by Roy G, who has become de facto organiser since Pete C retired. We had a quick chat in the corridor and he said he would sort out some papers and see me back at RS8. Shortly after he appeared with a project list with everything from obtaining the names of all apprenties and other employees who have done a bit on RS8 through to moving RS8 from the stores building on to the working rail system, which is where my low loader comes in. We took a walk down from the stores to where the loco will be unloaded - yes, it isn't far, it will be moved for maybe 200 yards and then taken off again. After an FTR exam it will then proceed down to the new loco shed and hide in there for a week until the day of the event. That makes it sound grand, but it is strictly an invitation only, and Tarmac are in control of the invites list. At last I was about to make a start, but when I returned to the van my phone was ringing and several texts were on hand requesting me to return forthwith. So I packed up with nothing physical accomplished and set off. Now, on a morning I tend to avoid Bakewell and take a more circuitous route which is about a mile longer because of Bakewell market, but in the afternoons I often take the Bakewell route for variety. It would have been better had I returned the same way as I had come, because about half a mile before Bakewell I came to a stand in a traffic queue and in the next twenty minutes hardly moved at all. I turned around, headed back to Ashford in the Water (noting that the queue was now much longer than when I had joined it) and turned right on to the A6020 only to find Road Closed signs. Anyway, I eventually got home via an even more circuitous route than usual - like about 10 miles more.
The middle of the week had me back at the shed on a commercial job, with Andy H in outdoor navvy mode. The trench dug last week up by the gate was opened out in stategic places and the bottom given a coating of MoT Type 1 stone. A fence post socket which the mini digger disturbed was reset and cement which I had stored in the portakabin was judged still to have some life left and used to bed it in. Here's a view after it had reached that stage.
Then he turned to the doorway and the slit the minidigger had put in and proceeded to lay out the first sections of a slot drain, again using the super-annuated cement with sand - Castle Darley is no more. By the time he finished darkness was upon us and a section remained which needed trimming to length. Andrew got in again briefly one evening and primer'd up the rear casing section for Ashdown, but otherwise he has been occupied elsewhere.
On Saturday I was joined by Jagger and Luke W: they concentrated firstly on tidying up engine parts in the convertible box van and once the rain had eased off a bit, transfered up to Jack and commenced cleaning out the detritus from the cab floor, turning up a Ford pay advice and some wagon consignment labels which included the Ford plant at Swansea. I went there once - the three locos that Thomas Hills acquired from South Yorkshire Chemicals at Parkgate in 1976 - two Yorkshires we now know as Jack and James but also a Vanguard - were all sold on to Ford: Halewood in the case of the Yorkshires together with an ex ICI Runcorn loco of the same type for commonality, while the Vanguard was despatched to Swansea. Rail traffic at Swansea fell to very low levels (and I am talking Swansea, the Bridgend plant wasn't even planned then) and the loco was parked up. I went on instruction from someone to inspect the loco and assess bringing it back into action, but I don't think it ever happened there. The loco is I believe nowadays at Titley Junction.
Today I was joined by Andy H and Phil G. Amongst other acts Andy bedded in the last section of troughing after I had cut it to length, but before heading down from the Briddon Country Pile I had popped around to our neighbours' by arrangement to borrow their wacker-packer in order to compress the type 1 stone. Obviously we didn't carry this out first thing as it would have been somewhat anti-social, but after lunch we unloaded it up by the trench. I fired it up quickly, then passed it over to Andy, but after a minutes operation it died away and refused to restart under any circumstances. After trying choke control, fuel cut-off, cleaning out the air cleaner, etc etc, I phoned said neighbour who popped down and when it wouldn't start for him either, took it back home to check it out. We meanwhile sorted out reinforcing mesh and started cutting it to fit, and had given up all hope of getting further when he reappeared and demanded to know what fuel I had put in. None, I answered, which took him somewhat aback as what was in the petrol tank was apparently almost entirely water. And since he had been the last one to add fuel to it, it was presumably his fault! With life restored, the trench was rapidly consolidated and the mesh replaced, and I had a happy time wiring bits of mesh together. I will consult with Andrew whether we need to do anything more before arranging another load of on-site mix concrete.
And that I fear is about all to report this week. Tomorrow I hope to resume where I left off last Monday, but we have Netta Christie from Discover Buxton coming in to record us for a forthcoming podcast so the morning will be spent over in the office block again. Then on Tuesday I have a visitor in the shape of a lorry driver who might find himself moving RS8 provided he's happy with my trailer and getting in and out of the gate. Wednesday I am headed up north and the rest of the week isn't yet determined, but might even include pouring concrete if we can so as to get the entrance way restored. Will we do it? Come back next week and find out. See ya then.