Of making an impact
10th October 2021
A bit of almost everything this week, it seems.
It's been another thousand mile week and likely another imminent. My concerns over fuel last time prompted one of my readers to phone and invite me to use his (elecric) car, but fortunately I didn't need to take him up on his touching offer and while I have seen some fuel stations with covers over pump holsters, it was more the exception than the rule.
Anyway, 09.00 Monday I was back up at Elsecar, getting the barriers out the way ready for when Adam and Ian arrived to load the Avonside 0-6-0ST. Our last loading here, sans-winch, had not gone to plan. This time however all went well, the loco was aboard by about 10.15 and by 10.30 we were moving clear so that the barriers could be replaced and we adjourned to a nearby cafe that did an extremely good value bacon sandwich.
By 11.00 though we were on the road, and I was advising the customer of our progress and plans for the day. By just after 1pm I was at the base of the Ribble Steam Railway in Preston, to find them shunting out the USA tank '72' (its K&WVR guise, formerly 30072 of Southern Region) complete with barrier wagon. Fifteen minutes later Adam rolled up and we went into the standard drill, lining up the trailer, dropping the neck, assembling the ramp, and winching the Avonside down to terra firma.
After a few minutes, the USA tank was in its position and winched on, secured and the lorry was on its way. I set off a few minutes behind, confident that I could take a shorter route and get there ahead of them. Wrong! My short cut was to turn off the M61 to go through Bolton to thence to Bury, and whereas Adam went all the way down, along the M60 and up the M66, he still got ro the East Lancs Railway ahead of me. The USA was duly unloaded in the gathering evening and we made our seperate ways home.
Tuesday I was trying to catch up on paperwork and rest, as I knew I had an early start on Wednesday for South Wales. Two weeks ago you will recall, we moved a Poolley van, Megarailer and a gronk from Barry to a site for a filming contract. I didn't say much about the latter as often in filming work additional publicity is not welcome, but I can now let you into the secret, that it is a Tom Hardy film called 'Havoc' which is set in the 'States but is mostly being filmed around Cardiff, and has involved transforming Bute Town into a typical American cityscape. These scenes however, were filmed over at Baglan, on a rail terminal used for timber traffic by Colas. I was late setting off (again) on Wednesday, and overtook Adam and Ian at the bottom of the A449, so got to Baglan in time to get obstructions moved so that we could access the Pooley van which was sat waiting. Contractors were busy removing all the artificial snow that covered most of the yard, the Poolley van, etc but were friendly and co-operative. When Adam arrived though, I discovered they were lucky to have got there at all. I had encountered several traffic hold-ups on the A42/M42 and so had they ahead of me. And as they slowed down for one such queue, the car in front failed to slow as much as the vehicle in front of it, resulting in a rear-ender. This however caused both vehicles to come to an abrupt halt, and rather earlier than Adam had anticipated He had to slam the brakes on and steer slightly to one side to avoid shortening the vehicle in front. A moment later as he came to rest there was a loud bang and a shock as a 7ton lorry impacted the back of my trailer. I am assured that it did far more damage to the 7tonner (which lost its front grille and radiator) and initially it only appeared to have scratched the trailer, but my closer exam showed that the rear beam was bowed and twisted under.
Not unfit for servcice, but I think I should be entitled to have it repaired at the 7tonner's insurers' expense. Anyway, the Poolley van was taken back to Barry and unloaded with some difficulty as it had become so stiff that I had to pull it down the ramp with my van.
That's a few thousand miles of wear off the clutch. Back to Baglan, and Colas had meanwhile turned up and were not due to leave for another three-quarters of an hour.
Since the track that they were occupying had been specially ballasted up to act as our loading/unloading pad, this was a stumbling block but as the Megarailer is road/rail, we started to position ourselves for a road loading when suddenly the train departed early and we were able to load 'normally'. We set off back to Barry, arriving about six o'clock and unloaded before parking up for the night. This time all three of us were in a Premier Inn nearby, much more civilised than a sleeping bag in the van. But I had had a chat with the Colas driver and discovered he was due back at 10.00 next day with the empties, so we wanted to get back to Baglan, load the gronk and get clear of the lines. Thus it was an 06.30 breakfast, seven fifteen on the road and a little after eight that I got to Baglan and fired up the 08 to shunt it across to our improvised loading area. Having moved it I had a STOP board fitted to the line further down and a member of staff stationed himself there.
