Of the unveiling of RS8

1st December 2019

Tarmac went to town on the event yesterday 'unveiling' RS8.

So, I can't say that much has happened during the week from a heritage point-of-view. On Tuesday I attended the local PRA group meeting at the Whitworth - the speaker was Ian Bendall, nowadays Chairman of the Industrial Railway Society, which was his topic. For one part he showed slides of 'local industrials' and up-popped some of the locos at Avenue. When it got to the second slide of the Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0DHs I could stay quiet no longer, and pointed out that both of them (they were Avenue No.4 and Avenue No.5) were but half a mile away in Darley Dale yard. But the most amusing incident for me was when a gentleman in the front row asked if Ian had heard of a locomotive builder called Thomas Hill. Yes, Ian assured him. Has anyone written a history of it? the gentleman went on to enquire. We're hoping Pete will, replied Ian, indicating in my direction. I'll think about it more when I see just how much of the story John Hutchins' book on Sentinel covers.

A commercial job left the workshops back to its owner (so the low loader has had another run out) but really all thoughts were on Saturday morning. We were due at Tunstead at 08.30: well actually Andy was a little earlier, so when I rolled up he was half-way through the obligatory induction before he was allowed to proceed with the Rail Siding's manager down to the loco shed where RS8 has waited all week. I know, how did he get to the loco shed last Saturday without an induction? No system is completely foolproof

Anyway, we checked the loco, tightened up a couple of bearing wedges, and followed a Hunslet 0-6-0DH - Graham Lee Jnr - up the site back to the fuelling point, near to which the ceremony was due to take place.

A swap around there put RS8 up above the Hunslet, lined up with gaps in crowd barriers set up in anticipation. Unfortunately, the weather was misty all day - and cold - so although I'd broken out a brand new pair of overalls in honour of the day, I had to wear my not-so-sparkling but warm jacket over the top. There had been concern that Derek Burton, the 94 yr old former quarry engineer who has been so involved with the loco over the years, but now walks with the aid of sticks, might not be able to get on to RS8, so we spent some time with an aluminium gantry trying to provide an easier access, but the geometry of tower and loco did not interface and it was abandoned. We moved up to Tunstead House and joined the personages in the meeting room allocated. The 'do' was llmited to about 20, (Steph and Andrew having come up together after me), and brought in people who have been involved with the restoration - such as Jack N, Reg G and Pete C - with former quarry workers like Derek, plus Netta Christie of Discover Buxton. Anyway, Reg opened the meeting, recounting how he first came down to Darley Dale on instruction from the then Production Director to see this 'loco that Viv had found' and came away unconvinced that anyone could ever bring it back to life!

After formalities we all transferred down the loco: a blue ribbon had been placed across the entranceway to RS8 and Derek was invited to say a few words and formally declare RS8 'restored'.

He choked a little as he spoke but if anyone still had any thoughts that he wouldn't be able to get on to RS8, they underestimated his determination.

Now, there are no prizes for surmising that 20 cannot be got into RS8's cab in one go: the party was split and the second 10 went on a minibus tour of the quarry and cement plant (Andrew and Andy were in this geoup) while the first ten split themselves between RS8 and the Hunslet for a short trip down the line and back.

Steph was in the Hunslet for the first stage, and as you can see from the sea of orange, there wasn't much space in RS8's cab, designed as it was for single man operation! When we got back (lining up with the barrier gap the more fun because I was driving from the far side!) the groups swapped over and we went down again.

After the second leg I came off, handing over to Andy H while I took the minibus tour with Steph. He did the two runs for the second group then took the loco back to the shed to await its move out. We all came back together in the meeting room at Tunstead House: Steve the photographer had put together a slide show of RS8's restoration, John Fotherby did a presentation on the Tunstead rail system over the years (which formed the material also for the booklet) and I was called on to say what's happening to the loco next, which is still unclear, beyond its return to Darley Dale for its vac braking and sundries to be sorted out.

Finally Tarmac had commissioned a pen-and-ink drawing of RS8: it was framed and handed to Derek as a momento. We came away with the goody-bags of booklet, mug and copy of the drawing, and adjourned to the Lee Wood Hotel in Buxton for luncheon. Netta and her colleague Michael had to depart early as they had a Buxton tour scheduled for 2pm, and gradually the Tarmac personnel took their leave until it was little more than Andy, me, Derek and the couple who kindly brought him over, Mr & Mrs Ellis. We said our farewells and went our seperate ways.

And did I learn much from the day? Well, the biggest shock was the discovery that RS8 was not restored in the 'very place' where it was converted from steam to diesel: that was in another part of the then workshops that no longer exists. Then there was the tale of the windscreen. RS8's massive windscreens were originally 'armour-plated' (probably toughened) glass, and one had shattered while it was being manhandled into position. One of the guests had been holding it (no suction cups in those days) and had ended up in the first aid room with a nurse extracting pieces from his arm with tweezers. Derek took the matter up and an expert from Pilkingtons examined fragments under a microscope, declaring that he had found minute faults that demonstrated that the glass had been incorrectly manufactured, and so Pilkingtons replaced it all f.o.c.

When I came out the house this morning, the temperature gauge said minus 2 and it felt every bit of it, but the shed was over 3 degrees inside. Ben Riley had walked down from Rowsley and I revived him with a cuppa until Andrew arrived down. Together they went out back to the milk tanker chassis and started gassing rivets to release bits of the running gear, preparatory to cutting the frame up.

Now this may be scariledge to some, but remember, 'There's no use crying over split milk tanker.'

I meanwhile was tidying up the aftermath of a loco hurriedly having been clesred prior to its departure, and made a start on a bit of test kit which Phil's trailer inspection last week had revealed advisable. He'd left me a spare 'suzy' cable and with a couple of rotary switches, an enclosure and some glands, etc. I started to create this:

Hopefully I'll finish up with a static test kit to rotate through all the lights for proof test. Here it is part way through the day, but more was carried out later. A bit after two the oxygen ran out and having completed over half the job, and cut out a couple of bits of central chassis members for good measure, Andrew and Ben came in and after a further cuppa, Ben set off back for Rowsley. Andrew resumed work welding pieces on to the fence post bases: with 4 now finished we took them out and dropped them into their assigned positions before clamping fence posts in. Vericality is by no means perfect: we may have to squeeze in some shims to correct this, but it is further progress.

And as daylight fell, we looked around for a further task and returned to the shotblast cabinet. A week or two ago Andrew acquired a filter unit - rather like a cross between a loco air cleaner and a vacuum cleaner - whose function was to act as a dust extractor for the cabinet. But the length of flexible hose that came with it, was probably 100mm bore but the ends it was supposed to fit were 4 inch, and try as we might it simply wouldn't go on, so he'd splashed out on another length which came with proper cuff connectors.

We turned the cabinet round, put the extractor temporarily on a bucket and connected its hose, and hey presto, it's nearly ready for use. A permanent stand for the extractor is advisable (it started to suck itself off the bucket) and I suspect that this won't be long in coming and we'll at last have another of those 'how did we ever cope without it?' things in action.

So, what's in store for this week? Well, on Tuesday Andy and me are back to Tunstead to tidy up our work area and bring back any remaining worthwhile bits plus drive RS8 up the hill one more time to meet Reid Freight, who will load it and bring it down to Rowsley for a Wednesday morning unload. For the first time since restoration RS8 may haul something, as it is due to arrive at the same time as an incoming customer loco which is non-operational. I don't normally show commercial jobs on this blog but I think I'll have a job photoshopping it out. As for the rest of the week, who can say? Tune in next week and find out. See ya then.

A few more pictures just in from Andrew...