Of that last weekend of the month syndrome

29th November 2020

Well, seeing that Aidan Briggs, who was stood right next to me, has sent his photo all over Facebook, I might as well show mine too.

Welcome to yet another edition of Weekend Rails. I used to say that we had identified that things always go wrong on the last weekend of the month, but that in contrast, the first weekend is where everything seems to go well. This week has not been the best, and the weekend contributed. But let's go back to the beginning - seeing that the trailer could not get back to Darley Dale, and we were sufficiently worried by the state of the winch rope to order up a new one, I had to take time out to go down to Heanor Fleet's yard and change it there. The new rope, although slightly lower rated than the notional rating of the rope supplied with the winch, was far more flexible and had that feeling of being much better quality. (I say that having spent 3 months working for a wire rope manufacturer in 1978, so my product experience may be a trifle out of date.)

Anyway, the old rope was duly run out and detached, and at this point it became apparent that the end of the rope drum, which was welded to the central core (so the rope drum was essentially constructed like a kitchen towel cardboard core with two big washers at the ends) was no longer welded. The new rope went on happily enough and that evening a suitable complaint was raised with the winch manufacturer. Now this winch is rated as a 20,000 lb line pull, and the manufacturer ('Manufacturer of premium winches guaranteed to pull') claims that their aim is to 'bring you top quality, well engineered and fully supported products'. Looking back, our first concerns had been the quality of the manuals that came with it. It had that command of the English language that indicated it was not the writer's mother tongue. This does not neccessarily contradict the supplier claiming to be the manufacturer - the rules that allow the term "UK origin" to be applied are quite liberal. Back at Stanley Tools, someone complained to Trading Standards that a Stanley Surform tool, labelled on the packaging as UK manufacture, could not be correct as the plastic handle clearly had 'Made in USA' moulded on it. But the blade and final assembly was carried out in the UK, only the handle was imported.

So anyway I took the matter up with the manufacturers who insisted that either we had mounted it incorrectly, or abused it, and it couldn't be anything of theirs wrong. I had a contract to move another gronk (see heading) on Wednesday and had no option than to use the winch for that job, told the manufactuers so and they said nothing to deter me. We arrived on site, set up the ramp, pulled out the nice new winch rope, hooked on the loco and started to load it. The first pair of wheels had just got on to the deck of the low loader when there was a series of bangs from the winch and the Lister laboured. The winch had seized. The immediate solution was to drive the loco the rest of the way, and lower it gently down on its brakes at the other end. But I had more work for the trailer and although loading with barrier wagons, or the loco's own power is not out of the question, some sites get fixated that the only safe way is to winch it. If you disagree on that point, consider that the winch and its rope are then a single point of failure.

On Thursday afternoon therefore the trailer returned to Darley Dale and Andrew went into hyperdrive locating and negotiating a price for a replacement 20,000lb winch. The decision was to go for one at a firm near Stratford on Avon, and rather than arrange for couriers and be waiting/paying, I got sent out on Friday to go and collect it. We also needed something to mount it on, and having agreed that this time it should go on the back of the trailer, a piece of 15mm plate was to be procured. Now, if I'd had a week to spare, I could have bought a laser cut piece with all the holes ready for mounting, but with only 24 hours to play with, not even Twiggs in Matlock would cut us a rectangle in less han 3 days, but we could buy a stock sheet. So that was ordered on Thursday afternoon and they promised to advise us a time before delivery.

Trouble is, I suspect they load the lorries last thing, the drivers sign on at 08.00 and set off, and being only 2 miles away we were No.1 drop, because at 08.10 Friday Andrew was telling me to get up as the lorry was outside the gate. Thus the sheet weighing 400kg balanced on the forks was brought back up to the shed before Andrew's work day began..

With the trailer outside we needed good weather and so of course on Saturday (last Saturday of the month) it rained all day. But we had work to do inside and Andrew brought the sheet in, dried it off with the space heater and set up the plasma cutter - which refused to function. (Last weekend of the month...) Plan B was oxy-acetylene - thank heavens I got a new oxy bottle last week - which is a poorer cut requiring much grinding afterwards. We did get some loco work done, me on wiring and him finishing boring out 2 holes to re-locate the radiator on Claire before he moved over to drilling the new base plate out to accept the mounting bolts for the winch. Another comparison - the 'old' winch was held by 4 M12 bolts - Andrew did the calculation and opted to mount the winch on a vertical so that the bolts were not in shear - whereas the new winch envisaged four M18 bolts (you try getting that in the UK!) but with the supplier's blessing we bored it out to take M20. That's roughly 3 times the metal cross section in the fixings for the same rated line pull.

Fortunately today has been free of rain so Ludwig pulled the train back again and work progressed outside.

By early afternoon the base plate had been securely welded into the gap between the trailer chassis members and after the paint had almost dried, the winch was mounted on, leaving the control valve and hydraulic lines to sort, plus an air line to operate a clutch for free-wheeling the rope out.

Andrew has also been progressing a new pair of tips - the 'deck tips' - to improve things when, as with 08's, we need to raise the loco slightly to get it on the deck. These were started by cutting a piece of heavy I beam into two sloping T sections on to which bar will be welded and stiffened to make a longer, more gradual transition from the crane rails on the deck.

After this the Mk1 tips, which are so heavy none of us want to set them up, will be brought off for use back at Darley Dale. With darkness falling, a floodlight deployed and work still in full swing on another minor mod to the trailer, it felt like Scapheap Challenge, though as Andrew rightly observed, that sort of breakneck rush with no proper plan is not what we want. It was more the sensation of getting things done against the clock in the open air that awakened memories of - was it 16 years ago?

So, we come out of lockdown and into what appears to be another lockdown. The Churnet Valley has abandoned Santa Train plans and are reported to be 'beyond disappointed', but I heard this evening that the Ecclesbourne Valley are going ahead with theirs: no 'indoor activities' will be open but the train itself is not considered 'indoor' (it's compartment stock, and if it were, how would the national network function?). Rowsley we understand, continues to be deserted (apart from the employees of the Waterman Trust, I hear). Peak Rail has probably not been eligible for the grants awarded most other heritage railways, as a pre-requisite has been that the organisation is demonstrably financially viable before Covid struck. PR's declared loss for 2019 (£87,000) and its 'profit' of £51,000 for 2018 (achieved after including a £110,000 windfall legacy) does tend to make such an assertion difficult to sustain. PR's annual accounts, written in mid August, contained a warning that if services didn't resume by mid September (it had already failed to do by the time of the AGM - I wonder if shareholders did get their questions answered?) the company's liquidity would be serious. Hence the £250,000 appeal that PR plc launched.

So there we are, another edition completed. I hadn't expected it to be concentrating on the transport side, but that's how it's been. Let's hope that the next weekend, first of the new month, sees us back plain sailing with lots of locomotive work under our belts. Coming back to find out? See ya then.