Of Ugly lamps

7th February 2021

Of Uglies and lamp or Lamps and Ugly? Read on...

So, first thing Monday I was up and out of the house, as I had to be at Ruddington by 08.00: well actually I was a little late setting off and having been advised to go down to M1 J23 and up the A453 so as to avoid the Clifton Bridge area, I followed a right turn signposted for Ruddington and ended up in a part of the village I was unfamiliar with and it took me a while to figure out my way over. This probably benefitted me in the end as by the time I arrived (about quarter past) Adam and Ian had the ramp almost finished and the first of two "Ugly" RSH 0-6-0STs was soon aboard, and with crisp winter sunshine, looked quite good as it prepared to leave Ruddington for North Weald.

I loaded roughly half the pile of firebars into the van and set off to follow them, but in fact they had changed their mind on the route and had gone M1, M25 rather than A1 A14 M11 as they told me. So I got to North Weald (Epping Ongar Railway) mystified as to where I could have overtaken them, but had enough time to unload the firebars and be ready for their arrival. The unloading was equally uneventful and we did at least take the same route back north together.

Tuesday was a repeat, but with the request to start at 09.00 to allow GCR personnel longer to open up. I set off with more time in hand than Monday, but found the A38 solid (there'd been an accident on the M1 at J29 so the M1 was blocked back to J27 and the traffic at J28 couldn't get on) so, I managed to get off, turn back and go through Derby. Taking the same road into Ruddington I found what I'd done wrong Monday and got straight there. The weather was not so accomodating. It had rained heavily and the loading area at Ruddington had turned from 'a bit muddy' to 'distinctly muddy' and to cap it all they had accdentally positioned the trailer so we had to build the ramp through a large lake, and my boots leak.

So loading took a little longer but the second 'Ugly' was aboard and moving around 11am. The remaining firebars were already in my van and I was soon on my way, overtaking them before they'd got to the A52. (Adam had been routed eiither way but decided that A1 was the better choice). When we got to North Weald, yesterday's Ugly was still on the loading pad so that was moved to make our life easier and my latest contract successfully completed.

As usual after these forays I try not to organise anything too strenuous the day after, just some castings to pick up and overalls to wash (plus sort out the VAT quarter, and so on.) Thursday was even quieter but Friday I was down at the shed all day at work on Claire, etc. I'm on to static electrical testing now, temporarily plugging in the batteries to see what lights up and if anything goes bang. The latter wasn't an issue but first off some lights came up green when they should have been red, then came on when they should not have at all. Meanwhile a warning light for the low oil level in the automatic lubricator (that will pump oil into the axlebox bearings) refused to light up.

I started checking each point in the wiring (it is a rather tortuous route) to no avail. These weren't the only snags - one of the instrument backlights isn't coming on, and when I powered the rear red marker lamp, the rear headlamp came on also. They all take time to trace and rectify.

On Saturday I returned this time with Andrew and first thing had a contractor in to assess the 2HAP for bodywork repairs: this is the second quote he has had as Andrew is conscious that it needs to become more weathertight if it is not to deteriorate. Once that was over we set about refitting the front of the casing structure on Claire which has been off for months while I removed the radiator in order to add the new belt drive for the extra compressor. With the front forklifted up and on to the walkway, a quick measure confirmed our fears that the headlamp assembly would foul the radiator filler pipe (which is now closer the front than before) so said headlamp was removed.

In place and bolted up, I could complete securing the flexible conduit run I had provisioned for the front lamp wiring, and late in the day Andrew gave me a hand to pull through the 3 cables to feed the headlamp (albeit no longer there) and the adjacent marker. Meanwhile Andrew had recalled that we'd had an issue with rear marker and headlamp years ago and wired them together: I opened up the conduits and sure enough an additional wire had been put in from one to the other (in reality they are adjacent but the wiring takes a Cook's Tour of the cab back) so this was extricated (along with several deceased spiders) and the original wire re-instated. Now the rear marker would only come on when intended and on its own. (The headlamps should only work when the engine is running: I will have to check them with a temporary wire jump.)

Sunday: I got down first and started by making off the cables for the front lamps and connecting them at a little termination box in front of the cab. When I came to connect the front headlamp wire in the chock block, I had a surprise, its place was occupied by the wire from the oil level detection switch which was the only place I hadn't checked on Friday (or Saturday, when I'd even tested the switch in mid air). Back at the front of the loco, we had a quick conference and agreed the best thing to fit in place of the vintage Simms headlight was a BR High Intensity which was 'surface mounted' and almost obscured the hole for the Simms light. Andrew welded a bit in where it didn't quite cover and the BR lamp was duly mounted in place.

Of course the HUDS WELL badge was skilfully sculpted to fit around the Simms lamp, so I carefully cut the ends square with tin snips and refitted the slightly shorter pieces back either side of the BR lamp: the wiring was connected and marker light proven. As a matter of interest, as I said earlier, the headlamps turn off if you stop the engine (to protect the batteries) but if the headlight switch is on, then both front and back red markers illuminate. This to me is more logical than the Thomas Hill practice where the markers defaulted to indicate 'forwards' (white front, red tail)

Meanwhile Andrew was welding, if only because it created a heat source and we were out of kerosene again. The object was to get the engine mountings assembled for the 0-6-0 Fowler, with a view to dropping the engine in shortly to free-up store-wagon floorspace.

So that's about it: snow aside, I'm off tomorrow to go move another gronk and maybe more besides. Either way I should be back with more to report, same time next Sunday. See ya then.