Of paint and plate

6th October 2019

The nights are drawing in. I have had all summer to get up and change those faulty LED light units in the shed,  and add the external ones to aid late-night shunting, and haven't got around to doing it.  And the birds are still waiting for those des-res light box conversions I put together. I really must get a  move on.

So our apprentice quotient peaked at 4 two weeks ago, fell to 1 and then returned to zero last Monday, thus it was very much back to normal. And in truth, another pair of hands would not have helped much as there was not a great deal to do. While I was writing up this blog last Sunday, it occurred to me that whereas I didn't have any suitable lengths of angle to make up a support for those two hoses, I did have some lengths of cable tray, recovered from a gift of a circuit breaker box that a friend had dropped off with me some years ago. In my mind's eye there were two reasonable lengths, and recalling something else that I needed to take, I dashed back to the workshop first thing and picked them up, though the trays were somewhat shorter in reality than my memory had contrived. By the time I got to Tunstead, Andy H had pumped out the pit and after signing in, and finding the key to the tool cupboard, we made a start.

After a while Roy appeared with good news and bad news. The bad news was that there were still no steel balls for us to ballast the front end of RS8 with. The good news though was that he had spent some time in delicate negotiations and as a result two drums of balls had been ear-marked for us to have, and but for a minor issue, would have been sat outside the doors waiting for us that morning. Suitably cheered, we looked forward to getting those front end boxes filled and covered over, sometime soon.

Now, when it comes to cable tray, any electrician will tell you that it is mounted on its vertical axis, and indeed, that is how I oriented it within the shed. It is not the first time I have used it on locos - both 14901, 03901 and one or two commercial jobs have employed it - but here I normally adopt a different approach and mount it horizontally (actually on the 03 it is horizontal through the engine bay, then turns vertical up against the cab bulkhead). Firstly this is because the slots are in the width and not the stiffening edges, so in my view any liquids (be they rain, coolant or oils) will drain through easily rather than collect in the bottom stiffening edge, and secondly unless sited below running plate level, in the vertical they seem to block acccess to the power unit more appreciably. For RS8, although horizontal was possible, I consulted with Andy H and went for the traditional vertical as it made a more logical flow for the hoses, but it does come near the oil filler and others may not agree.

For now, the third hose (the fuel feed to the engine) remains on its edge of the running plate, but I may re-unite the three in due course. With this job complete I transfered to the cab, and armed with the hydraulic cable crimper re-crimped the battery lug which had come adrift last week. As a precaution I checked the others and in the end had all 4 off the battery switch and re-crimped more firmly than before. I then took up a paintbrush: I know, don't let it get around. In the windows there are two hinged wooden pieces that I think act as elbow rests when leaning out: they are in a nice hardwood but being in the open needed some form of varnishing. In our garage was a (very) old tin of Dark Oak polyeurethane which was still liquid, so this was applied.

Andy meanwhile was applying Golden Yellow to doors, Buttermilk to some other internals that had missed it, and Black to Roof edges and such. He was however disatisfied with the overall condition of the cab rear and walkway cover, so gave this a rub down and a fresh coat of Golden Yellow.

The two flaps that constitute the cab doors finally got a coat of something too - here they are with my step assembly resplendent underneath.

Nothing much to report during the week: I have been busy with commercial work and the usual trivia of a month end (paying people and getting invoices out) plus collecting everything together for the annual audit. Tedious but sadly necessary.

On Saturday Andrew and I were joined at the shed by Jagger, continuing on his preparatory work to restore Jack, while Andrew resumed the work on Ashdown's rear casing section. A couple of weeks back I got him some steel plate cut to size ready to renew the sheets, using some of the original angle edging pieces (most of them are corroded to the point of being unfit but the radiused bits will be recovered) but needed plasma-cutting to pattern after which pieces of 50 x 50 angle would be stitch-welded on.

I was back on a commercial job which needs to go out shortly (it's run late) so largely left them to get on with it. Peak Rail reverts to a 4 train service during October in anticipation of the clocks going back, and late in the afternoon an unexpected visitor appeared at the shed door and asked if it was all right to look round. It transpired he had simply squeezed around the end of our fence at the level crossing (until our renewal of Station House's fence is complete, this is possible though the No Unauthorised Access sign on the gate remains) so I broke off and did him the guided tour of the shed and those bits he hadn't been able to see from the footpath. He seemed to think that trains weren't running here today (he had travelled down for a reunion event at Buxton and had spent most of the day at a certain railway at Wirksworth). From his accent he was clearly Scottish and eventually declared he was with the SRPS at Bo'ness, but didn't recall 14 901. After the tour and a cuppa, I sent him on his way back to Buxton for the evening dinner.

(Just as an aside while it occurs to me: we continue to keep our tv set to receive the local news programmes for Sheffield (former Briddon Towers) rather than Darley Dale (Briddon Country Pile)  which is technically East Midlands country. Thus one day we picked up a piece on Look North that the Mayor of Sheffield is up in arms, writing to Network Rail and making noises in any media that will listen because the capacity improvement program that is to accelerate the passenger services on the Hope Valley line (a vital artery for Manchester to Sheffield traffic since BR closed the Woodhead route) will not now be completed until 2023 rather than the 2021 that had been promised. Contrary to some stories I've heard, freight cannot be removed from the Hope Valley  (if only because the Hope Cement works traffic is required to be moved mostly by rail)  and the scheme was drawn up in conjunction with the increased siding space at Buxton to enable faster passenger trains opportunities to pass stone and other traffics rather than build an expensive new route south out of Buxton. (and if you are unfamiliar wth all of this, Network Rail asessed the alternatives and preferred the Tissington Trail route to Ashbourne rather than the Millers Dale-Buxton route, as it has fewer tunnels and avoids clogging Derby, but found the capacity improvements on existing lines more cost-effective for the neccessary additional volumes). It seems even modest improvements to an existing route can take longer than you expect.

Andrew and I were back again today and the themes were much the same: here he is with the new casing pieces in position for back marking to the mounting studs. The straight angles are stitched in place but end ones that will hold it to the cab back will be tacked to the assembly in situ to ensure it all lines up.

It is worth reminding you that Ashdown is up for sale: yet here he is doing a thorough restoration of the rear gearbox casing as opposed to bodging-it-up and leaving a new owner to sort it out. For the moment at least, I have been let off designing up the exhauster installation - until he knows whether it is to go as a vac-fitted loco or not.

So that's about it for the week. It's back to Tunstead tomorrow and maybe, just maybe, there'll be tons of balls waiting for us. In addition, I have 'proper' spacer plates for the budget locks on the casing doors (they're spaced with washers as an interim) fresh from the laser cutters. Hopefully there'll be a shuffle around in the shed and more news to report (Oh yes, and I seem to recall having a birthday one day this week - another year over and still none the wiser.) So if you've nothing better in hand, do pop back same time next week. See ya then.