Of a HAP divorced

6th November 2022

This week didn't go quite to plan.

So at quarter to eight Monday morning I was down at Rowsley, awaiting Adam and Ian. The derailer had been swung aside and the gate unlocked, so all was ready as they arrived with the 8 x 4 DAF and Doll trailer running fully extended and with the extension on the back to take the 64ft 2HAP trailer car. Once the ramp was down (the quicker because the Doll is closer to the ground) the winch rope was run out and the trailer car pulled towards the bottom of the ramp, then a snatch block put in place and brought steadily up on to the Doll.

Adam was concerned it wouldn't fit and the carriage did end up right at the end of the extension as predicted, but he was still concerned that the single centre buffer would foul the top of the swan neck when reconnected, so we hailed a passing fork truck and lifted it off, but in actual fact, when the neck came back on the buffer would have been over the top and we could have had the carriage 6 inches nearer the front and still been clear.

Plan A was that the second half of the 2HAP stayed on the headshunt ready for loading to await their return in a day or two. The Hatramm would remain at Rowsley to assist in moving it if required and then return to Darley Dale, so it was parked on the headshunt by the signal box and locked up.

Having remembered to take pictures as they set off, after tidying up and getting changed I figuered I had time to cut through Chatsworth and photograph them coming through Baslow. (Remember, the abnormal load route to and from Rowsley is north through Bakewell - and this was Monday, market day - right at Ashford in the Water, past Hassop station to 13 Bends and into Baslow, joining the direct road from Chatsworth just outside.) But the centre of Baslow - a triangle of roads by the village hall - was all coned off for resurfacing, so I continued on looking for a layby on the Chesterfield road and finding none, turned into a side turn a couple of miles farther on. Looking back over a farm where a couple of young ladies were tidying things up in a field, I could see a good 3/4 of a mile or more of the road, and reckoned I'd get plenty of time to meander back to the junction and picture them coming by. They had left Rowsley at about 11.20, I was in position by 11.45 and as the time ticked by I began to wonder whether they'd actually already passed. I'd been stood by the van, clutching a camera, for some time but had got back in as the wind was quite cold when the two young ladies appeared at the van door.

Was I waiting to get a picture of their new foal? One asked. They were obviously proud of it and apparently its birth had had some local publicity. I felt guilty explaining that I was there for something much more prosaic. They disappeared, crestfallen.

I was close to concluding that Adam had got there before me when away down the road a large white lorry with lights flashing appeared from the trees. I set off back to the junction, and still had a minute or two to set up my shot though in the end, my plan to grab two consecutive pictures was thwarted by the speed of the DAF.

I headed back to Darley Dale for lunch. Late on Tuesday afternoon Adam rang. He had good news and bad news. On the good news side, the carriage was unloaded. On the bad news, the winch's donkey engine refused to start, cause unknown, and the DAF's gearbox was no longer selecting third or fifth, so he was limping back to base for investigation. Thus Plan A went for a burton as did work which I was lining up to carry out this week, but in some senses I was relieved as I had a load of other things to get on with.

When I left this blog last week we were exploring the tricks of ebay sellers. In the present case, the seller has had further reminders from me and Andrew but has not responded to any of them. Whether he is dead, ill, on holiday or just plain sulking we don't know and will continue to message until either he answers or we time out and can lodge a formal complaint with ebay. Some weeks ago I was buying pulleys from a firm in Telford which did not impress me, so when, late last month, I ordered a plain aluminium pulley I went to another firm who are based in Norfolk but with a couple other branches. That pulley I was expecting by the middle of this week but after the decision last weekend to change the belt arrangements up front on the Hudswell, I was in the market again for two more pulleys and taper lock bushes. I asked my regular supplier - a 'real' stockist in Rugby - to quote but had gone on line and noted comparison prices from both the Telford firm and the Norfolk one. When I got the prices back from Rugby I had a sharp intake of breath. For the 6 groove, 200mm diameter pulley they wanted over £100, but the Norfolk firm quoted just over £60 and the Telford one barely £35. Much as I would rather support the bricks & mortar, that was too much to stomach (when added together with the other parts) but equally 'once bitten' and I opted for the middle ground and ordered from Norfolk. Their computer system recognised me and informed me that they had an account in my name and invited me to get a password from them to access it. Having finished my order (5 items, all 'ex stock') I did so and sure enoough there was my new order, whose status was 'paid/processing'.

Ah, but my previous week's order, for one off aluminium pulley was also 'paid/processing' yet it had been showing as 'ex stock' when I ordered it and was still showing so when I immediately 'shopped' for another. So I threw an e-mail at them questioning why it wasn't on its way to me, and if for some reason it wasn't, could they kindly combine it with my second order and refund the carriage cost I'd paid. Later next day I received a reply, apologising that the aluminium pulley was coming in from 'another wharehouse' and had not yet arrived. I pondered this, and drafted a response. Since this was the only item on the order,I reasoned, if the 'other wharehouse' was in fact another of their branches, why was it not sent direct from their 'other wharehouse' to save time and money? If however, the 'other wharehouse' was in fact a euphemism for 'we ain't got it so we're buying one in' then, and I put it tactfully, it brought into question the accuracy of their website in showing it throughout as ex stock. Oh and by the way, was any of my second order (all ex stock per their website) in fact at 'another wharehouse' and when could I be sure to receive it?