We cracked on with loading and by quarter to ten we were just about to reconnect tractor to trailer, nicely on schedule. But this was the fifth time we had been on this ballasted pad and by now the stones had been displaced in great troughs and waves and the rails stood more and more proud. The rail heads were damp and slippy, and the tyres of the tractor kept sliding off them. Time and tine again we tried to reconnect, but it always failed. I saw the empty timber wagons come into sight and halt by the STOP board. In the end it took half an hour before the locking pin finally dropped into place, we raised the deck and dragged our charge clear of the lines. The atmosphere had become a little tense between us, though the on-site personnel seemed quite relaxed about it!
The gronk was not bound for Barry but for Tyseley, and I got well ahead of Adam and Ian as the M50 is not approved for Abnormals. I haven't been to Tyseley before (though I do recall a meeting at the offices of Allen Rowlands in the 1990s which was nearby but we didn't go to the depot itself) and for some reason I never thought to pick up a camera. I had an hour or so spare before Adam arrived so had time to plan out exactly where to stop the trailer and even squirt a quick paint line on the tarmac. Adam and Ian, meanwhile, had had to stop and lower the suspension to clear a 15ft 9 bridge on the way in and it was about half-three when they arrived and by quarter past four I was firing up the gronk one more time to move it clear of the ramp so that we could reassemble the unit.
We both opted to turn slightly north to go to the A45 with its direct run to the NEC and the M42 at Junction 5, but rush hour and roadworks on the A45 delayed us both and it was about seven pm when I got home. On Friday I was over to Mid-Wales and on my return, decided on a little detour. Recently I have acquired two books on the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire railway, the IRS' E S Tonks history and the more recent hardback version from Peter Johnson. I also possess, thanks to dealings with Army railways through Thomas Hills, a copy of the 1955 Rule book for the S&M under the last few years of its military control. My curiousity being piqued, and having spotted the embankment and buttress of the main line bridge at Ford, I turned off to see if I could find the Melverley viaduct over the River Severn.
To those not familiar with the S&M history, it'll keep it brief. The line was built from Shrewsbury to Llanymynech as double-track and then single, (having crossed the Cambrian) around to Llanddu and Nantmawr (today's Tanat Valley Railway and museum project) as the Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway or 'Potts' for short. The Potts was intended to build its own line towards Stoke (if it could not get running powers over its neighbours) but failed to build any further east and only added a single track branch from Kinnerley Junction to Criggion, and thence a connection to the quarries at Breidden. The area was surrounded by the Cambrian, the LNWR and the GWR and had little traffic in the area that could otherwise be generated. After a few years it astonished the Board of Trade by applying to single its lines from double - a circumstance that was then (1870s) without precedent. Even this economy failed to change its fortunes and services stopped on order from the BoT in the 1880s, concerned by its dilapidated condition. The Potts went into hibernation, and remained so until re-opened by Col H F Stephens in 1911 as the S&M, though by then it had lost its route west of Llanymynech to the Cambrian. Now if the Potts main line from Shrewsbury was unable to pay its way, the branch to Criggion was worse, and as the contractor who originally built it cut corners, the viaduct over the River Severn west of Melverley was originally a cheap timber trestle. Without attention it fell down about 1902 and the Colonel rebuilt it using spare girders recovered from the railway's other Severn bridge nearer to Shrewsbury. This second version was giving cause for concern too by the late '30s and when the WD took over the main line (but not the branch) it was patched up to maintain stone traffic. By the 1950s it was in dire straits again and this time the Army rebuilt it, but when they surrendered the S&M to BR Western Region in 1961 it was immediately closed and the bridge, and track bed either side, became a road, though you'd never realise if you didn't know. And here it is.
On the way there I spotted a loco sat in a garden. I wasn't aware of it and didn't wish to intrude, so grabbed a quick snap before heading on. It's more interesting than a garden gnome, anyway.
I've been at the shed both days this weekend, mostly on commercial work and scarcely photogenic. We were however visited by Stuart G and family, on their way to Blackpool or thereabouts, who called in and left gifts. Today however was much better weather than Saturday so attention turned to the Cement van.
By the end of the day the plywood side sections had been fitted, sealed, drilled and bolted, using countersunk stainless setscrews nipped up with Big Mak. It is now all on to get the end boards painted and refitted, as well as additional gloss coats on the outside, to get the van weatherproof and into use.
Even just getting the sides though seemed to improve the sense of shelter from the elements even if it means I'll have to think about getting the lighting installation sorted out. Anyway, that's enough for this edition. I've got another silly o'clock start in the morning to meet up with Adam and Ian 'Up North' and need my beauty-sleep. (Do I!) And yes, those of you who keep track, tomorrow is my birthday, but I've had a fair few before so the novelty has worn off. I'll be back, several hundred miles later next Sunday, so See ya then.