Of chocolate digestives.

9th January 2022

Priorities, priorities!

Andrew had sold a couple of bits of gear and the first buyer was due in at 11 o'clock on Tuesday so early on I went down to Darley Dale and drew the train back on Track 1 to make room so that forklift and vehicle could meet up. All went well until I had to use a fair amount of power to get the train rolling whereupon Tom cut out and twice more to shift 50 yards. The buyer turned up a few minutes early and once loaded, I pushed the train back as gently as possible and got Tom around to the stabling point without further problems. About then Andrew rang to ask if I was still there as an enthusiast had been at Rowsley and wanted to see our 'overseas wagons' at Darley Dale. I agreed to hang on and in due course ended up doing most of the standard guided tour as although he was particularly keen to see the two DR flats, other bits interested him too. After he'd departed I headed back for lunch only to get the news that the other buyer, who had previously merely asked what days could he call, was now turning up at 2.30. So back I went and with the train being a little less stiff, plus being very gentle on the power, I was able to pull it back again without any undesirable shutdowns.

Funnily enough, I was in to our pump people this week as I had another pump which I had taken out to do an exchange with, only to discover that my pump had an ordinary (single diaphragm) lift pump but the customers had a scavenge pump fitted. In the end I brought both pumps back, and took their scavenge pump down to the pump people for attention. They reported that both diaphragms had perished, yet if you pressed the manual lever, it happily squirted diesel out. This tends again to point to lift pump condition as being Tom's fundamental problem and two overhauled lift pumps are on this weeks 'to sort' list.

We've had snow, rain and all sorts this week for weather, not encouraging for outside work and with Andrew very much 'at work' and Adam away in Florida it's been time to sort out more administrative issues plus running around dropping off and collecting parts. There's been a fair amount of measuring-up jobs for work in progress at the shed, plus getting quotes and placing orders. I dropped off one of the jacking heads that I had brought back from South Wales a few weeks ago to establish a yardstick price for overhaul. Within an hour I had the news that it was a scrapper because of internal corrosion, so some more will be taken in to see if they are all the same or can we derive 4 out of the 10 suitable for our purposes. In between times I got questions from the accountants sorting out the last few details for this year's tax return, etc., etc.

Andrew hasn't been around much this weekend but the workshops have been busy. Andy M re-appeared and I banished him to the HATRAMM, which is some way up the yard, to continue removing redundant components and wiring.

With brute force and a lot of penetrating oil we managed to get the battery boxes open and brought the two big batteries down to the shed, for a long trickle charge as the last time we tried to do anything with the HATRAMM it was with Terry, and it's over 15 months since he was laid to rest. Andy has experience with some track machines and I had remembered this time to bring down the circuit diagrams, but as he pointed out, these are 'original as built' diagrams whereas the later additions of things like OTMR are not shown, resulting in considerable numbers of wires which might be redundant but on the other hand might now be crucial.

Nevertheless armed with chock-block and screwdriver he plodded on and when the batteries were refitted on Sunday was rewarded firstly with the Eberspracher cab heater firing up (he modestly told me he wasn't aware it was actually working but when I arrived it was so much warmer in the cab than outside I was tempted to stay all afternoon!) and later on with the engine running, though like us years ago this was only with the throttle control system mechanically overridden, but then a relay of some sort - the elusive 'D7' - may be preventing the throttle actuator from functioning.

Also this weekend Jagger has been up working on the 2HAP. Much of the interior woodwork on the composite vehicle is turning out to be more waterlogged than had been apparent and the three of us spent some time transfering seat backs and cushions into the rear vehicle to make more space for stripping and repair. And I shouldn't record his exploits without also mentioning that Rochelle was assisting him on the Saturday. For myself I had a wide range of bits from measuring up exhausters and hydraulic motors to cleaning up and priming bits of casings. I had dropped a second transmission cooler off at the begining of the week - the firm had already assembled and tested the first (only for it lose pressure so when I arrived it had already been stripped again for examination) and the 'kit' I dropped off is of course RS8's old one, which I plan, for historical reasons, to refit to RS8 if possible. With that imminent I decided to try and fire RS8 up today as it has been several months but sadly these are much smaller batteries than the HATRAMM's and though they had a go there was clearly insufficient oomph so they too were brought off and into the shed for a static charge.

In between it all there have been numerous breaks for tea and chocolate digestives - well it was too cold for prolonged outdoors. And with the socialising brought tales from our pasts, Andy M and I discussing Depot Protection and he assured me that he had seen managers brought in to the industry putting point clamps over the rails not under. This oddly enough reminded me that my father, who as a member of the RAF (but a radio/electrics person, not flying crew) had been on the Sicily landings, following the ground troops with a large radio van capable of receiving the BBC. Not long after setting foot on land he had been ordered out to trace a fault that had disabled an important field-telephone connection. It didn't take him long to find the problem. Up from the beach there had been a small narrow gauge railway that incoming troops had used to haul materials inland. Unfortunately the field telephone cable had been hastily laid over the track and the next wagon load had chopped through it in two places. It didn't take him long to fix the problem but in true squaddy style he opted to spend some time assuring himself there 'weren't any faults anywhere else' before a triumphal return.

And that's about it for the week. The next few days look to be busy but in what order I don't know. Some guaranteed transmission coolers would be a good start - Charlie's has got worse and it would be good to get RS8 back on the operating list. Thus what the week holds in store remains a mystery, but all being well I'll be here once again and who knows what I'll have to say. See ya then.