I got a reply on Thursday. As regards whether the 'other wharehouse' was theirs or a supplier's the writer obfuscated. My second order was all ready and instead of 2/3 day carrier I would receive it on Friday. Mutterings about 'collation' of goods and 'supply chain difficulties' but the aluminium pulley was expected any day (I've since had notification that it was despatched on Friday) and the carriage charge levied against it was refunded as an apology for the delay. I think that is tantamount to an admission of guilt: if you walked in to a bricks & mortar supplier who advertised something as ex stock and it wasn't, you could involve Trading Standards. On-line suppliers may consider that as all you walk into is an array of photons, they don't need to be as honest and can cut margins by 'fancy footwork' (as the Americans used to say) when an order arrives for something they haven't actually got. I suppose the moral is that I should stay loyal to my Rugby supplier and pay the price he needs to keep his business viable. That's a dilemma I shall leave for another day.

Another brush with inflation this week. In July I had included on an order to the 'old' laser cutters some little tab pieces which cost me 25p each. I had found them much more useful than I had expected when I first drew them so added a batch more to an order intended for the 'new' laser cutters, who proceeded to quote me no less than £3 each. The main reason I had transferred allegiance was because of the old firm's extended (and extending) lead times so I immediately re-directed the enquiry to them, and they quoted 87p each and promised 8 day lead time whereas the new supplier had gone from 3 to 10. I returned to the old firm for the order. Yes, over 3 times more (350% inflation in 4 months?) but laser cutting is an energy intensive activity.

By Saturday morning I had a collection of bits and pieces to bring down. The pulley order had indeed arrived, as had a cap for the Hudswell's radiator, a secondhand switch unit for the Metabo drill, a kit to convert a grinder into a band sander and various adaptors and sundries. But first I rang the Peak Rail manager as I'd been in touch during the week and he hadn't managed to get back to me. As a result Andrew gave me a lift to Rowsley, the Hatramm was fired up and the 2HAP motor car transferred to the headshunt to await developments. Harvey joined me and we brought the Hatramm back to Darley Dale cruising along in 3rd gear with a little throttle. While I had been away, Andrew and Matt had fitted the left hand cab door to the Hudswell, and they now moved on to removing the 2 groove crankshaft pulley and substituting the 6 groove one, and fitting the new 2 groove fan pulley to line up with grooves on the 6.

I opened up the Metabo drill and swapped the duff switch unit for the newly acquired one, then powered up the 110V and tested it. Actually it was quite a nice drill with the feeling of having some grunt behind it, so I set about drilling a fresh hole through the side of the control desk big enough to mount a bulkhead fitting and then connected it to the feed on the driver's brake valve with a newly made flex hose. Up in the desk itself, I now had the neccessary adaptors to convert the 1/8 NPT of the gauges to 1/8 BSP of the fittings I had, though it did make things a little tight. The twin duplex gauges now have the brake pressure needles connected to the brake cylinder line and the main air needles awaited the arrival of the air main into the desk underneath.

Matt took the completed fan shaft assembly out to the Alstom loco and in between showers, assembled it to the frame, and fitted the fan and fan guard.

Sunday, and after a slightly delayed start it was intended to take advantage of a dry morning to get the Janus outside and reassemble its power unit. That meant a bit of a shunt so the Hatramm was moved out the way and RS8 fired up to clear track 3B. At that moment 3B was occupied by the 03, two 0-4-0s, the Yorkshire 0-6-0 from Elsecar and last but by no means least Ludwig Mond which is a stiff old bird even in hot weather. Added to that 3B is on a slight grade and with damp rails RS8 couldn't do it. In the end, we detached the 03 and put it across on 1, but when even this wasn't enough, hand-sanded the rails for 30 feet or so before RS8 suceeded in maintaining grip and moving it all clear.

The newly manufactured drive coupling for the Janus generator needed a minor tweak with one of the recently acquired die-grinders which gave it a good tight fit to the armature shaft and then the engine and generator were reunited just before the weather turned. Matt spent his afternoon on that.

Andrew was on 1120's small bore pipework, while I recovered the now unwanted big jockey pulley from the Hudswell and modified the carrier ready for its replacement. Later on a new pair of wires was run from the engine distibution box out to a pressure switch on the air tanks and Andrew and I were variously in or by loco cabs securing bulkhead fittings and pipe clamps as the main air delivery pipework into the Hudswell's desk finally showed its threads.

So that's about it for this week. Andrew has a day off tomorrow so we'll be back there for some or all of it, then I'm due to fulfull a loco movement commitment with Phil on Tuesday but all ears will be on when the DAF is sorted to pick up where we left off. On this, and other more trivial things, I'll resume next week. See ya then.